Genesis 13:12: Two men settle in one verse, and only one of them has a town
Read it →Commentary on Genesis 13:12
Abram and Lot have just parted ways, and this one verse records where each man chose to live. Older translations read "pitched his tent toward Sodom," and commentators come back to that phrase again and again as the moment Lot's direction changed.
Where a person lives shapes what he becomes
The verse does more than record two addresses. It sets an environment beside an environment, and the rest of Lot's story is the outworking of his.
To be an overcomer, we must pay careful attention to where we live, to our surroundings. Isn't it significant that the Spirit of God mentions in Genesis 13:12 that Abraham lived in the land of Canaan, and that Lot lived in the cities of the plain? … No one can live in Sodom and stay untouched. Its corrupt air and polluting influences work on a man, for its people were wicked and great sinners before God. Poor Lot, by his associations, was helpless in the presence of the world.
Abram's tent stayed a tent
Abram had just handed Lot the choicest ground. What he kept was not land but a way of living in it — two objects that go together.
In this episode we see Abram back at the moral height that had marked his start. Then he gave up Ur with all its comforts. Now he gives up the choicest part of the land of promise, content to remain a pilgrim, as long as he is in communion with God. His altar showed that he was in touch with God; his tent, that he still remained a pilgrim, though in the land of promise.
Lot had no altar
Lot's half of the verse is missing something Abram's half has. He had shared Abram's journey, but the record never gives him an altar of his own — and that absence explains the choice he made.
There is no mention of Lot ever building an altar or calling on the name of the Lord. Yet he was probably with Abraham where Abraham pitched his tent and called on Jehovah's name. When he chose the part of the land where he would live, there was no thought of putting the choice to God. Appearances swayed him… What looked like the land of Egypt appealed to Lot. He could not look by faith beyond the present, to see the plain as it would be after God had judged it. If he had had an altar, and had been in the habit of calling on the name of the Lord, he would no doubt have been spared the many snares he fell into.
"Toward Sodom" — the word measures the distance
The Hebrew phrase is not vague. It marks how far the tent was moved, and how little room was left between Lot and the city.
Note in verse 12, Lot pitched toward — up to, even to — Sodom, but in verse 12 of the next chapter he was settled there.
A tent is the shelter of someone passing through. Aimed at Sodom, it says two contradictory things at once.
The tent of a pilgrim pitched towards Sodom is a sadly out-of-place sight. Yet how many Christians are in that very position!
He never planned to end up inside
Read alone, verse 12 looks like a settlement decision. Read alongside what follows, it is the first move in a slide Lot did not intend.
Notice Lot, who 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 Lot never intended to dwell in Sodom when he pitched his tent toward Sodom. But one false step leads to another. Drawing near to the world, he is soon in the world. Living in the world, he is caught up in its conflicts and falls captive to its power.
What the beauty hid
Lot saw the scenery. He missed the warning standing in the middle of it.
The walls of wicked Sodom, rising in the middle of those well-watered plains, were no barrier to Lot. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. He knew what company he would be keeping there, and it did not make him draw back from his choice… His eyes were fixed on the attractive scene. So he overlooked the tower of Sodom, which should have been like a warning finger raised among those inviting fields and gardens. The calm waters that made those plains so fertile were soon to reflect the fire and brimstone that would rain from heaven… His tent disappeared soon after it was pitched "towards Sodom." From the edge of Sodom to its gates is only one step. We find him sitting in the gate of Sodom, the place of honour and business in the ancient world.
Summary
- Toward decides. No one moves into Sodom in a single day. Lot only aimed his tent at it, and one false step led to another until he lived inside.
- Toward skips prayer. Lot never built an altar or called on the Lord's name. So he judged by appearances, and could not see the plain as it would look after God judged it.
- Toward is exact. The word means up to, even as far as Sodom. The gap Lot left between himself and the city was no gap at all.
- Toward reshapes you. Where a believer lives works on him. Among Sodom's polluting influences, Lot was helpless before the world he had chosen.
- Toward has a rival. Abram gave up the best ground. He kept his tent and his altar, and stayed in the land of promise.
