Genesis 13 and 14 - Thinking a little about a Lot

Over my summer holidays I have been thinking a little about Lot. Up to this point in the story of Abram he has been in the background, traveling with Abram - one might even say tagging along. Reading the account for the first time I would wonder why Lot is mentioned at all.

It occurred to me that Lot was the nearest thing Abram had to a son. Maybe Abram loved him very much. That might explain some of the events that now take place and point to the real meaning of the story.

Abram and Lot leave Egypt loaded down with treasure. They go back to the Negev and then back to where Abram first pitched his tents between Ai and Bethel. He had built an alter at Shechem when God first promised him the land, and another here in between Bethel and Ai where he called on the Lord. It seems Abram calls on the name of the Lord again on his return.

Abram's journey in to Cannan, to Egypt and back again

Abram and Lot have so many possessions and people with them that their Sheppard's are beginning to argue about who gets the best grazing land. To solve this Aram decides that tha time has come for them to separate and gives Lot the first choice of where to go. Lot chooses the well watered plans of Jordon so Abram takes the land of Cannan.  God restates to Abram his promise of land (all you can see) and offspring (more than the dust of the earth), and then Abram settles down near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron where he builds his third alter.  

How different this story is to the events that are currently playing out in the same patch of ground today. Abram is prepared, it seems, to give away the best of the land. God's promises to him cause him to be generous rather than possessive. Subsequent biblical events will of course transpire under God's direction that are not quite so jolly and that I think is a hint as to why we should not jump to a moralising conclusion too quickly. More on that in a moment but I want to explore Abram motives a little first. Perhaps Abram sees Lot as the nearest thing he has to a son and so is willing to give him the best shot at filling the land with his descendents. Perhaps Abram thinks it's time Lot stood on his own two feet. In any case Abram's determination to rescue lot a bit later on shows that he cared very deeply for him and so perhaps his generosity is not so strange.  

As we talked about all this my brother in law pointed out that this is not a straightforward family at all. Heres a taster:

1) Abram's Dad had had daughter Sara by a woman other than Abram's mum

2) Abram ended up marrying sara, his half sister.  

3) Abram had two brothers Haran and Nahor. Haran married Milcah, the daughter of 

Nahor

4)  Abrams Brother Harran died in Ur leaving his son Lot fatherless.

5)  Lot fathers two sons (the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites) by his two daughter    

6) Abram fathers a son, Ishmael by his wifes servant Hagar.

The most immediately relevant thing here is that Lot's own father had died and so I would have thought he would see Abram as the nearest thing he had to a father. He had come a long way with him but now seems happy to separate and make his own way in the world. Lucky for him Abram is still keeping an eye on him and when he gets caught up in a local war and carried off as spoils, Abram comes to the rescue.

But what is the point of this story. Just because it happened doesn't mean it should take up space in God's word. Everything God has caused to be recorded and written down is for our benefit to do me good and point me to Jesus.

Here's how a children's bible activity interprets these events:

"Abram deserved the nicer land and could have just taken it. Instead he chose to give it to his nephew. We can all make choices like that. Here's a way! Find a treat. Find a friend. Cut the treat into two pieces, one a little bigger than the other. Take the smaller piece for yourself and give the bigger piece to your friend. Don't tell your friend that you chose the smaller piece - just keep it between you and God."  

That may be true and certainly the world would be a better place is we all followed Abrams example here, but I don't think that is at all the point of the story. It not even that as we give away we get more back. If I stop there I sense I will miss most of the point. I want to peer through the mists of moralizing to the heart of the story. (Interestingly enough someone I spoke to on holiday was finding some very helpful prophetic direction based on this exact story, but that God would use it in this way is of course quite secondary). Where is Jesus? Where is the gospel? That is what has been occupying my mind for the past few days. I am convinced there is a lot more here than a moral example (if it is one at all).  

