BEMA Episode Link: 248: Joy and Lot’s Untitled Wife w/ Elle Grover Fricks
Episode Length: 45:38
Published Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2021 01:00:00 -0800
Session 6
About this episode:

Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks go through a Hebrew lesson on joy and explore the account of Lot’s wife, examining what is said and what is not said about this character.

Learning Hebrew with Elle — Joy (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 248

Elle’s Website

Text in Us Podcast

Lot’s Wife (crag) — Wikipedia

Sanhedrin (tractate) — Wikipedia

“Lot’s Wife” by Kristine Batey

“Women and Torah: Ancient and Modern Midrashim” by Janelle Glick

Transcript for BEMA 248

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA 248: Joy and Lot’s Untitled Wife w/ Elle Grover Fricks - Study Notes

Title & Source Summary

Episode: 248 - Joy and Lot’s Untitled Wife w/ Elle Grover Fricks Hosts: Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks Focus: Hebrew words for joy and the story of Lot’s wife (Genesis 19)

This episode offers a Hebrew lesson on the rich tapestry of words for joy in the biblical text, followed by an exploration of the story of Lot’s wife through the lens of reception history. Elle Grover Fricks examines how the concept of joy appears 921 times in Scripture through six distinct Hebrew words, each with unique imagery and meaning. The second half critically analyzes centuries of interpretation regarding Lot’s wife, challenging sexist readings and offering an alternative understanding rooted in holiness, covenant, and compassion.

Key Takeaways

  • The concept of joy appears 921 times in the Hebrew Bible, making it far more frequent than “do not fear” which appears only 300 times
  • Six primary Hebrew words convey different physical expressions of joy: cheerfulness, leaping like a horse, spinning in circles, jumping, and shouting
  • God describes Himself as leaping and spinning for joy over His people, challenging sterile or emotionless conceptions of the divine
  • The story of Lot’s wife has been heavily overlaid with sexist interpretations throughout church history
  • Her namelessness in the text may intentionally emphasize Lot’s culpability and responsibility rather than indicating her lack of value
  • The word translated “pillar” actually means “garrison” everywhere else in Scripture
  • Salt in Torah represents purity, holiness, and covenant, not merely preservation or flavor
  • An alternative reading sees Lot’s wife as a holy witness who mourned the city’s lost potential rather than a disobedient, materialistic woman

Main Concepts & Theories

The Six Hebrew Words for Joy

1. Sameach - The baseline word meaning cheerful or rejoicing, often with a community dimension. First mentioned in Exodus 4:14 when God tells Moses that Aaron “will come out to meet you with joy in his heart.” Used in Modern Hebrew for holidays (Chag Sameach - Happy Holidays).

2. Chedvah - Borrowed from Akkadian, appearing in later biblical texts. Originally used in Mesopotamian culture in reference to the god Enlil and his festival. Nehemiah 8:10 subversively uses this word: “The joy (chedvah) of the Lord is your strength,” replacing Enlil with YHWH in the cultural framework.

3. Shush - Picture: to leap around for joy like a horse, similar to when pets get “the zoomies.” Deuteronomy 28:63 describes God Himself as “shushing” over His people to do them good. This challenges distant, emotionless conceptions of God.

4. Gil - Means to spin for joy, used for circle dances (hora in modern Judaism) and even describes planets spinning for joy in the Psalms. Zephaniah 3:17 uses this word to describe God spinning for joy over His people. The imagery evokes small children dancing by spinning in circles or the circle dancing in Fiddler on the Roof.

5. Alaz - To jump for joy, as people do at concerts or weddings. Psalm 96 contains four different words for joy in just a few verses, showing the rich variety translators must navigate. Isaiah prophesies that the lame will alaz, emphasizing the full-bodied, energetic nature of biblical worship.

6. Ronin - An onomatopoeia representing a shout for joy, sounding like “rananananana” at a high pitch. The word specifically imitates the sound of a flag pole vibrating in the wind. First appears in Leviticus 9 in a worship context when God shows up and the people fall on their faces and shout for joy. Often used in war contexts as a battle cry.

Implications for Worship and Emotional Expression

The overwhelming frequency and physical diversity of joy expressions in Scripture challenges several modern Christian assumptions:

  • That worship should be solemn, quiet, and restrained
  • That emotions are weak or irrational compared to stoic rationality
  • That displaying emotion equals vulnerability that should be avoided
  • That God prefers emotionless devotion

The biblical pattern shows God commanding joy 921 times and describing Himself using highly physical, emotional language. This invites believers to experiment with diverse expressions of joy rather than conforming to cultural preferences disguised as God’s character.

Reception History: Understanding How We Read Scripture

Reception history examines how communities have interpreted biblical texts over time. This approach is valuable because:

  • Biblical interpretation reflects and shapes cultural norms, especially regarding gender
  • Stories told weekly in churches impact the well-being of congregants
  • We can perpetuate injustice or champion justice through how we tell biblical narratives
  • Examining our interpretive traditions helps identify where we’ve added to the text
The Story of Lot’s Wife: What the Text Actually Says

Genesis 19 Context: Angels warn Lot that Sodom will be destroyed. Lot hesitates to leave. The angels physically lead Lot, his wife, and daughters out, commanding them not to look back. Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a “netziv melach.”

