Who saw Lot's wife turn
into pillar of SALT?

Q. Who saw Lot's wife become pillar of salt?

A. Sometimes we simply have to take God at his word. A similar question would be: Who saw God create the animals and Adam? Also, we have no record of anyone having seen Jonah swallowed by the fish, or of his having been vomited out onto dry land.

But regarding your question, it is entirely possible Lot may have seen the demise of his wife. It is natural for the person in the lead to glance back to insure the rest were following him. But the verb "look" in Genesis 19:17, and again in verse 26, didn't refer to a quick glance, but to gaze or look intently at.

"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.

"When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."

"The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 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." (Genesis 19:14-17, 23-26, NKJV throughout)

It seems Mrs. Lot stopped running to gaze at the destruction of the city. As she stood transfixed, most commentators agree some of the molten sulphur ("brimstone" verses 24) likely rained down on her, and crystallized her into a pillar. This is what Lot would have seen when he glanced back. Unfortunately, this loss was not the end of his trials and troubles. Right after God's judgment of his mate, his two daugthers carried out a misguided plan they thought would insure the continuation of the human race (Genesis 19:30-36).

What happened to Lot's wife was so significant that Jesus used it as an example of what not to do just before he returns:

"Then He (Jesus) said to the disciples . . . 'And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day (when He returns to the earth) . . .'

"'Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE . . . ' " (Luke 17:22 -24, 28-32)

Thank you for submitting your question about Lot's wife becoming a pillar of salt.