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:
14. northward and southward, &c.] The promise here includes, in the future possession of Israel, the land which Lot had chosen for himself.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 13:14-18
All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever
The saints comfort in solitude
I.
THE DIVINE VOICE IS MORE DISTINCTLY HEARD.
1. We need this consolation to confirm our faith.
2. We require a renewed sense of the Divine approval.
3. We require comfort for the evils we have suffered on account of religion.
II. THE DIVINE PROMISES ARE MORE CLEARLY APPREHENDED.
1. We are more free to survey the greatness of our inheritance.
2. We have an enhanced idea of the plentifulness of the Divine resources.
III. WE ARE LED ON TO PERCEIVE THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE.
1. Our senses deceive us.
2. Our youthful hopes deceive us. Let us learn, then, that there is nothing sure but heaven.
IV. THE SPIRIT OF DEVOTION IS STRENGTHENED.
1. When God speaks to the soul, our sense of reverence is deepened.
2. When God speaks, our sense of duty is deepened. (T. H. Leale.)
I. GOD ALWAYS COMES NEAR TO HIS SEPARATED ONES.
Gods promise to Abraham
II. GOD WILL DO BETTER FOR THOSE WHO TRUST HIM, THAN THEY COULD DO FOR THEMSELVES.
III. GOD BIDS US APPROPRIATE HIS GIFTS (Gen 13:17). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Abrahams reward
1. Saints who hang loose, and are indifferent for the world, have the best appearance of God.
2. God is not forgetful to comfort His, who are willing to bear injuries from men for His sake.
3. God hath a speech to make His own to understand His mind. So God said to Abram.
4. When creature comforts leave Gods servants, usually He comes Himself to them.
5. God singles out souls to whom He speaks comfortably in His promises; a stranger intermeddleth not with their joy.
6. Sensible demonstrations God sometimes affords of future mercies unto His.
7. Large bounds God hath allowed for the typical inheritance of His Church here, which note larger in the heavenly Canaan.
8. Gods demonstration of mercies sometimes precedes His donation and infers it (Gen 13:14).
9. God is free and full in allotting the inheritance of His Church.
10. Jehovah hath what He giveth, therefore He giveth surely; He cannot deceive.
11. Gods promise to Abram is fulfilled to his seed, through many generations.
12. God hath His ever in making covenant with His people according to His will; which it concerneth Gods covenanted ones to know (Gen 13:15). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Earth taken with meekness
There is nothing lost by meekness and yielding. Abraham yields over his right of choice: Lot taketh it. And, behold, Lot is crossed in that which he chose, Abraham blessed in that which was left him. As heaven is taken by violence, so is earth with meekness. And God (the true Proprietary) loves no tenants better, nor grants larger leases to any, than the meek. (J. Trapp.)
The Christians wealth consists in Gods promises
Men use to reckon their wealth, not by what ready money they have only, but by the good bonds and leases they can produce. A great part of a Christians estate lies in bonds and bills of Gods hands. (J. Trapp.)
Gods promise unchangeable
In commercial crises, manhood is at a greater discount than funds are. Suppose a man had said to me last spring, If there comes a pinch in your affairs, draw on me for ten thousand dollars. The man said so last spring, but I should not dare to draw on him this autumn. I should say, Times have changed; he would not abide by it. But Gods promises are from everlasting to everlasting; and He always stands up to them. There never was a run on heaven which was not promptly met. No creature in all the world, or in lying, audacious hell, shall ever say that he drew a draft on heaven and that God dishonoured it. (H. W.Beecher.)
