GENESIS, CHAPTER THIRTEEN

13:1 AND ABRAM WENT UP OUT OF EGYPT, HE, AND HIS WIFE, AND ALL THAT HE HAD, AND LOT WITH HIM, INTO THE SOUTH.

A.SOUTH: South country or southern part of Palestine around Beer-sheba; often called the Negeb. See the map.

B.He had to go UP (north) to get to the SOUTH (as people in Mexico go north to get to South Texas).

13:2 AND ABRAM [WAS] VERY RICH IN CATTLE, IN SILVER, AND IN GOLD.

13:3 AND HE WENT ON HIS JOURNEYS FROM THE SOUTH EVEN TO BETH-EL, UNTO THE PLACE WHERE HIS TENT HAD BEEN AT THE BEGINNING, BETWEEN BETH-EL AND HAI;

13:4 UNTO THE PLACE OF THE ALTAR, WHICH HE HAD MADE THERE AT THE FIRST: AND THERE ABRAM CALLED ON THE NAME OF THE LORD.

13:5 AND LOT ALSO, WHICH WENT WITH ABRAM, HAD FLOCKS, AND HERDS, AND TENTS.

**So Abram and Lot both were VERY RICH.

13:6 AND THE LAND WAS NOT ABLE TO BEAR THEM, THAT THEY MIGHT DWELL TOGETHER: FOR THEIR SUBSTANCE WAS GREAT, SO THAT THEY COULD NOT DWELL TOGETHER.

13:7 AND THERE WAS A STRIFE BETWEEN THE HERDMEN OF ABRAM'S CATTLE AND THE HERDMEN OF LOT'S CATTLE: AND THE CANAANITE AND THE PERIZZITE DWELLED THEN IN THE LAND.

13:8 AND ABRAM SAID UNTO LOT, LET THERE BE NO STRIFE, I PRAY THEE, BETWEEN ME AND THEE, AND BETWEEN MY HERDMEN AND THY HERDMEN; FOR WE [BE] BRETHREN.

13:9 [IS] NOT THE WHOLE LAND BEFORE THEE? SEPARATE THYSELF, I PRAY THEE, FROM ME: IF [THOU WILT TAKE] THE LEFT HAND, THEN I WILL GO TO THE RIGHT; OR IF [THOU DEPART] TO THE RIGHT HAND, THEN I WILL GO TO THE LEFT.

A.Strife led to separation (cf Paul and Barnabas).

B.See the bigness of Abram -- a beautiful spirit.

We too should be willing to suffer (financially or any way) in order to preserve peace among brethren/family/friends.
More people seem to be interested in getting "their rights" than in doing right.
We never lose by submitting meekly, even to a wrong -- it makes us stronger as the result.

13:10 AND LOT LIFTED UP HIS EYES, AND BEHELD ALL THE PLAIN OF JORDAN, THAT IT [WAS] WELL WATERED EVERY WHERE, BEFORE THE LORD DESTROYED SODOM AND GOMORRAH, [EVEN] AS THE GARDEN OF THE LORD, LIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT, AS THOU COMEST UNTO ZOAR.

13:11 THEN LOT CHOSE HIM ALL THE PLAIN OF JORDAN; AND LOT JOURNEYED EAST: AND THEY SEPARATED THEMSELVES THE ONE FROM THE OTHER.

13:12 ABRAM DWELLED IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, AND LOT DWELLED IN THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN, AND PITCHED [HIS] TENT TOWARD SODOM.

13:13 BUT THE MEN OF SODOM [WERE] WICKED AND SINNERS BEFORE THE LORD EXCEEDINGLY.

A.See map of Jordan Valley; Abram was in Canaan proper.

B.The people in the wicked cities did not know God or want to know about Him and what He would have them do; they were thinking only of themselves and their evil pleasures.

C.If Lot had sought the will of God, he surely could have seen the danger of moving into the society of these people.

D.Lot ignored Sodom and Gomorrah and their influence; desire for material gain can lead to trouble.

It seems he chose the Plains entirely from a financial viewpoint; saw the money instead of looking for a good place for his family and an opportunity to serve God.
More concern for his animals than for his children (not first concern about how this would affect their knowledge of God or their ability to please Him).
This eventually led to the destruction of his family.

E.We continually pressured to make choices about things that really have no eternal value: How make more money? What shall we buy? Where will we go? What do tomorrow? Where vacation?

F.Real issues of life seldom addressed by most: What about our relationship with God? What do children know about God? What would the Savior do, or have me do, in this circumstance?

G.We might go to a bad area with the intention of establishing or strengthening the church -- dangerous to go otherwise (Lot did not go to improve the Cities).

H.We either progress or digress; cf Lot and 1Jn 2:15; Psa 1:1; see the downward trend in his life:

He pitched his tent toward Sodom - 13:12.
He dwelt in Sodom - 14:12.
He worked toward a position of prominence (as perhaps an official in a courthouse) - 19:1; Became a part of Sodom.

I.Lot was a good man in some ways; he tried to live right - 2Pe 2:6-8; but it was hard to do so in the circumstances.

One might do some good by talking to a lost person on a dance floor, or in a swimming pool, but it is difficult enough to accomplish good even in a good environment.
If we live in dirt and trash, some will get on us (the world will get in us).

J.Looking at the division, some might think Abram was the "loser" -- but read the rest of the story!

13:14 AND THE LORD SAID UNTO ABRAM, AFTER THAT LOT WAS SEPARATED FROM HIM, LIFT UP NOW THINE EYES, AND LOOK FROM THE PLACE WHERE THOU ART NORTHWARD, AND SOUTHWARD, AND EASTWARD, AND WESTWARD:

13:15 FOR ALL THE LAND WHICH THOU SEEST, TO THEE WILL I GIVE IT, AND TO THY SEED FOR EVER.

13:16 AND I WILL MAKE THY SEED AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH: SO THAT IF A MAN CAN NUMBER THE DUST OF THE EARTH, [THEN] SHALL THY SEED ALSO BE NUMBERED.

13:17 ARISE, WALK THROUGH THE LAND IN THE LENGTH OF IT AND IN THE BREADTH OF IT; FOR I WILL GIVE IT UNTO THEE.

13:18 THEN ABRAM REMOVED [HIS] TENT, AND CAME AND DWELT IN THE PLAIN OF MAMRE, WHICH [IS] IN HEBRON, AND BUILT THERE AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD.

A.The NATIONAL PROMISE is renewed to Abram; remember that this is before he had even one child.

B.PLAINS OF MAMRE: This area apparently was named for a prom-inent and wealthy tribesman, who became an associate with Abraham - 14:13. A town named Hebron later grew up on the spot - 13:18. Moses seems to make sure his readers unders-tand that Mamre and Hebron are the same.

C.The Oaks of Mamre are still seen by Holy Land visitors.

D.Abram moved to Hebron and began a new kind of life, a more settled, agricultural life.

Return to Genesis