Genesis 13

¹ So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. ² Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. ⁵ And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶ so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, ⁷ and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. ⁸ Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. ¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵ for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

If somebody were to make an “Extreme Makeover: Genesis Edition” television show, Genesis 12 and 13 would be where they would turn. Genesis 12 would be the “Before” and then Genesis 13 would be the big “After” unveiling! In Genesis 12, Abraham does not have a good look. He is scared, he is weak, he is concerned with himself, he puts his wife in harm’s way, and he does not think about the consequences of his actions on others. But in Genesis 13, Abraham is faithful, he is secure, he does think about others, he is thoughtful, and his priorities all seem to be in the right order.

My question is, “What happened?” How does Abraham go from a bad look in Genesis 12 to a really good look in Genesis 13? The answer is found right in the beginning of our chapter.

¹ So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. ² Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.

What stands between the ugliness of Abraham’s behavior in Genesis 12:10-20 and the beauty of Abraham’s faith and actions in Genesis 13 is simply this: an altar. When Abraham and Sarah came out of Egypt, Abraham returned to the vicinity of his first sojourn into Canaan, and, specifically, to the place where he had first built an altar in Genesis 12:

⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

In the land of promise, Abraham had built an altar. But, as Victor Hamilton has pointed out, “Not once while he was in Egypt did Abram either erect monuments to or invoke his deity.”[1]This altar, then, means, for Abraham, faith, trust in God, a relationship with God, and obedience to God’s call on his life. Coming back to this altar after his failure in Egypt therefore means returning to the Lord.Derek Kidner sums it up nicely when he writes:

The fact that Abram rose to the occasion in faith is traceable to verses 1-4, which present his journey to Bethel as a pilgrimage…: a renewal of his lapsed obedience, not an attempt to recapture the luxury of a vision…[2]

“Extreme Makeover: Genesis Edition” hinges therefore on returning to the altar, on returning to worship, on returning to God. And it is so with us today as well. Let me ask you, is there an altar at the center of your life? At the center of your life are things right with you and the God who made you? If they are, you will notice some of the characteristics that thankfully marked Abraham’s life in Genesis 13.

At the altar, conflict becomes distasteful while peace becomes sweet.

Have you ever noticed when you are right with God and walking with Him, when, in other words, you return to the altar, that conflict with others becomes distasteful? It is very difficult to be caught up in worship of Jesus and simultaneously desire to fight with your neighbor. We can see this desire for peace in Abraham after his return to the altar.

⁵ And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶ so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, ⁷ and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

There are few things that cause more agitation in a family than wealth. You see it all the time. Perhaps most common you see it in the way families fight over money and possessions when a parent dies. This happens all too often. Most human beings want to be wealthy yet history shows that very few can handle it.

Certainly the potential for conflict was here with Abraham and Lot. Both Abraham and Lot had become wealthy men. Both of their entourages and their flocks and herds and dwelling places had multiplied. As a result, their respective groups began to conflict. “There was strife between the herdsmen.” Things were getting, as the college football announcers say, “chippy” out on the field between the two teams.

The natural thing for Abraham—by which I mean the “fleshly” thing—would have been for Abraham to pull rank on his nephew and instruct him to get his men to back down and yield to his own men. After all, Abraham was “Father Abraham!” Lot was his nephew. And, given the self-centeredness Abraham had just shown in Egypt, the reader braces himself for just this reaction.

Instead, we find something very surprising:

⁸ Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.”

What is this? Abraham pleads for peace. In so doing, he set ego and rank aside. Notice that it is Abraham who initiates the call for peace! It is Abraham who makes the move for peace! How can this be? Simply put: Abraham yearned for peace because he had just been at the altar. The IVP Bible Background Commentary reads,“The return to the vicinity of Bethel marks the resumption of the covenantal narrative…”[3]This is true! At the altar Abraham, once again, understood that God had great blessings in store for him. In the face of this amazing fact, how could he want to fight with Lot?

Union with God leads one to desire peace.

The true worship of God leads one to desire peace.

Test this and see if it is not so! Stay close to the cross of Christ in prayer and worship and loving service and see how the thought of conflict tastes to you. You will find that you hate the taste of it! On the other hand, you will yearn for peace.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9), said Jesus. Indeed! The children of the living God yearn to make peace!

At the altar, the need to control looks ugly while faith in God’s control looks beautiful.

Then there is Abraham’s proposal to Lot. This is even more amazing:

⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

Again, the before-and-after picture is absolutely amazing! Think of Abraham’s obsession with self-preservation in Egypt. He yearned to survive, to be safe! But here and now Abraham astonishingly yields to Lot! “Lot,” he says, “take what you desire. I am happy to hold on to what is left.” This is amazing!

Old Testament scholar Ken Mathews observes that Abraham’s “generosity toward Lot…and his later confession of trust in the Lord’s provision…may reflect Abram’s renewed faith as a consequence of the Egyptian sojourn.”[4]I should say so!

In Egypt, Abraham’s actions were driven by a need to control. He tried to control the situation and, in so doing, he made it much muchworse! Here, however, Abraham has grown in his faith. As a result, he yield’s control. He has no need to try to control the situation. He is done with that! Why? Because he let it go at the altar!

