Lot's wife could not bear the thought of giving up all that they had left behind in Sod'om. Her heart clung to her home, her worldly possessions, and her former companions. She halted in their flight to look back longingly upon the city, her heart filled with memories of the life she had found so happy. As she stood there, lost in revery, smoke and ashes began to spread all over the plain, and suddenly she was petrified with fear. Standing erect and motionless, gazing toward Sod'om, her body was turned into a pillar of salt,-an everlasting monument of warning against turning back when one is on the road to salvation.
The Lord then caused a rain of fire to fall upon Sod'om and Go'mor'rah; destroying also the neighboring towns of Ad'mah and Ze'bo-im; only the little town of Zo'ar escaped the calamity.
From his mountain home nearby the faithful A'bra-ham looked out upon the plains below. The once fertile and smiling lands were now a flaming furnace, and the former prosperous and wealthy cities had become a vast heap of charred ruins, The idle luxury of the day before had been turned into utter desolation. The heart of A'bra-ham was stirred deeply, but he humbly acknowledged the righteousness of God in all His ways.
In the meantime Lot and his two daughters had feared for their lives in Zo'ar, and had fled to the mountains of Mo'ab to the east, where they took shelter in a cave. Here took place the most shameful incident of Lot's career, and his name passed from the pages of sacred history. When his two daughters realized that all the descendants of their father had perished in the flames of Sod'om, they took what seemed to be the only means of preserving their father's line. They made Lot drunk with wine, induced him to commit the crime of incest, and gave birth to the sons from whom there sprang the Mo'ab-ites and Am'mon-ites. We shall learn more about them in later chapters.
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