What's the gist of the story? Abram gives Lot the chance to make a go of it. Lot makes a mess of things, or at least gets taken captive. Abram rescues him. That feels a bit closer to the gospel. I set off to do what I thought was best, to live in the way and the place that I chose. I didn't realize the battle that was being played out around me and the peril I would get into, and like Lot I ended up in need of rescue.

4 Kings come to quash rebellion.
They capture Lot. Abram comes after them,
rescues him a and chases the kings away.

I was fatherless and God became to me a father. Jesus defeated the principalities and powers that carried me off and held me captive. He put me back on my feet again. It wouldn't be the last time that Abram lived out a type of God. In a few years time he would prepare to sacrifice his own son. I am so glad that even now, God's eye is on me to look after me. That I have an even more special relationship with God than Lot had with Abram and which, though not spelled out seems to waft like some wonderful perfume form this short account.

In the grand events of history I am just tagging along. The story is not about me but God. I can image people in the future reading the history books and wondering "why does it mention Marcus?". What's the point of him being in the story. Sure those things happened in his life but why bother mentioning them. And then they would realize that the little bit written about me was not really about me but my heavenly father. And as that penny drops I expect they'll say "Wow, God must have loved him very much".  Which would be true. He does.

Gen 12:13 Are Abram's pants are on fire?

Gen 12:13   Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."


Abraham is clearly trying to save his own skin. He has to go into Egypt in order to survive the famine but he fears that the Egyptians will want to take his beautiful wife, which turns out to be true. Abram reasons that they will want him out of the way if he is known as her husband but they might tolerate or even bless him if they think he is Sara's brother. Again, he turns out to be right, and when Pharaoh takes Sara he gives Abram loads of animals and servants.

So was it a lie? Well, when he plays the same card again we learn that Sara is, in fact, his half sister (Gen 20:12) so while it's not an outright lie, it’s certainly a bit deception. As we get to know more of Abram and his family it becomes clear that we should not necessarily make them role models in every aspect of their lives. It is very instructive though to keep our eyes on God and see how he deals with these very human characters.

Amazingly heaven is silent about Abrams little distortion of the truth and God continues to work out his plans thorough the good and bad in his life. The same is not true for Pharaoh however. Although he has been deceived and has unwittingly taken another man's wife, God gives him and his family some serious diseases.

Before looking at the judgment of Pharaoh, I want to think about how God treats Abram. The favor of God is on him such that God does not punish him for every little thing he does wrong. Even when he bends the truth God's favor remains on him. He doesn't get "told off" or punished, or "taught a lesson" or even disciplined. I'm so glad God treats me like that. Of course he disciplines me and corrects me at times, but not all the time for everything I do wrong. He loves me and changes me over time. That is good because I am not expecting to be perfect this side of eternity and if God majored on what I did wrong my life would be pretty miserable. You see it sometimes in parents who continuality pick their kids up on every little thing they do wrong. Instead, my life is filled with God's grace and kindness. A lot of the time God must choose to silently cover my sin and bless me despite my failings. I have done much worse than Abram in my life and yet it is overflowing with God's blessing.  

            Good sense makes one slow to anger,

            and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

            Prov 19:11 

           

But what about Pharaoh? First it seems that God does in fact give sickness under some circumstances. It’s not therefore quite right to say that "sickness is always from the devil". Here, at least, it is described as being from God. The second thing is that while Abram did something dubious and got rich, Pharaoh unwittingly did something wrong and got hammered. Why?

Simply put, not everyone is a recipient of God's grace. In the bible, knowing you are doing something wrong does indeed increase your guilt, but not knowing you are doing something wrong does not absolve you of all responsibility. Pleading ignorance will get you some leniency but not totally let off. The law distinguished between sins done unwittingly and sins done intentionally "with a high hand" (Numbers 15:22-41). A sacrifice could be made for the former but for the later a person was to be cut off from his people.