I will make thy seed as the dust
Gods word of promise to Abram
1. Promise to promise, seed to land, God adds to His covenanted friend Abram, for his good.
2. Gods word of promise calleth things that are not, as if they were that is, puts into being what is not.
3. Gods word of promise putting into being is irreversible. He speaketh and doth it.
4. Innumerable issues, as the dust, sand, and stars, can God raise out of dead bodies (Heb 11:22).
5. Children are Gods gift, when and to whom He pleaseth (Psa 127:1-5).
6. Mans reach of understanding is too shallow to compass the works of Gods promise (Gen 13:16). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Walk through the land
Lessons
1. Double demonstrations of mercies, and double promises, will God give for the support of the faith of His servants.
2. God enjoins experience sometimes for the help of faith in His promises.
3. God would have His saints reach the utmost dimensions of His promises Eph 3:19).
4. God showeth good things to His people which He purposeth to bestow on their succeeding generations.
5. Gods promise to the head is performed in the seed.
6. Free promise should provoke souls to get experience of the good things to come. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. The Lord said unto Abram] It is very likely that the angel of the covenant appeared to Abram in open day, when he could take a distinct view of the length and the breadth of this good land. The revelation made Ge 15:5, was evidently made in the night; for then he was called to number the stars, which could not be seen but in the night season: here he is called on to number the dust of the earth, Ge 13:16, which could not be seen but in the day-light.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord said this
unto Abram, to comfort him now when he was alone, and in a worse soil than Lot had chosen.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14, 15. Lift up now thine eyes . . .all the land which thou seestSo extensive a survey of thecountry, in all directions, can be obtained from no otherpoint in the neighborhood; and those plains and hills, then lyingdesolate before the eyes of the solitary patriarch, were to bepeopled with a mighty nation “like the dust of the earth innumber,” as they were in Solomon’s time (1Ki4:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,…. The Lord appeared unto him as he had before, and with an articulate voice spoke unto him, to comfort him upon the separation of his kinsman from him, and to renew the grant of the land of Canaan to him and his seed, and to assure him, that though Lot had chosen the most delightful and fruitful part of the country, yet it should not be an inheritance to him and his posterity, but the whole land should be Abraham’s and his seed’s.
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art; being upon Mount Ephraim, between Bethel and Hai, see Ge 12:8; from whence his view of the land might be extended very far:
northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; the north of the land of Canaan was Mount Lebanon, the south of it Edom or Idumea, the east the plain and river of Jordan, the west the Mediterranean sea; and the word for “westward” here is “to the sea” c; northward of it was Babylon, southward Egypt, eastward Arabia, and westward the Mediterranean sea.
c “et ad mare”, Montanus, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After Lot’s departure, Jehovah repeated to Abram (by a mental, inward assurance, as we may infer from the fact that “said” is not accompanied by “he appeared”) His promise that He would give the land to him and to his seed in its whole extent, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, and would make his seed innumerable like the dust of the earth. From this we may see that the separation of Lot was in accordance with the will of God, as Lot had no share in the promise of God; though God afterwards saved him from destruction for Abram’s sake. The possession of the land is promised “ for ever.” The promise of God is unchangeable. As the seed of Abraham was to exist before God for ever, so Canaan was to be its everlasting possession. But this applied not to the lineal posterity of Abram, to his seed according to the flesh, but to the true spiritual seed, which embraced the promise in faith, and held it in a pure believing heart. The promise, therefore, neither precluded the expulsion of the unbelieving seed from the land of Canaan, nor guarantees to existing Jews a return to the earthly Palestine after their conversion to Christ. For as Calvin justly says, “ quam terra in saeculum promittitur, non simpliciter notatur perpetuitas; sed quae finem accepit in Christo .” Through Christ the promise has been exalted from its temporal form to its true essence; through Him the whole earth becomes Canaan (vid., Gen 17:8). That Abram might appropriate this renewed and now more fully expanded promise, Jehovah directed him to walk through the land in the length of it and the breadth of it. In doing this he came in his “ tenting,” i.e., his wandering through the land, to Hebron, where he settled by the terebinth of the Amorite Mamre (Gen 14:13), and built an altar to Jehovah. The term (set himself, settled down, sat, dwelt) denotes that Abram made this place the central point of his subsequent stay in Canaan (cf. Gen 14:13; Gen 18:1, and Gen 23). On Hebron, see Gen 23:2.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| God Confirms His Promise to Abram. | B. C. 1917. |
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.
