Genesis 13:1-18
Ge 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.
Abram and his family which included Lot his nephew had
now left Egypt and had returned to the southern part of Canaan which was the
Negev.
Ge 13:2
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and
in gold.
Abram was much wealthier now when he added in the gifts
which Pharaoh gave him and allowed him to keep even after he lied to Pharaoh.
The blessing of the LORD, it
maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)
The LORD allowed Abram to amass much wealth at this time.
The LORD is not against wealth, only when it becomes our god or if we use
it for evil purposes.
But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God:
for it is he that giveth thee
power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy
fathers, as it is this day.
(Deuteronomy 8:18)
Ge 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;
Then Abram had returned to the hill country where he
previously had pitched his tent between Beth-el and Ai.
Ai was where he built an altar unto the LORD.
There is no record of him building an altar in Egypt but now that he was
back in Canaan, his faith may have improved quite a lot.
Ge 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.
Here Abram once again begins to worship the LORD publicly
where he made the altar previously.
He probably thanked the LORD for bringing him out of Egypt safely because
Pharaoh could have had him killed for lying to him.
Monarchs have killed for less.
Ge 13:5
And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and
herds, and tents.
Lot also had much wealth in the way of flocks and herds.
Probably the Egyptians gave him much livestock because of the respect
they had for Abram before his lie was brought out.
But if ye will not do so, behold,
ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.
(Numbers 32:23) No one gets
away with any sin because eventually if sin is practiced long enough, it will
somehow outwardly manifest itself in a person’s life.
Ge 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.
Both Lot and Abram had many flocks and herds.
There was so much that they could not find pasture enough to sustain the
flocks in one herd. The Canaanites
who lived there would have already taken the best pasture land for their flocks
leaving much less for anyone else to utilize, especially a very large flock.
Ge 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.
The herdsmen were the ones who tended the flocks and
there was such a large flock that tensions began to crop up between the herdsmen
of Lot and the herdsman of Abram.
The Canaanites who lived there for over a thousand years would have already
known where the best grazing lands would be and would probably have marked off
their lands so no one else would take the land for grazing.
Ge 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.
Abram realizing that the contention between the herdsmen
could escalate into a family feud, he addresses the problem before it gets out
of hand. Range wars were very
damaging events as people died during them.
We had them here in the old west.
Probably one of the most famous was the Lincoln County Range war in New
Mexico which started in 1878 and ended in 1881.
It gave rise to Billy the Kid, a notorious gunfighter.
Basically what started it was revenge killings.
This is what Abram wanted to avoid knowing that He and Lot are family and
did not want to see any strife between them.
Ge 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.
Then Abram being a righteous man gave Lot the choice of
where he would like to graze his flocks.
Abram told him that if he goes into a certain area, then he would go in
the opposite direction so the flocks would be separated and the strife would be
ended between them.
Ge 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.
Then Lot chose the area called the plain of Jordan where
it was well-watered like the garden of Eden.
He chose the place between Jericho and Zoar which was like a tropical
area being 800 (243 m) to 1200 (365 m) feet below sea level where crops could
grow all year which means the grazing lands would be plentiful.
Zoar was located at the southern end of the Dead Sea between the possible
locations of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The plain of Jordan must have extended down the west side of the Dead Sea since
Jericho was north. When God
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, those places were turned into a lake of Sulphur
from all the brimstone which is still visible today.
Ge 13:11
Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot
journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
So Lot journeyed east with all his flocks toward the
plain of Jordan and as a result the flocks of Abram and Lot were able to be
separated so there would be no strife among them.
Ge 13:12
Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in
the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
Abram remained in the land of Canaan and Lot had dwelled
in the cities of the plain of Jordan.
The last phrase in this verse is a warning to all Christians “and pitched
his tent toward Sodom.” The reason that it is a warning is because Sodom
was a very evil city and Lot was a righteous man and he had gotten to close to
the center of sin. How many times
as Christians do we try to see how close we can get to sin without actually
partaking in it fully? How close
have you pitched your tent toward Sodom lately?
Lot will be more involved with Sodom than he actually should have been.
Ge 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners
before the LORD exceedingly.
The adverb “exceedingly” modifies the word sinners that
the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked sinners before the LORD.
Lot never took this into consideration when he was pitching his tent
toward Sodom. It almost seemed that
he turned a blind eye toward Sodom because he may have been basking in the
income he was getting from his massive flocks as they were well-watered which
means they were in good shape and he possibly had a market for them in Sodom and
Gomorrah. We must never sacrifice
our Christian integrity for wealth or income.
Since schools want to teach LGBT in the schools they should start with
Sodom and Gomorrah which testifies to their wickedness.
Soon they would meet their doom as the LORD is very cognizant of their
nefarious activities.
Ge 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:
Abram lost nothing when he gave Lot the choice of where
he wanted to graze his flocks. The
LORD comes to Abram and tells him to look in all directions North, East, West,
and South. Maybe the LORD was
giving Abram a comfort since Lot took the best grazing lands around and Abram’s
flocks were also huge.
Ge 13:15
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed for ever.
Then God builds upon the promise that he made to Abram in
Genesis 12. Here Abram is told to
look in all directions and the LORD is going to give the land to his seed.
Now God introduces a word which tells us that something else is in view
other than the land. He uses the
word “forever.” The covenant of
Sinai would be a conditional covenant based upon the obedience of the nation of
Israel but the covenant of grace, which will last forever, was based upon the
obedience of Christ. Christ
fulfilled the demands of the law of God and was able to impute salvation to all
the named Elect from the foundation of the world to the last one to be saved.
Israel eventually lost the land forever because of their rank
disobedience. The land of Canaan
was symbolic of the New Heavens and New Earth where the true believers in Christ
will live forever. This is the
first mention of forever outside the garden of Eden but it will not be the last
since the covenant of grace is everlasting.
Ge 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.
Then God reaffirms the covenant of Genesis 12 that the
descendants of Abram will be as numerous as the dust of the earth.
No one can number the dust of the earth because this is referencing the
body of believers which will be in the millions over the years.
This is not referencing national Israel because they can be numbered as
we read in a number of genealogies in the Bible especially Ezra and Nehemiah.
Only God knows how many Elect are to be saved because it will be a
worldwide salvation plan and no one knows who is going to be saved or how many
because the number changes every day.
And if ye
be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Ge 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.
Then even though Abram did not own the land, yet God
promised him that his descendants would possess the land.
In the physical realm, the land would be possessed through Joshua who
would move out the majority of the Canaanites.
He was to walk north to south and then east to west and the promise of
God was that he would receive it even though he did not himself receive it but
his descendants through Isaac and Jacob would receive it after they came out of
Egypt. It was about 180 miles (290 km)
north to south and from east to west it was about 80 miles (129 km).
Ge 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.