Seeds of Promise Series by Shenica Graham

Edith: Wife of Lot

Women of The Bible

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Memory Verses: But [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26 AMP

Devotional Reading: Genesis 19:15-26 AMP

¹⁵ When morning came, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and two daughters who are here [and be off], lest you [too] be consumed and swept away in the iniquity and punishment of the city. ¹⁶ But while he lingered, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, for the Lord was merciful to him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city and left him there. ¹⁷ And when they had brought them forth, they said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you or stop anywhere in ^[a]the whole valley; escape to the mountains [of Moab], lest you be consumed. ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, Oh, not that, my lords! ¹⁹ Behold now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your kindness and mercy to me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. ²⁰ See now yonder city; it is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape to it! Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved! ²¹ And [the angel] said to him, See, I have yielded to your entreaty concerning this thing also; I will not destroy this city of which you have spoken. ²² Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little]. ²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ He overthrew, destroyed, and ended those cities, and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she ^[b]became a pillar of salt.

When Go determined to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah, he sent two angels to utterly ruin the cities and everything therein. They had mercy on Lot, the nephew of Abraham. They took Lot, his wife, and their two daughters by the hand and whisked them out the city to an external place, telling them yet to run for their lives. According to Jewish tradition, Lot’s wife was named, , “Ado” or Ildith or “Edith.” Everyone of Lot’s family was apparently fleeing. However, the future sons-in-law of Lot, who were to marry his daughters, did not believe Lot when he tried to explain that the city would be destroyed. It is not said explicitly, but it seems that these men did not leave the city and would have therefore perished with the rest of the city. Lot negotiated a safe city with the angels. Now Lot’s family was fleeing to that place. Apparently, the destruction could not begin until Lot’s family was in the safe city. However, whilst they fled, Lot’s wife, Edith – despite a warning to not turn back for any reason, looked back to the condemned place. When Edith turned to see what would become of the city, she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. It was as if the heat the inferno in the city evaporated all moisture and incinerated her.

Lessons From Lot’s Wife, Edith

• Don’t live in the past. Edith was not willing to let go of what she was leaving behind in a condemned city. Despite the fact that the city was to be destroyed, she could not let that be reason enough to forget about it.

• Value the gifts of the present. Lot’s wife was blessed because of her husband. The angels took her also by the hand, along with her husband and two daughters. She did not value the prospect of living with her husband and daughters enough to let go of the place from whence they were fleeing. Had she valued her family enough, I believe that she could have been in the present moment and realizing the blessing that her family was being spared. She could have loved them enough to care less about what they were leaving behind because they had each other.