The purpose of this article, which I hope to become a series, is to examine bible stories that are
difficult to understand or to accept in natural terms. Oftentimes bible stories,
which are thought of as fanciful or myth, can often be explained in natural terms. This is not an attempt, however, to explain away every supernatural event
in natural terms. There are legitimate miracles, things that can’t be explained
naturally, though they appear to be rare. More often than not, God does work
through the natural to achieve His goals. That, however, does not make them
any less miraculous.
Here we will be examining Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt. Lot’s
wife’s name is not given in the bible, but in rabbinical literature she’s identified
as “Irit” or “Idit”. As the story unfolds, Lot and his family are fleeing Sodom
and Gomorrah before its sudden destruction. But Lot’s wife turns back and is suddenly
turned into a pillar of salt:
“ Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Gen 19:24-26 NKJV)”
At first glance it appears she looks back and is instantly turned into
a pillar of salt, or so it seems. Obviously, something like that just doesn’t happen
normally. So how do we explain it? Our first clue is the location of Sodom and
Gomorrah, which was situated near the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is located on the
lowest place on earth below sea level. Because there is no outlet the water is
particularly salty, about 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. It’s an area that’s
hot and receives very little rain. It is also a very unstable region. There are
earthquakes, underground heat energy sources, and petroleum seeping up from the
bottom of the Dead Sea. In fact, during the time of Abraham the area was full
of tar pits (Gen 14:10). Conversely, it was also much more fertile in Abraham’s
time than it is now.
The bible says Sodom was destroyed by brimstone (burning sulfur) and
fire. In natural terms, this could have been caused by a volcanic eruption, or by
an earthquake that could have set off an explosion from the combustion of petroleum
products and or natural gases. In any case it’s not hard to imagine how it was
destroyed in such a volatile region. Incidentally, archeology evidence shows
evidence of burning, including charred bones, from the ancient cities that
existed along the banks of the Dead Sea.
With all of that in mind, here’s what I believe happened. When the
bible says Lot’s wife “looked back”, I believe it’s a poetic way of saying she
turned back and went back to the city. Why would she do this when she knew it
was about to be destroyed? The answer is because she had two additional
daughters still in the city. We can discern this from two verses. In Genesis
19:8 Lot says he has two daughters that have not known a man (i.e. virgins):
“See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
However, in Genesis 19:14 he says he has two daughters that were
married:
“So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.”
Some have thought this was a contradiction, when in reality Lot had
four daughters total. The Genesis Rabbah also concludes that Lot had four
daughters at the time, two who were married and two who were engaged to be
married. The latter two were the daughters that fled with Lot and his wife.
In returning to the city, Lot’s wife would have gotten caught up in the
destruction of Sodom. She would have likely been buried very quickly. Due to
the extreme heat and the silicone dioxide found in the Dead Sea minerals, she
may have been fossilized. Under the right conditions, fossilization can occur
very rapidly. Salt itself is a preserving agent. There’s no doubt her body
would have become a pillar. The Hebrew word for pillar (netziv) means something
stationary, i.e. a prefect, a military post, a statue:—garrison, officer,
pillar. The implication here is that her body wasn’t moved, but likely remained
preserved for some time after since it is unlikely her body was ever recovered
for a proper burial.
It is conceivable then that over time her remains became covered by a
layer of salt, just as the shores of the Dead Sea are covered with crystallized
salt. Pillars of salt form this way as the water evaporates and the salt precipitates,
leaving behind actual salt pillars. So yes, in the ancient’s way of thinking
she would have turned into a pillar of salt.
