Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Abram Inherits Canaan

About the title:

• Every decision reveals who you are and what you believe in. ~Pastor James Merrit.

Genesis 13:1-4

¹ Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.

² Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

³ And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel (House of God), to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

• Bethel and Ai are 10 to 12 miles north of modern-day Jerusalem. A little South of Jerusalem is Bethlehem.

⁴ to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

• Bethel seems to be the place of meeting with God.

Genesis 13:5-7

⁵ Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.

⁶ Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

• The first mention of wealth in the bible.
• Both Abraham and Lot were wealthy. Lot was wealthy because of his relationship with Abraham.
• Two tests in life- adversity and prosperity.
  • Prosperity: You’re afraid you might lose it, and you want more of it.
  • Adversity: A man’s character is not judged based on his strength, but when he is at his weakest.

⁷ And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.

Genesis 13:8-9

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.

⁹ 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.”

Genesis 13:10-13

¹⁰ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord (like the Garden in Eden), like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.

• Bela (aka Zoar) was really a village, Zoar means “little”.

• Egypt once was fertile and green.

• Primitive rock paintings and fossils excavated from the region suggest that the Sahara was once a relatively verdant oasis, where human settlements and a diversity of plants and animals thrived.

¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.

Lot chose the wrong lot.
He lost a lot.
His character? Not a lot.

• Lot should have asked where Abraham wanted him to go, since his wealth was based on his relationship with Abraham. He should have honored him.
• Abraham loved Lot more than he loved the things of this world.
• Lot never called on the Lord as Abraham did.

¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.

• When you put yourself second, as when Abraham gave Lot first choice, God will put you first.
• God’s leftovers are always better than the world’s seductive offerings of man’s appetites. The world always pays off in counterfeit money.

¹³ But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

• Sodom is identified for her wickedness.
• Lot didn’t care about what this would do to his family. Lot only cared about himself.

• Exceedingly wicked and sinful: What is it that Sodom is accused of?
  Genesis 18:20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,…”
  
  • Sexual Immorality.
    “Before they (the angels) lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.” Gen 19:4-5
    
  • Pride, Fullness, Idleness, Selfishness:
    Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49
    

Genesis 13:14-17

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; All directions as far as the eye can see.

• Abraham went high. Lot went low.

¹⁵ for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.

¹⁶ And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

¹⁷ Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

• [Note: The Abrahamic Covenant was made 1906 BC. See BC timeline by Barbara Grover.]
• [Note: Abraham is called the father of faith: All those who trust God are the children of Abraham.]

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ (the Holy Seed) (Galatians 3:16).

Everything in scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, point to Jesus (Yeshua) the Christ (Messiah), Son of God, Redeemer and Savior.

Jesus, like Isaac, is the “Son of Promise” and Jesus is the unique, final seed of Abraham. He will one day fully receive and fully distribute Abraham’s inheritance when he returns in glory.

Genesis 13:18

¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth (oak) trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron (meaning: a community; alliance), and built an altar there to the Lord.

ABRAHAM’S TEREBINTH TREE

A long-standing tradition is that the Oak of Abraham will die before the appearance of the Antichrist. The main oak trunk has appeared to be dead since 1996. Following construction work in the 1970s, a wooden ring in the form of a chalice was built around the tree, and its roots began to die. In 1997, a small sprig was seen growing near the withered oak. (Note: It was In October 2016, Russian botanists began a project to save the tree.

“Hebron’s holy tree is dead but its successors live”. accessmylibrary.com. 27 December 1996.
“Rome News-Tribune – Google News Archive Search”. google.com.
“Russian experts will work in Palestine to save the Oak of Mamre mentioned in Bible”. Interfax. October 24, 2016.

It is said that the withered part of the holy Oak represents the Old Covenant, and the green part of the tree represents the New Covenant of grace.

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