Scripture tells us that Lot's wife turned back and looked as they were escaping the destruction?

Question

and therefore turned into a pillar of salt. I am not questioning why something happened to her after disobeying God's instructions, I am just interested in why you think he chose a pillar of salt for the punishment?

Answer 1

This event is well covered in the Torah, which you may be able to research online.
My sense is that salt was a very important mineral to the Jews of that day. Salt is often discussed in the Bible in various ways. To become a pillar of salt is to cause passers-by to stop and take some notice. Why? Because God seems to be portraying with an object lesson that he expects direct obedience and that there is a penalty for "looking back" to what used to be. The Angels (one of which was likely the pre-incarnate Christ) told Lot and his family to move fast and NOT even look back. She paid the price for her poor listening skills, just as people do today.

Answer 2

"he chose a pillar of salt" because of a pillar of salt that looked vaguely human and the story capitalized on explaining, just like "he chose a rainbow" because the natural phenomenon needed explaining and refraction wasn't around back then.

The motif of harmful sensation refers to the physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign sensation. The phenomenon appears in both traditional and modern stories.

The theme is similar to the notion of the evil eye: the sight that harms is the gaze that harms. The harm is thought to be caused by seeing something or being seen by it — a parallel idea is the contrast between metaphysical or vitalist conceptions that treat vision as an active function of the eye, and the scientific conception of the eye as passively receiving light that is present even when vision does not occur.

While this motif is largely imaginary, a real-life example is epileptic seizures triggered by strobe lights. Light flashing at a specific frequency can "pump" EEG rhythms at the same frequency and induce a seizure. This effect can also be triggered by flashing screens in film and video games. The Pokémon episode "Electric Soldier Porygon" was believed to have caused seizures in some 700 children (although the number actually affected was later thought to be far fewer).

Answer 3

"Why a pillar of salt? Because mineral pillars abounded in the region around Sodom and Gomorrah, and (as we shall see in "The Salt of the Earth") salt was to the Jews a most notable mineral. In other words, J describes the origins of these strange pillars with a folktale related to other ancient myths in which various individuals turn to pillars of salt when they see a god."

Answer 4

Here is an iteresting article on the subject. The author claims "pillar of salt" does not literally mean an actual pillar of salt. He goes on explaing how the Hebrew and Greek texts support this theory.
http://members.aol.com/scheairs/UnicornSite/Mature_Bible_Studies/Lots_Wife.html

Answer 5

Hi Midge, there seems there is no agreement regarding this story, Lots wife according to Jewish tradition was called Edith and that she was caught off guard by fire and smoke and was suddenly left immobile as a pillar of salt, another theory says that after she died a large salt rock was used to mark her grave.

Answer 6

I keep tellin' you folks, Genesis is an apologetics course for non-Hebrews. It's title, if it were a college course, would be "Why You Should be Worshipping Our God Instead of Yours 101".

NO LOT. NO LOT'S WIFE. NO PILLAR OF SALT.

Get it?

Yes, there was an earthquake that rumbled around the Dead Sea about 3,000 years ago. Yes, there were towns along the southern edge. Yes, they were wealthy from selling all that salt. Yes, it's likely the earthquake tumbled them into dust (after all, they were made of mud brick). They may very well have had their share of licentious folks. Most towns do. Beyond that, it's all hearsay and folklore.

BUT, it WAS great PR for the idea of an ALL-POWERFUL deity who could cream ya good and proper if'n you made an enemy of Him. What? You thought Madison Ave. invented PR? You thought the Soviets invented propaganda?

Answer 7

I'm sure there must be a reason. I wonder what would happen if you melted brimstone or a few other elements completely. Just a guess. Any way, that whole region is full of salt.

Answer 8

no-one knows the thoughts of God. and if we did, things would be easier to understand. but since we do not know why he chose this punishment maybe we should just accept that in the Old Testament God punished people a bit differently. and be thank full that he has not struck dead every person who disobeys him.

Answer 9

Yeah Ms. Dash would have been better because everyone would be like, "whoa this stuff doesn't even exist yet! It's a miracle! And there's less sodium than that pillar of person over there!"

Answer 10

God, I think, did that to show that He means
business. He did a lot of strange things such
as: When Moses came down from the
mountain and found everyone was worshiping
the golden calf that AAron made God wanted
to kill all of the Isralites and start all over.
Moses talked him out of it.