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Genesis Chapter
Thirteen
Genesis 13
Chapter Contents
Abram returns out of Egypt with great riches. (1-4)
Strife between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot. Abram gives Lot his choice of the
country. (5-9) Lot chooses to dwell at Sodom. (10-13) God renews his promise to
Abram, who removes to Hebron. (14-18)
Commentary on Genesis 13:1-4
Abram was very rich: he was very heavy, so the Hebrew
word is; for riches are a burden; and they that will be rich, do but load
themselves with thick clay, Habakkuk 2:6. There is a burden of care in
getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in
abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account at last to be
given up about them. Yet God in his providence sometimes makes good men rich
men, and thus God's blessing made Abram rich without sorrow, Proverbs 10:22. Though it is hard for a rich man
to get to heaven, yet in some cases it may be, Mark 10:23,24. Nay, outward prosperity, if well
managed, is an ornament to piety, and an opportunity for doing more good. Abram
removed to Beth-el. His altar was gone, so that he could not offer sacrifice;
but he called on the name of the Lord. You may as soon find a living man
without breath as one of God's people without prayer.
Commentary on Genesis 13:5-9
Riches not only afford matter for strife, and are the
things most commonly striven about; but they also stir up a spirit of
contention, by making people proud and covetous. Mine and thine are the great
make-bates of the world. Poverty and labour, wants and wanderings, could not
separate Abram and Lot; but riches did so. Bad servants often make a great deal
of mischief in families and among neighbours, by their pride and passion,
lying, slandering, and talebearing. What made the quarrel worse was, that the
Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. The quarrels of professors
are the reproach of religion, and give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme. It is best to keep the peace, that it be not broken; but the next
best is, if differences do happen, with all speed to quench the fire that is
broken out. The attempt to stay this strife was made by Abram, although he was
the elder and the greater man. Abram shows himself to be a man of cool spirit,
that had the command of his passion, and knew how to turn away wrath by a soft
answer. Those that would keep the peace, must never render railing for railing.
And of a condescending spirit; he was willing to beseech even his inferior to be
at peace. Whatever others are for, the people of God must be for peace. Abram's
plea for peace was very powerful. Let the people of the land contend about
trifles; but let not us fall out, who know better things, and look for a better
country. Professors of religion should be most careful to avoid contention.
Many profess to be for peace who will do nothing towards it: not so Abram. When
God condescends to beseech us to be reconciled, we may well beseech one
another. Though God had promised Abram to give this land to his seed, yet he
offered an equal or better share to Lot, who had not an equal right; and he
will not, under the protection of God's promise, act hardly to his kinsman. It
is noble to be willing to yield for peace' sake.
Commentary on Genesis 13:10-13
Abram having offered Lot the choice, he at once accepted
it. Passion and selfishness make men rude. Lot looked to the goodness of the
land; therefore he doubted not that in such a fruitful soil he should certainly
thrive. But what came of it? Those who, in choosing relations, callings,
dwellings, or settlements, are guided and governed by the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, cannot expect God's presence or
blessing. They are commonly disappointed even in that which they principally
aim at. In all our choices this principle should rule, That is best for us,
which is best for our souls. Lot little considered the badness of the
inhabitants. The men of Sodom were impudent, daring sinners. This was the
iniquity of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, Ezekiel 16:49. God often gives great plenty to
great sinners. It has often been the vexatious lot of good men to live among
wicked neighbours; and it must be the more grievous, if, as Lot here, they have
brought it upon themselves by a wrong choice.
Commentary on Genesis 13:14-18
Those are best prepared for the visits of Divine grace,
whose spirits are calm, and not ruffled with passion. God will abundantly make
up in spiritual peace, what we lose for preserving neighbourly peace. When our
relations are separated from us, yet God is not. Observe also the promises with
which God now comforted and enriched Abram. Of two things he assures him; a
good land, and a numerous issue to enjoy it. The prospects seen by faith are
more rich and beautiful than those we see around us. God bade him walk through
the land, not to think of fixing in it, but expect to be always unsettled, and
walking through it to a better Canaan. He built an altar, in token of his
thankfulness to God. When God meets us with gracious promises, he expects that
we should attend him with humble praises. In outward difficulties, it is very
profitable for the true believer to mediate on the glorious inheritance which
the Lord has for him at the last.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 13
Verse 3
[3] And
he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his
tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
He went on to Bethel — Thither he went, not only because he was willing to go among his old
acquaintance; but because there he had formerly had his altar. and though the
altar was gone, probably he himself having taking it down when he left the
place, lest it should be polluted by the idolatrous Canaanites; yet he came to
the place of the altar, either to revive the remembrance of the sweet communion
he had had with God at that place, or, perhaps, to pay the vows he had there
made to God when he undertook his journey into Egypt.
Verse 6
[6] And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together:
for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
The land was not able to bear them — The place was too strait for them, and they had not room for their
flocks.
Verse 7
[7] And
there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of
Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled
in the land — This made the quarrel, 1. Very dangerous;
if Abram and Lot cannot agree to feed their flocks together, it is well if the
common enemy do not come upon them and plunder them both. 2. Very scandalous:
No doubt the eyes of all the neighbours were upon them, because of the
singularity of their religion, and the extraordinary sanctity they professed;
and notice would soon be taken of this quarrel, and improvement made of it to
their reproach by the Canaanites and Perizzites.
Verse 10
[10] And
Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well
watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the
garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
The garden of the Lord — That is, paradise.
Verse 13
[13] But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Sinners before the Lord — That is, impudent daring sinners.
Verse 16
[16] And
I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth — That is, they shall increase incredibly, and take them altogether; they
shall be such a great multitude as no man can number. They were so in Solomon's
time, 1 Kings 4:20. Judah and Israel were many as the
land which is by the sea in multitude. This God here gives him the promise of.
Verse 17
[17]
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for
I will give it unto thee.
Arise, walk through the land — Enter and take possession, survey the parcels, and it will appear better
than upon a distant prospect.
Verse 18
[18] Then
Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in
Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.
Then Abram removed his tent — God bid him walk through the land, that is, Do not think of fixing in
it, but expect to be always unsettled, and walking through it to a better
Canaan; in compliance with God's will herein, he removed his tent, conforming
himself to the condition of a pilgrim.
And he built there an altar — in token of his thankfulness to God for the kind visit he had made him.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
"THE CHOICE OF LOT"
Genesis 13:10-12
INTRODUCTION
1. The examples of men and women as recorded in the Bible can provide
valuable lessons...
a. From Abraham we can learn the value of faith in God
b. From Joseph we see the workings of God's providential care
c. From Job we learn the importance of patience and faith under
trial
2. From Lot, the nephew of Abraham, we can also glean valuable lessons
in...
a. The art of decision making
b. The importance of making proper choices
[We will first take an introductory look at the life of Lot, and then
focus upon a decision he made and how it affected his life...]
I. LOT'S CHOICE
A. IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS, LOT IS INTRODUCED TO US AS...
1. The nephew of Abraham who sojourned with him - Gen 12:5; 13:1
2. A man who like his uncle became quite wealthy - Gen 13:2-5
a. Because of the combined wealth of Abraham and Lot, they
were forced to separate - Gen 13:6-9
b. Given the opportunity to choose where he could go...
1) Lot made a choice, which on the surface was a good one
- Gen 13:10-12
2) But as good as it may have seemed, it resulted in much
sorrow and hardship for Lot!
B. AS A RESULT OF HIS CHOICE, LOT SUFFERED...
1. War - Gen 14:11
2. Kidnapping - Gen 14:12
3. Oppression and torment by the citizens of Sodom - 2 Pe 2:7-8;
cf. Gen 19:1-11
4. Loss of all his material wealth - Gen 19:15-16,24-25
5. The death of his wife - Gen 19:17,26
6. The shame of incest with his daughters - Gen 19:30-36
-- All these things happened despite the fact that Lot himself
was a righteous person - cf. 2 Pe 2:7-8
[The example of Lot should impress us with the importance of making the
proper choices in our lives. In view of what happened to Lot, we will
now consider...
1) Some of the choices we make that greatly affect our lives
2) Some suggestions on how to make the right decisions
3) What to do when we realize that we have made the wrong ones
Consider, then...]
II. OUR CHOICES
A. WHAT CHOICES DO WE MAKE THAT GREATLY AFFECT OUR LIVES?
1. The one that will affect your life more than any other: THE
CHOICE TO FOLLOW JESUS!
a. It will determine your place in eternity
b. It will have a bearing on every other choice you make; for
as a follower of Christ you will be concerned with doing
His will, not your own
2. Choosing your CAREER
a. The choice you make can have a lasting effect upon your
marriage, family, and your service to God
b. Even from a worldly viewpoint, your choice is important,
for the job market can change drastically
3. Choosing your MATE
a. The decision made will to a great extent determine your
degree of happiness in this life
b. It will have a permanent bearing on your children and their
emotional well-being!
1) You may think you can simply divorce a person who turns
out to be a bad choice
2) But once you have children, there is no way to reverse
the choice you made as to who is the mother or father of
your children!
4. Choosing your FRIENDS
a. Having close friends can be a wonderful blessing - Pro
17:17
b. But the wrong friends can be a curse for the righteous
- Pro 12:26; 1 Co 15:33
5. Choosing WHERE YOU WILL LIVE
a. It was in this choice that Lot made his mistake
b. It might just be there are some modern-day "Sodoms" and
"Gomorrahs"!
B. HOW CAN WE MORE LIKELY MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE?
1. Ask God for wisdom - Ja 1:5-8
2. Seek advice from others - Pro 11:14; 12:15
a. Discuss your alternatives with older, mature Christians
b. Consult the wisdom found in the Bible (especially in a book
like Proverbs)
3. Whatever you do, do it for the Lord's sake - cf. Ps 37:5-6,
23-26; Ja 4:15
C. WHAT SHOULD WE DO WHEN WE REALIZE OUR CHOICE WAS WRONG?
1. Do what Lot did...
a. Heed the word of God (as in fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah)
b. Do what is right without reservation (remember Lot's wife!)
2. Do what Peter did after he denied Christ...
a. Repent, if there is sin involved in the choice made
b. Resolve to serve the Lord
3. Do what Paul did after persecuting the church...
a. Accept the forgiveness Jesus provides
b. Determine to live for the Lord the rest of your life to the
best of your ability
4. The wrong thing to do is to continue in the choice because of
pride or some other reason! (although there are some choices
we must live with...)
CONCLUSION
1. The example of Lot should serve...
a. To teach us that making the proper decision is very important
b. To warn us not to make our choices lightly
2. "Remember Lot" the next time you are faced with an important
decision...
a. Seek to make that decision based upon the will of the Lord and
not your own
b. Your eternal destiny (and that of those you love) might rest upon
your choice!
Have you made the most important decision you will ever face? The
decision to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, why not
today? - cf. Mt 28:19-20; Ac 2:38
－－《Executable
Outlines》
13
Chapter 13
Verses 1-4
Genesis 13:1-4
Abraham went up out of Egypt
The believer learning from his great enemy
It is an old saying that “It is lawful to learn from an enemy.
” The patriarch had sojourned in the world’s kingdom, and had learned those
solemn lessons which, as it too often happens, only a bitter experience can
teach. He returned a sadder, but a wiser man. The believer who has fallen into
the world’s snares, or comes dangerously near to them, learns--
I. THAT IT IS NOT
SAFE TO LEAVE THE PATHS MARKED OUT BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
1. While we are in the path of Providence, we may expect Divine
direction.
2. When we leave the paths of Providence, we are thrown upon the
resources of our own wisdom and strength, and can only expect failure.
3. Every step we take from the paths of Providence only increases
the difficulty of returning.
II. THAT THE
FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD INVOLVES DEEP SPIRITUAL LOSS. In Abraham’s ease--
1. The delicacy of the moral principle was injured.
2. There was actual spiritual loss.
III. THAT THE
SOUL’S SAFETY IS BEST SECURED BY REVISITING, IN LOVING MEMORY, THE SCENES WHERE
GOD WAS FIRST FELT AND KNOWN.
1. He is aided by remembering the strength and fervour of his early
faith and love.
2. Memory may become a means of grace. It is well for us to look
backwards, as well as forwards by the anticipations of hope. What God has done
for us in the past is a pledge of what He will do in the future, if we continue
faithful to His grace. We may use memory to encourage hope.
IV. THERE MUST BE
A FRESH CONSECRATION TO GOD. Abram went at once to Bethel, where at the
beginning he had pitched his tent, and built an altar to God. There he “called
on the name of the Lord.” This implies a fresh consecration of himself, and
points out the method by which we may recover our spiritual loss. Such a fresh
consecration is necessary, for there are no other channels of spiritual
blessing, but those by which it first flowed to us. There is no new way of
restoration. We must come back to Him who first gave us our faith and made
reconciliation. This renewed consecration of ourselves to God involves--
1. The acknowledgment of our sin. It was sin that made, at first,
our reconciliation with God necessary, and fresh sin renews the obligation to
seek His face.
2. The conviction that propitiation is necessary to obtain the
favour of God.
3. The open profession of our faith. (T. H. Leale.)
Abram’s return, etc
I. THE RETURN OF
ABRAM.
1. Forgiven.
2. Favoured.
II. THE REQUEST OF
ABRAM.