We have here an account of a gracious visit which God paid to Abram, to confirm the promise to him and his. Observe,
I. When it was that God renewed and ratified the promise: After that Lot was separated from him, that is, 1. After the quarrel was over; for those are best prepared for the visits of divine grace whose spirits are calm and sedate, and not ruffled with any passion. 2. After Abram’s humble self-denying condescensions to Lot for the preserving of peace. It was then that God came to him with this token of his favour. Note, God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace what we lose for the preservation of neighbourly peace. When Abram had willingly offered Lot one-half of his right, God came, and confirmed the whole to him. 3. After he had lost the comfortable society of his kinsman, by whose departure his hands were weakened and his heart was saddened, then God came to him with these good words and comfortable words. Note, Communion with God may, at any time, serve to make up the want of conversation with our friends; when our relations are separated from us, yet God is not. 4. After Lot had chosen that pleasant fruitful vale, and had gone to take possession of it, lest Abram should be tempted to envy him and to repent that he had given him the choice, God comes to him, and assures him that what he had should remain to him and his heirs for ever; so that, though Lot perhaps had the better land, yet Abram had the better title. Lot had the paradise, such as it was, but Abram had the promise; and the event soon made it appear that, however it seemed now, Abram had really the better part. See Job xxii. 20. God owned Abram after his strife with Lot, as the churches owned Paul after his strife with Barnabas, Act 15:39; Act 15:40.
II. The promises themselves with which God now comforted and enriched Abram. Two things he assures him of–a good land, and a numerous issue to enjoy it.
1. Here is the grant of a good land, a land famous above all lands, for it was to be the holy land, and Immanuel’s land; this is the land here spoken of. (1.) God here shows Abram the land, as he had promised (ch. xii. 1), and afterwards he showed it to Moses from the top of Pisgah. Lot had lifted up his eyes and beheld the plain of Jordan (v. 10), and he had gone to enjoy what he saw: “Come,” says God to Abram, “now lift thou up thy eyes, and look, and see thy own.” Note, That which God has to show us is infinitely better and more desirable than any thing that the world has to offer our view. The prospects of an eye of faith are much more rich and beautiful than those of an eye of sense. Those for whom the heavenly Canaan is designed in the other world have sometimes, by faith, a comfortable prospect of it in their present state; for we look at the things that are not seen, as real, though distant. (2.) He secures this land to him and his seed for ever (v. 15): To thee will I give it; and again (v. 17) I will give it unto thee; every repetition of the promise is a ratification of it. To thee and thy seed, not to Lot and his seed; they were not to have their inheritance in this land, and therefore Providence so ordered it that Lot should be separated from Abram first, and then the grant should be confirmed to him and his seed. Thus God often brings good out of evil, and makes men’s sins and follies subservient to his own wise and holy counsels. To thee and thy seed–to thee to sojourn in as a stranger, to thy seed to dwell and rule in as proprietors. To thee, that is, to thy seed. The granting of it to him and his for ever intimates that it was typical of the heavenly Canaan, which is given to the spiritual seed of Abram for ever, Heb. xi. 14. (3.) He gives him livery and seisin of it, though it was a reversion: “Arise, walk through the land, v. 17. Enter, and take possession, survey the parcels, and it will appear better than upon a distant prospect.” Note, God is willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his covenant, and the inestimable worth of covenant blessings. Go, walk about Sion, Ps. xlviii. 12.
2. Here is the promise of a numerous issue to replenish this good land, so that it should never be lost for want of heirs (v. 16): I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, that is, “They shall increase incredibly, and, take them altogether, they shall be such a great multitude as no man can number.” They were so in Solomon’s time, 1 Kings iv. 20, Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude. This God here gives him the promise of. Note, The same God that provides the inheritance provides the heirs. He that has prepared the holy land prepares the holy seed; he that gives glory gives grace to make meet for glory.
