13.1-18

Genesis

Returning from Egypt, Abram comes back a very rich man, returning to the Northern region of Canaan between Bethel and Ai (v3). The first biblical mention of silver and gold as a possession of man (v2) was due to Egyptian generosity at Abram's departure (12:17ff). Lot was not mentioned during Abram's sojourn into Egypt, but he is again prominent in the history of the Hebrew people as he and Abram dealt with the strife between their herdsmen over the lack of resources to supply both their livestock (vv7-8). Despite Lot being Abram's nephew, both men were leaders of their own separate families and herds, and both were contemporaries of each other. Abram was at least 80 years old, and Lot was likely the same, so Abram referred to Lot as his brother (v8). Abram demonstrated a nature that was more Godly than Lot in deferring to Lot's choice of which of the lands he would take for his herds and people as they separated. Note the contrast of God's response. In response to Abram's offer, Lot greedily "lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere...So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other." (vv10-11). Lot inherited the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram did not have a greedy countenance, but rather God demonstrates the reward for a righteous nature, using the same language that described Lot's greed, "And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;" And the remainder of the chapter reinforces the blessings of God's covenant with Abram, and Abrams' response of worship to God.

CHAPTER 13

Abram and Lot Separate

1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.
3 And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called upon the name of Yahweh.
5 Now Lot, who was going with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6 And the land could not sustain them while living together, for their possessions were so abundant that they were not able to live together.
7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living then in the land.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
9 “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”
10 Then Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.
11 So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom.
13 Now the men of Sodom were evil and sinners, exceedingly so, against Yahweh.
14 And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your seed forever.
16 “And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.
17 “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.