1. Forbearing.
2. Foregoing.
III. THE REWARD OF
ABRAM.
1. Forgetting the earthly inheritance.
2. Foreshadowing the heavenly inheritance. (W. Adamson.)
Abraham and Lot
I. THE PERFECTNESS
OF GOD’S RESTORING GRACE.
1. God brought him back to Bethel.
2. The effect on Abraham. We find him no longer self-seeking and
self-dependent. He asks counsel of God; he defers to others; is meek under
provocation; and leaves himself wholly to God.
II. A BEAUTIFUL
PICTURE OF A PIOUS RICH MAN. You will observe two things about Abraham as a
rich man.
1. His conduct in relation to God.
2. His conduct toward Lot.
1. In regard to God, he worshipped Him in every place (Genesis 13:4; Genesis 18:1-33). This involves more than
at first sight appears. Abraham was living in the midst of idolaters. To
worship God was a bold act. It was also a public act. It was one which involved
much expense.
2. In regard to Lot. His conduct displays disinterestedness, love to
his nephew, and firm faith in God. From this narrative we may learn two
subordinate truths--
1. The children of God may come to acquire much worldly property.
2. The saints of God may possess property.
III. THE FOLLY OF
SELF-SEEKING. We see this in the case of Lot. (T. G.Horton.)
Lessons
1. God’s saints delay not to
follow God’s Providence, opening a way to them from the place of trial.
2. God knoweth how to deliver His fully, that nothing of theirs
shall be wanting (Genesis 13:2).
3. Weight of riches in the world is sometimes God’s portion given to
His.
4. Not possession of wealth, but inordinate affection and abuse of
it, is the sin (Genesis 13:2).
5. Riches cannot hinder believers from going after God where He
calleth them.
6. Saints breathe after their first communion with God, after
distractions from it (Genesis 13:3).
7. No place contents a gracious heart but where God may be enjoyed.
8. The name of the Lord is that which draweth the hearts of saints
from all enjoyments, to delight in it, publish it, and call upon it (Genesis 13:4). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Practical repentance
By retracing his steps and returning to the altar at Bethel, he
seems to acknowledge that he should have remained there through the famine in
dependence on God. Whoever has attempted a similar practical repentance,
visible to his own household and affecting their place of abode or daily
occupations, will know how to estimate the candour and courage of Abram. To own
that some distinctly marked portion of our life, upon which we entered with
great confidence in our own wisdom and capacity, has come to nothing and has
betrayed us into reprehensible conduct, is mortifying indeed, To admit that we
have erred and to repair our error by returning to our old way and practice, is
what few of us have the courage to do. If we have entered on some branch of business
or gone into some attractive speculation, or if we have altered our demeanour
towards some friend, and if we are finding that we are thereby tempted to
doubleness, to equivocation, to injustice, our only hope lies in a candid and
straightforward repentance, in a manly and open return to the state of things
that existed in happier days and which we should never have abandoned.
Sometimes we are aware that a blight began to fall on our spiritual life from a
particular date, and we can easily and distinctly trace an unhealthy habit of
spirit to a well-marked passage in our outward career; but we shrink from the
sacrifice and shame involved in a thoroughgoing restoration of the old state of
things. We are always so ready to fancy we have done enough, if we get one
heartfelt word of confession uttered; so ready, if we merely turn our faces
towards God, to think our restoration complete. Let us make a point of getting
through mere beginnings of repentance, mere intention to recover God’s favour
and a sound condition of life, and let us return and return till we bow at
God’s very altar again, and know that His hand is laid upon us in blessing as
at the first. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Verse 2
Genesis 13:2
Abram was very rich
Wealth in both worlds
I.
Abram,
whilst “very rich,” was TRULY GODLY.
II. Whilst “very
rich,” Abram was VERY godly.
III. Abram, whilst
“very rich,” highly VALUED “A GOOD NAME.”
IV. Abram, whilst
“very rich,” TAUGHT HIS CHILDREN TO TRUST, not in uncertain riches, but IN THE
LIVING GOD who gave them richly all things to enjoy.
V. Whilst “very
rich,” he was VERY GENEROUS.
VI. Whilst “very
rich” Abram did not forget that his riches were NOT HIS OWN.
VII. Whilst “very
rich” in earthly possessions, HE SET NOT HIS HEART UPON THEM. Conclusion:
1. It is a very noticeable and suggestive fact, that the thought of
the earthly riches of Abram has a very limited place in the minds of men.
2. Rich or poor in this world, we all need to be poor in spirit.
3. Rich or poor, we may have “durable riches” through Jesus Christ.
(Joseph Elliot.)
Riches to be made useful to others
Wherefore doth the Lord make your cup run over, but that other
men’s lips might taste the liquor? The showers that fall upon the highest
mountains should glide into the lowest valleys. (T. Secker.)
What can wealth do?
The following story is told of Jacob Ridgeway, a wealthy citizen
of Philadelphia, who died many years ago, leaving a fortune of five or six
million dollars. “Mr. Ridgeway,” said a young man with whom the millionaire was
conversing, “you are more to be envied than any gentleman I know.” “Why so?”
responded Mr. Ridgeway; “I am not aware of any cause for which I should be
particularly envied.” “What, sir!” exclaimed the young man in astonishment.
“Why you are a millionaire! Think of the thousands your income brings every
month!” “Well, what of that?” replied Mr. Ridgeway. “All I get out of it is my
victuals and clothes, and I can’t eat more than one man’s allowance and wear
more than a suit at a time. Pray can’t you do as much?” “Ah, but,” said the
youth, “think of the hundreds of fine houses you own, and the rentals they
bring you.” “What better am I off for that?” replied the rich man. “I can only
live in one house at a time; as for the money I receive for rents, why I can’t
eat it or wear it; I can only use it to buy other houses for other people to
live in; they are the beneficiaries, not I.” “But you can buy splendid
furniture, and costly pictures, and fine carriages and horses--in fact,
anything you desire.” “And after I have bought them,” responded Mr. Ridgeway,
“what then? I can only look at the furniture and pictures, and the poorest man,
who is not blind, can do the same. I can ride no easier in a fine carriage than
you can in an omnibus for five cents, without the trouble of attending to
drivers, footmen, and ostlers; and as to anything I ‘desire,’ I can tell you,
young man, that the less we desire in this world, the happier we shall be. All
my wealth can’t buy a single day more of life--cannot buy back my youth--cannot
procure me power to keep afar off the hour of death; and then, what will all
avail, when in a few short years at most, I lie down in the grave and leave it
all forever? Young man, you have no cause to envy me.”
Verse 4
Genesis 13:4
Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first
Abram’s journey to the place of the altar
I.
HIS
LOVE TO THE LAND OF PROMISE, WHICH ALL THE ATTRACTIONS OF EGYPT COULD NOT
EXTINGUISH OR OVERPOWER.
II. HIS VENERATION
FOR THE PLACE WHERE GOD FIRST APPEARED TO HIM. There may be in the journey of
life many inviting scenes, many fertile spots, but there is no place like the
place of the altar. From this spot nothing that Egypt and the intermediate
countries could offer was able to divert Abram. He came back prosperous, but
his heart was unchanged. Time is apt to wear out the sense of mercies. Many in
their travels leave religion behind them.
III. HIS CONCERN
WHEREVER HE WAS TO ERECT HIS ALTAR. Wherever we go we must take our religion
with us.
1. As a public profession.
2. As keeping up family religion. Wherever he had a tent God had an
altar. (T. H. Leale.)
The place of the altar
1. It commemorated Divine
communications (Genesis 12:7-8).
2. It expressed a practical faith. He took possession of the land,
not by issuing a decree, etc., but by thus acknowledging God.
3. It attested an unchanging piety. He had grown rich (Genesis 13:2) but did not forget God (Deuteronomy 6:10-12).
4. It denoted a wise householder’s forethought. At the first he
built the altar near the tent (Genesis 12:8). Now he pitched his tent
near the altar. Man’s home and God’s house should be contiguous.
5. But these old altars are obsolete. It was intended for sacrifice.
“Henceforth,” etc., comp. Hebrews 10:26, and Hebrews 9:11-14. This sacrifice final. No
altar now needed. As the altar was a place of meeting, so the word is now
applied to Christian sanctuaries, which are--
Verses 5-9
Genesis 13:5-9
There was a strife between the herdmen
Strife between brethren
I.
AS
TO THE CAUSES OF IT.
1. Worldly prosperity.
2. The mean ambition of ignoble souls associated with us.
3. The want of the obliging nature.
II. AS TO THE
EVILS OF IT.
1. It destroys the sacred feeling of kinship.
2. It exposes true religion to contempt.
3. It brings spiritual loss to individuals.
III. AS TO THE
REMEDIES OF IT.
1. The recognition of the obligations of brotherhood.
2. The yielding temper.
3. Confidence in the promise of God, that we shall suffer no real
loss by obedience to His command. (T. H. Leale.)
Abram and Lot
I. THE
CONTENTION.
1. Unseemly.
2. Untimely.
3. Unnecessary.
II. THE
CONSOLATION.
1. Unbounded.
2. Undoubted.
3. Unearthly. (W. Adamson.)
I. THE
CHURLISHNESS OF THE HERDSMEN.
II. THE
SELFISHNESS OF LOT.
III. THE
UNSELFISHNESS OF ABRAM.
IV. THE
GRACIOUSNESS OF GOD. (W. Adamson.)
Lesson links
1. Wealth means--
2. Abram manifests--
3. Worldly love means--
4. God manifests to Abraham--
Lessons
1. Walking with saints in
their hardest ways usually brings God’s outward blessings on them.
2. Great families and possessions God can give His saints in the
land of their pilgrimage (Genesis 13:5).
3. Great straits may befall the saints of God in their greatest
abundance.
4. Much wealth may prove an occasion of dividing the very saints (Genesis 13:6).
5. Great riches among the best may prove causes of great
contentions.
6. Bad servants may be incendiaries to put good masters to strife.
7. The large territories of the wicked may straiten the godly in
earthly places.
8. Wicked enemies of the Church are apt to watch all opportunities
to destroy the saints by their own divisions (Genesis 13:7). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Gracious hearts hasten to quench
any flame of contention rising in the Church.
2. Grace will make the greater move to the less for avoiding strife
among saints.
3. Grace will make men beg for peace and to abolish strife in the
Churches.
4. Gracious masters are solicitous to avoid contentions raised by
ungracious servants.
5. Grace will put masters upon healing their servants faults. So
Abram.
6. Strife is unseemly between brethren in the flesh, in religion and
condition (Genesis 13:8).
7. Grace is willing to part with its own, and all too, in some
cases, to brethren.
8. Grace will make God’s servants part in place, to keep one in
affection.
9. Grace is self-denying to remove strife from the family of God.
10. Grace is content with anything below, so it may honour God, and
keep peace with the saints (Genesis 13:9). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Quarrels about money
Thus early did wealth produce quarrelling among relatives. The men
who had shared one another’s fortunes while comparatively poor, no sooner
become wealthy than they have to separate. Abram prevented quarrel by
separation. “Let us,” he says, “come to an understanding. And rather than be
separate in heart, let us be separate in habitation.” It is always a sorrowful
time in family history when it comes to this, that those who have had a common
purse and have not been careful to know what exactly is theirs and what belongs
to the other members of the family, have at last to make a division and to be
as precise and documentary as if dealing with strangers. It is always painful
to be compelled to own that law can be more trusted than love, and that legal
forms are a surer barrier against quarrelling than brotherly kindness. It is a
confession we are sometimes compelled to make, but never without a mixture of
regret and shame. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Religion without the blessed life
In this story of the blessed life nothing can be more striking and
instructive than the contrast which it presents between the career of Lot and
that of Abraham. See at the outset how differently the two men come before us.
“Now the Lord had said unto Abraham”--or, as Stephen declares: “The God of
glory appeared unto Abraham.” Thus God had come into this man’s life, its
centre and strength. “And Lot also, which went with Abram”--this is the man
whose religion is second hand--he goes with the man who goes with God. Nothing
is easier than for many of us to do as Lot did. The age is one in which
respectability and social position rather like a little religion. Nothing can
quench the fire of our selfishness but the clear shining of the Sun of Heaven
upon our hearts. The God of glory appeared unto Abraham--that thrust the world back
into its right place; that kindled the desires and ambitions of the man; that
loosed him from the tyranny of the seen, the narrow prison of the present, and
set him at liberty for God. The fadeless glory of that vision ennobled and
elevated all the life. But Lot only went with Abraham. Never do you read that
he built an altar unto the Lord that appeared to him. The religion of Lot is a
religion without the vision of God. For us all the great question is this: What
can we do to make the blessed life our own? This is the only answer: Tarry
waiting upon God until there be a heart communion with Him. Let us follow the
story. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
That sojourn in Egypt was damaging to Abraham; but it was fatal to Lot. He had
seen a land that had kindled his greed; the possibility of his growing rich had
seized him and mastered him. That which attracted him in Sodom was that it was
like the land of Egypt, well-watered everywhere. The heathenism of Egypt had
prepared him for the grosser wickedness of Sodom. His wife and daughters had
seen the glitter and gaiety of a company that made the quiet of Abraham’s
encampment seem very dull. And worst of all, they had seen a good man without
his altar and his God; why then need they be so particular? So when the
opportunity came, Lot was quite prepared to avail himself of it. “And there was
a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s
cattle.” Lot saw what it pleased him to see. Let us see what the love of gain,
which was the ruin of Lot, did for him.