Lastly, We are told what Abram did when God had thus confirmed the promise to him, v. 18. 1. He removed his tent. God bade him walk through the land, that is, “Do not think of fixing in it, but expect to be always unsettled, and walking through it to a better Canaan:” in compliance with God’s will herein, he removes his tent, confirming himself to the condition of a pilgrim. 2. He built there an altar, in token of his thankfulness to God for the kind visit he had paid him. Note, When God meets us with gracious promises, he expects that we should attend him with our humble praises.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 14-18:
Following the departure of Lot, Jehovah spoke to Abram, to reaffirm the land-grant portion of His covenant, and to comfort him in the sorrow caused by Lot’s leaving. On the mountain peaks between Bethel and Hai (Ai) one has a commanding view of almost the entire Land. To the north lie the hills dividing Judaea from the rich plains of Samaria. To the south one may see as far as the Hebron range of hills. To the east are visible the mountains of Moab and the fertile crescent to which Lot had departed. To the west lies the Mediterranean sea-coast, with its prospects of foreign commerce. As far as the eye could see, all this territory is included in the Divine land-grant.
There is no conflict between this promise, and Stephen’s statement of Ac 7:5 (q.v.). Abram lived out his life as a nomadic chieftain, in peace among the inhabitants of the Land. The only part of this territory he could claim as his own was the burial-plot he purchased for his beloved wife, Ge 28:17-20. But Abram’s descendants did occupy this territory under Joshua. The full realization of the entire land-grant is yet to come, however, and will be realized during the coming reign of the Messiah, Lu 1:32, 33.
The promise of a “seed” is renewed. This promise relates to the earthly or physical seed, in the figure of the “dust.”
Some time after this, Abram moved from the hills of Bethel to the plain, elon (terebinth or oak), of Mamre – an Amorite chieftain who became a friend and ally of Abram.
Hebron lies twenty-two miles south of Jerusalem on the road to Beersheba. It is an ancient town, pre-dating even Zoan of Egypt (Nu 13:22). It is also known as Kirjath-arba (Ge 22:3; 25:7; Jos 14:15), or the “city of Arba,” likely because it became the dwelling of Arba the Anakite.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. And the Lord said unto Abram. Moses now relates that after Abram was separated from his nephew, divine consolation was administered for the appeasing of his mind. There is no doubt that the wound inflicted by that separation was very severe, since he was obliged to send away one who was not less dear to him than his own life. When it is said, therefore, that the Lord spoke, the circumstance of time requires to be noted; as if he had said, that the medicine of God’s word was now brought to alleviate his pain. And thus he teaches us, that the best remedy for the mitigation and the cure of sadness, is placed in the word of God.
Lift up now thine eyes. Seeing that the Lord promises the land to the seed of Abram, we perceive the admirable design of God, in the departure of Lot. He had assigned the land to Abram alone; if Lot had remained with him, the children of both would have been mixed together. The cause of their dissension was indeed culpable; but the Lord, according to his infinite wisdom, turns it to a good issue, that the posterity of Lot should possess no part of the inheritance. This is the reason why he says ‘All the land which is before thee, I assign to thee and to thy seed. Therefore, there is no reason why thou, to whom a reward so excellent is hereafter to be given, shouldst be excessively sorrowful and troubled on account of this solitude and privation.’ For although the same thing had been already promised to Abram; yet God now adapts his promise to the relief of the present sorrow. And thus it is to be remembered that not only was a promise here repeated which might cherish and confirm Abram’s faith; but that a special oracle was given from which Abram might learn, that the interests of his own seed were to be promoted, by the separation of Lot from him. The speculation of Luther here (as in other places) has no solidity; namely, that God spoke through some prophet. In promising the land “for ever,” he does not simply denote perpetuity; but that period which was brought to a close by the advent of Christ. Concerning the meaning of the word עולם ( olam,) the Jews ignorantly contend: but whereas it is taken in various senses in Scripture, it comprises in this place (as I have lately hinted) the whole period of the law; just as the covenant which the Lord made with his ancient people is, in many places, called eternal; because it was the office of Christ by his coming to renovate the world. But the change which Christ introduced was not the abolition of the old promises, but rather their confirmation. Seeing, therefore, that God has not now one peculiar people in the land of Canaan, but a people diffused throughout all regions of the earth; this does not contradict the assertion, that the eternal possession of the land was rightly promised to the seed of Abram, until the future renovation.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 13:15. To thee will I give it, and to thy seed] Perhaps a better rendering would be, To thee will I give it, even to thy seed. The Heb. particle translated and has frequently the signification of even. 1Ch. 21:12 : The Lords sword, and the pestilence, i.e., even the pestilence. It is certain that the promise was never fulfilled to Abram personally.