Are you the type of person who must control, who must be in control? You will notice that the longer you dwell at the altar the bigger God will become to you and the bigger God becomes to you the sillier your own need to control will appear. Abraham had tried to control things in Egypt. That ended in people getting hurt. Now he yielded to God’s control, to God’s plan.

The altar has a way of helping us lose control! It is hard to worship, to truly worship, and still try to control.

At the altar, surface attractions look cheap while the wisdom of God looks valuable.

The altar also brings perspective and insight. As we walk with God and worship God we grow in wisdom and vision. We can see things more clearly. You can see this in the contrast between Abraham’s faith and Lot’s desire to own an area that seemed attractive to him.

¹⁰ And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

Lot was impressed by the Jordan Valley. Very. Interestingly, the Jordan Valley evoked two images for Lot: Eden and Egypt. It looked like Eden in that it was “well watered everywhere.” It looked like Egypt in that there was great urbanization there in “the cities of the valley.”

What a strange conjoining of images, Eden and Egypt. The one has nothing to do with the other. These images speak of Lot’s vision. He is dazzled by surface attractions, no doubt thinking that there is more there than there really is. He saw the beauty of Eden and the glitz of Egypt.

R.R. Reno thinks there is a spiritual naivete evidenced in Lot’s interest in the Jordan Valley. He notes that “Lot sees what seems to be an Edenic place of repose, and he desires to return to the state of original happiness. He imagines himself retracing the steps of past generations, going back to the innocent abundance of the garden of Eden in a dream of forgetfulness.” Reno concludes, however, that “Lot’s nostalgia and desire to get back to primitive purity will not succeed. Forgetfulness will not reverse the forward flow of the history of sin.”[5]

This might very well be so. Regardless, Lot appears to be overwhelmed at every level by what he sees. Yet Moses gives us clues that this decision of Lot’s is not a good decision. For instance, in verse 10 he adds this parenthetical thought: “(This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)” Then in verse 13 Moses gives us a more explicit insight into what Lot has just chosen for himself: “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.”

Do you see? When we go to the altar we grow in our ability to see the reality beneath the surface, the “rest of the story,” we might say. Lot was bedazzled by surface attractions. Abraham was content to wait on God.

Beware, church, the world’s Edens. They inevitably end up being Sodom! Let us be clear on this: Eden is gone. The gate has been shut. We yearn for paradise to come. Even so, we are tempted to try to find Eden here and there. It is fool’s gold! You are buying more than you think you are when you chase these naïve dreams. Eden always ends up being Sodom.

At the altar, human conniving looks foolish while the plan of God looks astonishingly lavish!

Abraham, however, waits on God and decides not to connive and scheme. Rather, he trusts in the plan of God. It is good that he did! Look what happens:

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵ for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

At the altar we are able not only to pass by the temptations of surface attractions but also to see and receive what God really has in store for us. Abraham was able to yield, to step back, to set aside the need to control, and to he was able to trust. God then reveals to Abraham what he has in store for him is so much greater than what he could have grasped in his own frantic efforts.

God gives Abraham a home, yes, but also an abiding name, a lineage, a promised line that would be a blessing to the whole world. So great would Abraham’s lineage be that it would be greater than the dust of the earth!

At the altar, we learn to be still, to wait, to trust. At the altar we come to see the lavish bounty of the goodness of God. When we walk faithfully with our God, He shows us again His promise and His provision! The altar frees us from grasping by overwhelming us with a greater vision of God’s goodness!

At the altar, our distance from God becomes terrifying while closeness with God becomes the most important thing in our lives.

There is a final thing that happens at the altar, that place where we come back to union with God. At the altar we come to fear distance from God precisely because we come to see the importance and sweetness of closeness with God! When Abraham leaves this place for a second time, he does something that is tellingly different than what he did when he left it the first time to go to Egypt. Watch:

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Do you see? He settles by the oaks of Mamre and there builds an altar to God! He did not do this in Egypt. He built no altar and he offered no prayer. But now he has learned. Now he builds an altar. Now he calls on the name of the God of Heaven and determines that he will do so wherever he goes!

At the altar, our distance from God becomes terrifying while closeness with God becomes the most important thing in our lives.

Suddenly we understand: the key to union with God is to carry the altar with us, to stay in a place of faith and worship and prayer and obedience. But I am speaking here of something greater than effort. I am speaking of the words of Jesus from Matthew 28:20—“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In Christ we encounter the God who is always with us, the altar that never leaves, the place of union that is ever-open! We never need walk alone!

I will never, ever, ever walk alone
You are with us, for us
Always holding on
Thought I wander, Your love goes further
You are my hope and future
I will never walk alone
I will never walk alone[6]

[1]Victor Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Gen. Eds., R.K. Harrison and Robert L. Hubbard (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), p.390.

[2]Derek Kidner, Genesis. Tyndale Old Testament Commentary. Vol.1 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), p.128.

[3]John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), p.44.

[4]Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26. The New American Commentary. Old Testament, vol. 1B (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, Publishers, 2005), p.134-135.

[5]R.R. Reno, Genesis. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010), p.29-150.

[6]https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Rend-Collective/Never-Walk-Alone