Lot lifts up his eyes and chooses
1 Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 He 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, 4 to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name. 5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. 7 There 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. 8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9 Isn’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.” 10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one another. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
Abram gives away the right of first choice, and Lot takes the best land by looking at it — with two comparisons the reader is meant to notice.
Abram comes up out of Egypt rich, and the first thing he does is retrace his own steps: back to the South, then to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, to the altar he built at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh's name. A man who has just been rebuked by Pharaoh goes back to where he last worshiped and starts again from there.
The problem that arises is a problem of blessing rather than of hardship. Both men have prospered so far that the land was not able to bear them, and their herdsmen begin to quarrel over water and grazing. The narrator adds a line that raises the stakes: The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. A public feud between two related households is being watched by the people who own the country.
Abram's proposal is generous beyond any obligation. He is the elder, the head of the family, the one to whom the land was promised, and he holds the right of choice absolutely. He gives it away: Isn'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.
What he offers is not a compromise. It is the surrender of the whole decision to the younger man, on a stated ground — for we are relatives. A man who has been promised the land by God can afford to let someone else pick first.
Lot's method is given in one phrase and it will be answered exactly at the end of the chapter: Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere. He looks, he evaluates, and he takes. Nothing suggests he consulted anyone.
And the narrator supplies two comparisons for what he saw, both of which the reader has met before. It was like the garden of Yahweh — Eden, which was lost. And like the land of Egypt — the place Abram has just come out of in disgrace. Both are true descriptions of fertility and both are ominous, and between them sits a third clause that gives the ending away: before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
So Lot chooses well by every visible measure and the narrative has already told us how it ends.
The separation is described in a way that tracks him drifting. He chose the Plain of the Jordan, then traveled east — the direction of Cain and of Babel in this book — then lived in the cities of the plain, then moved his tent as far as Sodom. A herdsman on the plain has become a man camped at a city, and the last verse of the paragraph says what kind of city: the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
The drift is described without a word of rebuke. Lot is nowhere condemned here, and the account simply records a series of small moves toward a place its own sentence has already condemned.
settled What this mark means