Gen. 13:18. Plain of Mamre] Heb. word denotes a tree or grove. Mamre is also a personal name (Gen. 14:13)a person described as an Amorite.Which is in Hebron] The first mention of this name. It is one of the most ancient cities in the world. In Num. 13:22 it is said to have been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. The ancient name was Kirjath-Arba. Here Sarah and Abraham died.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 13:14-18
THE SAINTS COMFORT IN SOLITUDE
Abram and Lot, who had so long lived together in loving companionship, are now parted from each other. It was necessary that he to whom the promises were made should stand by himself, as the head of a race chosen of God to illustrate the ways of His providence and to be the channels of His grace to mankind. Human companionship would have been grateful to such a nature as Abrams, but now he must dwell alone. Such solitude has wonderful compensations.
I. The Divine voice is more distinctly heard. With his friend separated from him, and the painful memory of trials so lately endured, Abram stood in need of encouragement. This was graciously granted. God spoke to him, and showed him his large inheritance. God still speaks to the souls of men. Every strong conviction of the reality of eternal truths is a fresh communication of God to the soul. But in the crowded ways of life, with its distractions, the strife of tongues and tumult of the passions, Gods voice is seldom heard. It is with us as it was with Abram. When all is taken from us and we are alone, then God draws near to us and speaks. We need this consolation.
1. To confirm our faith. Every grace of God in us must partake of our own imperfection, and we cannot expect that the grace of faith will prove an exception. All that we do, know, or feel must be tainted by our own earthliness. There are also grievous trials to faith, and when they press most heavily there is danger lest the soul should faint. We need the felt experience of a Presence greater than ourselves, and bidding us be of good cheer. Appearances often seem to be against us in this world until we are almost tempted to suspect that our very religion is a delusion. The facts of physical science have the advantage of verification. They can be assured as coming out clear from every fair trial. But in spiritual things we must venture much, and the effort of doing this sometimes severely taxes our strength. The sense of our own past failures oppresses us, lowers the tone of our spiritual life, and weakens the effort of our will. Therefore our faith needs frequent encouragement. God gave the life of faith at first, and His visitation is still needed to preserve it from destruction. Spiritual life, as the natural, draws breath in a suitable atmosphere. The loving presence of God is the very breath of our life. We must acknowledge the fact that the soul depends wholly upon God for its life. Again, it is necessary for us to hear Gods voice speaking to the soul, because
2. We require a renewed sense of the Divine approval. It is a gracious sign of His favour when God speaks loving words to our souls. It is the light of His countenance which is our true joythe very life of our life. It is in this wayspeaking in Bible languagethat God knoweth the righteous, or recognises them as His own. He knows their works, their struggles with temptation, their strong desire to do His will in the face of all difficulties. Though their obedience is imperfect He approves of them in the tenderness of His goodness, for they are true at heart. He remembereth that they are dust. We need this renewed sense of the Divine approval, in order that we may justify to ourselves our conduct as spiritual men. On the strength of our belief in God we have committed ourselves to a new course of life. We have laid hold of certain truths, which, when they are really considered, impose upon us a kind of conduct different from the rest of mankind. We should be able to justify ourselves in the ways of our life, and this we can only do by assuring ourselves that we are well-pleasing to God.
3. We require comfort for the evils we have suffered on account of religion. It is true that like the angels we should do all for love, and nothing for reward. This is the purest and noblest form of obedience. Still the approving love of God is in itself a reward, having infinite compensations. Our hearts would fail in the midst of the most exalted duty unless we were assured that our labour was not in vain in the Lord. Abram at this time needed strong consolation and the recompense of Gods approving voice. He had yielded to Lot, apparently to his own disadvantage. He had been obliged to part from his friend, the loving companion of many years. One would expect to find him in great sorrow, but in the midst of it God appears and brings comfort. Thus our extremity is often Gods opportunity for giving us special consolations. The darkest hour of our night is that just before the dawn of a day which brings us light, and peace, and prosperity.
