Jo Reads The Bible

Genesis 13. Abram and Lot Separate

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Abram and Lot Separate

  • An interesting turn in events where Abram gives Lot the choice of land. Abram chooses to trust God with whatever happens, compared to in Egypt where he was full of fear and took the matters into his own hands.

 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

  • God didn’t call for Abram to go to Egypt originally, he is now being brought back.

2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 

  • This is because of Pharaoh and Sarai from the previous chapter. Abram accumulated lots of material wealth, but still has no child.

3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 

  • “…to the place where his tent had been at the beginning…” We are now back to where he started
  • Abram continues to make altars to God – what can that look like today for us? Obviously sacrifice is no longer needed but just wondering how can we intentionally create space to worship, remember, and honor God in our everyday lives?

5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

  • Not only are Lot’s and Abram’s flocks so large, but the Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the land as well. There were too many people.
  • We will continue to see disputes between close family in Genesis (Cain/Abel, Abram/Lot, Isaac/Ishmael, Jacob/Esau, Joseph/brothers)

8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 

  • An interesting pattern in Genesis: Eve saw that the fruit was good and took it (Genesis 3:6). The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were beautiful and took them (Genesis 6:2). Lot saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered and chose it. What looked desirable by human eyes ultimately led to destruction.

11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 

  • Another mention of traveling east (Adam, Cain, Babel)

12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 

  • In verse 10 Lot “lifted up his eyes” while here God tells Abram to “lift up your eyes”. Abram waited for God’s guidance.

16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 

  • Humans came from the dust (Genesis 2), and now Abram’s descendants will be as numerous as the dust.

17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

  • I find verse 17 comforting. Like walking through His blessings He gives…

 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

  • Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rebekah, and Leah are buried in Hebron
  • Today there is a famous tree called the Oak of Abraham (or Oak of Mamre) near Hebron. However, it is probably not in the exact location of Mamre in the Bible and the tree is only a few hundred years old.

From Faithlife 2019

Comments

3 responses to “Genesis 13. Abram and Lot Separate”

  1. Nathaniel Largo Avatar
    Nathaniel Largo

    Genesis 13:16-17 – “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

    I think this promise God makes to Abram parallels so nicely with the creation of man in Genesis 2, how he was formed from the dust of the earth. Now a descendant of this original creation has a promise that his descendants are going to be like the dust of the earth. I know thinking scientifically is sometimes silly when we are trying to look for the concrete in the abstract, but if we think about how dust is formed by microscopic particles of everything that is around an area, Adam being formed of dust suggests that he was made up of elements of the divine creation. I don’t know that I have the most concrete thought with this, but I think the imagery and the parallels are really cool to consider.

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  2. Nathaniel Largo Avatar
    Nathaniel Largo

    You didn’t pose any questions in this post, but I just wanted to remark that I really appreciate your connections to previous chapters and verses. The bit about moving East has been a really cool running component of these observations, and I really liked how you pointed out Lot choosing the Jordan Valley because he thought it looked promising, rather than waiting to hear from God. I know that this is my second time through so I am operating with some insights from other chapters, but it still strikes me as being so odd that someone that follows Abram (or any number of people that come after him) so closely would be so oblivious to God’s will. Later on in Genesis, I know there are many times that people refer to God as “The God of my father,” or some such variation rather than just saying “The God of all.”

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    1. Nathaniel Largo Avatar
      Nathaniel Largo

      Whoops, don’t listen to me — you had this question:

      Abram continues to make altars to God – what can that look like today for us? Obviously sacrifice is no longer needed but just wondering how can we intentionally create space to worship, remember, and honor God in our everyday lives?

      You brought something like this up in a previous post, and I like that you’re revisiting it. I think it was the bit about the pleasing aroma after Noah’s sacrifice he made when he got off the ark. I do think the idea of creating a space in our lives that is just for God is a good start. I know people say that God lives in their hearts, and I don’t want to ignore that or say they are not being honest, but I think having a physical, tangible space is more powerful, because it is something you can visit / see yourself, and maybe even remind yourself how long it has been since you’ve given it the attention it deserves. Maybe even something as “simple” as having a space in the house where you always go to when it’s time to read the Bible, or a specific place that you go to when you pray. I don’t think we should limit ourselves to one location in these instances, but maybe the practice of having some place set aside for this sort of thing could make it more meaningful to you as a human, and therefore more meaningful to God when you come to Him.

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