Haughty Sodomites punished

 Wisdom 10 ] She delivered the just man who fled from the wicked that were perishing, when the fire came down upon Pentapolis: [7] Whose land for a testimony of their wickedness is desolate, and smoketh to this day, and the trees bear fruits that ripen not, and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an incredulous soul. [8] For regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that they were ignorant of good things, but they left also unto men a memorial of their folly, so that in the things in which they sinned, they could not so much as lie hid. [9] But wisdom hath delivered from sorrow them that attend upon her. [10] She conducted the just, when he fled from his brother's wrath, through the right ways, and shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him the knowledge of the holy things, made him honourable in his labours, and accomplished his labours. 

[6] "The just man": Lot.-- Ibid.

[6] "Pentapolis": The land of the five cities, Sodom, Gomorrha, etc

Saint Bonaventure on the destruction of the Pentapolis for Sodomy:

She delivered the just man who fled from the wicked that were perishing. Here he shows the benefit of the wisdom given to the person of Lot when he was delivered from the destruction of Sodom, and, firstly, he treats of the deliverance of Lot; secondly, the punishment of the others: when the fire came down upon Pentapolis; thirdly, the equity of the punishment: For regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that they were ignorant of good things.

(Verse 6). She, namely, wisdom, the just man, ‘namely, Lot’ as a Gloss[520] says; also 2 Peter 2:8 says of him: ‘In sight and hearing he was just’; from the wicked that were perishing, namely, from association with the wicked who were perishing, that is, of the people of Sodom; She delivered the just man who fled, also from association with sin, according to 2 Peter 2:7: ‘And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conduct of the wicked’ and from association with punishment; Genesis 19:14ff. speaks of both deliverances. When the fire came down, sent from heaven not from earth; Genesis 19:24: ‘The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven’; upon Pentapolis, Gloss[521]: ‘That is, in the region of the five towns’, namely, Sodom, Gomorrah, Bela, Zeboiim and Admah.

(Verse 7). To whom, namely, to those perishing, for a testimony of their wickedness, their ardent and fetid lust, that smokes, by putting out smoke from itself; so in Psalm 17:9: ‘There went up a smoke in his wrath’; whose land is desolate, namely, of plants and trees; Job 28:5: ‘The land, out of which bread grew in its place, has been burnt[522]by fire’; also Psalm 106:34: ‘A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein’. And at a certain,[523] namely, determined, time trees bearing fruit of no value, as is said, because in that place fruits are produced that are externally beautiful but within are burnt up like ashes; Gloss[524]: ‘They illustrate that without the fruit of penitence souls will burn in hell for eternity’. And a pillar, that is, a statue of salt, so that all who hear and see are seasoned  with the salt of wisdom against the corruption of carnal concupiscence or foolishness; I say, a pillar standing as a monument, that is, a record; Luke 17:32: ‘Remember Lot’s wife’; a monument, I say, of an incredulous soul, that is, of the disbelief of Lot’s wife[525] who looked back, being unwilling to believe the Angel who forbade this, as is clear in Genesis 19:17 and 26.

Note here that the desolate land is a witness to them of the worthlessness of their good works; smoke, of their blindness from carnal concupiscence; fruits that ripen not, of their evil way of life; the pillar of salt, of their outpouring of carnal concupiscence and their corruptive[526] rottenness.   

   (Verse 8). For wisdom, as if to say: and they are rightly punished in this way; for regarding not wisdom, that is, The people of Sodom rejecting it and so they are unhappy; so above in Wisdom 3:11: For those who reject wisdom, and discipline, are unhappy; so they perished in accord with Baruch 3:28: ‘Because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly’; not only did they perish because they bypassed wisdom, but they left also unto all a memorial of their folly. And this is what follows: they did not only slip in this, that they were ignorant of good things. I say, for regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that they were ignorant, an ignorance of which 1 Corinthians 14:38 says: ‘But a person who knows not, shall not be known’; good things, namely, what pertains to life and one’s own salvation. But of their folly, because ‘they are compared to senseless beasts and have become like to them’;[527] they left also unto all a memorial of their folly, in an evil reputation, so that in the things in which they sinned, that is, in the sins they committed, they could not so much as lie hid, but they sinned publicly; Isaiah 3:9: ‘They proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it’. So the Lord wanted their sins to be made public to the whole world by their public punishment.