And the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD from the heavens. And He overthrew those cities and all the plains and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the land (Genesis 19:24–25).
This is one of the first direct statements of a God who exists in three persons. The LORD on the earth, who had shared a meal with Abraham and informed him of the coming destruction, called down sulfur and fire upon Sodom, Gomorrah, and the entire plain from the LORD in heaven.
Lot, with his wife and daughters, was safely in the city of Zoar before the destruction came upon the plains (Genesis 19:23). However, Lot’s wife chose to direct her desires back to Sodom. Her looking back was not simply an act of looking at what was happening behind her. The Hebrew word indicates looking with consideration. She desired to go back to Sodom; thus, the LORD included her in the judgment, turning her to salt (Genesis 19:26). Tradition and children’s storybooks have Lot’s wife turned to salt because she looked back at the city of Sodom while it was being destroyed. This is nothing more than myth and contrary to the account given in Scripture. She turned her heart back to Sodom, not her eyes.
God remembered Abraham when He destroyed the cities of the plain, for He sent the only righteous man found in all the cities of the plain out from their midst before he overthrew them (Genesis 19:29).
