Genesis 13 - Decided by Lot
Abram and Lot Separate
1 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.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 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 quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders 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 toward 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 toward the east. The two men parted company:
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plainand pitched his tents near Sodom.
13 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[a] forever.
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.
Footnotes:
- Genesis 13:15 Or seed; also in verse 16
Observation Questions
Where did Abram go when he left Egypt? (verses 1, 3, 12, 18)
Did Abram's wife go with him? (verse 1)
Who and what went with Abram? (verses 1, 2, 5, 11, 14-17)
Had Abram become very wealthy? (verse 2)
What is significant about the place where Abram went in verse 3-4?
Why did Abram and Lot decide to part ways? (verse 5-12)
Who initiated the separation between Abram and Lot? (verse 8)
How did Lot decide his choice of land? (verse 10-11)
Where did Lot and Abram pitch their tents? (verse 12, 18)
What is the reason God gives for Abram walking through the land? (verse 17)
Interpretation Questions
Why had Abram become very wealthy? (Genesis 12:2-3, 12:5, 12:10-20, 14:18-24)
What would be significant about planting a tamarisk tree? (Genesis 13:14-17, 21, 1 Samuel 22 & 31)
What does this chapter reveal about the character and nature of God?
What does this chapter reveal about the character and nature of the people in this chapter?
When you pitch your tents near Sodom, what ends up happening?
What kind of atmosphere was around the tents of Lot and Abram in the end of this chapter?
Thoughts
"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.
And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s.
The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time."
Galatians 3
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a]
Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain?
So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c]
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”[d]
So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”[e]
Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”[f]
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”[g]
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[h]
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[i]meaning one person, who is Christ.
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressionsuntil the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.
A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Before the coming of this faith,[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Footnotes:
- Galatians 3:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
- Galatians 3:4 Or suffered
- Galatians 3:6 Gen. 15:6
- Galatians 3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18
- Galatians 3:10 Deut. 27:26
- Galatians 3:11 Hab. 2:4
- Galatians 3:12 Lev. 18:5
- Galatians 3:13 Deut. 21:23
- Galatians 3:16 Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7
- Galatians 3:23 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus … 23 Before faith came
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