1. It put out the eyes of his generosity. The love of money always
does. Abraham gave Lot the choice, and he took it, of course. “Really uncle
Abraham is so unworldly and easy going about these things that he does not
think of them at all. Besides, he is so very well off that it cannot make any
difference to him; but I am only beginning, and it is very important that I
should have a good start.” Generosity--is it not scouted from the market place?
“Business is business, my dear sir; a bargain is a bargain, you know.
Generosity is all very well in its place, of course; but this is not its
place.” Where then is its place? Does any man really believe that he can
occasionally put out the eyes of his love--be hard, pitiless, grasping--and
then put them in again? He is hardening his heart, toughening it, and narrowing
it, and tying it with a double knot every day, like a Judas’ leather purse.
2. Again, the love of gain blinded Lot to the very meaning of life. The
greatness of Abraham lay in this one thing, that he suffered God to show him
the path of life. Each had land, but by the very method of procuring it the one
gave up that which abideth, and the other secured it. The one man set the land
first, and lost all. The other found all in God. Lot came out of Sodom stripped
of his goods, and the man himself more empty and blind than when he had gone
into it. This is the great lesson of this Book--that whilst we think of making
a living, God is thinking of what our living makes us. That the man is more
than all gain. This is the idea of life which runs through the New
Testament--it is faith, the service of God, the utter surrender of all to Him.
This alone can make life worth living. Choose anything, everything else; live
for it, grasp it--and what then but die? Surely we do not need to cry aloud to
the Lord for the anointing that we may see aright.
3. And yet further: the god of this world blinded Lot to the true
good, whilst it cheated him with the promise of goods. Lot lifted up his eyes
and saw the land of Sodom. That bounded his vision. But Abraham lifted up his
eyes and saw a promise that stretched through all the ages, and through all
lands, a stream of blessing. To Abraham the words were: “To thee and to thy
seed”; “I will bless thee;. . .thou shelf be a blessing.” The faith of all
those after years has found an inspiration and a triumph in the example of
faithful Abraham. But, alas! how sharp, how dreadful is the contrast as we turn
to Lot. He comes forth from Sodom without a soul having any faith in him. “He
seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law.” The only good in life is doing
good. That which alone makes life blessed is not what we get from others for
ourselves, but in what others get from us. Lot thought he could make the best
of both worlds, and he failed alike in each. For Abraham there were not two
worlds, but one only: as for every man of God: that is where the will of God is
done as it is done in heaven. (M. G.Pearse.)
Lot’s separation from Abram
I. THE CAUSES OF
THE SEPARATION. These were two classes: those which operated on man’s part, and
those which lay in the Divine plan of Abram’s career.
1. On man’s part. The narrative mentions the wealth of uncle and
nephew as the ground of their parting (Genesis 13:6).
2. On God’s part. Lot might be detached from his uncle, and Abram
might be set wholly free from family complications, and might stand forth as
the sole inheritor of the promises (Genesis 13:14).
II. TRAITS OF
CHARACTER WHICH ABRAM DISPLAYED IN THE SEPARATION.
1. Great peaceableness (Genesis 13:8). Abram, whatever he may
have thought, restrained himself, and did not utter one single word of
reproach. He is willing to lay a costly sacrifice on the altar of peace.
2. Large-hearted generosity (Genesis 13:9).
3. Heavenly wisdom. Although Abram, by the Divine blessing, was
“very rich,” he had not come into the land of Canaan to be a prosperous flock
master, and thus we find him acting here as one who knew that the Lord would
provide, all the while that He was fulfilling His own purposes towards him.
“Either hand for Abraham--either the right hand or the left: what cared the
pilgrim of the Invisible for fertile lands or rugged sands?”
III. ABRAM’S REWARD
IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SEPARATION. It was a trial to the patriarch to be left
alone; but God’s voice came to him to comfort him for the loss of his nephew,
and to reward him for his beautiful generosity (Genesis 13:14-18). The promise of the
seed which had been given him in Haran (Genesis 12:2-3), and that of the land
“which had been added at Shechem (Genesis 13:7), are now confirmed and
extended. LESSONS:
1. The changes of life, and especially such as are in the direction
of increasing worldly prosperity, are a decisive test of character.
2. We need a faith and a piety which are practical, which are
content to tread the common earth, and regulate the details of business and
social life; and that is the kind of religion which God approves.
3. “If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all
men” Romans 12:18).
4. It is dangerous for a man to cut himself off from religious
privileges, and, for the sake of material gain alone, to expose himself and his
children to the risk of moral contamination.
5. A Christian may sometimes do wrong by insisting on his rights;
but he will always profit, sooner or later, by every sacrifice which he makes
for the sake of peace (Matthew 5:5; 1 Timothy 4:8). (Charles Jordan,
M. A., LL. B.)
The separation between Abram and Lot
Observe the causes which rendered necessary this separation.
I. PROSPERITY.
The enlargement of a man’s possessions is very often the contracting of his
heart. We learn from this the great doctrine of compensation; for almost every
blessing must be paid a certain price. If a man would be the champion of the
truth, he must give up the friendship of the world. Be sure of this, there is
no rich and prosperous man we look at who has not paid his price--it may be in
loss of domestic peace, in anxiety, or in enfeebled health; be assured that
every earthly blessing is bought dearly.
II. THE
QUARRELLING AMONG THE SERVANTS and this quarrel arose partly from
disobligingness of disposition. Here we find the Christian community resembling
the Jewish. There is a constant strife now among servants as to whose duty it
is to do certain things, arising from the same indisposition to oblige one
another. Then observe how by degrees Lot and Abram are drawn into the quarrel,
and how again we find human nature the same in all ages. The bitterness between
child and child, between husband and wife, are often to be referred back to the
bitterness between domestic servants. Again, the scandal of this disagreement
passed on through the land; the Canaanite and the Perizzite heard of it. Here
is a lesson both for Christian masters and servants. Our very doors and walls
are not sufficient to guard domestic secrecy; if there has been a scandal in a
place, that scandal is sure to be heard. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Separated from Lot
1. Who was Lot? One of those
men who take right steps, not because prompted by obedience to God, but because
their friends are taking them. The Pliable of the earliest Pilgrim’s Progress.
2. The necessity of separation. We must be prepared to die to the
world with its censure or praise; to the flesh, with its ambitions and schemes;
to the delights of a friendship which is insidiously lowering the temperature
of the spirit; to the self-life, in all its myriad subtle and overt
manifestations; and even, if it be God’s will, to the joys and consolations of
religion. All this is impossible to us of ourselves. But if we will surrender
ourselves to God, willing that He should work in and for us that which we
cannot do for ourselves, we shall find that He will gradually and effectually,
and as tenderly as possible, begin to disentwine the clinging tendrils of the
poisoning weed, and bring us into heart union with Himself.
3. How the separation was brought about. Quarrels between servants.
Separation rather than strife
I. THE
DISPUTANTS.
1. They were related to each other.
2. They were professors of the same religious faith.
3. They differed in the relative amount of their power.
II. ABRAM’S
CONDUCT.
1. It was just.
2. It was statesmanlike.
3. It was magnanimous. (Homilist.)
Abram and Lot
I. THE CAUSE OF
THE SEPARATION OF ABRAM AND LOT.
1. The indirect cause: an over-abundance of wealth.
2. The direct cause (Genesis 13:6-7).
II. THE SPIRIT OF
THE SEPARATION.
1. On the part of Abram this separation was one of generosity.
2. This separation was executed in the interests of peace.
III. THE RESULTS OF
THIS SEPARATION.
1. To Lot seemingly advantageous to worldly prosperity, but
spiritually a loss.
2. To Abram seemingly disadvantageous, but most blessed in its
ultimate issues.
Lessons:
1. The separation of friends is not an unmitigated evil; it may be
an occasion of good.
2. Whether, when compelled to separate, or when permitted to have
fellowship one with another, the grace of God should teach us to be generous,
courteous, and consistent. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Quarrelsome servants
1. Effect of increase of
substance. The keeping a cause of perplexity. Not room in the land. If poverty
has its cares, so has wealth.
2. The herdsmen jealous for their respective masters. Such
carefulness commendable. Not very common.
3. They would have done well to have seen their masters before they
quarrelled. Prevention better than cure.
4. Their strife might have led to serious consequences. The
Canaanite, etc., were in the land. They might have taken advantage of this
strife. It might have extended to their masters, and resulted in a family
disrupture. (J. C. Gray.)
A quarrel in the kitchen
Things got mixed. The cattle ran together so that sometimes the
herdmen could not tell which was which; the count was always wrong at night;
and the noise got louder and louder as the herdmen became fretful and
suspicious. It was a quarrel in the kitchen, as we should say nowadays. The
masters seemed to get along fairly well with each other, but the servants were
at open war. Small credit to the masters, perhaps! They had everything nice;
the lentil soup and the smoking kid were punctually set before them, and mayhap
the wine flagon was not wanting. But noise travels upward. It gets somehow from
the kitchen into the parlour. It was so in this case. Abram heard of the vulgar
quarrel and was the first to speak. He spake as became an elder and a
millionaire: “Lot,” said he, “you must see to it that my peace be not broken;
you must lay the lash on the backs of these rough men of yours and keep them in
cheek; I will not stand any noise; the lips that speak above a whisper shall be
shut by a strong hand; you and your men must all mind what you are at, or I
will scourge you all to within an inch of your lives.” And when the lordly
voice ceased there was great fear amongst those who had heard its solemn
thunder! Now it so happens that the exact contrary of this is true. Abram was
older than Lot, and richer than Lot, and yet he took no high airs upon him, but
spoke with the meekness of great strength and ripe wisdom. His words would make
a beautiful motto today for the kitchen, for the parlour, for the factory, for
the Church. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Untimely contention
It was untimely contention when Monarchists and Republicans in
France disputed with each other, while the German armies were hemming them in
on all sides. It was untimely contention when Luther and Zwingle disputed
together, while the Roman hosts were assailing the newly-erected structure of
the Reformation. It was untimely contention when Liberals and Conservatives
disputed amongst themselves, while the Russian hordes were advancing on
Constantinople, and intriguing with Afghanistan. It was untimely contention
between Judah and Israel, when the Syrian and Assyrian powers were watching for
an opportunity of attack and conquest. It was untimely contention between
French and English Canadians, when Indians were on the alert to lay waste homes
and settlements with fire and sword. And so it was untimely contention between
the servants of Lot and Abraham, when surrounded by heathen tribes. (W.
Adamson.)
Beginning the peace
To one who made the first overtures towards a successful
reconciliation, his ante-opponent remarked, “I began the quarrel and you began
the peace, therefore you are the nobler man.”
Strife foolish before the world
The unseasonableness of the strife betwixt Abraham’s herdsmen and
Lot’s is aggravated by the near neighbourhood of the heathens to them. “And
there was a strife” (saith the text) “between Abram’s herdmen and the herdmen
of Lot’s cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land.” Now
to fall out whilst these idolaters looked on, this would be town talk
presently, and put themselves and their religion both to shame; and it may for
our parts be very well asked, Who have been in our land all the while the
people of God have been scuffling? Even those that have curiously observed
every uncomely behaviour amongst us, and told all the world of it; such as have
wit and malice enough to make use of it for their wicked purposes. They stand
at tiptoes to be at work, only we are not yet quite laid up and disabled by the
soreness of these our wounds, which we have given ourselves, from withstanding
their fury. They hope it will come to that; and then they will cure us of our
own wounds by giving one, if they can, that shall go deep enough to the heart
of our life, gospel and all. Let us then consider where we are, and among whom.
Are we not in our enemies’ quarters? so that if we fall out, what do we else
but kindle a fire for them to warm their hands by? It is an ill time for
mariners to be fighting, when an enemy is boring a hole in the bottom of the
ship: the sea of their rage will weaken our bank fast enough, we need not cut
it for them. (J. Spencer.)
Avoiding a quarrel
Saul was anxious to pick a quarrel with David, but in vain. We all
know who came off best in the end. Gotthold quaintly says, “It is not
disgraceful to step aside when a great stone is rolling down the hill up which
you are climbing, and let it rush past.” He who provokes a quarrel sets the
stone rolling, and he who steps aside to avoid it does not disgrace himself by
so doing. (J. Spencer.)
Christian contention
Fontaigne says that religious contention is the devil’s harvest.
And this is true, where the contention is unseemly, untimely, and unnecessary.
But all religious contention is not the devil’s harvest. To contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints is not doing Satan’s work; but the
contrary.
1. To contend against the pirate seeking to plunder the English
merchantman is not doing the pirate’s work. To contend against the adversary
who is eagerly endeavouring to sow tares in my wheat field is not doing the
adversary’s work. To contend against the wolf, which, arrayed in sheep’s
clothing, is seeking to enter in to the sheepfold where the lambs are bleating
safely, is not doing the wolf’s work.
