Gen. 12-13: “The Covenant Made To Abraham / Abraham’s Sojourn In Egypt / Abraham And Lot Divide The Land”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study we looked at chapter 11 of Genesis.

1.1.1. We completed our study of the pre-history chapters of the book of Genesis looking at the story of the Tower of Babel where God created the various languages that exist on the earth today.

1.1.2. We also looked in depth at Babylon as an important symbol in the scriptures for false religion and mankind in rebellion against the Lord, noting that it is found 290 times in the scriptures. Not only was Babylon the first nation to form it was also the first nation to rebel against the Lord. It could be considered Satan’s city, and its founder Nimrod a type of the anti-Christ.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 12-13 of the book of Genesis.

1.2.1. We will look at the covenant that is made with Abraham by the Lord, noting that it is an unconditional covenant and how the covenant relates to us being Christians, and also to our nation.

1.2.2. Abraham and his wife and nephew Lot finally move into the land of Canaan, the land which the Lord calls Abraham to go to. The New Testament says that he went out “looking for a city whose architect and builder is God.”

1.2.3. We will see Abraham build a few different altars in which to worship the Lord during our study, for Abraham was an altar builder.

1.2.4. We will see how that a famine causes Abraham and his wife to go down to Egypt but on the way Abraham becomes fearful of his life and he convinces his wife to say that she is his sister so that others do not kill him to take his wife from him. We will see how that Abraham’s conniving here places his wife in grave danger but the Lord comes to their rescue. We will learn some key lessons about faith here.

1.2.5. We will see how that Abraham and Lot divide up the land of Canaan between themselves and how that Lot’s choice reveals his character and also adversely affects his future.

1.2.6. Though it is not until later that the Lord changes Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah, for the purpose of this study I am going to refer to Abram as Abraham and Sarai as Sarah.

1.2.7. Abraham is called the “friend of God” in the scripture. Likewise, Jesus told His disciples that He “no longer calls us servants but friends.” If you know God through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then the scripture says that God considers you his friend.

2. VS 12:1-3 - “¹ Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; ² And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; ³ And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”” - God calls Abraham to go forth from his country and people to a land that He will show him, and then promises to make of Abraham a great nation and blessing, and to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him

2.1. At this time Abraham was living in Haran. It was the capital of Sumer. In Abram’s day it was a thriving commercial city, with unusually high cultural standards. The inhabitants worshiped the moon-god, Sin.

2.2. In Acts 7:2-4, read that when he was being martyred that Stephen, the first martyr of the church, taught the Israelites a little Bible study as he was arguing with them, “² And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ ⁴ “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.” Interestingly, from Stephen’s Bible study we learn a few things that are not mentioned anywhere else in the scriptures, including:

2.2.1. God first appeared to Abraham before this incident in Haran, when he was living in Mesopotamia, and he was called by God to go out at that time. However, instead of going out at that time Abraham went instead to Haran with his father Terah, and his family.

2.2.2. It wasn’t until after Abraham’s father died that he obeyed the Lord and went out following the Lord.

2.2.2.1.Any time that you turn your life over to the Lord it is a good time, even if you are old and have squandered much of your life away. God takes your life at that time when you give it to Him and then He begins to work in your life and mold you into His image.imHH

2.3. In the scriptures we see that there was a covenant that is later made to the Israelites, however the covenant in these verses is made to Abraham. These two covenants need to be looked at separately and on their own merits.

2.4. Notice that this covenant is conditional only in that the Lord requires that Abraham leave his family and home and go to the land that the Lord will show him. Abraham at this point in time was an idolater and living amongst idolaters there in Haran. Everything else that the Lord promises to do for Abraham in this covenant is unconditional.

2.5. The promises made to Abraham in this covenant are:

2.5.1. The Lord will make his ‘name great.’

2.5.1.1.The three major religions on the earth look to Abraham as their forefather: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

2.5.1.2.It has been said that more people know who Abraham is than any person who has ever lived on the earth.

2.5.2. The Lord will make him ‘a blessing.’

2.5.2.1.Abraham and his descendants have always been a blessing to the people on the earth.

2.5.2.2.Today, Israel has provided many of our world’s greatest medical breakthroughs and thus they are a blessing to the entire world. Plus, the nation of Israel does more in the way of benevolence than any other country, per capita.

