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Texts -- Genesis 13:1-18 (NET)

Context
Abram’s Solution to the Strife
13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev . He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot . 13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy in livestock , silver , and gold .) 13:3 And he journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel . He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning , between Bethel and Ai . 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar , and there Abram worshiped the Lord . 13:5 Now Lot , who was traveling with Abram , also had flocks , herds , and tents . 13:6 But the land could not support them while they were living side by side . Because their possessions were so great , they were not able to live alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen . (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time .) 13:8 Abram said to Lot , “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen , for we are close relatives . 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left , then I’ll go to the right , but if you go to the right , then I’ll go to the left .” 13:10 Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan . He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah ) like the garden of the Lord , like the land of Egypt , all the way to Zoar . 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled toward the east . So the relatives separated from each other. 13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan , but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain and pitched his tents next to Sodom . 13:13 (Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord .) 13:14 After Lot had departed , the Lord said to Abram , “Look from the place where you stand to the north , south , east , and west . 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever . 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth , so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth , then your descendants also can be counted . 13:17 Get up and walk throughout the land , for I will give it to you.” 13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron , and he built an altar to the Lord there .

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Double Minded Man; Genesis 13-20; Twelve Tests of Abraham; The Covenants of Scripture:; I Shout and Scream to Prevent Them from Changing Me; A Good Reason to Scream; Genesis 13:13

