Jan 30 - Abram is a Blessing to Lot

Read Genesis 13:5-18

Context: After yesterday's text where God blessed Abram, Abram left as the Lord had told him and his nephew, Lot, went with him. Abram was 75. They traveled to Shechem, Bethel, and Egypt. After a time in Egypt they returned to the area around Bethel.

Text:
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring [a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD. (NIV)
Footnotes:
Genesis 13:15 Or seed ; also in verse 16
taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/

It seems that Abram can't out-bless God! He does an amazingly selfless thing by allowing Lot to choose the land he wants; and of course Lot chose the area that was green and well watered, leaving Abram the scrubbier, desert-like area.

Yet God immediately told Abram that he would be given all the land he could see in every direction. He was reminded that his offspring would so numerous they couldn't be counted.

Abram continued to be a blessing to Lot over the next few years. Lot and his family were captured as prisoners of war, and Abram recovered all the goods and brought back Lot, his possessions, the women and the others who were captured with him. Several years later (maybe as many as 20), Abraham (with his new name) pleaded with God to save Sodom if only ten men were faithful, and God allowed Lot and his family to leave before the city was destroyed. He was a good uncle to have!