2.5.3. The Lord will make it so that in Abraham ‘all of the families of the earth will be blessed.’

2.5.3.1.This promise is Messianic in nature for it speaks of the blessing that only the Messiah brings to all of the people that are on the earth.

2.5.3.2.Through Jesus Christ, the primary descendant of Abraham, salvation is made available to everyone on the face of the earth.

2.5.4. The Lord promises to ‘bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.’

2.5.4.1.This promise speaks of the fact that throughout the history of Abraham and his descendants that the Lord shall be working in the earth on their behalf.

2.5.4.2.The fortunes of every nation shall be tied to how they treat those who are the descendants of Abraham. Blessing or cursing shall result.

2.5.4.3.When we were in chapter 3 of Genesis and we read the prophesies made to the woman about her seed and the serpent and his seed, we observed that the rest of history can be looked at as the struggle between the two seeds. This promise here points out that the rest of history from Abraham’s time is a story about the rise and fall of nations based upon how they treat the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham.

2.5.4.4.We can see a number of fulfillment so of this promise in history:

2.5.4.4.1.If you look in the Old Testament you will see that Isaiah said that He was using Assyria as His tool to cleanse the nation of Israel, however next the Lord sent the Babylonians to destroy the Assyrians. The Babylonians took Judah captive then, we find out that God next sent the Persians to conquer Babylon.

2.5.4.4.2.In modern history the Russians persecuted the Jews and were themselves persecuted by Stalin and Lenin, their tyrannous dictators. The Soviet Union persecuted Jews and then disintegrated during the Reagan presidency. When the British Empire went against the nation of Israel this began the fall of their empire. The Nazis placed the Israelites in fenced concentration camps surrounded by machine guns and then after WWII east Germany was walled off from the rest of the world by a wall manned with machine guns. That wall eventually fell when the last of the leaders during the Nazi era passed away.

2.5.4.4.3.Our own nation has prospered largely because we have been a supporter of Israel. However, our leaders have continually been a thorn in the side of Israel requiring them time and time again to negotiate with terrorists rather than provide a military solution. The support for the nation of Israel is key to the future of this nation, yet that support has been slipping. We know from the scripture that eventually that support will not be there for Israel will have to stand alone, and note also that in end times prophesy we do not find the United States of America.

2.6. The covenant that is later made to the nation of Israel under Moses is a conditional covenant based upon obedience to the Law of Moses. If the Israelites are faithful to keep the commandments given to them from the Lord then the Lord shall be their God, and they shall be His people.

3. VS 12:4-7 - “⁴ So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.” - Abraham went with his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, and all of their possessions, and when into the land of Canaan to Shechem, and the Lord appeared to him, causing him to build an altar there to the Lord

3.1. Abraham finally obeys the voice of the Lord and goes out to the city that the Lord is calling him to. Taking Sarah his wife, Lot his nephew, and all of their possessions which they had been accumulating, and they passed through the land traveling south from Haran down into Israel.

3.2. Abraham and family travel to the ‘site of Shechem.’ The Hebrew name ‘Schechem’ means “back or shoulder.”

3.3. They traveled to the oak of ‘Moreh’ which means “teacher.”

3.4. We are told that here in the land dwelt those cursed descendants of ‘Canaan,’ the son of Ham who sinned against his father Noah when he became drunk.

3.5. Now that Abraham finally heeded the call of God and went into the land of Canaan, we see that ‘the LORD appeared’ to him as confirmation. The Lord not only appears to him though, He also adds to the promise of His covenant to Abraham, promising to give them ‘this land,’ the land of Canaan.

3.5.1. People argue and state that the land where Israel lives belongs to the “Palestinians” however this passage shows their ignorance of history, for there were no “Palestinians” at this time, and the land was promised to the descendants of Abraham.

3.5.2. The word “Palestinian” comes from the word “Philistine” and the Philistines originally came from Cyprus, and before that Egypt, for they were descendants of Ham. However, the people today that are calling themselves “Palestinian” are not Philistines, nor do they have any legitimate claim to the land that Israel dwells in. In fact, in the 1920s when the land of Israel began again to be re-populated there were no such “Palestinian” people living there.

3.6. Again, we see that Abraham built another altar and worshipped the Lord.

4. VS 12:8-9 - “⁸ Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.” - Abraham and his family proceeded on to Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, and again he built an altar to worship with Lord, then they continued on to the Negev

4.1. Here we see that Abraham and his family proceeded through the land of Israel and they went to the mountain on the east of ‘Bethel.’ The name of ‘Bethel’ means “house of God.’

