Hello, hikers! Yes, you, I’m talking to you. Have a seat for a few minutes and listen to a message that has been waiting thousands of years. It took time, but now it’s my turn to break the silence.
My name is “Idit.” It’s nice to meet you. You probably know me as “Lot’s wife.” Some people call me “Irit”[1] and claim that this name is derived from my excessive attachment to the city (Heb. “Ir”) of Sodom my city. Just because the Hebrew letters “dalet” and “resh” have a similar shape is no a reason to distort my name. My name is Idit, and you shall be witnesses to my testimony.
I was indeed the wife of Lot, the son of Haran, Abraham’s nephew. I was born in Haran and my father was so impressed by Terach’s family that he married me to Lot. I have no complaints about that. Father had no way of foreseeing the bitter end I would meet. Our life was challenging but good until the very last evening. For me, that evening was harder than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, even before they were destroyed.
I wasn’t surprised when Lot brought guests home. He really did try to follow in the ways of his uncle Abraham. We even educated our daughters to be concerned for others.[2] Sometimes, economic constraints made it difficult, but we truly tried to balance those constraints with our familial values.
When Lot and the guests arrived, I was on my way out to visit a neighbor. I greeted them and continued on my way. You may have heard that I went to borrow salt.[3] Seriously?! I was a competent housewife. Salt was not lacking. It’s also important for me to emphasize that I did not tell her that we had guests. She already knew and hinted that “everyone” else knew, too, which made me an unwelcome guest. I didn’t stick around to argue. I left and prepared myself for another round of nasty graffiti. (We always kept cleaning supplies, whitewash and paint handy for such occasions)
But, no. This time there was no nasty graffiti. When I got close to the house I could hear noise and commotion. When I turned the corner, I could see “the townsmen, the men of Sodom—young and old, the whole entire body—gathered about the house” (Genesis 19:5) demanding that Lot hand over our guests because they wanted to rape them. I was shocked. I knew that some of our neighbors were thugs, but rape in public!?
That was only the beginning. Lot’s response started out well: “I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong” (Gen. 19:7), but the continuation was incomprehensible. I wanted to die on the spot. I begged Abraham’s God to save my daughters from the mob. My request was granted.
Only then did the guests – who were actually angels – tell us what was going to happen the next day and offered their help so we could escape. I no longer cared what happened to Lot or myself, our lives were as good as done, but the girls…. I wanted to save my daughters at any cost; both those who were at home (still shaking from what they had experienced a few minutes earlier) and those were married. Lot went to call them but our sons-in-law laughed in his face and the girls didn’t have the courage to disagree.
One last thing. This is the most important and the hardest to put into words. I have nothing polite to say about the people who claim that by dying when I did, I (me??) am responsible for introducing incest into our family.[5] Seriously? They can go to @#$. True, I wasn’t in the cave to prevent my daughters from lying with their father but I’m not the one who abandoned them and desecrated their sexuality. Their father Lot had already done that. In the cave, they were only trying to preserve life after the destruction.
That’s all. You may go on your way now, dear hikers. Don’t forget me. Please share my words with others. I was a lioness. I did not abandon my children.[6]
Thank you.
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[1] Source sheet on the names of Lot’s wife.
[3] Bereishit Rabbah 51:5
[4] Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 25:11
[5] Reggio, Beur Yashar on Torah
[6] See Uriah Kfir, Einav Zangauker and Lot’s Wife: Mothers in Distress (Hebrew); Source sheet with additional modern perspectives on Lot’s wife and daughters.
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