5 “Lot’s Wife”
In connection with the destruction of Sodom, the Bible mentions the fate which overtook Lot’s wife, who “became a pillar of salt.” In the Book of Wisdom also we read of the waste land that smoketh, and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness, and a standing pillar of salt—a monument of an unbelieving soul (Wisd. x. 7). Josephus also says that he had seen it (Ant. i. 11, 4). The Arabs have legends on the subject; and travellers now and again describe the pillars of salt which have been pointed out to them, and to which the legends attach. The stories are by no means modern. Major Conder, in his “Syrian Stone Lore,” brings into brief compass the notions of the Fathers of the Church on the subject. From an early period “Lot’s wife” is mentioned as standing by the western shores of the Dead Sea, and Antoninus Martyr is careful to combat the idea that the pillar of salt was destroyed through its being constantly licked by animals. Clemens Romanus had seen it; Irenæus also (IV. xxxi. 3) mentions “Lot’s wife” as a pillar still standing. (Quoted by Kitto, Cyclopæd. “Lot.”) So does Benjamin of Tudela, whose account is more than usually circumstantial; and in later times Maundrell and others. It seems possibly to be the natural pinnacle, now called Karnet Sahsul Hameid, to which these writers refer. The feminine nature of this statue was supposed to be still perceptible, in spite of petrification.
Perhaps the best account of “Lot’s wife” is to be found in E. H. Palmer’s “Desert of the Exodus,” where a coloured plate helps the realisation.
“While with the Ghawárineh” (says Palmer) “we had heard strange rumours that ‘a statue’ called ‘Lot’s wife’ existed on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, but none of them had ever seen it, or could give us a satisfactory description of it. Making cautious inquiries amongst the Beni Hamideh, we found that the statement was correct, and after some little trouble, guides were procured who offered to conduct us to the spot.... Our path led us to another plateau, about 1000 feet above the Dead Sea, and on the extreme edge of this was the object of which we were in search—Bint Sheikh Lot, or ‘Lot’s wife.’ It is a tall isolated needle of rock, which does really bear a curious resemblance to an Arab woman with a child upon her shoulder. The Arab legend of Lot’s wife differs from the Bible account only in the addition of a few frivolous details. They say that there were seven Cities of the Plain, and that they were all miraculously overwhelmed by the Dead Sea as a punishment for their crimes. The prophet Lot and his family alone escaped the general destruction; he was divinely warned to take all that he had and flee eastward, a strict injunction being given that they should not look behind them. Lot’s wife, who had on previous occasions ridiculed her husband’s prophetic office, disobeyed the command, and, turning to gaze upon the scene of the disaster, was changed into this pillar of rock.
“Travellers in all ages have discovered ‘Lot’s wife’ in the pillars which atmospheric influences are constantly detaching from the great masses of mineral salt at the southern end of the Dead Sea, but these are all accidental and transient. The rock discovered by us does not fulfil the requirements of the Scriptural story, but there can be no doubt that it is the object which has served to keep alive for so many ages the local tradition of the event.
“The sun was just setting as we reached the spot; and the reddening orb sank down behind the western hills, throwing a bridge of sheeny light across the calm surface of the mysterious lake. As we gazed on the strange statue-like outline of the rock—at first brought out into strong relief against the soft yet glowing hues of the surrounding landscape, and then mingled with the deepening shadows, and lost amid the general gloom as night came quickly on, we yielded insensibly to the influence of the wild Arab tale, and could almost believe that we had seen the form of the prophet’s wife peering sadly after her perished home in the unknown depths of that accursed sea.”