13–1: What Lot Didn’t See — The Price of Worldly Prosperity

Today we begin Genesis Chapter 13.

For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here. For the King James Bible, click here.

“And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.”-Genesis 13:1–2

So after the altercation that Abram had with the pharaoh of Egypt due to his lying about his wife’s identity, we are told that Abram left the country with much wealth.

Keep in mind that in those days coins and paper money were not yet in use.

A wandering nomad’s wealth would have been his livestock.

We are told that Avram received so much livestock that fights were breaking out between his and Lot’s herdsmen.

It was at this point that Abram suggested to his relative Lot that they separate.

Abram graciously offered Lot first choice of the land that lay before them and Lot chose an area called Sodom and Gomorrah.

The reason we are told is because it was “well-watered like the garden of the Lord or the land of Egypt."

There are two principles and patterns we can glean from this incident.

First, here again, we encounter the God principle of division and separation.

Whether deliberate or through circumstance, God will begin to separate us from the ungodly.

Second, in examining the characters of Lot and Abram, we are shown the difference between a worldly man and a Godly man.

Lot chose to head out to the rich lands in the Jordan Valley.

Abram moved to the fields of Canaan.

Lot drooled over the world’s wealth.

Abram displayed a Godly indifference to such attractions.

Lot’s foolishness is further underscored in verse 13 where we are told that “the men of Sodom were evil, committing great sins against Adonai.”

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