4.2. ‘Ai’ means “heap of ruins.” Abraham pitched his tent between “the house of God” and a “heap of ruins.” Material prosperity seldom accompanies one who steps out in faith and commits his life to God. In fact, often times it is when our life is a “heap of ruins” that we run to the “house of God” and the God of salvation, and that is a good thing.

4.3. Again we see that Abraham ‘built an altar to the Lord.’

4.4. Finally, we see in verse 9 that Abraham and his family continued down towards ‘the Negev,’ the desert area that is south of Israel and which today separates Israel from Egypt.

5. VS 12:10-30 - “¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; ¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels. ¹⁷ But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” ²⁰ Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.” - Because of a famine Abraham takes his wife and goes to Egypt, however on the way he gets fearful and asks her to tell everyone that she is his sister so that they won’t kill him and take her from him, then Pharaoh of Egypt takes Sarah to be his wife, however after a plague ensues and Pharaoh is told that Sarah is Abraham’s wife, Pharaoh rebukes Abraham and sends he and his wife out of the land

5.1. As we read the scriptures, we see that those who were called by God were not perfect people. The scriptures reveal not only the great victories of God’s people but also their failures. The great patriarchs of our faith are considered to be men of faith, however the grace of God is seen in the fact that they sometimes did not act upon their faith and commitment but instead made sinful and compromising choices. Abraham was the “friend of God” but he had to learn to walk by faith over many years, just as we who are Christians must learn to do in our own lives.

5.2. In the New Testament, many Christians relate with impetuous Peter who was always putting his foot in his mouth, and even boasted in his flesh the night before Jesus was crucified telling Jesus that though all else fall away that he would never leave him. However in the Old Testament, many Christians relate to the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob who are known for conniving and scheming. That is what Abraham does in our story here.

5.3. What Abraham gets Sarah to lie about is really a half truth, for Sarah was both his wife and his sister. However, this verse makes us realize that telling a half truth is still telling a lie and therefore is wrong.

5.4. The first mistake that Abraham made here was going down to Egypt in the first place, after the famine came. The Lord had called Abraham to go into the land of Canaan, so he should have stayed in that place where the Lord called him and trusted God to provide for him until the Lord told him that He wanted him to leave. Instead, seeing the famine in the land Abraham acted on his own and went down there.

5.5. Here we see the first time that Abraham told his wife Sarah to lie and say that she was his sister. He repeats this again in chapter 20.

5.6. The second mistake that Abraham made here was in not trusting the Lord to protect and provide for him. Abraham should have taken his needs to the Lord in believing prayer but instead he acted in unbelief and sought to take matters in his own hands to protect and provide for himself.

5.7. There are numerous Bible passages that condemn stealing, cheating and lying, including the following:

5.7.1. Proverbs 20:17, “¹⁷ Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.”

5.7.2. Job 31:5, “⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit.”

5.7.3. Leviticus 6:2, “² “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion.”

5.7.4. Jeremiah 9:4-6, “⁴ “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. ⁵ “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. ⁶ “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.”

5.7.5. John 8:44, “⁴⁴ “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

5.7.6. Mark 7:20-22, “²⁰ And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.”

5.8. People cheat, lie, and steal in business, in athletics, in relationships, etc., and they always have done so.

5.9. I was asked this past week to again be interview on a local Christian Radio Sports program, and interestingly the topic was “following the rules in sports.” I am there during the pastor’s perspective portion of that program and since that topic fits into what we are studying I’ll share with you some of what I plan to share with them. In the world of sports there has always been a lot of cheating, stealing, and breaking of the rules, and yet today it is at its highest point.  Examples of cheating in the history of baseball:

5.9.1. Batters have secretly used cork or hollow bats to get extra bat speed and pop on the ball such as Norm Cash who hit .361 in 1961 to capture the American League batting title only later to admit having used a ground-up cork bat throughout his career. In modern history Sammy Sosa is the one who was most recently caught using a corked bat, one which he said was not his regular bat but a practice bat he found in the club house.

5.9.2. Pitchers have thrown spitters such as Lew Burdette of the Milwaukee Braves whom Whitey Ford in his autobiography said, “had the reputation of throwing the best spitter in baseball.” In modern history, Kenny Rogers was most recently caught throwing a dirt ball which ended up having pine tar on it.

5.9.3. And scuff balls such as Phil Neikro who was caught in 1987 using an emory board when it fell out of his pocket on the mound.