Jesus tells a parable where a servant who knows his master's will but does not do it is beaten with many blows while another servant who does something deserving punishment without knowing it was wrong gets beaten with few blows. Luke 12:48

 

I am so glad I am a child of God with his favor resting upon me every moment of every day.  It doesn't mean I am careless or presumptuous in my thoughts and actions though. Far from it. David prayed "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;" (Psalm 19:13). We see his soft heart towards God again in Psalm 139:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!" Psalm 139:23-24

Rules can simply harden a heart or break it in pieces while love can melt it and mold it. Knowing God's favor is a powerful motivation to live according to his wonderful ways. One of my favorite verses is Titus 2:12 which says that God's grace teaches us to say no to unrighteousness and I have found that to be true. 

Gen 12:6 Back to the future

Gen 12:6   Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. (ESV)

I feel like I am going backwards at the moment. I was trying to work out where Abram went after God had spoken to him when I realised I didn't know where Abram was when God spoke to him. It was a place called Shechem, also called Shichem (Gen 12:6) and  Sychem (Acts 7:16) and is the first specific Palestinian place mentioned in Genesis. That has got to be worth thinking about for a bit.

Let's time travel back and watch the events that happened in this place over the course of the bible. At first it’s just a small collection of huts standing at the entrance to a narrow East, West valley. On either side of it stand the two tallest mountains in central Palestine (Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim). A large number of people and livestock approach from the North. A man walks away from the main group and stands in the shade of a massive oak tree. As he looks around he becomes aware of another man standing near him. The man speaks “Abram, do you see all this land? I will give all this land to your decedents”. As Abram looks back the man he is gone.

Scroll forward a generation or so. There are more houses now and a fortifying wall has been put up around the settlement. Abram's grandson, Jacob, has just settled back in the land at  Shechem after meeting his brother Easu. He buys some land the and pitches his tents (Gen 33:18-19). A little later we see him burying a load of idols under the great oak (Gen 35:1-4). He also digs a well a short distance from the town (John 4:5-6).

Another generation passes and Joseph comes into sight looking for his brothers (Gen 37:12). He wanders about for a bit, speaks to a man in a field and then heads off North to Dothan. Joseph never comes back alive but years later Moses brings his bones with him out of Egypt and Joshua buries them here at Shechem (Gen 50:24-26, Ex 13:19, Josh 24:32, John 4:5).

After the Israelites took the land Joshua turns up here to underline the covenant a couple of times to the people (Josh 8:30-35, Josh 24). Gideon's son Abilmelech persuades the people of Shechem to accept him as their ruler and then murders his 70 brothers. The people gather at the great tree in Shechem to crown him King. Later the people rebel against him and he totally destroys the city. Israel reject Solomon's brother Rehoboam here (1 Kings 12:1-19) and by the time of the NT it has becomes a main settlement of the Samaritans bustling with life and activity.

A number of women are talking and laughing together as they draw water from the well just outside Shechem. As the sun gets higher in the sky and the day heats up they make their way back to the city. At noon a group of men arrive at the well. They talk and then all but one go into the city. Shortly after they enter a lone woman comes makes her way to the well. Jesus, seemingly unaware of cultural norms, strikes up a conversation with the woman and asks her for a drink.

In that place steeped in history, where God had first promised the land, were Josephs bone's lay, where idols had been buried and alters built: Jesus sits down by Jacob's well and talks with a Samarian women. What a context for a conversation! God had been faithful through the years as his people wobbled and wavered and now,  in the same place that God visibly appeared to Abram in the form of a man, Jesus, God incarnate, the word made flesh, the one to whom all the promises pointed, the Messiah, asks a lonely, broken lady for a drink. "If you only knew" he says. Wow.

I had no idea that this little place in the hill country of Ephraim (Jos 20:7) was going to be so interesting. The New Bible Dictionary tells me that today Tell Balata is on the same site some 30 miles north of Jerusalem. I'm so glad I lingered on this verse a while longer. I now feel ready to move forward and dive into the outworking of God's great plan to bless the nations in his Son Jesus Christ.    

Note Acts 7:16 seemed to say that Abraham brought the land where Joseph was buried (Gen 33:19, Joshua 24:32) but Jacob brought that land and Abraham purchases a cave in a field Genesis 23:3, 10, 17)