2. When Noah, the preacher of righteousness, contended against his
ungodly contemporaries, he was doing God’s work. When Jeremiah, the melancholy
seer of Jerusalem’s overthrow, contended against the hireling shepherds of
Jehoiakim’s reign, he was doing God’s work. When Paul withstood Peter at
Antioch on the theme of circumcision, when John contended against prating
Diotrephes, when Athanasius maintained the truth against Pelagius, when Cranmer
and Luther struggled in conflict with the papal priests and princes, they were
doing God’s work.
3. Only the contention must be conducted in method and manner, by
mean and medium, with precept and principle, strictly Christian. There is,
however, a happy contention. Lord Bacon says it is when Churches and Christians
contend, as the vine and olive, which of them shall bring forth the sweetest
fruit to God’s glory; not as the briar and thistle, which of them shall bear
the sharpest thorns. (J. Spencer.)
How to prevent quarrels
In most quarrels there is a fault on both sides. A quarrel may be
compared to a spark, which cannot be produced without a flint as well as a
steel; either of them may hammer on wood forever, no fire will follow. Two
things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels; first, to have it well
ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms, rather than things; and
secondly, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about.
(C. Colton.)
Avoid quarrels
Francis I of France was in counsel with his generals, as to the
way they should take to lead the army to the invasion of Italy. Amaril, a fool,
who, unseen, had heard their propositions, sprang up and advised them rather
“to consider which way they should bring the army back out of Italy again; for
it is easy to engage in quarrels, but hard to be disengaged from them.”
Contending about trifles
In the year 1005 some soldiers of the Commonwealth of Modena ran
away with a bucket from a public well belonging to the State of Bologna. The
implement might be worth a shilling; but it produced a quarrel which worked
into a long and bloody war. Henry, the king of Sardinia, for the Emperor Henry
the second, assisted the Modenese to keep possession of the bucket; and, in one
of the battles, was made prisoner. His father, the emperor, offered a chain of
gold that would encircle Bologna, which is seven miles in compass; but in vain.
After twenty years’ imprisonment, his father being dead, he pined away and
died. His monument is still extant in the church of the Dominicans. The fatal
bucket is still exhibited in the tower of the Cathedral of Modena enclosed in
an iron cage.
Verse 9
Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before thee?
--
The goodly land in prospect
In many respects the earthly Canaan was typical of the heavenly.
The heavenly Canaan is--
I. A LAND OF PROMISE
(1 John 2:25; Revelation 21:7; Revelation 22:14).
II. A LAND OF LIFE
(1 John 3:15; Revelation 21:4).
III. A LAND OF
LIGHT (Revelation 22:5).
IV. A LAND OF
PLENTY (Revelation 7:16; Revelation 22:2).
V. A LAND OF
FELICITY AND JOY. This joy will be complete; perfect, full, everlasting (Psalms 16:11; Isaiah 35:10). Application:
1. Have I a title clear to heaven?
2. The way to eternal life open to all.
3. Jesus Christ is the way, the living way, the only way.
4. As human life is so uncertain, all should strive at once to make
a full preparation, and seek to get that meekness requisite for the inheritance
of the saints in light. (H. Dingley.)
Abram’s proposal to Lot
I. THIS PROPOSAL
SHOWS THAT A GOOD MAN LOVES PEACE RATHER THAN WEALTH.
1. Because strife hardens the heart.
2. Because strife destroys a man’s happiness.
3. Because strife hinders one’s spiritual progress.
II. THAT A GOOD
MAN HAS CONFIDENCE IN THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.
1. Abraham had confidence in God’s wisdom.
2. He had confidence in God’s love.
III. THAT A GOOD
MAN HAS HIGHER INTERESTS THAN WORLDLY PROSPERITY. (Homilist.)
A peaceable spirit
I. HOW DESIRABLE
A THING IT IS TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH OTHERS. We are commanded to live at peace.
Contention undermines the welfare of all.
II. THERE ARE
ALWAYS SOME MEANS OF MAINTAINING PEACE. Unselfish yielding of rightful claims.
A friendly separation need be no schism. (F. Hastings.)
Magnanimity of Abraham
1. How different he might
have acted. The whole land was his. He was most powerful and wealthy. He might
have decided without consulting Lot, and simply have announced his decision.
How many would have stood on their dignity, and vindicated their rights.
2. See what he did. Took his nephew to a rising ground, whence the
whole land might be seen. Offered him the first choice. Was willing to abide by
Lot’s decision, and take what he left.
3. This was the result of a peaceful spirit and a firm faith in God.
(J. C. Gray.)
The excellence of a peaceable disposition, exemplified in the
conduct of Abraham towards Lot
I. WE PROPOSE TO
CONSIDER THE FACTS RECORDED. The conduct of these two good men, on the occasion
to which the text refers, had certainly many shades of difference. In the one,
the religious principle was in lively and adapted operation, it governed the
passions, and its effects engage our approbation; in the other, that principle
seems to have lain dormant, while feelings of jealousy or ambition appear for a
time to have controlled the heart; their fruit however was disappointment and
sorrow. We feel no difficulty in knowing which to condemn and which to censure;
but if the conduct of Abraham be deemed so worthy of admiration, let us
imitate; if the conduct of Lot be deemed improper, let us avoid following his
example. Such should be our aim and our practice in reading the excellences or
the defects of men.
II. LET US DEDUCE
SOME PRACTICAL INFERENCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERSONAL APPLICATION.
1. We may learn how honourable and happy it is to be a promoter of
peace.
2. Let us cultivate the dispositions necessary to be exercised in
preserving or promoting peace; particularly that meekness which is careful not
to take offence, and which is as mindful not to give offence.
3. We may learn the danger of judging merely from appearances, and
of preferring what is great or splendid in circumstances, to those situations
in life which are friendly to religious improvement. This Lot does not seem
sufficiently to have regarded.
4. We may ascertain with what confidence we may commit our temporal
interests to the care and goodness of providence, while we are walking in the
path of holy obedience. If true religion guide us, it will be found that her
ways are pleasantness and peace. Those who honour God He will honour. (Essex
Remembrancer.)
Abraham’s disinterestedness
Many good reasons might have been given by Abraham for claiming
the first right of choice for himself. For one thing, he was the older man, and
naturally might have expected that Lot would defer to him. For another thing,
he might have reminded Lot that it was not he who had accompanied Lot, but Lot
who had accompanied him, when together they had left their Chaldean home, and
might have insisted that, simply on that ground, it was Lot’s place to yield
the preference to him. But no! he gave up all such claims of priority, and in a
manner at once chivalrous and disinterested said, “Is not the whole land before
thee?” Now, when we ask how Abraham came to act in this way, we see at once
that his conduct was the outgrowth of his faith in God. For observe, in this
very connection, indeed in the very middle of this history, it is said, “The
Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land.” Now these were idolatrous
and selfish tribes. They were at that very moment filling up the measure of
their iniquity on account of which the land was taken from them and given to
Abraham. It would never do, therefore, for the worshippers of the true God to
quarrel before them. That would only give them occasion to blaspheme Jehovah’s
name, and so bring His worship into contempt. Therefore, out of regard to the
honour of the Lord, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his worldly interest rather
than do anything which would tend to compromise the religion he professed.
Moreover, the Lord had promised to provide for him. Ever since he had left the
far land of Ur, he had looked upon himself as the ward of God, and he was quite
sure that God would take care of him. So, without either hesitation or
misgiving, he made this proposal to his nephew, and as a proof that he had not
miscalculated, we are told in the concluding verses of the chapter that God
appeared unto him, renewed the promise of the land of Canaan, and guided him to
the plain of Mamre, near to that city of Hebron which today bears in its name
El-Khulil--the friend--the memorial of his connection with its neighbourhood.
But now, rising from this old history and looking over the face of modern
society, what “envying, strifes, wraths, back-bitings, whisperings, swellings,
tumults,” might be prevented in households, neighbourhoods, churches, nations,
by acting on the principles which animated Abraham here? There, for instance,
are two men in the same business, and there is not enough for both; but the one
happens to have more capital than the other and so he commences to undersell
him by putting down his prices to a figure that is absolutely dishonest, and
then, when he has closed his neighbour up, and secured all the trade for
himself, he begins to reimburse himself at his leisure. In the good old days of
the fathers, the maxim used to be, “Live and let live,” but now, in the
selfishness of competition, men trample each other down, and virtually say,
“Die, that I may live.” Or look at it in another sphere: there are two railway
companies, each connecting the same great centres of commerce with each other.
There is enough probably for both, if they were only to be mutually
considerate. But so far from that, each wishes to have the larger share; and so
they run each other down and down, until shareholders are ruined, and employees
are ground to the lowest farthing; and then! such scenes as were lately
witnessed in the land come to alarm and appall. Nor is this evil confined to
commerce. To the disgrace of our Christianity, there is the same suicidal
rivalry among churches. Is it so, that neither business can thrive nor churches
be advanced without selfishness that tramples others down? What is your faith
in God worth if you can believe that? (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Abram’s generosity
Abram met the danger as promptly and resolutely as the brave
Hollanders, in days gone by, threw up their dykes against the encroaching sea.
But how did he meet it? We might expect him to say, “Why this strife? Rebuke
thy servants--they must yield to mine--I am the elder--and to me the land is
promised.” Would this have stopped the strife? It ought, certainly; all the
right and authority were on his side, but the assertion of right does not
always win the side that is in the wrong, and Abram chose a surer dyke to stop
the threatening torrent. Did what he did say stop it? Yes, but not in the way we
might have hoped. If Lot had said, “Nay, dear uncle, I cannot forestall
thee--choose thou first,”--that would have been a complete victory. But when we
yield up a right for the sake of peace, we must not expect to be met with
corresponding generosity; we must be prepared to be taken at our word, as Abram
was. (E. Stock.)
Magnanimity
An instance of the practical effectiveness of Mr. Sherman’s
preaching is narrated thus. In one of his Monday evening lectures to teachers,
the subject was the parting of Abraham and Lot: in the course of which he spoke
of the magnanimity of Abraham, and as a contrast to it, said that he had just
visited a family belonging to the congregation that was rent by discord about
the ownership of an old iron bedstead. It happened that amongst his hearers was
a man who had not been in Surrey chapel for years. He was greatly amused by the
illustration. As he left the chapel, he called on an old friend, and told him
that he was at the very time arranging the distribution of some property left
by a relative, amongst which there was an old bedstead, which had been matter
of dispute: but the effect of the address upon him was such that the bedstead
difficulty was soon amicably settled. (Old Testament Anecdotes.)
Of such as have been great lovers and promoters of peace
There are no greater instances of the folly and wicked disposition
of mankind, than that their favourites have been clad in steel; the destroyers
of cities, the suckers of human blood, and such as have imprinted the deepest
fears upon the face of the universe, are the men it has crowned with laurels,
and flattered with the misbecoming titles of heroes and gods: while the sons of
peace are remitted to the cold entertainment of their own virtues. Still there
have ever been some who have found so many heavenly beauties in the face of
peace, that they have been contented to love that sweet virgin for her own
sake, and to court her without the consideration of any additional dowry.
1. The inhabitants of the island of Borneo, not far from the
Molluccas, live in such detestation of war, and are so great lovers of peace,
that they hold their king in no other veneration than that of a god, so long as
he studies to preserve them in peace; but if he discover inclinations to war,
they never rest till he is fallen in battle under the arms of his enemies. So
soon as he is slain they set upon the enemy with all imaginable fierceness, as
men that fight for their liberty, and such a king as will be a greater lover of
peace. Nor was there ever any king known amongst them that was the persuader
and author of a war, but he was deserted by them, and suffered to fall under
the sword of the enemy.
2. At Tez, in Africa, they have neither lawyers nor advocates; but
if there be any controversies amongst them, both parties, plaintiff and
defendant, come to their Alfakins, or chief judge, and at once, without any
further appeals or pitiful delays, the cause is heard and ended.
3. It is said of the sister of Edward III, the wife of David king of
Scots, that she was familiarly called “Jane Make-peace,” both for her zeal and
success therein.
4. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh used to say that “he overcame envy
and evil will more by patience and peaceableness, than by pertinaey and
stubbornness”; and he so managed his private affairs, that he never sued any
man, nor did any man ever sue him, but he lived and died universally respected
and beloved.
5. It is recorded of Servius Sulpitius, an heathen lawyer, that “he
respected equity and peace in all that he did, and always sought rather to
settle differences than to multiply suits of law.”
6. Numa Pompilius instituted the priests or heralds called
“Feciales,” whose office was to preserve peace between the Romans and
neighbouring nations; and if any quarrel arose, they were to pacify them by
reason, and not suffer them to come to violence till all hope of peace was
past; and if these feciales did not consent to the wars neither king nor people
had it in their power to undertake them.
The folly of strife
An old writer tells of two brothers who went out to take a walls
in the night, and one of them looked up to the sky and said, “I wish I had a
pasture field as large as the night heaven.” And the other brother looked up
into the sky and said, “I wish I had as many oxen as there are stars in the
sky.” “Well,” said the first, “how would you feed so many oxen?” Said the
second, “I would turn them into your pasture.” “What! whether I would or not.”
“Yes, whether you would or not.” And there at once arose a quarrel, and when
the quarrel ended, one had slain the other. Not less foolish have been many of
the quarrels of modern times. One of the six things God hates is he that soweth
discord among brethren.