5.9.4. Signals have been stolen such as when the New York Giants were trying to catch the Brooklyn Dodgers down the stretch in 1951 and were caught stealing catchers' signs with a telescope in center field. In more modern history but from baseball, at the first of the football season the New England Patriots were caught video taping the play calling of the New York Jets.

5.9.5. Athletes have bet on sports and even thrown games for money such as the 1919 White Sox in the World Series of whom 8 players were banned from baseball for life, including Joe Johnson who otherwise would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame now. In more modern history, Pete Rose was banned from baseball after it was discovered that he had bet on baseball and even regarding his own team.

5.9.6. In recent years it appears that most of the best baseball players, including those who have broken homerun records, have used illegal performance enhancing anabolic steroids, as was brought out in the book written by Jose Conseco. In the olden days players took greenies to get them up for a game, which was an amphetamine.

5.10. There has been such great use of cheating in all sports and all sorts of ways, that young athletes trying to break into sports have felt an overwhelming temptation to resort to these types of things thinking that there is no way that they could ever compete legitimately against those who do cheat.

5.11. Unfortunately, many times there has been the attitude that if everyone else is doing something that it is OK to do them yourselves.  Even Christian athletes have gotten sucked into that frame of mind. 

5.12. First of all, we need to realize that not everyone is cheating in sports.  Secondly, even if everyone is doing something that is wrong before God, then it is wrong if you do it.

5.13. This week I was talking with one of my coworkers about this topic, getting his insights, and though he is a relatively new Christian I thought he nailed the perspective that we as Christians ought to have about this on the head.  He said in essence that what is at the root of cheating, stealing, and lieing is not walking by faith.  We ought to realize that if God wants us to do something or be something that He will give us the ability to do it, and we won’t have to cheat, steal, or lie.  Pride is doing things without trusting in and depending upon God, and cheating, lying, stealing, etc. is an example of pride taken to the next level, and you don’t even have to be an athlete to try these sorts of things.  This relates to all walks of life.

5.14. People in all manner of business break and bend the laws to try to make a buck or get out of having to pay some sort of taxes, etc.  But the root of it all is the same, unbelief and not trusting God, greed and avarice, and pride.

5.15. Here we see that in spite of Abraham’s scheming and deceiving all turns out OK in the end for Abraham and his family, but we as Christians must realize that “the end does not justify the means” for the things that we do.

5.16. It’s a good thing that the Lord was with Abraham there in Egypt because Abraham’s scheming turned against him when Pharaoh himself decided to take Sarah for his wife, giving Abraham a bunch of gifts. By the way, you have to realize here that Satan was involved in this situation. Sarah at this time was 65 years old, yet Pharaoh was attracted to her to such a degree that he wanted her for a wife. Does this strike you as odd? Surely, Sarah may have been pretty but I think that Satan was working in this man’s life because if Pharaoh could have taken Sarah as his wife then the promises that God had made to Abraham could not have been fulfilled and the seed of the woman in chapter 3, which is Jesus Christ, could never have been born for He was a descendant of Abraham and Sarah.

5.17. Sarah and Pharaoh never consummated their marriage, instead the Lord caused a plague upon the house of Pharaoh and somehow (whether through Sarah or Lot) he found out in the midst of this that Sarah was Abraham’s wife. Perhaps Pharaoh at this time also heard about the Lord appearing to Abraham and making the great promises to him which had been made.

5.18. Notice here that Pharaoh rebukes Abraham for his deception in telling him that Sarah was his wife. It is always an embarrassment for a non-believer to rebuke a believer for the way that he lives his life. When God has called us to be a witness and a light to this world and they are instead repulsed by us and our God, then this leaves you feeling humbled and like a complete failure. I believe that it was Mahtma Ghandi who speaking of the gospel’s slow spread in India said, “The problem is not the gospel the problem is Christians.”

5.19. When Abraham is kicked out of Egypt after being rebuked by Pharaoh he must have left the country looking like a dog with his tail between his legs.

6. VS 13:1-4 - “¹ So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him. ² Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. ³ He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” - Abraham takes his family back to where they had formerly placed their tent between Bethel and Ai, where he had previously built an altar to the Lord, and there Abraham calls upon the Lord

6.1. Realizing how badly he had failed the Lord and been a poor testimony for the Lord, Abraham seeks to go back to that place where the Lord had last spoken to him. He goes in humility back to dwell between Bethel (“House of God”) and Ai (“heap of rubble”).

