And they took all the property of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and departed.
Genesis 14:11 is the moment the winners collect their prize. The four kings carry off everything Sodom and Gomorrah owned, down to the food. Why does Scripture pause over an ancient border war? And what happens to a believer whose whole estate sits inside the losing city?
The verse lists two kinds of plunder: goods and provisions. The land itself had already done half the work of beating Sodom's army.
The valley of Siddim was full of slime pits in which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah became trapped. This is the very picture of the ungodly being snared in their own sinful lusts, the slime of this world. Others who escaped this fled to the hill country. Yet they could hardly carry much of their property with them. The four kings took the goods and food supply of their defeated foes. They also took Lot captive, along with his goods.
Scripture usually passes over the wars of nations. This one it tells in detail.
The history of nations and the movements of mighty kings and conquerors have always interested the Holy Spirit for one reason: their connection with the history of the people of God. He could find no pleasure in dwelling on the mere history of man. The busy strife and noise of nations could not attract the notice of the Spirit of peace. Neither could the fierce contests of ungodly tyrants grasping after power, or the movements of armies. Yet when such things became even slightly connected with the history of a "righteous soul," the Holy Spirit can be very detailed in describing the circumstances of a battle.
The chapter opens on alliances, campaigns and spoil. Commentators read that as a portrait of the world as it still is.
The chapter opens with a solemn picture of this present evil world. It is a scene in which the nations form themselves into groups and enter into alliances to carry out their schemes of self-advancement and to defend themselves from attack.
Abram was living apart from all of this; Lot had moved his interests into the city. The loss of Sodom's goods was therefore his loss too.
His tent showed him to be a stranger on earth; his altar showed him to be at home in Heaven. It did not matter to Abram which king won the day, because his portion was not in danger through their strife. Though it was Abram's happy lot to have his life and his portion in a place where wars could not touch him. It was not so with his more worldly-minded relative. Lot's position put him right in the middle of the strife. So the outcome of this battle was bound to matter to him. If the child of God will stoop so low as to mix himself up with the world, he must expect to share in its upheavals.
The loss was total.
The kings made him a prisoner and took all his goods. He had laid up treasure for himself on earth, and the thieves had broken in. Abram was above it all, in the separating power of communion with God. Lot found himself a prisoner and a beggar.
The plunder of the cities had a purpose beyond the four kings' greed.
When saints take a wrong course, they are never left without warning. Lot has settled down in the plains of Sodom, and God sends four kings to drive him out. All his coveted wealth is taken, and he himself a captive. If Lot had had faith, he would have seen in this that Sodom was no place for him. But he did not see it. The fruitful plain, the rich pasture, the world's wealth, filled his eye and his heart. Lot ignored God's warning call. Abram rescued him and recovered his wealth, and Lot settled down again in his old place. Then a heavier judgment came.
Abram recovers all of it later in the chapter. The contrast between the two men is the point.
In the end Abram recovered everything, including Lot, his household and his possessions. How striking the picture, and how important its lesson for us! The man — even though he was "just" — grasped at the world with its outward prosperity and pleasures. He lost everything and found himself a captive. The man who gave up the world and walked with God was the only one in the whole region who could act in faith.
The rescue turned on a motive worth copying.
Abram reached his goal of freeing Lot. He also freed others and recovered the property the kings had taken. Do we have such energy of faith to seek to recover saints of God who have been trapped by falsehood? It was not anger against the enemy that moved Abram, but love for his brother.
- Choice — Lot's position, not bad luck, put him inside the plunder. A believer who mixes with the world shares its upheavals.
- Capture — the kings took the goods, the food supply and Lot himself. The pits of their own valley trapped the losing kings.
- Loss — treasure laid up on earth was gone in a day. The man who chose the best land ended as a prisoner and a beggar.
- Warning — God sent the four kings to drive Lot out. The loss should have shown him Sodom was no place for him. He missed it.
- Recovery — everything came back through the one man who had given the world up. Love for his brother moved him, not anger at the enemy.
And they took Lot and his property, Abram's brother's son, and departed. For he dwelt in Sodom.
Genesis 14 tells of a war between kings. In the middle of the battle report, the verse stops to say where Lot was living — and that one clause explains why he is now a prisoner.
Lot did not arrive in Sodom in one move. Writers trace the change of wording from one chapter to the next.
It is worth noticing what happened to Lot. In an earlier chapter he chose all the plain of Jordan and "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen. 13:12). He has now taken a further step on his downward course, for here we read that he "dwells in Sodom." We may be sure that it was never Lot's intention to dwell in Sodom when he pitched his tent toward it. But one false step leads to another. Drawing near to the world, he is soon in the world. And living in the world, he gets caught up in its conflicts and falls captive to its power.
Writers also note what he gave up to get there — the tent he had lived in.
Verse 12 lets us see another step in the downward course of Lot. He was not content with pitching his tent toward Sodom. He had now given up tent life altogether and taken a permanent home in the wicked city. That spot was worse than Ur, the place he first left under Abram's guidance. He now shared the fate of the people of Sodom, and the enemy carried him away captive with all his house.
The Bible records where Abraham lived and where Lot lived. Writers see purpose in that.
Is it not striking that the Spirit of God mentions in Genesis 13:12 that Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan, and that Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain? Then in Genesis 14:12 He adds, "For he dwelt in Sodom." He says it as though to give point to what He had just recorded about Lot being carried away into captivity. No one can dwell in Sodom without breathing its poisoned air and feeling its polluting influences. Its people were wicked and great sinners before God. Poor Lot, by his associations, was helpless in the presence of the world.
When war came, Lot had nothing to fall back on where he stood.
At last, dwelling in Sodom, the day of conflict comes. He finds he is a lonely man, without strength and without friends to help. He cannot count on the support of God. Powerless in the day of battle, he falls a captive to his enemies.
The raiders took his possessions along with the man.
What then were the results of this contest to Lot? Ruin to him and his family. The enemy made him a prisoner and took all his goods (v. 12). He had laid up treasure for himself on earth, and the thieves had broken through. Abram was above it all, in the power — the separating power — of communion with God. Lot found himself a prisoner and a beggar.
Lot's capture became Abram's opportunity. Abram had every reason to blame him, and said nothing of the kind.
What was no small rebuke to Lot became the occasion for Abram. He came out as one who walked with God and trusted Him. He shows us, too, that power of grace which rises above whatever has personally been wrong. There was no doubt about Lot's failure in testimony. But Abram thought nothing about his faults now. What he saw was a righteous man swept away while the powers of the earth crashed together like clay pots. For no doubt Lot, despite everything, was righteous. This drew out his loving desire for Lot's rescue.
The rescue that follows changed Lot's situation, not Lot.
In Lot's case it is made clear once more that circumstances have not made him what he is. A change of circumstances does not change him. God's hand freed him by using another man, yet he is not really free. Soon we shall find him needing rescue again — this time from a place that escaped man's judgment but falls under God's.
- Drift. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and then he lived in Sodom. No single step looked final, but "one false step leads to another."
- Dwelling. The verse gives the reason for the captivity: Lot was living in Sodom. Where a believer settles decides which conflicts he is caught up in.
- Powerlessness. Settled in the world, Lot had no strength against the world — alone, unsupported, and unable to count on God's help in the place he had chosen.
- Loss. He went to Sodom for gain and came out a prisoner and a beggar. The treasure he laid up on earth went to the raiders.
- Rescue. Abram, still in his tent, was free to go after him. But rescue from outside did not change Lot's heart.