Strife among brethren
I read a story the other day of an elder of a Scotch kirk, who at
the elders’ meeting had angrily disputed with his minister, until he almost
broke his heart. The night after he had a dream, which so impressed him, that
his wife said to him in the morning, “Ye look very sad, Jan; what is the matter
with ye?” “And well I am,” said he, “for I have dreamed that I had hard words
with our minister, and he went home and died, and soon after I died too; and I
dreamed that I went up to heaven, and when I got to the gate, out came the
minister, and put out his hands to welcome me, saying, ‘Come along, Jan,
there’s nae strife up here, I’m so glad to see ye.’” So the elder went down to
the minister’s house to beg his pardon, and found in very truth that he was
dead. He was so smitten by the blow, that within two weeks he followed his
pastor to the skies; and I should not wonder but what his minister did meet
him, and say, “Come along, Jan, there’s nae strife up here.” Brethren, why
should there be strife below? Let us love each other, and by the fact that we
are co-heirs of that blessed inheritance, let us dwell together as partakers of
a common life, and soon to be partakers of a common heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 10-12
Genesis 13:10-12
Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan
Abraham and Lot
The lesson to be gained from the history of Abraham and Lot is
obviously this: that nothing but a clear apprehension of things unseen, a
simple trust in God’s promises, and the greatness of mind thence arising, can
make us act above the world--indifferent, or almost so, to its comforts,
enjoyments, and friendships; or, in other words, that its goods corrupt the
common run of religious men who possess them.
I. ABRAHAM AND
LOT HAD GIVEN UP THIS WORLD AT THE WORD OF GOD, BUT A MORE DIFFICULT TRIAL
REMAINED. Though never easy, yet it is easier to set our hearts on religion or
to take some one decided step, which throws us out of our line of life and in a
manner forces upon us what we should naturally shrink from, than to possess in
good measure the goods of this world and yet love God supremely. The wealth
which Lot had hitherto enjoyed had been given him as a pledge of God’s favour,
and had its chief value as coming from Him. But surely he forgot this, and
esteemed it for its own sake, when he allowed himself to be attracted by the
riches and beauty of a guilty and devoted country.
II. GOD IS SO
MERCIFUL THAT HE SUFFERS NOT HIS FAVOURED SERVANTS TO WANDER FROM HIM WITHOUT
REPEATED WARNINGS. Lot had chosen the habitation of sinners; still he was not
left to himself. A calamity was sent to warn and chasten him: he and his
property fell into the hands of the five kings. This was an opportunity of
breaking off his connection with the people of Sodom, but he did not take it as
such.
III. THE GAIN OF
THIS WORLD IS BUT TRANSITORY FAITH REAPS A LATE BUT LASTING RECOMPENSE. (J.
H. Newman, D. D.)
A worldly choice and its consequences
That Lot was a good man in the ground of his character there is no
reason to doubt. But good men have their besetting sins. Lot’s was worldliness,
and it cost him dear.
1. CONSIDER SOME FEATURES OF THE CHOICE WHICH LOT MADE.
1. Worldly advantage was the chief element in determining his place
in life. The volcanic fires, slumbering beneath, made the plain of Sodom so
fertile that its riches had become proverbial; and the Jordan, which has now so
short a course to the Dead Sea, then wandered through the plain, like the
rivers of Eden. Lot’s eye regarded neither the dangers sleeping beneath nor the
light of God above, but only the corn and wine and verdant pastures.
2. Lot’s choice betrayed a want of generosity. Abraham gave to Lot
the selection of place, and had Lot been capable of appreciating his generosity
he would have declined to avail himself of the offer. But he grasped at it
eagerly and took the richest side. Such men are the most unsatisfactory of
friends, paining us constantly by their selfishness, and failing us in the hour
of need.
3. Lot’s choice showed disregard of religious privileges. The sins
of the men of Sodom were of a peculiarly gross and inhuman kind; had Lot’s
religion been warm and bright he would not have ventured among them. He may
have excused himself to his conscience by saying that he was going to do good,
but when he left Sodom he could not count a single convert.
II. CONSIDER THE
CONSEQUENCES OF LOT’S CHOICE.
1. As he made worldly advantage his chief aim, he failed in gaining
it. Twice he lost his entire possessions; he left Sodom poorer than he entered
it. He was stripped of the labours of years, and dared not even look behind on
the ruin of his hopes.
2. As Lot failed in generosity to Abraham, he was repeatedly brought
under the weightiest obligations to him. He took an unfair advantage of
Abraham, but ere many years had passed he owed all he had--family, property,
liberty--to Abraham’s courageous interposition.
3. Lot’s disregard of spiritual privileges brought on him a bitter
entail of sin and shame. His own religious character suffered from his sojourn
in Sodom. This alone can account for the grievous termination of his history.
His life remains as a warning against the spirit of worldliness. Both worlds
frequently slip from the grasp in the miserable attempt to gain the false
glitter of the present. (J. Ker, D. D.)
Lot’s choice
I. THERE ARE
DECISIVE MOMENTS IN ALL LIVES. There are hours when character is fixed as by
some powerful mordant, and thenceforth the writing is indelible. There are
minutes in which destiny is determined, as one may step to this side or to that
of the sharp crest of a hill. These are the times in which we make the choices
on which our future lives depend. It is such a time in the life of the still
youthful Lot that we are to consider. Such times come surely to us all,--not
once alone, perhaps, though perhaps only once,--from the decisions of which
henceforth we do not swerve. More often a few such opportunities come to a
life, and they come chiefly in its youth.
II. CHOICE IS BOTH
THE EXPRESSION OF CHARACTER AND ITS DETERMINATION. So Lot shows what was in
him, as Abram reveals his character in the choice.
1. Abram looks to the Lord, and Lot looks to the land. It is the
contrast of the prayerful with the worldly spirit.
2. Abram showed himself to be a man of peace. Lot let the
quarrelling go on;--who knows but he may profit by it in the end?
3. Abram was generous beyond the demands of ordinary liberality. He
gave up the rights of his seniority, of family headship; chose to give up his
choice, and let the younger man take what seemed to him best. And Lot took
it--thinking only of his own interests.
4. Abram was the faithful friend. The friend of God is always the
friend of man as well. Prosperity in this case, as in so many others, tested
their friendship and fidelity more than adversity. Poverty and loneliness might
bring them close together. While Abram was growing very rich, and Lot, the
junior partner, was catching the overflow and coming to the possibility of
self-support, he would by no means leave his advantage. But now that he has come
to independence and can get no more out of his association with his older
friend, but rather lose by it, he is quite ready to sever the connection.
III. THE FOLLY OF A
WORLDLY CHOICE. The man who leaves out God, God’s purpose for us and God’s
calling, is never wise and never comes to true success. The man who makes his
decisions on the mere ground of worldly advantage is never sure and never safe.
The example we are studying is striking in this regard. It is shown, whether
you consider it as a mere natural succession of causes and effects or as a
matter of supernatural awards. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. The principles taught, and the example set, by the Lord Jesus Christ do
not seem at first sight to be well adapted to present success. The unpractical
character of other-worldliness is often contemptuously set over against the
evils of this-worldliness. But it is a great mistake. The principles of Christ
are exactly adapted to this world and to this life, not to a shallow and disappointing
success, but to the real attainment of all which in this world is best and most
enduring. Every Abram who gives up all to follow God, God takes in hand and
guides more safely than he could have gone alone. (G. M. Boynton.)
Abram and Lot
I. This story
shows HOW RICHES ENGENDER STRIFE. Oftener a cause of jealousy and estrangement
than of increased attachment and magnanimity.
II. THIS STORY
SHOWS ON WHAT FRIVOLOUS GROUNDS MEN BECOME ESTRANGED. For the sake of some
small advantage they fling away the hearts whose love is more precious than
gold; or they make them suffer from their ill-humour and their peevishness,
until it can be borne no longer. A friendship that has been tested by years of
experience and the strongest proofs of affection, is sometimes quenched by the
merest trifle.
III. This story
shows HOW A GOOD MAN AVOIDS IMPENDING STRIFE. Not by standing stiffly upon his
rights, but by timely concession.
IV. This story
shows THE SPIRITUAL PERILS OF SELFISHNESS.
V. This story
also shows THE REWARD OF PIETY (Genesis 13:14-17). God gave Abram for a
perpetual possession the land on which he gazed from the eminence of Bethel. He
gave him His own friendship in the place of Lot’s, for whose departure he
sorrowed. He made him also, then a childless old man, hopeless of any posterity
to bear his name, and who had hoped, perhaps, that Lot would be to him in place
of a son--God made him, in anticipation, the father of a great multitude that
could not be numbered. Thus his reward for his integrity and piety was
exceeding great. Choosing God and the land where God was found, he derived from
this world and its life the best it affords. It is ever so. He who chooses God
for his portion, has also the best of His gifts. (A. H. Currier.)
A worldly choice
I. IT WAS
DETERMINED BY EXTERNAL ADVANTAGES.
1. External advantages are not the chief end of life.
2. External advantages are not the true happiness of life.
3. External advantages, when considered by themselves, tend to
corrupt the soul.
II. IT WAS
UNGENEROUS.
III. IT SNOWED TOO
LITTLE REGARD FOR SPIRITUAL INTERESTS. (T. H.Leale.)
The character of Lot
I. BEFORE HE TOOK
UP HIS ABODE AT SODOM. It appears that he was influenced by the same grace to
leave his idolatrous country, and to share with Abraham the difficulties of a
pilgrim’s life, that he might follow the guidance and join in the worship of
the true God. We, therefore, find him a fellow traveller with Abraham (Genesis 12:4), and the Lord blessed him
with an abundant increase of His substance. But how seldom does increasing
wealth produce increasing happiness! He separates from Abraham; and what a
wretched change does he make! “He pitched his tent toward Sodom.” By what
motive was he influenced? Let us beware of the love of money, which is the root
of all evil: “They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare.”
II. DURING HIS
RESIDENCE IN SODOM. Preserved from the general contagion. A bold reprover of
abominations. But one circumstance in this history is very remarkable. The very
end for which Lot was induced to fix his residence at Sodom, was entirely
defeated. Alas! how can we expect to prosper, when the love of gain is our
principle? The Lord will, in mercy, disappoint His children, and bring them
into trials to preserve them from apostacy. Behold Lot a stranger to comfort in
Sodom. Grieved with observing the conduct of the wicked, as well as hated and persecuted
by them! And what would avail him the fruitfulness of the soil?
III. AFTER HIS
DEPARTURE FROM SODOM. He who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked, fell into the most abominable wickedness indeed. This proves two
things--
1. When we do stand, it is by the power of God alone: to Him
therefore we must ascribe all the excellence and perseverance of His people.
Even Paul, in his most advanced state, is nothing: “Not I, but the grace of God
which was with me.”
2. When we are not upheld by Him, no place is secure; and any
temptation, how small soever, is enough to overcome as. What other expedient,
then, is left us, but,
Lot’s choice
I. HIS CHOICE.
II. HIS MOTIVE.
1. Not the expectation of better religious advantages.
2. Not the hope of benefiting others.
3. Evidently to advance his worldly interests.
III. WHAT HE
GAINED. fit home in Sodom.
IV. WHAT HE LOST.
1. The helpful influence of Christian fellowship.
2. Moral tone in character--evidently on the downgrade.
3. His happiness.
4. His property; first in war, then by fire.
5. All of his adherents, and part of his own family, in the final
destruction of Sodom. (The Homiletic Review.)
Abram’s generosity and Lot’s selfishness
I. THE GENEROUS
OFFER.
1. Abram was a peace maker.
2. Abram was unselfish.
3. Abram was patient.
II. THE SELFISH
CHOICE.
1. Lot was self-seeking.
2. Lot was worldly-minded.
3. Lot was hasty in his choice.
III. THE LARGE
BLESSING. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
Lot’s unwise choice
1. Good men may be too hasty
and solicitous for worldly advantage--as Lot.
2. The lust of the eye, covetous desire may misguide gracious souls
sometimes in their choice.
3. Pleasant fruitful possessions on earth are apt to take up too
much the care of the saints.
4. The pleasantest habitations are not always the best: if God grow
angry.
5. God spares not to destroy the choicest places where sin abounds (Genesis 13:10).
6. Good men may be too selfish. He offers not Abram the choice.
7. God’s own left to their choice, may choose and possess the worst
portion.
8. Brethren may be parted by choice of distinct portions, when
ordered by God to higher ends (Genesis 13:11). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Grace makes a soul sit
down contented with its promised portion. So did Abram.
2. The promised portion with all its inconveniences, is better than
the most pleasant with sin.
3. Good souls may sometimes sit down with content in large and
pleasant places without God.
4. Saints sometimes may meet with an hell, where they look for a
paradise; so did Lot.
5. It is a soul blemish, for God’s servants to covet fruitful
places, though never so sinful (Genesis 13:12).
6. Fruitful places are apt to have the foulest sinners.
7. The excess and height of sin is in obstinate opposition to
Jehovah.
8. Jehovah will make known such to be sinners to the purpose and
brand them, as here Sodom is notorious to all ages (Genesis 13:13). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Christian worldliness
In the expression “Christian worldliness” there may be considered
by some to be a formal contradiction in terms. But it is the plain epitaph
written over the historical grave of one of the best known and worst reputed
characters in the Scriptures.