6.2. Note again here that even though Abraham and Sarah leave Egypt unscathed, and even more wealthy because of the gifts given by Pharaoh to Abraham, this is no good reason to believe that the means justifies the means for the things that we do.

7. VS 13:5-9 - “⁵ Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. ⁷ And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. ⁹ “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”” - The herdsmen for Abraham and Lot quarrel and in order to end the strife between them, Abraham tells Lot that they ought to separate and divide the land of Canaan between them, giving Lot his choice of the land

7.1. In Egypt, Abraham was an embarrassment not only to the Egyptians and his own family, he was also an embarrassment to his own herdsmen, as well as Lot’s herdsmen. Everyone left Egypt in shame and contempt. This I believe was behind what we see happening to cause the strife between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot.

7.2. It may have been the case also that Lot fed the strife of his herdsmen by being critical of his uncle for the shenanigan that he tried to pull in calling Sarah his sister in order to protect himself.

7.3. Here we see that Abraham realized that in order for there to be peace that it was better for he and his nephew to separate. This sometimes is the best solution even for good people when they refuse to compromise or get along.

7.4. Notice here that Abraham let Lot choose which land that he wanted for his herds. We could say that Abraham was just a generous guy and that this explains why he was willing to leave the choice to Lot. However, I think that Abraham’s realization of his failure to trust God for his life, and the resultant shame and humility that this brought, was behind Abraham’s decision to let Lot make this choice.

8. VS 13:10-13 - “¹⁰ Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.” - Lot chooses the best of the land for himself, that which was near cities of the valley and the wicked city of Sodom, Abraham then settled in the remaining part of the land of Canaan

8.1. In these verses, we are now being introduced to the character of Lot. Lot here is looking only at the natural and what he thought would cause him to prosper materially. Therefore, Lot chooses to take the land that is ‘well watered everywhere’ and thus would make good grazing land, the land ‘in the cities of the valley,’ and, he ‘moved his tents as far as Sodom.’

8.2. Lot’s choice was not a wise one because there was something that was more important than good grazing and farming land and material prosperity, it was what would prosper Lot’s soul. Verse 13 speaks of how wicked the people of the city of Sodom were. They were ‘wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD.’ We will read about the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by the Lord later in the book of Genesis. We will also see in the next couple of chapters how that Lot’s choice brings him trouble right away.

8.3. As you go through the book of Genesis you see concerning Lot that: A) at first he pitched his tents towards Sodom, B) then later he is living in the city of Sodom, C) and finally he is sitting in the gates of the city of Sodom serving as a business leader in the city. This is what happens whenever one of God’s people begin to compromise in their walk with the Lord. One compromise leads to another, one sin leads to another, and finally a person is completely backslidden from the Lord and living like an unbeliever. We must be careful not to compromise our faith and open up that door.

8.4. Abraham got the ‘land of Canaan’ where the grazing was not nearly as good, but it was the land that the Lord wanted for him, the land where his soul would be safe.

9. VS 13:14-18 - “¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. ¹⁶ “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. ¹⁷ “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.” - The Lord again speaks to Abraham and promises to him all the land as far as he could see in every direction, and descendants so numerous they are like the dust of the earth that cannot be numbered, then Abraham moved his ten to Hebron and built another altar there to the Lord

9.1. After Lot separates from him, the Lord again speaks to Abraham and now he tells him that the entire land as far as he can seen in any direction will be given to him, and descendants too numerous to be numbered. As Abraham is saying this, he is probably standing in the mountains in Canaan and thus able to have a huge view before him.

9.2. The Lord tells Abraham to walk through this land, in its length and breadth, for it will all be given to the Lord.

9.3. Here we see that again when Abraham moves his tent, this time to dwell by the oaks of Mamre (which means “strength or fatness”) which are in the city named Hebron (which means “association”), or where Hebron will one day be built. There Abraham builds yet another altar and worships the Lord. Now that Abraham has moved back to Canaan, his life will be “associated with strength and fatness,” and the rest of the book of Genesis will show that to be true for him.

10. CONCLUSIONS:

10.1. Are you trusting in the Lord and allowing Him to lead in your life and give you the things that He wants you to have or make you what He wants to make you?

10.2. Do you refuse to resort to scheming and conniving, cheating, lying, and stealing in order to get what you want or need?

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