Genesis 13.5-12-Abram's Magnanimous Behavior Towards Lot
Sunday November 20, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 13:5-12-Abram’s Magnanimous Behavior Towards Lot
Lesson # 64
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 13:1.
On Thursday evening, we studied Genesis 13:1-4, which records Abram leaving Egypt and returning to the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised to him and his descendants as a permanent possession.
Genesis 13:1, “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.”
The region of the “Negev” extends roughly from a line drawn from Gaza through the modern political boundary of the southern West Bank, extending south to the mountain ranges of the Sinai and through the Arabah to the Red Sea.
Genesis 13:2, “Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.”
Genesis 13:3, “He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.”
“Bethel” literally means, “house of God” and is identified with modern Beiten, approximately ten miles north of Jerusalem, which became one of the two capitals and cult centers of the northern kingdom and only Jerusalem is mentioned in the Old Testament more than Bethel.
Genesis 13:4, “to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.”
Now, this morning we will study Genesis 13:5-12, which records the separation of Abram from his nephew Lot.
Genesis 13:5, “Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.”
“Lot,” whose name means, “covering,” and whose father was Haran and was the nephew of Abram.
If you recall in our studies of Genesis 11:27-32, Lot’s father Haran died leaving Lot an orphan but Abram’s father Terah took custody of him and when Abram left for Canaan after Terah died, in response to the Lord’s invitation, Lot went with him of his own volition.
Not only did Abram prosper in materially and financially in Egypt but so did Lot and this caused problems between the two.
Genesis 13:5, “Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.”
Genesis 13:6, “And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.”
According to Genesis 12:1-3, the Lord had promised to bless Abram and nowhere does the Lord promise to bless Lot, so what we see here is that Lot is blessed by being associated with Abram.
Genesis 12:2, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing.”
“Bless” is the verb barakh (Er^B*) means, “to endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity, longevity, etc.” and indicates that Abraham and his descendants were endued with power by the Lord for success, prosperity, fecundity (offspring in great numbers) and longevity.
The Lord blessed Abram in the sense that the Lord multiplied his descendants so that his posterity was great in number both, racially and spiritually.
Also, the Lord blessed Abram in the sense that the Lord multiplied his possessions and livestock and prospered him financially and materially.
The Lord blessed anyone who was associated with Abraham, thus Lot was blessed because of being associated with Abram.
Genesis 13:7, “And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.”
The “Canaanites” lived in the land west of the Jordan River before the conquest of Joshua and whose eastern border was the Mediterranean Sea (Gen. 13:12; Num. 33:51).
In Genesis 10:19, Moses defines the borders of the Canaanites because it is this land that the Lord will dispossess for Israel and fulfill the prophecy of Noah in Genesis 9:24-25 regarding Canaan.
The northern border of the land of the Canaanites went as far as Sidon, which is 120 miles north of Jerusalem and the southern border extended to Gerar, which is about 11 miles south-southeast of Gaza, which was on the coast 50 miles southeast of Jerusalem.
The “Perizzites” refers to a tribe of people who inhabited the mountainous region eventually taken over by the tribes of Ephraim and Judah (cf. Josh. 11:3; 17:5; Judg. 1:4f.) and because they were related to the Canaanites, the term “Perizzites” often refers to this entire group (cf. Gen. 13:7; 34:30).
Genesis 13:8, “So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.’”
Genesis 13:9, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Since Abram was the oldest, he had a right to choose first, which land he would settle in.
Furthermore, Lot came along for the ride since it was Abram that the Lord had called and not Lot.
Abram is being “magnanimous” here by giving Lot the first choice when we would expect him to cling to the land that was promised to him by the Lord and go tell Lot to find his own land.
A believer who is magnanimous is generous in forgiving insults and injuries without being vindictive and becoming involved in petty resentfulness.
In Genesis 13:8-9, we see that Abram is generous in forgiving the insult heaped upon him by Lot and his herdsmen who did not have a right to the land as Abram did and yet Abram is not pettily resentful or vindictive towards him.
Rather, Abram insists upon maintaining a good relationship with his nephew and is tolerant, patient and generous toward Lot.
A believer who is “magnanimous” is noble in character, loving justice but not insisting upon the letter of the law in order to preserve the spirit of the law and does not insist upon his own rights to the fullest but rectifies and redresses the injustices of justice.
Abram does not insist upon his own rights to the land in order to preserve unity between him and Lot.
Abram, who was older and superior to Lot, humbles himself before his inferior and subordinate, Lot, in order to preserve peace, thereby demonstrating himself to be the spiritual superior to Lot.
Abram’s condescension and humility foreshadows the condescension and humility and magnanimity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
The Lord will exalt Abram because of his humility whereas the Lord will humble Lot because of his arrogance and selfishness.
Luke 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Abram has denied himself and humbled himself, which foreshadows the self-denial and humility of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Cross.
Philippians 2:5-6, “Everyone continue thinking this (according to humility) within yourselves, which was also in (the mind of) Christ Jesus, Who although existing from eternity past in the essence of God, He never regarded existing equally in essence with God an exploitable asset.”
Philippians 2:7, “On the contrary, He denied Himself of the independent function of His deity by having assumed the essence of a slave when He was born in the likeness of men.”
Philippians 2:8, “In fact, although He was discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by having entered into obedience to the point of spiritual death even death on a Cross.”
Philippians 2:9, “For this very reason in fact God the Father has promoted Him to the highest-ranking position and has awarded to Him the rank, which is superior to every rank.”
Philippians 2:10, “In order that in the sphere of this rank possessed by Jesus every person must bow, celestials and terrestrials and sub-terrestrials.”
Philippians 2:11, “Also, every person must publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father.”
The apostle Paul wants the Philippian believer’s to follow suit.
Philippians 4:5, “Permit your magnanimity to become manifest to everyone. The Lord’s return is immanent.”
Being magnanimous is one of the functions and manifestations of the believer’s royal ambassadorship.
The believer can witness with either his words (presenting the Gospel) or his actions.
The magnanimous behavior of a believer manifests one of the characteristics of Christ who was generous and gracious in forgiving and tolerant in the face of insults and is a manifestation of the Spirit and the Word’s work in the life of a believer.
James 3:17, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, magnanimous, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”
Magnanimous behavior among believers will resolve the personality conflicts and is one of the qualities that a pastor is to possess.
1 Timothy 3:3, “not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but magnanimous, peaceable, free from the love of money.”
Titus 3:2, “to malign no one, to be peaceable, magnanimous, showing every consideration for all men.”
Magnanimity among believers will produce unity in the local assembly.
Abram’s magnanimity has produced peace between him and his nephew Lot.
Abram is walking by faith, which gives him the capacity to magnanimous.
Abram operated in faith and not by sight, trusting in the Lord, confident that the Lord would take care of him wherever he settled whereas Lot is not walking by faith, but rather by sight, which the believer is prohibited from doing.
2 Corinthians 5:8, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
The conduct of Abram and Lot reveals the spiritual principle that those who walk by faith and trust in the Lord will be unselfish and will avoid strife and contention whereas those who do not walk by faith, and do not trust the Lord will be selfish and will be the cause of strife and contention.