1. To begin with, LET US ACCEPT THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THIS KINSMAN
OF ABRAM WAS AN OLD TESTAMENT CHRISTIAN. A “righteous man” dwelling in Sodom is
so palpably out of place in our conception of propriety that he needs the word
offered in extenuation, namely, that, day after day, he vexed his righteous
soul with the unlawful deeds he beheld around him. We must never forget that
the question of his piety as an orthodox believer in God is settled for us (2 Peter 2:7-8). But now, with all
this generous notion of him, it muss be calmly acknowledged that Lot was a very
poor Christian.
2. In the second place, find an instant explanation of the failure;
LOT WAS A MERCENARY CHRISTIAN. The very earliest inquiry is, How did he come to
be in Sodom at all? We must remember that Lot did not go to Sodom directly, nor
even at once. Men do not ever plunge into evil; they glide, they slide, or they
drift. Lot only pitched his tent “towards” Sodom. He went close enough to hear
how prices were ranging from day to day; he had a market for all he had to
barter; there was gossip among his neighbours; oh, it was a good, nice place,
not so very wicked, and always so lively! This is the way of the world, and
that is the way of worldly believers now in the New Testament church. They make
compromises with a very easy conscience. They do not go straight into wrong;
they “pitch their tents towards” it. “Men fall,” said Guizot, “on the side
toward which they lean.”
3. Observe, in the third place, THAT LOT WAS SOON EVIDENCED AS A
BACKSLIDING CHRISTIAN. How do we know this? We notice that wherever Abram went
in that wandering life of his, he set up an altar the first thing he did, and a
regular service of worship made him known as a follower of Jehovah. A careful
search will fail to reveal that Lot ever did anything to cause remark in this
direction. The story of the life of that group of sons and sons-in-law is just
downward, downward, as they grew depraved more and more in tastes,
capabilities, and principles. First, they “walked in the counsel of the
ungodly”; next, they were found to “stand in the way of sinners”; then they
began to “sit in the seat of the scornful.” And the one great commonplace
lesson for us to learn is this: even a believer who neglects his religious duty
is moving forward in sin.
4. But pass on; for we need, in the fourth place, to look at LOT AS
A SERIOUSLY UNHAPPY CHRISTIAN. He “vexed his righteous soul” there from day to
day, in seeing and hearing the unlawful deeds of those indescribably vicious
people; he detested their “filthy conversation.” Now, I know you will give me
full sympathy when I say I am really glad this patriarch had a miserable time.
I wish it had been worse. It is the only evidence we get of his sincerity as a
child of God.
5. Once more; you are ready, in the fifth place, to find in this man
LOT A MOST INEFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN. When you discover how worldly a man has
become, you are not at all surprised to see that his religious usefulness is
destroyed. So slight was the influence of this patriarch over those who knew
him best, that even when he had received a visit from the angels sent from God
in heaven, and came forth trembling and frightened to tell them that the city
was soon to be destroyed, they jeered at him for a coward, and laughed at him
for a fool. It was clear to them that the less he said about his interviews
with God, the safer it would be for his credit; they thought he was joking.
6. It is somewhat cheering now, in the sixth place, to look upon Lot
as A TRULY SAVED CHRISTIAN. And yet we are forced to go over into the New
Testament passage to get our proof; read again the text of Peter.
This shows, not only that Lot was saved, but that his salvation, so graciously
achieved, was of so narrow a sort that it could be given as one of the extreme
examples of Divine mercy towards the undeserving; and that it must be taken in
connection with the fact that all the inhabitants of the wicked city, out of
which he was so hurriedly rushed, were “turned into ashes.” Furthermore, this passage
shows that, while “the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly,” He knows how
also “to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” One thing
is absolutely clear; he never could have been saved in Sodom. The turning point
in his career was reached when Sodom was set on fire. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The importance of a choice
We have seldom the choice put before us so dramatically and
sharply; but it is as really presented to each. There is the shameless cynicism
of the men who avowedly only ask the question, “Will it pay?” But there are
subtler forms which affect us all. It is the standing temptation of Americans
and Englishmen alike to apply a money standard to everything, to adopt courses
of action of which the only recommendation is that they promote getting on in
the world. Men who call themselves Christians select schools for their
children, or professions for their boys, or marriages for their daughters, down
in Sodom, because it will give them a lift in life which they would not get up
in the starved pastures at Bethel, with nobody but Abram and his like to
associate with. If the earnestness with which men pursue an end is to be taken
as any measure of its importance in their eyes, it certainly does not look much
as if modern average Christians did believe that it was of more moment to be
united to God, and to be growing like Him, than to secure a good big share of
earthly possessions. Tried by the test of conduct, their faith in getting on is
a great deal deeper than their faith in getting up. But if our religion does
not make us put the world beneath our feet, and count all things but loss that
we may win Christ, we had better ask ourselves whether our religion is any
better than Lot’s, which was second hand, and was much more imitation of Abram
than obedience to God. Let teaches us that material good may tempt and conquer,
even after it has been overcome. His early life had been heroic; in his young
enthusiasm, he had thrown in his portion with Abram in his great venture. He
had not been thinking of his flocks when he left Haran. Probably, as I have
just said, he was a good deal galvanized into imitation; but still, he had
chosen the better part. But now he has tired of a pilgrim’s life. There are men
who cut down the thorns, and have the seed sown; but thorns are tenacious of
life, and quick growing, and so they spread over the field and choke the seed.
It is easier to take some one bold step, than to keep true through life to its
spirit. Youth contemns, but too often middle-age worships, worldly success. The
world tightens its grasp as we grow older, and Lot and Demas teach us that it
is hard to keep for a lifetime on the heights. Faith, strong and over renewed
by communion, can do it; nothing else can. Lot’s history teaches what comes of
setting the world first, and God’s kingdom second. For one thing, the
association with it is sure to get closer. Lot began with choosing the plain;
then he crept a little nearer, and pitched his tent “towards” Sodom; next time
we hear of him he is living in the city, and mixed up inextricably with its
people. The first false step leads on to connections unforeseen, from which the
man would have shrunk in horror, if he had been told he would make them. Once
on the incline, time and gravity will settle how far down we go. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
Abraham and Lot
1. Mark, on the one hand, the
self-sacrifice manifested by Abraham, and, on the other, the selfishness by
which Lot was characterized.
2. But, as another point of contrast, notice how Abraham took a long
look forward, while Lot chose simply for the immediate future. “He that
believeth shall not make haste.” “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it;
and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.”
3. Note, finally, the contrast in the after career of the two men.
From this point on, there is evident a gradual process of deterioration in Lot.
“Toward Sodom” soon became “in Sodom.” In Sodom soon developed into matrimonial
alliances between the members of his family and the Sodomites. Then last of
all, and worst of all, his own moral nature was hardened; the womanhood of his
daughters was dishonoured; and the closing incidents of his life were such that
we gladly draw a veil over their enormity, and sigh to think that, after so
fair a morning, his sun went down behind so dark a cloud. But while Lot
deteriorated, Abraham advanced. That which marked Lot’s point of departure from
the right course was a milestone that indicated new progress in Abraham. The
decision which he made over this dispute was another step in that upward ladder
of self-conquest on the topmost round of which he stood when he laid Isaac upon
the altar. It was an important decision for both, yet it was all over a very
ordinary and everyday occurrence. We are continually having to make similar
decisions in our common lives, and always we are tested by them. It is a very
solemn question how we have stood such tests; and if we want to stand them as
Abraham did, we must be partakers of Abraham’s faith; for that faith, as we
have seen, animated the patriarch, not only in such great things as the leaving
of his country and the sacrifice of his son, but also the actions of his life
in his intercourse with his fellow men, (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Lot’s choice
I. A CHOICE
WITHOUT CONSULTING GOD.
II. A CHOICE WHICH
DEPRIVED HIM OF A GOOD MAN’S COMPANY. Every worldly-minded man forfeits--
1. The sympathy of good men.
2. The assistance of the good.
III. A CHOICE
ANTAGONISTIC TO THE GOOD MORAL TRAINING OF HIS FAMILY. Moral culture ought to
be of greater importance in our estimation than wealth.
1. Because it is of higher value.
2. Because it elevates the man.
3. Because its beneficial results are more certain.
IV. A CHOICE WHICH
EXPOSED HIM TO MANY DANGERS.
1. The danger of his sympathy with the good being narrowed.
2. The danger of looking upon sin in a false light.
3. The danger of losing his own soul. (Homilist.)
Lot
I. THE EVIL WHICH
FOLLOWS AN ILL-ADVISED STEP.
1. That there are constantly before us opportunities of selection.
2. That that is not the most advantageous which at first sight
appears so.
3. That any course entered upon without consulting the guiding of
Providence is likely to lead us astray.
II. THE NATURAL
TENDENCY OF AN UNRENEWED HEART. Looking to what is pleasant.
III. THE MERCY OR
DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Lot brought trouble on himself, but God did not desert him.
IV. THE
INCOMPATIBILITY OF PIETY: WITH SIN. (Homilist.)
Avarice
Avarice has ruined more men than prodigality. (Colton.)
Avarice hindered in mercy
It is sometimes of God’s mercy that men in the eager pursuit of
worldly aggrandisement are baffled; for they are very like a train going down
an inclined plane--putting on the brake is not pleasant, but it keeps the car
on the track. (H. W. Beecher.)
Lessons from Lot
I. THE EVILS
WHICH MAY FOLLOW FROM ONE WRONG STEP IN LIFE. There are certain matters in
relation to which our determinations must have special importance.
1. The choice of a place of residence.
2. The choice of a trade or profession. “What is likely to be the
moral and spiritual effect of this pursuit on me?”
3. The choice of a life partner.
II. THE STEALTHY
INSIDIOUSNESS OF SIN. There is a wide difference between the happy household
that used to join with Abram’s in sacrifice at the Bethel altar and that which
we read of in Sodom on the night before the destruction of that city. That
divergence was not caused by any single volcanic upheaval of passion, but by
gradual defection. We have the key to it in the question addressed by Lot to
the angel, when, asking to be allowed to flee into Zoar, he said, “Is it not a
little one?” Depend upon it, that was not the first time Lot reasoned in such a
way. Most likely he did so on the very occasion of this first fatal choice. He
saw Sodom in the plain, but he said within himself, “I need not go into the
city, I can always keep myself secluded,” and promising this to himself he
pitched toward Sodom. But after a time he became accustomed to the men of the
place. He saw many advantages in the protection of their walls, as compared
with his defenceless nomad life. Thus the temptation to go into the city, which
he would at first have repelled from him with scorn, was entertained, and
concerning it also the old argument was used--“No doubt the city is wicked, but
I need not mingle with the inhabitants, and when I come to balance the matter I
must not let a little thing like that prejudice blind me to my own interests”;
and in this way he went into Sodom. In a similar manner he came to allow
intermarriages between the families of the city and his own. All this
illustrates the deceitfulness of sin. No one ever became very wicked all at
once. The descent of the road that leadeth to destruction is made in single
steps, and these not on a clear and well-marked staircase, but on an incline
which seems to be but little out of the horizontal line. Be on your guard
against the first temptation, and whenever an evil pleads with you, saying, “Am
I not a little one?”
III. THE NECESSITY
OF WATCHFULNESS AGAINST SIN THROUGHOUT ONE’S EARTHLY LIFE. Every time of life
has its peculiar dangers. There are, as medical men will attest, certain
critical ages at which the bodily constitution seems to pass through a severe
ordeal, so that it either yields in death, or comes out unharmed; and what the
issue shall be depends, under God, very much on what the person’s daily habits
have been. If he have been what is called a fast, free liver, there is little
likelihood that he will weather the storm; but if he have been moderate in all
things, there is the greater probability that he will round the cape. Now it is
similar in spiritual life. There are seasons of greater danger than others to
the best interests of the soul. Youth is a perilous season, but the noon and
afternoon of life are beset with dangers as great as its morning, and our only
safety lies in perpetual vigilance. It is pitiful to think how often character
deteriorates in later life. You cannot read of Noah without reflecting that the
glorious reputation of a long career may be thrown into shadow at the last by a
besetting sin. You cannot study the life of David without remarking how the
purity of his character is eclipsed by the darkness of a sin which was that,
not of a youth, but of a man past the meridian of his age. Ye men of middle life,
and you who are verging toward old age, be on your guard. Remember Lot! and
beware of allowing your conscience to be blunted with iniquity. Above all,
beware of that seductive sin which is the parent of so many more--intemperance.
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Lot’s loss
Lot lost--
1. The society of his best friend.
2. His intense hatred toward wickedness.
3. A due regard for the spiritual welfare of his family.
4. Religious influence over men.
5. His property.
6. Influence over his own children.
7. His children.
8. His wife.
9. His good name. (John A. Ewalt.)
Lot’s lot
A rough shell may hold a pearl, remarks Dean Law. There may be
silver amongst much dross. Life may exist within the stem when leaves are
seared and branches dry. The spring may yet be deep, while waters trickle
scantily. A spark may live beneath much rubbish. So many heirs of glory live
ingloriously. Heaven is their purchased rest, but their footsteps seem to be
downward. In their hearts there is incorruptible seed, but sorry weeds are intermixed.
They are translated into the kingdom of grace, but still the flesh is weak. (W.
Adamson.)
