Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me if to the left, then I will take the right; and if to the right, then I will take the left.
Abram's offer comes after wealth made living together impossible and the herdsmen began to quarrel. The older man, who held God's promise of the land, gives the first choice to his younger nephew. The chapter then shows what each choice was worth.
The quarrel was still only between the herdsmen, but Abram saw where it was heading. He also saw who was watching.
Scripture solemnly records that the Canaanites and the Perizzites were then living in the land. It is as if we are meant to see how serious strife is in front of such unfriendly eyes and ears. There are enemies looking on. They notice with barely hidden satisfaction the strife and contention that is all too common among the people of God. Contention is usually connected with something that belongs to us in this world, something the heart is set on. But having it will not help us grow spiritually — it does the opposite... How beautifully we see this in Abram; he was completely free from the spirit of strife. He meets the spirit of strife with the spirit of surrender: he did not insist on any rights of his own.
There is a sadder side to this. The remedy itself points to a deeper problem.
Something was very wrong when only separating from each other could keep them from strife. We can be sure the man of faith was not absorbed in his possessions. He would never have let his flocks and herds separate him from someone he could have happy fellowship with in the things of God.
Count what Abram was entitled to. Every claim in the situation was his.
In every respect Abram had the right to the first choice, as we would say. He was the elder both in years and in relationship. He was the leading figure in the whole action that had brought them to this distant land. Lot was, as it were, only attached to him. He was noble and generous in surrendering his right to the younger man.
Handing the choice to Lot looks reckless until you see what Abram was holding instead.
Abram says, "Is not the whole land before you?" Take what you want, let us not quarrel. The promise is my portion. I am a complete stranger here, and the city of God is open in glory before me. His heart is on the promises of God, and everything else is nothing in comparison. It might seem a foolish thing to let Lot choose. The right to choose is certainly Abram's own. But his heart is elsewhere, and his faith is entirely free of earthly advantage.
The offer was a test, and Lot failed it by accepting.
It is not merely that he chose the best part that makes our hearts condemn him, but that he made a choice at all... Lot was blind to all this, and he takes on himself to make the choice. Then, as we would expect from such a beginning, he chooses on an entirely worldly principle. He takes the well-watered plain for his flocks and herds, though that brought him close to the corrupt city.
Choosing by what the eye can see is the whole method, and one writer turns it into a question that outlives the story: does anyone ever choose well who chooses for himself?
Abram could say, in the generosity that comes from faith, "Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me"... but Lot was of another mind... Sadly, they were separated by more than distance, and we know the later history of Lot's fatal choice.
The moment Abram let go, God spoke.
Notice how blessed it is to bow before the Lord and refuse to fight for our rights, however natural that is to the heart. The moment Abram gives up to Lot, the Lord appears again. Never was a gift given to man in such clear and generous terms as the one He now gives Abram... "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever."
How sweet for Abram to have trusted in the Lord, leaving the whole question — apparently with Lot, but really with the Lord! When will we learn to be this simple and trusting? We will also learn at the same time that there is never a giving up of self that the Lord does not answer. He answers it in His grace, and in the sweet assurance of it to our souls, with a better gift still through Jesus Christ our Lord!
- Surrender. Abram meets the spirit of strife with the spirit of surrender. He claims nothing from Lot.
- Right. He was the elder, the leader, and the man God had promised the land. The first choice was his, and he gave it away.
- Portion. He could afford to. The promise was his portion, and a heart fixed on the city of God is free of earthly advantage.
- Choice. Lot's fault was not only taking the better half. It was taking the choice at all. He chose by his eyes, and the corrupt city lay just beyond the good grass.
- Return. The moment Abram let go, God gave him the whole land in every direction; no giving up of self goes unanswered.
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan that it was thoroughly watered, before Jehovah had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; as the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as one goes to Zoar.
Genesis 13 records a parting. Abram gives his nephew Lot the first pick of the land. Lot looks out over the Jordan valley before he chooses. The verse sets what Lot saw against what he could not see. The plain looked like paradise, but judgment against it was already fixed.
Lot's first move is to raise his eyes. God later speaks the same words to Abram. That difference decides everything.
What then did Lot do? "He lifted up his eyes." This is always how we act when we are not under the direct power of faith. Whenever we lift up our eyes without God's direction, we are sure to go wrong. I say, without God's direction, because the Lord later tells Abram to lift up his eyes. But that was completely different from Lot's act. Lot's look was only the suggestion of human wisdom and foresight.
A second writer names the step Lot skipped.
He should have depended on the Lord and so given the first choice to his uncle. Instead, "he lifted up his eyes" (v. 10) — but not high enough! He had no idea of asking the Lord's guidance.
The verse likens the plain to two places at once: God's garden and Egypt. One writer shows how strange that pairing is.
Choosing by sight confuses the garden of the Lord with the land of Egypt. Just think of these two put together: "Egypt," and "the garden of the Lord!" What a contrast! The one is above and unseen; the other is below and visible. Jordan separates them.
Lot had already been to Egypt with Abram. The likeness he spots shows what he brought home.
Everywhere there was water for his flocks, without the work of digging wells. Most significant of all, it was "like the land of Egypt." Lot had followed Abraham into Egypt. There he picked up a taste for Egypt's pleasures, and so strengthened his desire for worldly ease and plenty... There was nothing gross or wrong in choosing a well-watered plain. But it proves that the heart is not set on the unseen land of God's promise. And the real danger of the well-watered plains is that Satan had raised up Sodom in the middle of them.
The comparison to God's garden gave the choice a religious sound. Under that sound lay the real motive.
