Commentary - Genesis 19:23-26

Bird's-eye view

In these verses, the long night of angelic negotiation and Lot's dithering comes to a dramatic and fiery end. God's patience with the cities of the plain has run out, and His judgment is executed with terrifying precision. This is not a random natural disaster; it is a direct, personal, and covenantal act of de-creation. The same sun that rises on Lot's deliverance in Zoar rises on Sodom's utter destruction. The passage serves as a stark and permanent warning against sin, but it also contains a poignant and personal tragedy in the fate of Lot's wife. Her story is a microscopic illustration of the broader judgment, a warning against a divided heart that lingers for the world that God is judging. Jesus Himself tells us to "Remember Lot's wife," and so we must.

Outline

Context In Genesis

This passage is the climax of the narrative that began with God's announcement to Abraham in chapter 18 that He was going to investigate the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. It fulfills the Lord's determination to judge the cities for their profound wickedness, a wickedness Lot himself was vexed by daily. This event stands as a foundational Old Testament example of God's wrath against unrepentant sin, paralleling the global judgment of the Flood. Lot's deliverance, however reluctant, is a testimony to God's covenant faithfulness to Abraham, who had interceded for the righteous in the city. The destruction of the plain also reshapes the physical and political landscape, setting the stage for the later history of Israel and its neighbors, including the Moabites and Ammonites, who are descended from Lot.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Genesis 19:23

The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

The timing here is deliberate and instructive. God's judgments are not done in a corner, under the cover of darkness. This judgment is executed in the broad daylight, for all the world to see. The sun rises, a symbol of God's own righteousness and clarity. There is no ambiguity here. As the light of a new day dawns for the delivered, the fire of God's final word on the matter falls. Lot's arrival in Zoar, the "little place" he had bargained for, marks his salvation. He is safe. But we should note that he is just barely safe, and he is safe only because of God's mercy, a mercy secured by the intercession of Abraham. Lot is a picture of a man saved, "but only as through fire." He lost everything but the clothes on his back and the daughters at his side. His salvation is entirely of grace, not of his own merit or decisive action.

Genesis 19:24

And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven,

Here we have one of the more mysterious and profound phrases in the Old Testament. Yahweh on earth rains fire from Yahweh in heaven. This is a clear pointer to the plurality of persons within the one Godhead. The pre-incarnate Christ, the Angel of the Lord who had dined with Abraham, is the one executing the judgment on earth, and He does so from the Father in heaven. This is a thoroughly Trinitarian operation. The judgment itself is described as "brimstone and fire." This is not just a poetic description of a volcano or a meteor shower. This is a supernatural de-creation. God is un-making this place. Fire is a purifying agent, and here it is the fire of God's holy wrath, burning away the filth of that place. Brimstone, or sulfur, would have created a toxic, suffocating, and utterly consuming event. This is a picture of hell, of the final judgment where the wicked are removed from the presence of the Lord.

Genesis 19:25

and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

The verb is "overthrew." It signifies a complete reversal, a turning upside down. The plain that Lot had once chosen because it looked like "the garden of the LORD" is now being turned into a barren wasteland. The judgment is comprehensive, just as the sin was pervasive. It falls on the cities, the entire valley, all the people, and even the vegetation. Sin has cosmic consequences. It doesn't just pollute the soul; it pollutes the very ground. When man rebels, the creation groans under the curse, and here, the curse is fully realized in a localized way. This is a terrifying picture of the final judgment, where nothing tainted by sin will remain. God's holiness requires a complete cleansing, and what cannot be cleansed must be destroyed.

Genesis 19:26

Then his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

This is the heart of the passage for the individual believer. Notice her position: "from behind him." She is lagging. She is following her husband out of the city, but her heart is not in it. She is being dragged to safety, but she does not want the safety that is offered. Her body is moving toward Zoar, but her soul is still in Sodom. The "look back" was not a fleeting glance of curiosity. The original language suggests a deliberate, long, and wistful gaze. She was looking back with longing at everything she was leaving behind, her home, her friends, her possessions, her life. Her loyalties were divided, and a divided loyalty is no loyalty at all. She wanted the world that God was in the process of judging. And so, in a stroke of divine irony, God gave her what she wanted. She wanted to be preserved in Sodom, so God preserved her as a monument of judgment at the edge of Sodom. She became a pillar of salt, a sterile, lifeless statue, a perpetual warning against the love of this world. Jesus tells us to remember her (Luke 17:32) because her sin is a perennial temptation for every believer. We are called to leave the city of destruction and not even look back.

Application

The judgment on Sodom is a historical event, but it is also a prophecy and a warning. It is a small-scale picture of the final judgment that is coming upon the whole world. The Lord Jesus is coming again, and He will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. This passage forces us to ask where our true home is. Are we citizens of the heavenly city, or are our hearts still clinging to the trinkets of this passing world?

Lot's wife is a warning to every churchgoer who is physically present on Sunday morning but whose heart is longing for the world all week. She is a warning against a half-hearted repentance. True repentance does not just walk away from sin; it runs. It flees to Christ, the only true Zoar, our only city of refuge. We must not be like her, looking back wistfully at the sins we have supposedly left behind. We are to set our minds on things above, not on things that are on the earth, for we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.

Her judgment was swift and final. She became a pillar of salt, a permanent reminder that you cannot serve two masters. You cannot have one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. God demands our total allegiance. Let us therefore remember Lot's wife, and in remembering her, let us press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, never looking back.