Godless gain
1. A godly man in a rural village in Suffolk, where for generations
the people had been highly favoured with a succession of earnest “winners of souls”
to Christ, tempted by the offer of higher wages and greater scope in London,
left his home and took up his residence in an ungodly neighbourhood in the East
End. But the higher wages and greater scope were very quickly outweighed by the
corruption of his children, etc.
2. Even religious men, says Robertson, sometimes settle in a foreign
country, notoriously licentious, merely that they may increase their wealth.
But very soon they find to their cost that God has terrible modes of
retribution. In the choice of homes, of friends, and in alliances, he who
selects according to the desires of the flesh lays up in store for himself many
troubles and anxieties. Such was Lot’s experience.
3. How frequently, remarks Blunt, have men found that their greatest
disquietudes and troubles have been the fruits of their own selfish selectings.
Often that “vale of Siddim” which they have most anxiously coveted, has been
the wellspring from whence has flowed the bitter waters of sorrow and distress.
Far better, if God tries us by putting a blank paper into our hands, to fill in
our free choice, humbly to refer the choice back to Him. (W. Adamson.)
A commendable choice
Mahomet, the false prophet, on viewing the pleasurable and
delicious situation of Damascus, would not enter the city, but turned away from
it with this exclamation: “There is but one paradise for man; and I am
determined to have mine in the other world.” Mutatis mutandis--“making
the necessary changes” of our position--how becoming for a Christian is such language
in time of temptation. (Bishop Horne.)
The great mistake of Lot’s life
He is the type of that very large class of men who have but one
rule for determining them at the turning points of life. He was swayed solely
by the consideration of worldly advantage. He has nothing deep, nothing high in
him. He recognizes no duty to Abram, no gratitude, no modesty; he has no
perception of spiritual relations, no sense that God should have something to
say in the partition of the land. Lot may be acquitted of a good deal which at
first sight one is prompted to lay to his charge, but he cannot be acquitted of
showing an eagerness to better himself, regardless of all considerations but
the promise of wealth afforded by the fertility of the Jordan valley. He saw a
quick though dangerous road to wealth. There seemed a certainty of success in
his earthly calling, a risk only of moral disaster. He shut his eyes to the
risk that he might grasp the wealth; and so doing, ruined both himself and his
family. The situation is one which is ceaselessly repeated. To men in business
or in the cultivation of literature or art, or in one of the professions, there
are presented opportunities of attaining a better position by cultivating the
friendship or identifying oneself with the practice of men whose society is not
in itself desirable. We fancy perhaps that to refuse the companionship of any
class of men is pharisaic; that we have no business to condemn the attitude
towards the Church, or the morality, or the style of living adopted by any
class of men among us. This is the mere cant of liberalism. We do not condemn
persons who suffer from smallpox, but a smallpox hospital would be about the
last place we should choose for a residence. Or possibly we imagine we shall be
able to carry some better influences into the society we enter. A vain
imagination; the motive for choosing the society has already sapped our power
for good. Many of the errors of worldly men only reveal their most disastrous
consequences in the second generation. Like some virulent diseases they have a
period of incubation. Lot’s family grew up in a very different atmosphere from
that which had nourished his own youth in Abram’s tents. An adult and robust
Englishman can withstand the climate of India; but his children who are born in
it cannot. And the position in society which has been gained in middle life by
the carefully and hardily trained child of a God-fearing household, may not
very visibly damage his own character, but may yet be absolutely fatal to the
morality of his children. Lot may have persuaded himself he chose the dangerous
prosperity of Sodom mainly for the sake of his children; but in point of fact
he had better have seen them die of starvation in the most barren and parched
desolation. And the parent who disregards conscience and chooses wealth or
position, fancying that thus he benefits his children, will find to his
life-long sorrow that he has entangled them in unimagined temptations. But the
man who makes Lot’s choice not only does a great injury to his children, but
cuts himself off from all that is best in life. We are safe to say that after
leaving Abram’s tents Lot never again enjoyed unconstrainedly happy days. The
men born and brought up in Sodom were possibly happy after their kind and in their
fashion; but Lot was not. His soul was daily vexed. You cannot forget the
thoughts you once had, the friendships you once delighted in, the hopes that
shed brightness through all your life. You cannot blot out the ideal that once
you cherished as the most animating element of your life. Every day there will
be that rising in your mind which is in the sharpest contrast to the thoughts
of those with whom you are associated. You will despise them for their shallow,
worldly ideas and ways; but you will despise yourself still more, being
conscious that what they are through ignorance and upbringing, you are in
virtue of your own foolish and mean choice. There is that in you which rebels
against the superficial and external measure by which they judge things, and
yet you have deliberately chosen these as your associates, and can only think
with heart-broken regret of the high thoughts that once visited you and the
hopes you have now no means of fulfilling. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Lot the self-seeker
I. LOT’S EARLY YEARS
were spent in Ur of Chaldea, northeast of Damascus. His father, Haran, died
while he was yet a youth of tender years, and he was placed in the family of
his uncle Abraham, who appears ever to have acted towards him the part of an
affectionate father; while Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is supposed to have been
the sister of Lot. To have been the foster son and companion of so royal a man
as Abraham was a privilege which ought to have left a stamp of distinction on
the young man that no after-years could efface.
II. Let us look at
LOT’S CHOICE in its nature and results, and learn the character and end of the
self-seeker; remembering, meanwhile, the representative character of Lot, and
gathering lessons of wisdom from the ashes of his ruined hopes.
1. First, then, there was in that choice, as there ever is in the
conduct of the self-seeker, a disregard of delicate moral obligations and the
interests of others involved.
2. But in this choice of Lot was also a disregard of his own highest
interests. He seems not to have paused to consider the effect of his decision
upon his own character and future well-being. The material good in that
tempting scene blinded his eyes to every other good, and to the dangers of the
choice. It is related in ancient history that the inhabitants of Oenoe, a town
upon a dry island in the vicinity of Athens, bestowed much labour to draw into
it a river to water it and make it more fruitful. But when the work was
completed and the passages were all opened, the water came rushing in so
furiously that it overflowed the whole island and drowned all the people. So,
in the accomplishment of their ambitious ends, men do not pause to consider
contingent results: and when the channels of desire are fully open and the long
looked for tide of prosperity rises, lo! its streams come rushing in with a
fearful, fatal force, whelming the soul in ruin and destruction.
3. Lot may have flattered himself that he had made a capital choice;
let us see what it involved.
Pitching our tents towards Sodom
Alypius, a friend of St. Augustine, had a great horror of the
bloody combats of gladiators, one of the favourite amusements of that age.
Being urged by his companions to be a spectator of these brutal sports, he
obstinately refused, and they drew him to the amphitheatre against his will.
All took their seats, and the games began. Alypius resolutely shut his eyes
that he might not witness the horrible spectacle. “Would to God,” said
Augustine, “he had also stopped his ears!” Hearing a piercing cry, curiosity got
the better of him, and he incautiously opened his eyes to see what had
happened. One of the gladiators had received a dreadful wound; but no sooner
had Alypius discovered the bloody stream issuing from the wretch’s side, than
his finer sensibilities were blunted, and he joined in the shouts and
exclamations of the noisy mob about him. From that moment he was a changed
man--changed for the worse; not only attending such sports himself, but urging
others to do likewise. Very trifling circumstances show the bent and bias of
our minds. A feather, floating on the breeze, may indicate the direction of the
wind which is to determine the fate of a squadron, and involve the downfall of
an empire. Something closely allied to this may be observed in the moral world.
Traits of character, and prevailing tendencies of mind and heart, are
distinctly marked by actions which, in themselves, are the merest trifles. When
the sacred penman tells us that after Lot’s unwise separation from Abraham he
“pitched his tent toward Sodom,” we discover much more in the simple statement
than appears on the surface. It would be simply absurd to pass a sweeping
censure upon the world, and its pursuits and pleasures; for these, within
lawful limits, are well and right. No one in his senses, however, will deny
that there is such a sin as worldliness, and it is one which all consistent
Christians will strive to keep clear of. Worldliness, be it remembered, is
determined by the spirit of our lives, rather than by the objects which occupy
us. There may be much apparent conformity to the world, without any real
violation of the Divine law or neglect of duty. The Lord Mayor of London, who,
while presiding over the festivities of Guildhall, withdrew long enough from
the scene of gaiety and splendour that he might attend family worship in his
own house, was an example of a good man living in the world without yielding to
evil influences or forgetting his higher obligations to God. Our daily papers
often contain advertisements like this: “Wanted, a boy to attend bar!” It might
as well read, “Wanted, a boy to be ruined, body and soul.” Let the bright,
earnest lad, standing on the threshold of life, shun such tempting offers as
this! Even the innocent pleasures of the world, if found amongst evil associations
are not as the waters of the Nile, leaving, when they are gone, the germs of
fertility and beauty to bud and blossom, and causing the heart to rejoice; but
like those unwholesome streams, polluted by the washings of poisonous minerals,
depositing the seeds of disease and death for all who taste them. It may be a
question of life, or death, with us--the life, or death, of the soul--whether,
in any of these ways, we have pitched our tent toward Sodom. (J. N. Norton,
D. D.)
Lot’s choice
The well-watered plain of Jordan is a great prize for any man, and
Lot has made sure of it. His estate is large, and is favoured by the sun and
the clouds. Is there, then, any drawback? Read: “But the men of Sodom were
wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” A great estate, but bad
neighbours! Material glory, but moral shame! Noble landscapes, but mean men!
But Lot did just what men are doing today. He made choice of a home, without
making any inquiry as to the religious state of the neighbourhood. Men do not
care how poor the Church is, if the farm be good. They will give up the most
inspiring ministry in the world for ten feet more garden, or a paddock to feed
an ass in. They will tell you that the house is roomy, the garden is large, the
air is balmy, the district is genteel, and if you ask them what religious
teaching they will have there, they tell you they really do not know, but must
inquire! They will take away six children into a moral desert for the sake of a
garden to play in: they will leave Paul or Apollos for six feet of greenhouse!
Others again fix their tent where they can get the best food for the heart’s
life; and they sacrifice a summer house that they may now and again get a peep
of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Self-choice
Lot chose for himself. He took things into his own hands, and put
himself at the head of his own affairs. What became of his management we shall
see presently. He asked no blessing; will the feast choke him? He sought no
advice; will his wisdom mock him and torment him bitterly? He snatched at good
luck; will he fall into a pit which he did not see? O my soul, make no model of
this fool for thine own guidance. Perhaps his honour is but for a moment.
Commit thy way unto the Lord, and choose nothing for thyself. In all thy ways
acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths. Oh rest in the Lord and wait
patiently for Him. Seek not high things for thyself, nor take thy life into
thine own keeping. O my soul, I charge thee live in the secret of Christ’s
love. Walk in the way of the Lord: seek Him always with eager heart, and
whether the road be long or short, rugged or plain, it will lead thee into the
city where the angels are, and the Firstborn, and the loved ones who left thee
long ago. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Riches or heaven?
Mrs. Jameson gives a very pretty apologue relating to St. John,
which is sometimes included in a series of subjects from his life. Two young
men, who had sold all their possessions to follow him, afterwards repented. He,
perceiving their thoughts, sent them to gather pebbles and faggots, and on
their return changed these into money and ingots of gold, saying to them, “Take
back your riches, and enjoy them on earth, as you regret having exchanged them
for heaven!” This story is represented on one of the windows of the cathedral
at Bourges. The two young men stand before St. John, with a heap of gold on one
side and a heap of stones and faggots on the other.
Verse 13
Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked
The ministry of nature
We here behold the wickedness of man in strange conjunction
(verse10) and contrast with the beauty of nature.
I. HUMAN
DEPRAVITY AS DISCOVERED BY THE LIGHT OF NATURE.
1. The wealth of nature, and the poverty of man.
2. The cleanliness of nature, and the filthiness of man.
3. The order of nature, and the lawlessness of man.
4. The generosity of nature contrasted with the selfishness of man.
5. The joy of nature contrasted with the misery of man.
II. THE INABILITY
OF NATURE TO RESTORE MAN TO PIETY AND HAPPINESS. Consider--
1. Those nations which dwell amid specially fair or splendid
scenery. We have a striking illustration of the moral inefficiency of natural
scenery in the text. The land is “as the garden of the Lord.” But the people?
South speaks of sinners: “Who first turn grace, and then nature itself, out of
doors.” This is descriptive of the inhabitants of this beautiful land. Again,
we have an example in the Canaanites. And have we not examples in modern times of
the inefficacy of nature to exalt man? The magnificent South Sea Islands and
their inhabitants. Everywhere the glory of nature is stained with the scarlet
of human sin, and nature can do nothing to purge that stain away. Or,
consider--
2. Those individuals who live in special communion with mature. The
sailor, the shepherd, the peasant--are these remarkable for refinement of taste
or morals? We think not. But it may be said that these are only door keepers of
the Palace Beautiful; well then, what of the High Priests, who draw near the
inmost shrines of nature? The poet, the painter, the philosopher--what of
these? Are these exceptionally good? We think the common verdict would be
against them. No. The great and glorious globe is impotent to regenerate. It charms
the eye, feasts the imagination, but it has no power to reach the deep places
of our nature and fill us with purity and strength. Nature may make a good man
better, but it cannot make a bad man good.
