The question which
a religious Oriental put to himself in ancient times at Usdum was
substantially that which his descendant to-day puts to himself at
Kosseir. "Why is this region thus blasted?" "Whence these pillars of
salt?" or "Whence these blocks of granite?" "What aroused the vengeance
of Jehovah or of Allah to work these miracles of desolation?"

And, just as Maxime Du Camp recorded the answer of the modern Shemite at
Kosseir, so the compilers of the Jewish sacred books recorded the answer
of the ancient Shemite at the Dead Sea; just as Allah at Kosseir blasted
the land and transformed the melons into boulders which are seen to this
day, so Jehovah at Usdum blasted the land and transformed Lot's wife
into a pillar of salt, which is seen to this day.

No more difficulty was encountered in the formation of the Lot legend,
to account for that rock resembling the human form, than in the
formation of the Niobe legend, which accounted for a supposed
resemblance in the rock at Sipylos: it grew up just as we have seen
thousands of similar myths and legends grow up about striking natural
appearances in every early home of the human race. Being thus consonant
with the universal view regarding the relation of physical geography to
the divine government, it became a treasure of the Jewish nation and
of the Christian Church--a treasure not only to be guarded against
all hostile intrusion, but to be increased, as we shall see, by the
myth-making powers of Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans for thousands
of years. The spot where the myth originated was carefully kept in mind;
indeed, it could not escape, for in that place alone were constantly
seen the phenomena which gave rise to it. We have a steady chain of
testimony through the ages, all pointing to the salt pillar as the
irrefragable evidence of divine judgment. That great theological test of
truth, the dictum of St. Vincent of Lerins, would certainly prove
that the pillar was Lot's wife, for it was believed so to be by Jews,
Christians, and Mohammedans from the earliest period down to a time
almost within present memory--"always, everywhere, and by all." It would
stand perfectly the ancient test insisted upon by Cardinal Newman,"
Securus judicat orbis terrarum."

For, ever since the earliest days of Christianity, the identity of the
salt pillar with Lot's wife has been universally held and supported by
passages in Genesis, in St. Luke's Gospel, and in the Second Epistle o