Abraham, Part 4 - The Parting of the Ways

Genesis 13v5-18

1^st October 2010

After Abraham had abandoned his inheritance and betrayed his wife, God rescued them from Egypt. They returned to Canaan with considerable wealth, particularly in livestock. However:

Genesis 13:5-7
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 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 quarrelling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

Wealth is not necessarily a blessing. If we don't know how to handle it, it can be a curse. Abraham and Lot didn't know how to live together without their possessions causing conflict between them. It was bad enough that these family members were arguing. It was worse that they were doing so in the presence of the non-believers around them. Something had to be done. Abraham proposed a solution:

Genesis 13:8-9
So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 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."

Abraham knew now that it would be better to divide the land with Lot than to fight him, even though God had promised the whole land to Abraham. As followers of the Most High God, we don't need to quarrel with our family and friends, or our neighbours. We need only to obey God, to do what's right, and trust Him.

This was a generous offer. Abraham was the senior partner. Indeed, God had told Abraham to leave his father's household and travel to Canaan. So Lot shouldn't have been there at all. But Abraham had learned some lessons from the debacle in Egypt. He'd learned that "looking after number one" is not the godly way to live. Instead of keeping the best for himself, he offered the choice of land to Lot.

Genesis 13:10-13
Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, towards Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out towards the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

I'm told that the plain of the Jordan is very beautiful even today but, in those days, before God's judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, it was as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. However, it was populated by very sinful cities. Nevertheless, Lot chose the good pasture, the easy living, the comfortable life, and pitched his tents near Sodom. For Lot, staying out of temptation's way was less important than making money and enjoying life. He would pay a high price for this foolishness later.

Abraham moved west, into the hill country of Canaan. The pasture was poorer but the spiritual atmosphere was purer. he was well away from the wicked cities of the plain.

And, after Abraham had allowed Lot to take the best of the land, The Lord God reiterated His promise to give Abraham "All the land".

Genesis 13:14-18
The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever. 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."
So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

As Jesus was to remind us:

Matthew 5v5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

This is a quote from:

Psalm 37v11
the meek will inherit the land

(In the Matthew passage, our English Bibles tend to translate as "earth" a word which could equally well be translated as "land")

And in this way, as in many others, Abraham is our example. He submitted to the choice of the person that was fighting him. He accepted what seems to the human mind to be second best. And God rewarded him with the entire land.

How blessed is the peace that we can know when we choose not to fight for what we want, but trust God to give us what He wants us to have.