When the Paddocks Get Crowded

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

So in this passage, we see Abram coming back from Egypt and he's loaded up with goodies. He's got incredibly wealthy over his time and God's promise to give Abram the land, to make him into a great nation and to bless all the nations through him continues to be carried with him.

This promise had survived Abram's detour through Egypt into the place where he shouldn't have been and has survived also his deceit in lying to Pharaoh's men. But now his blessing, along with the blessing of Lot, was so great that it causes this conflict in this abundance.

So it's this prosperity, not the poverty that they left—you know, where they left for the famine—but the prosperity that sparks a kind of a punch-up between the herdsmen. I guess the truth is that riches can strain family ties. So there's this conflict because the herdsmen of Lot or the herdsmen of Abram fight over which land could be grazed for their many, many flocks.

Now what's particularly interesting in this story is that as Lot and Abram separate and make a plan to deal with this conflict, we get this repeated phrase or this repeated idea of eyes lifting.

Now, Lot lifts his eyes first in this story. He's drawn by the lush paddocks, the city lights, the prosperity that he can have. But later, as God walks with Abram, he tells Abram to lift his eyes to the horizons all around him. These are sort of covenant horizons, if you like.

And in this story, we see two kinds of vision, two kinds of desires in the eyes of the men. Lot wants what is good and he wants to prosper himself, but God lifts Abraham's eyes in the promise that he would prosper him. They have two different kinds of vision and two very different outcomes, as we will see.

Now, Abram here is the older man, and so in the culture of the day, he really had the right to have the better land. He was the promise holder. Abram could have pulled rank and said, "No, Lot, I'm getting the good land and you're getting the bad land." But instead, he lets Lot choose. He shows faith that God would actually do what he has said he would do. He doesn't need the prime real estate to secure his future. No, he had God on his side.

The Warning Signs

And already here we see this foreshadowing, this threat hanging in the air from the people of Sodom. As this passage is written, there's a warning that's being included here on Lot's choice. It looks like Eden. It looks like a beautiful, fruitful valley. But the neighbors, the men of Sodom, were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. And so even though there's this picture of abundance, there's also this picture of, well, maybe that's not the best thing to have.

So this hints at the trouble that Lot was going to get into which we will see in later passages.

What This Means for Us

Now why does this passage matter to us? I guess because in our life we have many choices to make. You know, we've got offers from university that need to be chosen—which course am I going to study, what career path will I follow, which friendship circles am I going to hang out in? And the question becomes, amongst all of these choices, will I pick what is right or what looks good? Will I choose to trust in God's provision or will I choose to trust in my own strength and power?

The fruitful valley looked good to Lot, but it ultimately led to his downfall because of the people that were living in that place, because of the wickedness of the people in that area. Often a career path or a choice can look good to us on the outside, but I guess we are being challenged here to consider what goes around—what's the context of the choice that we're making, what other things go with the choice that we make.

Lot ultimately chose to go and park his tents and move next to Sodom. But what happens is that Sodom creeps into him. The sin and the wickedness that was there ultimately affects his family. We too can be affected by what is around us. We need to pay attention to these things.

On the other hand, we see Abram, who chooses to sacrifice of the things that he could have in order to give to his nephew. He's really the picture of the greater blessing the lesser. And nevertheless, Abram here also chooses again to worship God in the midst of all of this stuff. Worship for him—his life has become about worship. He has this orientation to worship. He builds altars where he goes.

And so again, we see that here and it's a challenge for us. Does our life look like this? Do we have worshipping God as an orientation? Think about the habits that we have. Do we pray? Do we gather together as a church? Do we have good Bible reading habits? Do we keep our eyes on the real inheritance we have in Christ Jesus?

How This Points to Jesus

And that's important for us to wrestle with because this text too points us to Jesus. He is in a sense the greater Abram. He gave up the privilege he had, the cosmic privilege of being God's son. He gave up all the glory he had so that he could take upon himself the cross so that we would get the better portion. We get life eternal with God even though we don't deserve it.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, sometimes we scramble to get the best portion, the best slice. When we need to make the important decisions in life, help us to trust you. Help us to look with wisdom upon not just the choice before us but everything that goes with us in that choice. We pray that through your Spirit you will help us to lift our eyes to Christ so that our treasure would be in him and not just in earthly, worldly treasures. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.