Genesis 13 uses one phrase twice, once for Lot and once for Abram.
The first time is about Lot. “And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere” (13:10). What he does makes sense. The land really was good, and Abram really had told him to choose. Nothing here is forbidden.
The second time is about Abram, and God says it. “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are'” (13:14). It is the same action, but a different voice. Lot lifted his eyes and decided for himself. Abram lifted his eyes because God told him to. Then God showed him what he was already being given: “for all the land which you see I give to you” (13:15).
What Lot did not check. Lot was careful. He looked the ground over well. But he never checked who lived there. The Bible tells us three verses later: “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord” (13:13). The valley told him all about the water and nothing about the people.
Where the looking led. Lot's choice kept taking him further. In 13:12 he “pitched his tent even as far as Sodom” — beside it. By 14:12 he is “Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom” — inside it. By 19:1, “Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom,” the place where a city's business was done. So he is not just living there; he belongs there. And in 19:16, “while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand… and they brought him out.” He had to be pulled out of the place he chose, and he was slow to leave.
Lot was not a bad man. The New Testament calls him righteous. Peter writes that God “delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.” He says this “righteous man… tormented his righteous soul from day to day” (2 Peter 2:7-8). Lot hated where he ended up. That is why his story is worth learning. He is not a villain. He is a good man who chose with his eyes and lived with the result for decades.
Faith, not sight. Paul says it this way: “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is not a rule against looking. Both men looked. It is about what you trust after you have looked.
Before Lot ever moved toward Sodom, Abram gave up a lot.
He had the right twice. He was the older man, and Lot was his nephew. In that world the older man chose first. He also had a promise about this very ground. God had said “to your descendants I will give this land” (12:7). No one would have been surprised if Abram had taken the valley and sent Lot to the hills.
He gives both away. “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (13:9). The only reason he gives is “for we are brethren” (13:8). He is not following a plan. Nor is he counting on God to pay him back. He could not have been, because verse 14 has not happened yet. The Bible says the promise came “after Lot had separated from him.”
Jesus did the same kind of thing. Paul writes of Christ “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:6-7). What He had was truly His. He did not cling to it. Abram gave up first choice of a valley. Christ gave up the glory that was His by right, and came down.
Both are given more than they gave up. Right after Lot leaves, Abram hears, “for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever” (13:15). Of Christ it is written: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (2:9). In both cases the glory is given, never grabbed. Lot, at the edge of the valley, took instead of waiting to be given.
Making peace costs something. There is a second idea in 13:8 too. Abram ends the fight by paying for it himself, out of his own pocket. That is a small picture of the cross: Christ, “having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). Both times, peace cost the peacemaker something. That is why the memory verse fits: “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). They get the family name because they do the family work.
Abram is not a small Christ. This is the man who lied about his wife in chapter 12. He will do it again in chapter 20. He is a man doing one right thing. And that right thing matches what God Himself does. God used a flawed man to give us a picture of His own goodness.
Hebrews has the last word on this. “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents… for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (11:9-10). The man who turned down a valley full of cities was waiting for a different city.
Complete all sections to finish!
Read each section and answer the questions correctly.