Sermon Tone Analysis

DEVELOPMENT OF LOT

GENESIS 11:27–13:1

LIKE PROMINENT PUNCTUATION marks, the name of Lot is inserted five times into the text which is Abraham’s story

This is the initial mention of Lot in Scripture.

Though the spotlight is on Abraham in the text before us, Lot is mentioned periodically in such a way in the text that the careful reader will recognize Scripture preparing us to focus on Lot later on.

This focusing on the life of Lot by Scripture will not come until after Scripture records Abraham returning from his disobedient trip to Egypt.

Before that act of Abraham is recorded, the mention of Lot will only be the five brief references to him in our text.

But though these five initial mentions of Lot in Scripture are brief (and to some unimportant), they do give us enough information to show us some important factors affecting the development of Lot.

Knowing about these factors will enable us to better understand what is said about Lot later on in Scripture.

These factors can be summed up in a threefold way—the tears of Lot, the traveling of Lot, and the training for Lot.

These three factors will have a substantial affect on anyone who experiences them.

They can affect a person in a good way or a bad way, depending on one’s reaction to them.

Lot, unfortunately, did not let these factors affect him in as good a way as he should have.

To his credit, Lot did allow the experiences to help him reject idolatry; and so in the New Testament he is spoken of as a saved soul 2 Peter 2:7

But Lot was not a victorious Christian.

While his eternal destiny was heaven, his heart’s interest was the world.

God sends many different kinds of experiences to people to train and develop them into strong saints and servants of His.

Some of these experiences may be pretty rough, such as the tears Lot experienced.

But they are not to destroy the individual.

Rather, they are to build one up.

However, many, like Lot, do not do well with their Divinely ordered experiences.

They either gain smaller blessings than they should from their experiences; or, worse, they turn the experiences into destructive ones.

So what should build them up, tears them down; what should strengthen their faith, weakens their faith; and what should warn them from doing evil, encourages them to do evil.

This, unfortunately, was too often the case with Lot.

THE TEARS OF LOT

Lot drank deeply of the bitter cup of sorrow several times early in his life.

He first experienced great sorrow when his father died; then later he again experienced similar sorrow when his grandfather died.

The Death of His Father

While we are not able to ascertain from the Bible the exact ages of Lot and his father when the latter died, it is evident from what Scripture does say that Lot’s father died long before his time and when Lot was still in his younger days; for “Haran [Lot’s father] died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees” Gen 11:28

Lot’s younger days here could cover any period of time from a small child to a young adult—a time especially hard for losing one’s father.

It is hard to lose a parent at any time; but the younger one is when a parent dies, the greater the sorrow.

Hence, for Lot, the death of his father would bring Lot heavy sorrow early in his life.

The coming of this sorrow is the first experience which we read about Lot in Scripture.

Right after Scripture first mentions Lot with “Haran begot Lot” Gen 11:27

we next read “And Haran died before his father Terah” Gen 11:28

So Lot hardly gets on the scene in the Bible before sorrow is reported as his experience.

The same can be said about his life.

He did not have to wait long in life before he became acquainted with heavy personal grief and also witnessed his family experiencing the same.

It would be an experience that would be etched deeply in Lot’s memory and heart.

After Lot’s father died, Lot was taken under the care of Terah his grandfather; for when Terah moved to Haran, the Bible says, “Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son” Gen 11:31

with him.

When the man of the house died in those days, the family was left in dire straits.

Women did not go into society and work as many do today; and, therefore, when the husband died, the home would be left without support unless some family member took over the care of the family.

This Terah obviously did.

It was not only a charitable thing for Terah to do, but it was also the logical thing for him to do, for he was the father of the deceased and the one person in the family who materially could best take care of others at that time.

In those days folks did not expect and demand that the government assume their social responsibilities, but families took care of themselves as God intended they should.

We could use a lot of emphasis on this truth in our day which seems to think government is responsible for meeting all our needs and that we should pray to “Our father in Washington” instead of to “Our father in heaven.”

