Skip to main content

Abraham and Lot Separate

Illustration of Abraham and Lot Separate
Era
Patriarchs
Date
c. 2090 BC ≈ Approximate
Reference
Genesis 13:5-18
Abram let Lot choose first. Lot chose the well-watered plain near Sodom, and God gave Abram all the land his eyes could see.

After returning from Egypt, Abram and his nephew Lot had grown so rich in flocks, herds, and tents that the land could not bear them both, and strife broke out between their herdmen. Abram, the elder, gave up his right to choose first: 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.' Lot lifted up his eyes, saw that the plain of Jordan was well watered everywhere, and chose it for himself, pitching his tent toward Sodom, whose men were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. Then God told Abram to look northward, southward, eastward, and westward, promising all the land he could see to him and to his seed for ever, and Abram moved to the plain of Mamre in Hebron and built an altar there. The story sets a choice made by sight beside a life lived by promise.

0:00

Did You Know?

1

The quarrel began because 'the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together.'

2

Lot's choice took him first toward Sodom and then into it, where he was living when he was taken captive in Genesis 14.

3

Right after the separation, God promised Abram a seed as countless as the dust of the earth.

Key Passage

Abraham and Lot Separate

Genesis 13:5-18

A5nd Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. 14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Read full chapter: Genesis 13 →

Meanwhile in the World

Egypt's Old Kingdom builds the pyramids (c. 2600-2100 BC). Mesopotamia is dominated by Akkad and then Ur III. The Indus Valley civilization flourishes. Stonehenge is being constructed in Britain. This is the era of the great ziggurats and the first law codes (Ur-Nammu).

When: c. 2100 - 1800 BC

Key Civilizations: Ur III (Sumer), Old Kingdom Egypt

Biblical Parallels: Genesis 12-50