Genesis 13:11: He took the whole valley, and they separated from each other
Read it →Commentary on Genesis 13:11
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.
A choice made by the eyes
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.
Egypt still in the heart
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.
Nothing wrong with good pasture
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.
Two men who could not stay together
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.
Where the road east led
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!
The uncle who did not choose
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.
Summary
- 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.