The Death of His Grandfather

The second taste of the bitter cup of sorrow by Lot came when his grandfather Terah died.

Gen 11:32

This sorrowing experience would doubtless not be nearly as great as the sorrow from the death of his father, but it would still be painful.

Terah, in taking over the care of Lot, would be like a father to Lot; and his death, therefore, would be more strongly felt than had Lot still had his own father alive.

Lot’s increased age would also temper the loss, but considerable sorrow would still be his portion in this death.After Terah died, Lot came under the care of Abraham.

This we learn when Scripture reports Lot going with Abraham to Canaan Gen 12:4

That Abraham was in authority over Lot is evidenced by the fact that when the two later separated one from another (see next chapter), Abraham was the one who supervised the separation.

So again Lot was taken under the care of another relative after a death in the family.

Psychologists and psychiatrists would use these sorrowing experiences of Lot to excuse some of Lot’s later failures in conduct which Scripture reports.

It is the habit of psychologists and psychiatrists—even the so-called Christian psychologists and psychiatrists—to try to excuse as many of the failures of men as possible.

If there are bad experiences in one’s younger days, then they conclude that this somehow explains and even justifies some of one’s later shortcomings.

The loss of parent and later guardian would be deemed enough to excuse Lot from his failures.

However, do not buy any of this sort of thinking; for Scripture will never justify it.

To the contrary, the Bible shows us men who have had some very difficult experiences early in life and yet have come out champions for God.

Such a case is Joseph.

At seventeen he was cruelly sold by his brothers into slavery and so was abruptly taken from his beloved father.

Yet, Joseph, unlike Lot, turned out to be a man of gallant character.

We make fools of ourselves trying to justify our shortcomings.

We need to confess our sins, not excuse them, if we want to improve things in our life.

As we have previously noted, difficult experiences can be opportunities to build up our character and strengthen our faith.

Letting them do the opposite is not justifiable.

Lot did indeed experience some very painful times of sorrowing when tears would flow freely.

But these times do not excuse his later sins.

These times could have been used to strengthen his character.

THE TRAVELING OF LOT

From four of the five brief mentions of Lot in our text, we are informed that Lot did considerable traveling early in his life.

This traveling involved three major trips which he took with Abraham.

These trips could not help but greatly affect the development of his life.

These trips were the journey from Ur to Haran, the journey from Haran to Canaan, and the journey from Canaan to Egypt and back.

The third trip was actually two trips—one trip from Canaan to Egypt and one trip from Egypt back to Canaan.

But since it was a round trip and is given as a continuous narrative in Scripture, we will refer to it as one trip.

These three trips can be labeled compromise, consecration, and condemnation as far as Abraham is concerned.

The reason we label them in reference to Abraham and not Lot is that these three trips primarily concerned Abraham and his calling from God. Lot was not the main person on these trips.

He went on the trips because of his subordinate relationship to those leading the trip.

But these trips were important events in Lot’s life and had much to do with the developing of Lot.

The Trip of Compromise

Many would not call the trip from Ur to Haran a trip of compromise.

But comparing Scripture with Scripture leaves us with no other conclusion.

This trip from Ur to Haran was the beginning of Abraham’s move to Canaan as a result of God’s call to him.

Although the first time Scripture reports God’s call to Abraham Gen 12:1–3

is after it had reported the trip from Ur to Haran Gen 11:31

Stephen, in his Spirit-inspired Acts 6:10

speaking before the Sanhedrin, said the call came in Ur, not Haran.

“The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran [Haran] and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee” Acts 7:2-3

“Before” says the reporting of the call in Genesis 12:1–3

is either a review of the call (cp.

“had” in v. 1) to explain Abraham’s move to Canaan or a repeat of the call to prod Abraham to continue on his way to Canaan.

Either way, the trip from Ur to Haran was a compromise.

We can see the compromise in at least three areas: associations, authority, and achievement.

Associations

The call of God to Abraham told him to “Get thee out of thy country [Ur], and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house” Gen 12:1

Abraham obeyed the part of his call about leaving his country, but he did not obey the part about leaving his relatives.