Key Textual Observations:

  • Lot’s wife receives no name in the biblical text
  • She is described in relation to Lot, emphasizing his responsibility
  • The word for her looking is the same used when Abraham gazes at the stars (Genesis 17)
  • “Netziv” is translated “pillar” only this once; everywhere else it means “garrison”
  • No explicit reason is given for why she looked back
  • No commentary about her motivations or heart condition appears in the text
Problematic Interpretive Traditions

Talmudic Interpretations (Tractate Sanhedrin, Daf 108):

  • She was punished for bad hospitality, refusing to give guests salt
  • She intentionally alerted neighbors about the guests, bringing the mob to the house
  • She represents the “shrewish wife” archetype, annoyed at her husband’s hospitality

Early Church Fathers (Origen):

  • Diminished her from a garrison to a “little statue of salt”
  • Claimed she turned because she was “terrified by the excessive crackling of flames”
  • Allegorized her as “the flesh” versus Lot as “rational understanding in the manly soul”
  • Stated: “It is the flesh who always looks to vices, which when the soul is proceeding to salvation, looks backward and seeks after pleasures”

Modern Implications: These interpretations, repeated through 2015 and beyond, have:

  • Portrayed women as inherently more prone to sin
  • Linked femininity with carnality, irrationality, and moral weakness
  • Abetted abuse, violence, and exclusion of women from church leadership
  • Added extensive commentary not present in the biblical text
An Alternative Reading: The Holy Witness

The Meaning of Salt in Torah: Salt appears three times in Torah with consistent symbolism:

  1. Exodus - Holy incense for tabernacle worship, described as “pure and holy”
  2. Leviticus - Required in sacrifices, symbolizing covenant purity
  3. Additional sacrificial contexts - Consistently linked to holiness and covenant

Salt’s Etymology: The Hebrew word “melach” carries the picture of something being pulverized into small crystals.

Alternative Interpretation: Rather than disobedience or materialism, Lot’s wife’s turning may represent:

  • Grief over the city’s destruction and lost human potential
  • Recognition of what the city could have been if it had repented (like Nineveh in Jonah)
  • A holy witness who saw purity and holiness amid the darkness
  • Her transformation into salt marks her as a testimony of the city’s potential
  • The pulverization imagery reflects her broken heart over the destruction
  • God memorializes her compassion rather than punishing her disobedience

This reading connects to Abraham’s intercession in Genesis 18, where he negotiates with God about saving the city. If Abraham had continued his chutzpah and kept negotiating, perhaps the city wouldn’t have been destroyed. Lot’s wife’s backward glance becomes an act of solidarity with those left behind rather than longing for material comfort.

Hermeneutical Principles

Judging with a Good Eye vs. Bad Eye: When Scripture provides minimal detail, readers must choose whether to assume good or bad motivations. Jesus’ teaching about good eye/bad eye vision applies to how we read ambiguous texts.

Notice What’s Missing: The text never describes Lot’s wife as:

  • Materialistic
  • Disobedient
  • Longing for her old life
  • Lacking faith
  • Deserving punishment

These are all interpretive additions from commentators.

Notice What’s Present: The text does emphasize:

  • Lot’s hesitation and the angels physically dragging the family out
  • Lot offering his daughters to a violent mob
  • Lot’s responsibility as the head of household
  • The wife’s namelessness focusing attention on Lot’s culpability
The Naming of Idit

Midrash Sonoma (400-600 CE) names her Idit (Edith in English). The biblical author’s choice to leave her nameless appears intentional rather than indicating her lack of value. In ancient Near Eastern context, being described in relation to a man often emphasized that man’s accountability, not the woman’s insignificance.

Examples & Applications

Worship Communities and Joy Expression

Different Christian traditions embody these Hebrew concepts of joy in varying ways:

  • Pentecostal and charismatic churches often include shouting, jumping, and dancing
  • Some worship services feature circle dancing and physical celebration
  • “Jesus bunny hop lines” occur in certain Jerusalem worship gatherings
  • Individual believers can experiment with different expressions privately if uncomfortable doing so publicly

The biblical precedent supports full-bodied, emotionally expressive worship rather than restrained solemnity as the singular “proper” form.

