Chapter 13

THEME: Abraham separates from Lot; Lot goes to Sodom; God appears to Abraham and reaffirms His promise

 

In chapter 13 we see the return of Abram from the land of Egypt. Abram and Lot leave Egypt and return to the Land of Promise. Lot separates from Abram and goes to Sodom, and then God appears to Abram for the third time. As long as Abram is in the land of Egypt and as long as he is still holding on to Lot, God does not appear to him. The minute that he comes back to the land and there is the separation from Lot, God appears to him.

Abraham Separates From Lot (13:1-9)

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

 

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold [Gen. 13:1-2].

 

Abram was the John D. Rockefeller of that day. He was a very wealthy man at this time.

 

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 [Gen. 13:3].

 

Abram went far north of Jerusalem. He had come to the south, around Hebron, and now he goes north of Jerusalem to Bethel.

 

Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD [Gen. 13:4].

 

Although he may stumble and fall, this man comes back to God. There is always a way back to the altar for Abram, the prodigal son, and any man or woman who wants to come back to God. The arms of the Father are open to receive them.

 

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents [Gen. 13:5].

 

Lot did pretty well down in the land of Egypt also.

 

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.

 

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 [Gen. 13:6-7].

 

The Word of God is a marvelous Word if you just let it speak to you. Will you notice this: Abram got two things in the land of Egypt which caused him untold grief. One was riches, and the second was a little Egyptian maid by the name of Hagar. We will see more about her later. But now he has riches, and it causes him and Lot to have to separate -- there is strife between them.

 

Did you notice this statement: "And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land?" Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen are fighting, and then Abram and Lot disagree. The very interesting thing is that then the Canaanite probably whispered over to the Perizzite, "Look at them! Fightin' again! When they came into this land and built an altar to the living and true God, how we looked up to Abram! When he first came here, we thought he was such a wonderful man. We knew he was honest, we knew he was truthful, but look at him now. Look at the strife they're having!" I do not think the Perizzite and the Canaanite were very well impressed by Abram and Lot at this time.

 

Let me say this to you, although it may step on your toes. I do not know your town, I do not know where you live, but if yours is like other towns and like the town I came from, the Methodists and the Baptists and the Presbyterians don't get along, and there is fighting. And when there are these internal fights in a church today, the unsaved man on the outside knows about it. May I say to you, he then says, "If that's Christianity, I don't want any part of it. I can get a fight outside. I don't need to join the church to get a fight." The Lord Jesus did not say to His own, nor to the church today, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you're fundamental and you organize a church." Oh, no! He said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). The "Perizzite" and the "Canaanite" -- those old rascals -- know when your church is fighting on the inside, my friend.

 

I had an uncle who never came to know the Lord. My aunt used to weep and say, "Oh, he won't listen!" Do you know why? With her lived a sister, another aunt, and I used to go there sometimes on Sundays for dinner. Do you know what we had for dinner? Roast preacher! One of my aunts went to the Methodist church, the other went to the Presbyterian church, and oh, boy, did they try to outdo each other, talking about the preacher and the fights that were going on. I used to watch my uncle. He would just sit there and eat. Then he'd get up to leave and go down to his club for the afternoon. When he would come home in the evening, he wasn't drunk, but he sure had had several drinks. They never won him to Christ. There are a lot of people not being won today, my friend, because of the strife that is inside the church. This is an interesting thing: "the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land." And they still dwell in the land. They are right near your church, by the way.

 

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.

 

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 [Gen. 13:8-9].

 

It is Abram who makes the division. It took a big man to tell Lot this. In other words, Abram is saying that Lot could choose what he wanted and Abram would take what was left.

Lot Goes To Sodom (13:10-13)

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 [Gen. 13:10].

 

That was a beautiful spot in those days.

 

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

 

Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom [Gen. 13:11-12].

 

This is interesting. Probably during all the time Lot spent in that land with Abram, at night he would push back the flap of his tent and look out and say to Mrs. Lot, "Isn't that a beautiful spot down there?" In the morning he would get up and say, "My, it looks so attractive down there!" The grass is always greener in the other pasture. When the day came that Lot could make a decision and go, you know the direction he went. No man falls suddenly. It always takes place over a period of time. You lift the flap of your tent, and you pitch your tent toward Sodom -- and that's the beginning. Lot lifted up his eyes, he saw the plain, and he headed in that direction. That is the biggest mistake he ever made in his life.

 

Lot did not know this:

 

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly [Gen. 13:13].

 

We will see later what happened to Lot and Mrs. Lot and the family down in Sodom.

God Appears To Abraham And Reaffirms His Promise (13:14-18)

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 [Gen. 13:14].

 

"And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him" -- here is the third appearance of God to this man.

 

"Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward." This is the land God is going to give him. As God continued to appear to Abram and later on to the other patriarchs, God put sideboards around that land. In other words, He put a border to it and told them exactly what the land was. He was very specific about it.

 

May I just interject this thought? This ought to get rid of that song, "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." If there ever was a song that needed not to be sung at a funeral, that is the one. Can you imagine Abram looking northward, eastward, southward, and westward and singing "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" when he was standing right in the middle of it? Heaven is a real place as truly as the Promised Land is a real place -- not a beautiful isle of somewhere. It is a very definite place about which the Word of God is quite specific. In the Book of Revelation God makes it so specific; He puts the boundary right around it, and we can know something about it. God does not deal with that which is theoretical, but with that which is actual and real.

 

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

 

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 [Gen. 13:15-16].

 

Notice what God does for this man. He labels the land and tells Abram that he is in it. He also again confirms the fact that Abram is going to have a tremendous offspring -- which he has had.

 

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee [Gen. 13:17].

 

It is very interesting that one of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes this particular section of Genesis, and it gives a first-person account by Abraham of the land. It was a wonderful land in that day.

 

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 [Gen. 13:18].

 

Abram was quite an altar builder. You could always tell where Abram had been because he left a testimony. Man has left a footprint on the moon. They've left a flag up there and a little motto saying, "We have come in peace" -- but they did not leave the Bible, the Word of God. That reveals the difference between the thinking of Abram and the thinking of the age and period in which we live today. The important thing to Abram was an altar to the Lord, and that is exactly what he built.

 

One of the meanings of Mamre is "richness," and Hebron means "communion." That is a marvelous place to dwell. In our day we can be fairly certain that we have located the tree where Abram was, and the well that is there -- I have been there. It is quite an interesting spot between Hebron and Mamre, and that is where Abram dwelt. It is a good place to be: in the place of richness and of communion with God. This seems to have been Abram's home, and this is where he is buried.