pillar of salt
Biblical backward glance
A pillar of salt is a column of crystallized salt, but the phrase almost always alludes to the biblical story of Lot's wife, who was turned into one when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom despite being warned not to.
The expression suggests someone frozen in place, paralyzed by dwelling on the past: She stood like a pillar of salt, unable to move forward with her life.
- Lot's wifeBiblical figure turned crystalline
- wifeFemale marriage partner
- BibleChristian sacred writings
- Old TestamentPre-Christian biblical canon
- GenesisFirst biblical book
Sodom · Gomorrah · fire and brimstone · backward · glance · punishment · disobedience · crystalline · mineral · statue · transformation · frozen in time · warning · cautionary tale · desert · biblical · curse · forbidden
- Biblical ReferencesAdam and Eve, ark, forbidden fruit, Garden of Eden, Ten Commandments
- Biblical imageryLamb of God, Good Shepherd, bread of life, light of the world, living water
- biblical punishmentsplagues, stoning, banishment, pestilence, destruction
- Biblical Symbolslamb of God, cross, crown of thorns, burning bush, forbidden fruit
- AbrahamAbraham, Abram, Sarah, Isaac, Ishmael
pillar of saltLot
Biblical Sodom survivor
faithful servant · Abraham · Noah · Job · the elect
pillar of saltpilgrim
Religious journey-taker
forward-looking · forward motion · progressive · progress · moving forward
pillar, pillars, pillared, salt, salts, salty, saltiness, salted, salting