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The events recorded in Genesis stretch historically from Creation to Joseph's death, a period of at least 2500 years. The first part of the book (ch. 1-11) is not as easy to date precisely as the second part (ch. 12-50). The ...
  • Genesis provides the historical basis for the rest of the Bible and the Pentateuch, particularly the Abrahamic Covenant. Chapters 1-11 give historical background essential to understanding that covenant, and chapters 12-50 re...
  • The structure of Genesis is very clear. The phrase "the generations of"(toledotin Hebrew, from yaladmeaning "to bear, to generate") occurs ten times (really eleven times since 36:9 repeats 36:1), and in each case it introduce...
  • Verse 22 shows that man's happiness (good) does not consist in his being likeGod as much as it depends on his being withGod (cf. Ps. 16:11).221"Like one of us"may mean like heavenly beings (God and the angels; cf. 1:26).222Ch...
  • The Lord destroyed the corrupt, violent human race and deluged its world, but He used righteous Noah to preserve life and establish a new world after the Flood."Noah's experience presents decisively the author's assertion tha...
  • "The Babel account (11:1-9) is not the end of early Genesis. If it were, the story would conclude on the sad note of human failure. But as with earlier events in Genesis 1-11, God's grace once again supersedes human sin, insu...
  • One of the significant changes in the emphasis that occurs at this point in Genesis is from cursing in the primeval record to blessing in the patriarchal narratives. The Abrahamic Covenant is most important in this respect. H...
  • A major theme of the Pentateuch is the partial fulfillment of the promises to the patriarchs. The promises in Genesis 12:1-3 and 7 are the fountainhead from which the rest of the Pentateuch flows.397Walter Kaiser labeled the ...
  • "These verses are of fundamental importance for the theology of Genesis, for they serve to bind together the primeval history and the later patriarchal history and look beyond it to the subsequent history of the nation."414"W...
  • 12:1 This section begins with a wawdisjunctive in the Hebrew text translated "Now"in the NASB. It introduces an independent circumstantial clause (cf. 1:2). Probably the revelation in view happened in Ur. The NIV captures thi...
  • 12:4 Possibly Abram viewed Lot as his heir (cf. 11:27-32; 12:4-5; 13:1-2)."Since Mesopotamian law-codes allowed for the adoption of an heir in the case of childlessness, this becomes an attractive hypothesis with respect to L...
  • The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Abram chose to sojourn in the Nile Valley until it was past. In this incident Abram tried to pass Sarai off as his sister because he feared for his life. By d...
  • This chapter records how Abram, though threatened with major conflict with Lot because of their herdsmen's strife, magnanimously gave his nephew his choice of what land he wanted. Lot took an area that was very fertile, thoug...
  • This section records an important decision Abram had to make after he returned victoriously from his battle with the Mesopotamian kings.14:17 The "valley of Shaveh"was near Jerusalem (the Salem of verse 18). It may have been ...
  • Abram asked God to strengthen his faith. In response Yahweh promised to give the patriarch innumerable descendants. This led Abram to request some further assurance that God would indeed do what He promised. God graciously ob...
  • Chapters 18 and 19 constitute one integrated story, but we shall consider it section by section. Like the Flood story, it has a chiastic structure this time focusing on the announcement of the destruction of Sodom (19:12-13)....
  • Chapters 18 and 19 "paint a vivid contrast between the respective patriarchal ancestors, Abraham and Lot, with an obvious moralistic intent (i.e., a demonstration that human initiatives--Lot's choice--always lead to catastrop...
  • Abraham's purchase of a burial site in the Promised Land demonstrated his intention to remain in Canaan rather than going back to his native homeland. Since he was a sojourner in Canaan his friends probably expected him to bu...
  • A new toledotbegins with 25:19. Its theme is "the acquisition of the blessing and its development and protection by the Lord."625Moses set up the whole Jacob narrative in a chiastic structure that emphasizes the fulfillment o...
  • God prevented Isaac from leaving the Promised Land and renewed the covenant with him, but then He had to protect Rebekah when Isaac lied about his relationship with her to Abimelech."In the short span of one chapter, the writ...
  • Yahweh appeared at the top of an angel-filled stairway restating the promise to Abraham and adding more promises of blessing and protection for Jacob. The patriarch acknowledged God's presence, memorialized the place with a m...
  • The long account of Jacob's relationship with Laban (chs. 29-31) is the centerpiece of the Jacob story (chs. 25-35). It is a story within a story, and it too has a chiastic structure. At its center is the account of the birth...
  • Aalders, Gerhard Charles. Genesis. The Bible Student's Commentary series. 2 vols. Translated by William Heynen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas...
  • Keil and Delitzsch pointed out that ancient Near Easterners offered certain offerings before God incorporated these into the Mosaic Law. Moses previously mentioned burnt offerings in Genesis 12:7; 13:4, 18; 22; 26:25; 33:20; ...
  • The twelve tribes excluding the Levites camped in four groups of three tribes each on the tabernacle's four sides. The Levites camped on all four sides of the tabernacle but closer to the sanctuary than the other tribes (v. 1...
  • 13:1-2 When the people arrived at Kadesh the Lord told them to go up and take possession of the land He had promised them (Deut. 1:19-21). Kadesh stood in the Desert of Zin, which was a section of the great Paran wilderness. ...
  • "Chapters 23 and 24 are two of the brightest chapters in the book of Numbers. Scores of wonderful things are said about Israel, mainly prophetical. The dark sins of the past were forgotten; only happy deliverance from Egypt w...
  • The purpose of the levirate marriage ordinance was to enable a man who died before fathering an heir to obtain one and so perpetuate his name and estate. "Levirate"comes from the Latin word levirmeaning husband's brother."The...
  • In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
  • When the people had dealt with the sin of Achan as God had commanded, Israel was ready to engage the enemy again.8:1-2 In view of Israel's defeat God's encouraging words were necessary to strengthen Joshua's resolve (cf. 1:9)...
  • This portion of the Promised Land went to the two and one-half tribes that had requested it previously (Num. 32).13:8-14 This pericope of verses records the boundaries of Israel's whole transjordanian territory. The peoples t...
  • Ruth concluded that her prospects for loyal love and rest (vv. 8-9) were better if she identified with Israel than if she continued to identify with Moab. She had come to admire Israel's God. Elimelech and his family had fulf...
  • Probably the practice of standing on land one possessed led to the custom of using the sandal as a symbol of possession in land transactions (v. 7; cf. Gen. 13:17; Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9).80Most scholars believe t...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • The promises Yahweh made to David here are an important key to understanding God's program for the future.God rejected David's suggestion that he build a temple for the Lord and gave three reasons. First, there was no pressin...
  • "From the religious heights of chapter 7 we descend again to the everyday world of battles and bloodshed in chapter 8. The military action picks up where the story left off at the end of chapter 5."130Chapter 8 evidently desc...
  • Concerning the time the events recorded took place there have been many views ranging from the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (beginning about 2100 B.C.) to the sixth century B.C.Internal evidence suggests that J...
  • 105:7-11 God remembered His people (v. 7, cf. v. 42) so His people should remember Him (v. 5). God had been faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15:18-21; 22:15-18; 28:13-15). He made this covenant with Abraham...
  • 18:1 Evidently the intent is, "He who separates himself [from other people]"does so because he wants his own way and does not want others to restrain him. Such an approach runs counter to sound wisdom because we all need inpu...
  • This section consists of a small collection of messianic prophecies.33:14 Future days would come, the Lord promised, when He would fulfill His promises concerning the restoration of all Israel."The predicted restoration (the ...
  • 16:44-47 Other people would quote the proverb, "Like mother, like daughter,"in regard to Jerusalem. She was like her Hittite "mother"who was also idolatrous and selfish. And she was like her older (larger) sister, Samaria, an...
  • "This is one of the more difficult passages in the Book of Ezekiel--if not in the whole Bible! The reason for the difficulty lies mainly in the lack of sufficient data to reach precise conclusions. There are many terms and ph...
  • This well-known apocalyptic vision of the valley of dry bones pictures the manner in which Yahweh would restore His people.473This may be the best known section of the Book of Ezekiel."Few other passages have suffered more fr...
  • 9:13 In contrast to the images of judgment that Amos had painted throughout this book, days were coming when these terrible conditions would be reversed. The land would become so productive that farmers planting seed for the ...
  • This pericope (section of text), as the former one, also has a framing phrase: "the mountain of Esau"(vv. 19, 21). This mountain, of course, contrasts with the Lord's holy mountain, Zion (vv. 16-17).vv. 19-20 Obadiah predicte...
  • Micah had prayed, he received the Lord's answer, and this answer moved him to worship (cf. Exod. 34:6-7).447:18 The prophet praised Yahweh as a God who is unique in that He pardons the rebellious sins of the surviving remnant...
  • 3:18 In the past Jews who lived far from Jerusalem were very sad because they could not travel to Jerusalem to observe Israel's annual feasts. They suffered a certain criticism from their fellow Jews for living far away from ...
  • 3:15-16 Paul now turned to the objection that when God gave the Law He terminated justification by faith alone. He reminded his readers, with a human analogy, that even wills and contracts made between human beings remained i...
  • "The present vv, 3:4-9, form six strophes, each of which divides . . . roughly into half. The two halves of the strophes balance one another; for the second part of the v provides a development of the first part (vv 4, 5, 7),...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Genesis 13:1-13The main lesson of this section is the wisdom of seeking spiritual rather than temporal good. That is illustrated on both sides. Prosperity attends Abram and Lot while they think more of obeying God than of flo...
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