Challenging Sexist Interpretations

When teaching Genesis 19:

  • Spend time on Lot’s problematic actions (offering daughters to mob, hesitating to leave)
  • Avoid spending disproportionate time critiquing Lot’s wife
  • Acknowledge the minimal textual information rather than embellishing
  • Consider alternative readings that don’t reinforce harmful gender stereotypes
  • Examine what assumptions we bring about women, emotion, and rationality
Reading Scripture with Humility

The story of Lot’s wife demonstrates how:

  • Cultural biases shape interpretation across generations
  • What we think is “biblical” may actually be layers of commentary
  • Interpretive traditions can cause real harm to real people
  • We should hold our readings lightly, recognizing their provisional nature
  • Multiple faithful readings may exist for texts with minimal detail
Salt Symbolism in Christian Teaching

Common Christian teaching describes believers as “salt of the earth” because salt:

  • Preserves food
  • Enhances flavor

This may be accurate, but Torah’s use of salt emphasizes:

  • Purity and holiness
  • Covenant relationship
  • Sacrificial worship
  • Transformation (pulverization)

Expanding salt imagery to include Torah’s emphasis enriches understanding of what it means to be salt in the world.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

Hebrew Language Study
  • Examining other word families with multiple Hebrew terms translated by single English words
  • Understanding how Akkadian loanwords appear in later biblical texts
  • Exploring onomatopoeia and sound symbolism in Hebrew
  • Comparing biblical Hebrew with Modern Hebrew usage
  • Learning to use interlinear Bibles and concordances for word studies
Reception History Studies
  • Tracking how other biblical women have been interpreted through history
  • Examining how gender assumptions have shaped biblical interpretation
  • Comparing Jewish and Christian interpretive traditions on the same texts
  • Understanding how cultural contexts influence what interpreters emphasize
  • Identifying other places where minimal text has received maximal commentary
Genesis 18-19 Context
  • Abraham’s intercession and the theology of the righteous remnant
  • The concept of chutzpah in relationship with God
  • Comparing Sodom’s potential repentance with Nineveh’s actual repentance (Jonah)
  • The broader biblical theme of hospitality and treatment of strangers
  • How the Sodom narrative has been used and misused in various contexts
Symbolism and Imagery in Torah
  • Comprehensive study of salt’s uses throughout Scripture
  • Understanding garrison (netziv) imagery in military and prophetic contexts
  • Examining other substances used symbolically (honey, oil, wine, etc.)
  • Tracking covenant language and imagery across biblical books
Emotional Expression and Theology
  • Biblical anthropology: How Scripture describes human emotions
  • God’s emotions: anger, joy, grief, jealousy, compassion
  • The relationship between rationality and emotion in biblical thinking
  • Cultural influences on how different communities express worship
  • Theological foundations for embodied worship practices
Women in Genesis
  • Sarah’s agency and decision-making
  • Hagar’s encounters with God
  • Rebekah’s initiative in the Jacob narrative
  • Rachel and Leah’s complex relationship
  • Tamar’s cleverness and justice-seeking
  • How women’s namelessness/naming functions throughout Genesis

Comprehension Questions

  1. How do the six Hebrew words for joy (sameach, chedvah, shush, gil, alaz, ronin) differ from one another, and what does this diversity suggest about biblical approaches to worship and emotional expression?

  2. What is reception history, and why is it important to examine how biblical texts have been interpreted over time, particularly regarding gender?

  3. Compare what the biblical text actually says about Lot’s wife with the interpretations offered by Talmudic sources and early church fathers like Origen. What assumptions or cultural biases appear in these interpretive traditions?

  4. How does salt function symbolically in Torah (specifically in Exodus and Leviticus), and how might this inform an alternative reading of Lot’s wife’s transformation?

  5. The word “netziv” is translated as “pillar” only when describing Lot’s wife but means “garrison” everywhere else. What implications might this translation choice have for understanding the story?

Summary

Episode 248 provides a rich Hebrew lesson on joy and a thoughtful reconsideration of Lot’s wife. Elle Grover Fricks demonstrates that joy appears 921 times in Scripture through six distinct Hebrew words, each describing physical expressions like leaping, spinning, jumping, and shouting. These words reveal a God who Himself leaps and spins for joy over His people, challenging sterile conceptions of proper worship and inviting believers into diverse, embodied expressions of celebration.

The examination of Lot’s wife exposes how interpretive traditions have layered sexist assumptions onto a sparse biblical text. For centuries, commentators portrayed her as shrewish, gossipy, materialistic, disobedient, and representative of the flesh’s weakness compared to rational masculinity. These interpretations have real consequences, contributing to the abuse, exclusion, and devaluation of women in Christian communities.

An alternative reading considers salt’s biblical symbolism of purity, holiness, and covenant. Rather than punishment for disobedience, Lot’s wife’s transformation might memorialize her compassion and grief over the city’s lost potential. Her backward glance echoes Abraham’s intercession, seeing what could have been if the people had repented. This interpretation honors her as a holy witness whose pulverized heart aligned with those left behind.

The episode challenges listeners to examine what assumptions they bring to Scripture, to notice where cultural preferences masquerade as God’s character, and to consider how their interpretations impact vulnerable communities. Whether discussing joy or difficult narratives like Lot’s wife, the call is toward humility, critical thinking, and choosing to read with a good eye rather than a bad eye when the text leaves space for interpretation.

Study notes created for BEMA Discipleship podcast episode 248. For more resources and discussion guides, visit bemadiscipleship.com

Edit | Previous | Next