The Choices We Make – Genesis chapter 13
A tale of 2 choices. Abram and Lot.
The Context
Chapter 12, Abram’s deception of Pharaoh, “throwing his wife Sarah under the bus”. But God rescues Abram and Sarah from Egypt.
The Return to Canaan
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
He returns to worship God at Bethel. Now, with renewed faith, has he learned his lesson?
The Conflict
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarrelling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
Genesis 13:1-2
Abram’s nephew Lot also had great herds and possessions. The land was too small for both communities. And the Canaanites and Perrizites looked on, and saw division and squabbling, when they should have been able to see faith in the one true God.
The Choice
So Abram said to Lot, ‘Let’s not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.’ 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan towards Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out towards the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
Genesis 13:1-2
Abraham wisely suggests a plan. ‘We are family, we should not quarrel. Lot, take whichever part of the land you desire, and I will take the other.’ He put Lot before himself, and so also put God first. The older, in grace and faith, gives place to the younger. Abram is no longer marked by selfish desire for safety, looking firstly for they interest of others.
Lot’s choice: the best part, the well watered Jordan valley. A “paradise”. But he forgot the health of his soul, and his family.
Abram’s choice: to the west, to the land of God’s promise.
The Consequences
Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever. 16 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. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.’
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Genesis 13:1-2
Lot’s choice leads downward. He eventually loses everything. Herds, wealth, wife, honour, peace of heart and even his self-respect, when deceived into incest by his two daughters.
Yet God’s grace is at work even here. Ruth (a descendant of Moab, son of Lot’s eldest daughter) is ancestor of both King David and Jesus.
But Abram draws near to God, v18, and makes another altar to worship the living God.
New International Version – UK (NIVUK)
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