III. THE NEED AND
PRECIOUSNESS OF THE GOSPEL. The lovers of nature remain corrupt and workers of
iniquity, but the gospel changes the hearts and lives of those who accept it.
1. There is a lesson here for those who wish to substitute science
for the Scriptures. Science, we are told, is to refine, moralize, spiritualize
the people. Much of this is delusive. Scientific and philosophic knowledge has
no power of itself to create right and truly religious feeling.
2. Another lesson is here for those who wish to open museums and
picture galleries on Sunday. Contemplating marbles and pictures, do men gain
the whiteness of the one or the beauty of the other? Let the moral statistics
of Paris and Rome answer.
3. A final lesson is here for those who seek to substitute the
temple of nature for the temple of grace. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Flee from unholy company
Darest thou come where such ill scents are to be taken as may soon
infect thy soul? Of all trades, it would not do well for the collier and the
fuller to live together. What one cleanseth the other will blacken and defile.
The Spirit of God hath not washed thee clean, that thou shouldst run where thou
will be made foul. (W. Gurnall.)
Shunning evil
It is related of William S. Stockton, the father of Frank
Stockton, that he would cross to the sunny side of the street on a hot summer’s
day so as to avoid the shadow of the Arch Street Theatre, such was his intense
hatred of it. (H. O. Mackey.)
Evil to be shunned
Sir Peter Lely once said he never looked at a bad picture if he
could help it, as he found it “tainted his own pencil.” (H. O.Mackey.)
Wicked companions
The impious lives of the wicked are as contagious as the most
dreadful plague that infects the air. When the doves of Christ lie among such
pots, their yellow feathers are sullied. You may observe that in the oven the
fine bread frequently hangs upon the coarse, but the coarse very seldom adheres
to the fine. If you mix an equal portion of sour vinegar and sweet wine
together, you will find that the vinegar will sooner sour the wine than the
wine sweeten the vinegar. That is a sound body that continues healthful in a
pest house. It is a far greater wonder to see a saint maintain his purity among
sinners than it is to behold a sinner becoming pure among saints. Christians
are not always like fish, which retain their freshness in a salt sea; or, like
the rose, which preserves its sweetness among the most noisome weeds; or, like
the fire, which burns the hottest when the season is coldest. A good man was
once heard to lament “that, as often as he went into the company of the wicked,
he returned less a man from them than he was before he joined with them.” The
Lord’s people, by keeping evil company, are like persons who are much exposed
to the sun, insensibly tanned. (T. Secker.)
Danger of contamination
Sophronius, a wise teacher, would not suffer even his grown-up
sons and daughters to associate with those whose conduct was not pure and
upright. “Dear father,” said the gentle Eulalia to him one day when he forbade
her, in company with her brother, to visit the volatile Lucinda, “you must
think us very childish if you imagine that we should be exposed to danger by
it.” The father took in silence a dead coal from the hearth, and reached it to
his daughter. “It will not burn you, my child; take it.” Eulalia did so, and behold
her beautiful white hand was soiled and blackened, and, as it chanced, her
white dress also. “You cannot be too careful in handling coals,” said Eulalia,
in vexation. “Yes, truly,” said the father. “You see, my child, that coals,
even if they do not burn, blacken; so it is with the company of the vicious.” (From
the German.)
Verses 14-18
Genesis 13:14-18
All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed forever
The saints comfort in solitude
I.
THE
DIVINE VOICE IS MORE DISTINCTLY HEARD.
1. We need this consolation to confirm our faith.
2. We require a renewed sense of the Divine approval.
3. We require comfort for the evils we have suffered on account of
religion.
II. THE DIVINE
PROMISES ARE MORE CLEARLY APPREHENDED.
1. We are more free to survey the greatness of our inheritance.
2. We have an enhanced idea of the plentifulness of the Divine
resources.
III. WE ARE LED ON
TO PERCEIVE THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE.
1. Our senses deceive us.
2. Our youthful hopes deceive us. Let us learn, then, that “there is
nothing sure but heaven.”
IV. THE SPIRIT OF
DEVOTION IS STRENGTHENED.
1. When God speaks to the soul, our sense of reverence is deepened.
2. When God speaks, our sense of duty is deepened. (T. H. Leale.)
I. GOD ALWAYS
COMES NEAR TO HIS SEPARATED ONES.
God’s promise to Abraham
II. GOD WILL DO
BETTER FOR THOSE WHO TRUST HIM, THAN THEY COULD DO FOR THEMSELVES.
III. GOD BIDS US
APPROPRIATE HIS GIFTS (Genesis 13:17). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Abraham’s reward
1. Saints who hang loose, and
are indifferent for the world, have the best appearance of God.
2. God is not forgetful to comfort His, who are willing to bear
injuries from men for His sake.
3. God hath a speech to make His own to understand His mind. So God
said to Abram.
4. When creature comforts leave God’s servants, usually He comes
Himself to them.
5. God singles out souls to whom He speaks comfortably in His
promises; a stranger intermeddleth not with their joy.
6. Sensible demonstrations God sometimes affords of future mercies
unto His.
7. Large bounds God hath allowed for the typical inheritance of His
Church here, which note larger in the heavenly Canaan.
8. God’s demonstration of mercies sometimes precedes His donation
and infers it (Genesis 13:14).
9. God is free and full in allotting the inheritance of His Church.
10. Jehovah hath what He giveth, therefore He giveth surely; He
cannot deceive.
11. God’s promise to Abram is fulfilled to his seed, through many
generations.
12. God hath His ever in making covenant with His people according to
His will; which it concerneth God’s covenanted ones to know (Genesis 13:15). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Earth taken with meekness
There is nothing lost by meekness and yielding. Abraham yields
over his right of choice: Lot taketh it. And, behold, Lot is crossed in that
which he chose, Abraham blessed in that which was left him. As heaven is taken
by violence, so is earth with meekness. And God (the true Proprietary) loves no
tenants better, nor grants larger leases to any, than the meek. (J. Trapp.)
The Christian’s wealth consists in God’s promises
Men use to reckon their wealth, not by what ready money they have
only, but by the good bonds and leases they can produce. A great part of a Christian’s
estate lies in bonds and bills of God’s hands. (J. Trapp.)
God’s promise unchangeable
In commercial crises, manhood is at a greater discount than funds
are. Suppose a man had said to me last spring, “If there comes a pinch in your
affairs, draw on me for ten thousand dollars.” The man said so last spring, but
I should not dare to draw on him this autumn. I should say, “Times have
changed; he would not abide by it.” But God’s promises are from everlasting to
everlasting; and He always stands up to them. There never was a run on heaven
which was not promptly met. No creature in all the world, or in lying,
audacious hell, shall ever say that he drew a draft on heaven and that God
dishonoured it. (H. W.Beecher.)
I will make thy seed as
the dust
God’s word of promise to Abram
1. Promise to promise, seed to land, God adds to His covenanted
friend Abram, for his good.
2. God’s word of promise calleth things that are not, as if they
were that is, puts into being what is not.
3. God’s word of promise putting into being is irreversible. He
speaketh and doth it.
4. Innumerable issues, as the dust, sand, and stars, can God raise
out of dead bodies (Hebrews 11:22).
5. Children are God’s gift, when and to whom He pleaseth (Psalms 127:1-5).
6. Man’s reach of understanding is too shallow to compass the works
of God’s promise (Genesis 13:16). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Walk through the land
Lessons
1. Double demonstrations of
mercies, and double promises, will God give for the support of the faith of His
servants.
2. God enjoins experience sometimes for the help of faith in His
promises.
3. God would have His saints reach the utmost dimensions of His
promises Ephesians 3:19).
4. God showeth good things to His people which He purposeth to
bestow on their succeeding generations.
5. God’s promise to the head is performed in the seed.
6. Free promise should provoke souls to get experience of the good
things to come. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Verse 18
Genesis 13:18
Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mature,
which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
Mamre
Mamre is the first village that comes before us distinctly in any
authentic history. If Ararat was the cradle of the races of our world, Mamre
was the cradle of the Church.
I. MAMRE WAS A
CHURCH AMONG THE TREES.
II. IT WAS A
REFUGE FOR FAITH. Abraham and the patriarchs were emigrants; they left for the
honour of God. The East is full of traditions concerning Abraham and his hatred
to idolatry, and how he forsook the worship of the fire and the sun. He had
come from the neighbourhood where the Babel society was founded--faith, not in
God, but in bricks--it had all ended in confusion, but the sacred memories of
Mamre, where Abraham reared an altar to the Lord, these linger and send out
their influence still. A high faithfulness ruled the life of Mature, the life
of domestic piety--the first story given us of the life of faith, where Abraham
raised an altar and called upon the name of the Lord.
III. The village of
Mamre was THE VILLAGE OF SACRED PROMISE. What night was that, when among its
moorlands the Lord appeared unto Abraham in a vision and consecrated those
heights by the glowing promises which we still recognize as true? In that
little mountain hamlet was given the promise of the Messiah’s reign.
IV. Mamre: WHAT
GUESTS CAME THITHER? Here was that great entertainment made, “where,” says
quaint Thomas Fuller, “the covert of the tree was the dining room, probably the
ground the board, Abraham the caterer, and Sarah the cook; a welcome their
cheer; angels, and Christ in the notion of an angel, their guests.”
V. At Mamre are
THE OLDEST AUTHENTIC GRAVES OF THIS EARTH--among them the grave of Abraham, the
friend of God. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Abram’s altar
Abram’s altar was intended--
1. As a public profession of religion in the midst of enemies.
2. As a constant memorial of God’s presence.
3. As a tribute of gratitude for His mercies.
4. As expressing a sense of obligation to His love, and a desire to
enjoy His presence.
5. As a sign of his determination to be fully dedicated to God. (T.
H.Leale.)
Lessons
1. Faith gives immediate
obedience unto God’s advice.
2. Grace will untent souls anywhere, to go where God will have them.
3. God sometimes scatters brethren in the Church to carry saving
knowledge to strangers; so here with Abram’s motions.
4. God sometimes makes the places of His Church’s habitation
memorable.
5. The faithful cannot sit down quietly in any place without God.
6. God’s promise draweth out the saints’ worship of, and sacrifice
to, Him.
7. Saints’ worship is such as is instituted by God only, a single
altar.
8. God’s faithful ones desire to instruct others in the worship of
God, so Abram to Mamre.
9. Jehovah terminates all his saints’ worship and obedience. It is
all to Jehovah (Genesis 13:18). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Hebron
From Bethel, Abraham travelled southward till he pitched his tents
in the oak grove of Mamre, at Hebron, situated in a cool and elevated region,
and commanding a fertile region; about twenty-two Roman miles south of
Jerusalem, and belonging to the later territory of Judah. Hebron was one of the
oldest towns of Palestine; it was built seven years before Tanis in Egypt; and
was early the residence of a heathen king. However, it was, by Joshua,
appointed as one of the cities of refuge, and assigned to the Levites; it thus
assumed the character of a holy town where vows were taken and performed; and
David chose it as his abode when he was king of Judah, during seven years and a
half. These circumstances suffice to explain the interest evinced for Hebron in
the history of the patriarchs; Abraham resided here when the angels made him
the happy announcement of the birth of a son; here he acquired the first
territorial property in Canaan; and here was the burial place of himself, of
Isaac, and of Jacob, of Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah. The town was, therefore,
appropriately distinguished by the erection of an altar (verse 18). Later, it
was fortified by Rehoboam among many other cities; it is still mentioned after
the exile; it then belonged to the Idumeans, who were, however, expelled from
it by Judas Maccabaeus; in the Roman war, it was captured and burnt by the
enemies, without, however, being destroyed. In the period of the Crusades,
after having, for a time, suffered from heavy attacks, it was made the seat of
the bishopric of St. Abraham (in 1167), but returned already in 1187 into the
possession of the Moslems, who have ever since retained it, though it was
several times assailed and plundered by rebellious pachas or lawless chiefs. In
the fifteenth century, it was distinguished by a magnificent hospital and
general charity for the distribution of bread and other necessaries to
strangers. The present Hebron is a large village rather than a town; it counts
among its inhabitants about a hundred Jewish families, living together in a
separate quarter; as, in fact, Jews, though often ill-treated, oppressed, and
insulted, seem always to have lived in the town, with few interruptions; but it
is not unimportant in its commerce, though it is chiefly celebrated for its
glass works, which form the principal articles of export. It is surrounded by
elevations, containing the highest peaks in the range of the mountains of
Judah. Its blooming vicinity, with its vineyards and orchards, its wells, its
rich pastures and numerous flocks and herds, is one of the proofs that the care
of the agriculturist may still convert Palestine’s desolation into smiling
prosperity. The tombs of the patriarchs and of their wives, situated at the eastern
end of Hebron on the slope of a ravine, attracted continually the visits of
travellers; over the cave of Machpelah, called Al Magr by the Arabians, and
surrounded by a high and strong wall, a mosque was erected which the Moslems
regard as one of the four holiest sanctuaries of the world, from which
Christians are excluded, and which stratagem only has enabled a few Europeans
to enter. The town itself was, from that structure, called the Castle of
Abraham, and received, therefore, from the Mohammedans the name of Bet
El-Khalil, that is, the house of the “Friend of God,” which is the honorary
title given to Abram by the Arabians. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》