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Context No. 3421 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 13:1-9: in context

1Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the LORD’s name. 5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. 6The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. 7There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. 8Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

As Abram and Lot both prosper, the land cannot support both their herds, and strife breaks out between their herdsmen. Abram, the elder, and the one to whom God had actually given the promise of the land, has every right to claim first choice. Instead, he defers to his younger nephew.

Let there be no strife between us, he says, for we are kinsmen; is not the whole land before you? Take your pick, and I will go the other way. Abram values peace and family over his own advantage, and is willing to take the lesser portion to avoid conflict. There is a quiet nobility in choosing peace over rights, in letting the other choose first. Abram could afford to be generous because he trusted God, not the land itself, to secure his future. Those who trust God's promise can hold their rights loosely and let others take the advantage, confident that their true inheritance is safe in God's hands and does not depend on grasping the choicer share.

Am I willing, like Abram, to yield my rights and let others choose first for the sake of peace, trusting God rather than my own advantage to secure my future?

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