{"id":4679,"date":"2020-01-24T18:03:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T00:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4679"},"modified":"2023-07-28T07:43:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T13:43:43","slug":"genesis-131-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4679","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 13:1-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

13\u00a0<\/span>Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

2\u00a0<\/sup>Abram\u00a0was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

3\u00a0<\/sup>And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>to the\u00a0place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram\u00a0called on the name of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup>Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>And there was\u00a0strife between the herdsmen of Abram\u2019s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot\u2019s livestock.\u00a0The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8\u00a0<\/sup>So Abram said to Lot,\u00a0\u201cPlease let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we\u00a0are brethren.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

9\u00a0<\/sup>Is\u00a0not the whole land before you? Please\u00a0separate from me.\u00a0If\u00a0you take\u00a0the left, then I will go to the right; or, if\u00a0you go\u00a0to the right, then I will go to the left.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

10\u00a0<\/sup>And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all\u00a0the plain of Jordan, that it\u00a0was\u00a0well watered everywhere (before the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah)\u00a0like the garden of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot\u00a0dwelt in the cities of the plain and\u00a0pitched\u00a0his tent even as far as Sodom.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>But the men of Sodom\u00a0were\u00a0exceedingly wicked and\u00a0sinful against the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

Abram, probably aware of how far from God’s will he had been in Egypt, returned not just to the land God had given him, but to Bethel, where he had first lived and where he had built an altar to God. Once again Abram called on the name of the Lord.<\/h3>\n

Morris repeats many of the applications often given with this passage, although the Bible itself doesn’t state any of them.<\/h3>\n

Lot and his servants … no longer felt the reverent admiration they once had felt for Abram, and began to be self-seeking. … This situation was also aggravated by the great wealth they had observed in Egypt, including the considerable portion of it with which they themselves had returned. … Material possessions of God’s people, especially if they have been acquired by worldly methods, often lead to such problems.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Abram had learned that God could take care of his needs no matter where he was, so that he offered Lot the choice of fields. As the older man and the leader of the clan, Abram by all rights should have had priority; but he graciously offered it to Lot. Instead of deferring to Abram, as he should have done, Lot seized the opportunity to his own advantage (as he thought). \u2014 Morris, pages 302-303<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The region of these cities [on the plain of the Jordan River] now is almost unbearably hot and desolate, but in those early days there was still abundant rainfall in the region. The temperature, also, was much more pleasant than now, probably because of the lingering effects of the great Ice Age far to the north. According to verse 10, the Jordanian plain was “as the garden of the Lord.”<\/span><\/h3>\n

That was what Lot saw, as he lifted up his eyes. Abram, on the other hand, “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 \u2014 Morris, page 303<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At that time, the land of Canaan was sparsely inhabited, with most of the settlements concentrated along the seacoast, along the northern plain of Esdraelon, and here along the Jordanian plain. Abram had the more rugged hill and desert country almost to himself, in what is now termed the Negev (usually translated simply as “the south, in the KJV).<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lot first “pitched his tent toward Sodom,” but soon he “dwelt in Sodom” (Genesis 14:12<\/span><\/a>), and finally “sat in the gate of Sodom” (Genesis 19:1<\/span><\/a>) as one of its business leaders. \u2014 Morris, page 304.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of the previous section, despite Abram’s lack of faith and multiple sins, God already began to fulfill the material aspect of the blessing he promised Abram by moving Pharaoh to allow Abram to keep the vast wealth he had received in exchange for Sarai in Genesis 12:16<\/span><\/a> (another clear indication that the covenant does not depend on obedience!) That material wealth provides the basis for focusing on the provision of the land\u2014specifically, establishing Abram’s “hold” on and reputation in Canaan, the Land of Promise. \u2014 Wechsler, page 180.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The competition for this fruitful land was fierce [“Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.”]\u2014all the more so due to the increased wealth in livestock and servants that Abram had acquired in Egypt from Pharaoh, and that in addition to the large entourage that Abram had already brought with him from Mesopotamia (conservatively numbering at least 500 people and their necessary provision). \u2014 Wechsler, page 180.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The [current] inhospitable, barren state of that portion of the upper Negev and lower Jordan Valley (i.e., the “Dead Sea”) region is the direct result of the manner by which God judged the grievous sins of the Canaanites who lived there.<\/span><\/h3>\n

The sudden transformation of this region which was well watered and filled with life\u2014”like the garden of the Lord”\u2014to a region whose land and water are all but dead<\/em> serves not only as an enduring reminder throughout redemption history of the consequences of sin<\/em> (2 Peter 2:6<\/span><\/a>), but also sets up and reinforces the prophetic expectation of God bringing life<\/em> back to that very same region in the same sudden way when He establishes His kingdom in conquest of sin<\/em> (see Ezekiel 47:8-12). \u2014 Wechsler, page 181.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lot was certainly wrong to court evil and lose control of his family the way he did. But the only comment the Bible makes about Lot’s moral character and spiritual state is found in 2 Peter 2:7-8: And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds).<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

In other words, Lot was likely no worse than any of us, and he had faith so that God considered him righteous. I think it’s important to remember that about Lot along with his failings.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13\u00a0Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. 2\u00a0Abram\u00a0was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3\u00a0And he went on his journey from the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4679"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8202,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4679\/revisions\/8202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}