A Summer Cottage in Babylon

 Genesis 19:26 ¶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 

Elder Bruce R. McConkie paraphrased those verses in these words: 

“Look not back to Sodom and the wealth and luxury you are leaving. Stay not in the burning house, in the hope of salvaging your treasures, lest the flame destroy you; but flee, flee to the mountains. 

“Seek temporal things and lose eternal life; sacrifice the things of this life and gain eternal life.” [1]

Elder Holland states that “it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. That, apparently, was at least part of her sin.”[2]

He equates the looking back “longingly” as not having faith that where the Lord was sending her was going to be as good as what she had.

When we look at the setting of this story, we identify Lot’s wife – a member of the church, one whom the Lord saw fit to save from the destruction of Sodom, living in a place so overcome with sin that the Lord could not find ten people within to save it. This is not a place conducive to the spirit and became nearly impossible to remain righteous while there. Having been sent out prior to the destruction by angels of the Lord, she was so affected by the place that she was unable to remove her heart and looked “longingly” back.

Elder Holland, quoting Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “such people know they should have their primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon.”[3]

Do I have faith that what the Lord has in store for me is better than what I have now? I would like to think so.

This brings me to Lot’s daughters.

After fleeing Sodom for a small city Zoar, Lot and his two daughters end up living in a cave and this story takes another downturn.

 Genesis 19:31 And the firstborn (JST Gen. 19:37 … firstborn dealt wickedly, and said …) said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 

  32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 

  33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 

  34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 

  35 And (JST Gen. 19:39 And they did wickedly, and made …) they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 

Is it possible upon witnessing the destruction of “brimstone and fire” being rained down from heaven, the daughters thought they were the last people living on earth?

Here is some interesting insight from David Ridges:

“In the culture of the day, there was a very strong desire to carry on one’s family line into the future. Lot’s wife had perished and all his married children and grandchildren had died also in the destruction of Sodom. Thus the family line of Lot was about to come to a close. This is apparently the thinking in the older daughter’s mind as she proposes an incestuous relationship with their father in order that they may have posterity that would carry on the family line.”[4]

My mind goes back to the “summer cottage in Babylon” comment. Is it possible, that by living in this city Sodom, so full of sin and ripe for destruction, these daughters became dulled to the wickedness of the act in which they participated? Had they been like Abraham and lived away from sin, would they have had this thought or followed through with it?

As quoted by President Monson, the Essay on Man by Alexander Pope:

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.[5]

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[1] The Old Testament Made Easier, David J. Ridges, p194

[2] Holland, The Best is Yet to Be, January 2010

[3] ibid

[4] The Old Testament Made Easier, David J. Ridges, p196

[5] Verse by Verse the Old Testament, Ogden & Skinner, p105