The plain of Jordan is "like the garden of the Lord" — like paradise: why should he not enjoy God's gifts in it? He forgets the fall, and that paradise is barred from man. He argues religiously enough. But under it all the real secret is this: it is "like the land of Egypt." How much of man's reasoning comes from his heart and not his head — a heart too far from God! It is significant that the verse adds, "in the direction of Zoar" — and that is exactly where Lot came.
The words before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah are the narrator's, not Lot's. They add the one fact no survey could supply.
On the surface all was pleasant and attractive. The view was matchless, the prospects reassuring. But there was one thing no human eye could see — the thoughts of God, and His counsels about the people of the plain.
That hidden fact decided everything about the choice.
He chose Sodom — the very place that was about to be judged. But how was this? Why select such a spot? Because he looked at the outward appearance, and not at the true character and future destiny. The character of the place was "wicked." Its future destiny was judgment — to be destroyed by fire and sulfur from heaven. Someone may say, "Lot knew nothing of all this." Perhaps not, and neither did Abraham; but God did. If Lot had let God choose his inheritance for him, God would never have chosen a spot He Himself was about to destroy.
The choice did not end with the choosing.
"Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan" (Gen. 13); then he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Next he lived in Sodom (Gen. 14). On the eve of its downfall, "Lot sat in the gate of Sodom," in the place of honour there (Gen. 19:1) — a sad example of the earthly minded believer on a path of decline.
- Look — Lot raised his eyes, but not high enough. A look taken without God's direction is where trouble starts.
- Likeness — The plain looked like the garden of the Lord and like Egypt. Only sight can hold those two together.
- Leaven — Nothing was wrong with a well-watered plain. But the Egypt in the view exposed the Egypt already in his heart.
- Blind spot — He could read water and pasture. He could not read God's judgment hanging over the cities of that plain.
- Landslide — He chose the plain, pitched his tent toward Sodom, then lived in it, then sat in its gate. Decline moves by stages.
And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot went toward the east. And they separated the one from the other
Abram had just offered his nephew first pick of the land, and Lot took it — the whole plain of Jordan, and off he went east. Two men who had travelled together for years now part company. The parting shows what each man's heart wanted.
Lot lifted up his eyes before he chose anything.
What then did Lot do? "He lifted up his eyes." This is always our way of acting when we are not under the direct power of faith. Whenever we lift up our eyes without divine direction, we are sure to go wrong. I say, without divine direction. Later we find the Lord directing Abram to lift up his eyes. But that was nothing like Lot's act, which was only the suggestion of human wisdom and foresight.
The plain looked like the garden of the Lord — and also like Egypt, the country Lot and Abram had gone down to earlier.
Without seeking direction from God, he chooses his path according to sight. "Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the Jordan Valley." It was a tempting sight, promising ease and plenty right away. Everywhere there was water for his flocks, without the labour of digging wells. The valley was so fruitful that it was "like the garden of the LORD." Most significant of all, it was "like the land of Egypt." Sadly, Lot had followed Abraham into Egypt. There he had acquired a taste for Egypt's pleasures, and so had strengthened his desire for worldly ease and plenty. So Lot chooses the whole Jordan Valley. He gives up the separate path — he never had faith of his own for it — and leaves the land of Canaan for good… The real danger of the well-watered plains is that Satan had built Sodom in the middle of them.
Nobody could accuse Lot of an obvious sin here. He picked well-watered land for his flocks — a sensible business decision.
There is nothing openly wrong in his choosing a well-watered plain. But it clearly proves that his whole heart is not set on the promises of God. So he faces the test. And so, as God works out His purposes, character comes to light. Abraham's conduct springs from a simple faith that takes hold of God's promises and wants nothing else. Faith can give up. The spirit of a worldly mind takes all it can get.
The strife between the herdsmen was only the surface trouble. The deeper cause lay in what Lot had been following all along.
Lot made no advance in faith. As Abram's companion, he claimed to take the same position — that of a pilgrim. But he did not have a pilgrim's ways. So Abram, after his return from Egypt and restored to his altar, begins to feel that Lot's presence is a hindrance. There was no true communion between them. Lot was a follower of Abram rather than of God. The land mattered more to him than obeying God's call… nothing exposes a lack of faith like greed for earthly possessions, whether for ourselves or for our children.
This choice was only the first step. Later chapters trace where it led.
It was his own unfaithfulness that had placed Lot there. It was his unchecked desire for the good things of the world… "So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley." Then he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Next he lived in Sodom (Gen. 14). On the eve of its downfall, "Lot sat in the gate of Sodom," in the place of honour there (Gen. 19:1) — a sad example of the earthly minded believer on the path of decline!
Abram had the right to choose first and gave it away. What he received came from God, not from his own eyes.
Lot journeyed east, choosing for himself the well-watered plain of Jordan. Lot chose: Abraham left his interests in God's hands. Who was better off? History will tell us. Lot lifted up his eyes and coveted the best pastoral district for himself. Later Abraham lifted up his eyes too, but at God's command, to see the land that was his… His whole security for owning that land lay in God's promise. God gave him no other sign.
- He looked. Lot's eyes moved before his faith did. Eyes lifted without God's direction are sure to go wrong.
- He recognised. The plain looked like Egypt, the place he had already tasted. Old appetites shaped his new choice.
- He chose. Good pasture is not a sin; choosing it proved only that his whole heart was not set on the promises. Faith can give up; a worldly mind takes all it can get.
- He drifted. He left Canaan for good, and the choice ran on by stages: the plain, then his tent toward Sodom, then living in Sodom, then a seat in its gate.
- He lost the better portion. Abram left his interests in God's hands. God then told him to lift up his eyes over the land already promised to him. The man who refused to choose received it all.