The Five Pillars of Warning.

In this blog on "the five pillars" the term "pillar" will be used symbolically of a warning to all to avoid the sin of the one judged. In a sense, the pillar stands for a "pillar of judgment." Now having said that, we will be briefly looking at five Biblical characters and their five pillars of judgment.

 

1. LOT'S WIFE--PILLAR OF SALT: There is not much information on Lot's wife. Only two primary verses tell us about her (see Gen. 19: 26; Luke 17: 32). She was given the command not to "look not behind thee,.." (Gen. 19: 17), but she disobeyed the word of the Lord and it cost her life. "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" (19: 26). Salt in Scripture is almost always used as an emblem that stands for incorruption and durability. However, since the corrupt influence had its affect on Lot's wife, she looked back. Hence, she became outwardly a pillar of salt, instead of what she should have been inwardly. Her life was cut short because she lost her inward saltiness, becoming corrupt in her influence. As Christians we are called to be the salt of the earth, so to was Lot's wife called to be salt to the wicked Sodomites. Matthew Poole gives this interesting insight on "salt" taken from Matthew 5: 13: 

  "You are the salt of the earth: through the grace of God bestowed upon you, Mr 9:50; Col 4:6. If it were not for the number of sound and painful ministers, and holy and gracious persons, the earth would be but a stinking dunghill of drunkards, unclean persons, thieves, murderers, unrighteous persons, that would be a stench in the nostrils of a pure and holy God. Look as it is in the world, if the salt hath lost its savour, its acrimony, by which it opposeth putrefaction in fish and flesh, not the fish or flesh only will be good for nothing, but the salt itself, so infatuated, (as it is in the Greek), will be good for nothing, but to be cast upon a dunghill and trodden under foot. So it is with ministers of the gospel, so with the professors of it; if they have lost their soundness in the faith, and holiness of life, they are of no value, nay, they are worse than other men. Money, if it be clipped in pieces, and hath lost its usefulness as coin, yet is of use for a goldsmith; meat corrupted, if it will not serve for men, yet will feed dogs; salt is good for nothing. No more are pretended ministers or Christians; their excellency lies in their savour; if that be lost, wherewith shall they be salted? Of what use are they, unless to cause the name of God and religion to be blasphemed? Such another similitude the prophet useth, Eze 15:2,3."[1] 

In other words, Lot's wife was to be "salt" in the context that her life was to act as a preservative in counteracting the rotting and corruption that was so prevalent in Sodom and Gomorrah. Adam Clarke writing on Genesis 19: 26 has this to add: 

"Verse 26.   She became a pillar of salt]  The vast variety of opinions, both ancient and modern, on the crime of Lot's wife, her change, and the manner in which that change was effected, are in many cases as unsatisfactory as they are ridiculous. On this point the sacred Scripture says little. God had commanded Lot and his family not to look behind them; the wife of Lot disobeyed this command; she looked back from behind him-Lot, her husband, and she became a pillar of salt.  This is all the information the inspired historian has thought proper to give us on this subject; it is true the account is short, but commentators and critics have made it long enough by their laborious glosses. The opinions which are the most probable are the following:  1. "Lot's wife, by the miraculous power of God, was changed into a mass of rock salt, probably retaining the human figure."  2. "Tarrying too long in the plain, she was struck with lightning and enveloped in the bituminous and sulphuric matter which abounded in that country, and which, not being exposed afterwards to the action of the fire, resisted the air and the wet, and was thus rendered permanent." 3. "She was struck dead and consumed in the burning up of the plain; and this judgment on her disobedience being recorded, is an imperishable memorial of the fact itself, and an everlasting warning to sinners in general, and to backsliders or apostates in particular."  On these opinions it may be only necessary to state that the two first understand the text literally, and that the last considers it metaphorically.  That God might in a moment convert this disobedient woman into a pillar or mass of salt, or any other substance, there can be no doubt.  Or that, by continuing in the plain till the brimstone and fire descended from heaven, she might be struck dead with lightning, and indurated or petrified on the spot, is as possible.  And that the account of her becoming a pillar of salt may be designed to be understood metaphorically, is also highly probable.  It is certain that salt is frequently used in the Scriptures as an emblem of incorruption, durability, &c. Hence a covenant of salt, Nu 18:19, is a perpetual covenant, one that is ever to be in full force, and never broken; on this ground a pillar of salt may signify no more in this case than an everlasting monument against criminal curiosity, unbelief, and disobedience."[2] 

Many centuries later, Luke writes these sobering words about Lot's wife being turned into a "pillar of salt." He says, "Remember Lot's wife." (Luke 17: 32). What he was essentially saying, "Remember what happened to Lot's wife because she disobeyed God's Word. Be wise, and obey the Word of the Lord." We would do well to heed such advice. 

2. ESAU'S -- PILLAR OF STEW: Here in Genesis 25: 29-34 we read of Esau despising his birthright by selling it for a pot of soup. For we see this when Jacob asked Esau, "Sell me this day thy birthright." (25: 31), in which Esau responded, "Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" (25: 32). Then Jacob made his brother to swear an oath in selling his birthright to him (see 25: 33-34). It wasn't until later that Esau lived to regret that foolish choice he had made with his brother (see 27: 34-36). Commenting on Genesis 25: 34, Adam Clarke says this about Esau's despising his birthright: 

  "Thus Esau despised his birthright.]  On this account the apostle, Heb 12:16, calls Esau a profane person, because he had, by this act, alienated from himself and family those spiritual offices connected with the rights of primogeniture. While we condemn Esau for this bad action, (for he should rather have perished than have alienated this right,) and while we consider it as a proof that his mind was little affected with Divine or spiritual things, what shall we say of his most unnatural brother Jacob, who refused to let him have a morsel of food to preserve him from death, unless he gave him up his birthright?  Surely he who bought it, in such circumstances, was as bad as he who sold it.  Thus Jacob verified his right to the name of supplanter, a name which in its first imposition appears to have had no other object in view than the circumstance of his catching his brother by the heel; but all his subsequent conduct proved that it was truly descriptive of the qualities of his mind, as his whole life, till the time his name was changed, (and then he had a change of nature,) was a tissue of cunning and deception, the principles of which had been very early instilled into him by a mother whose regard for truth and righteousness appears to have been very superficial.  See on Ge 27:6-27."[3]

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[1] Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole's Commentary, (Power Bible CD, 5. 2).

[2] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary, (Power Bible CD, 5. 2).

[3] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary, (Power Bible CD, 5. 2).