II. The Divine promises are more clearly apprehended.God spake to Abram in words which promised good things to come. He chose the time when the patriarch was alone. 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. For all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (Gen. 13:14-15.) In like manner it is with us in our solitude, when the world is shut out and our souls commune with God.
1. We are more free to survey the greatness of our inheritance. Abram is commanded to look around him on every side, and even to walk through the length and breadth of the land that he might see how large was his inheritance. It is only when we realise Gods presence, and His voice speaking within us, that we become really aware how goodly is our heritage and how pleasant is the land which God gives us to possess. In the great architectural works of mans skill, some composure of mind and intentness of vision are necessary to enable us to take in their true grandeur. That elevation of soul which God imparts when He appears and speaks gives us the power to see how great are His gifts, and to imagine what the reserves of His goodness must be.
2. We have an enhanced idea of the plentifulness of the Divine resources. This is the third occasion on which the Lord appeared to Abram, but it is the first time that it is distinctly promised that he himself is ultimately to possess the land. When the Lord first appeared to Abram, before he left the country of his fathers, he was assured that signal blessings were to be enjoyed by him, and that he was to be the channel of their conveyance to the rest of mankind. On his arrival in Canaan he is told that the land is to be given to his seed. Now, when God visits him for a third time, he is invested with the lordship of the land. The promise becomes clearer and more definite as time advances. It would seemspeaking after the manner of menthat God is never weary of showing Abram the land which He had made over to him as an inheritance. The good things which God promises cannot be taken in at one view. The riches of their glory are revealed in succession. They are from the fulness of God, but they can only be apprehended by us as we receive one degree of grace after another. What happened to Abram is illustrated in the case of every faithful believer. In the solitudes of our soul, when meditating upon God, His promises seem to multiply as we bring them to mind. They grow clearer, and evermore suggest to us higher and better things. In this, as in every grace of God, To him that hath shall be given. Every promise realised is a pledge of greater goodthe sure foundation of eternal riches.
III. We are led on to perceive the spiritual significance of life. The promises made to Abram seem to relate entirely to the present world. But, in this regard, they were never fulfilled. Abram, to the very end of his life, was a wanderer in Canaan. He possessed no part of it, except a place to bury his dead, and this he obtained by purchase. Thus he was led, by the disappointment of any earthly hopes he may have indulged in, to feel that the spiritual is the only reality. He received not the promises, but by the discipline of Providence the conviction grew stronger from day to day within him, that God has better things in reserve for His children than this world can bestow. Lifes hopes become delusive as we proceed, and this is intended to lead us to seek the better country. If failure and disappointment here produce not that blessed result, we must become the victims of dark despair. As the promises which this life gave, and which we foolishly trusted, prove to be deceitful, we should feel that our true home is in heaven. There ruined hopes are repaired, and all things completed that concern our eternal good. Such is the spiritual education which the experience of human life imparts, if we only learn to interpret it by Gods teaching. We have to acknowledge the fact that in this life we are the victims of delusions, which are only gradually cleared away as our higher faculties grow stronger and more enlightened.
1. Our senses deceive us. In early life we are under the tyranny of appearances. In the distant horizon the earth seems to touch the sky. Our world appears to be still, and the sun, moon, and stars to travel round it. The ideas which man in early ages had of external nature were only those of children. As we grow older, and become acquainted with the true principles of science, we learn to correct the reports of sense. We can only know the ultimate facts of nature through study and long observation. We have to get rid of many delusions and misconceptions before we can attain true science.
2. Our youthful hopes deceive us. Life promises much to the young. The future is bright and plentiful; but as life passes on, and the hard lessons of experience have to be learned, the pleasing dream vanishes. The worlds happiness is seen to be unsubstantial, deceitful, and leading to no permanent good. Could the young fully realise how delusive lifes promise is, that ghastly thought would take away all gladness from their hearts. Who, when life opens so full of promise before him, could live an hour, were the sad reality of things fully to come home to him! Thus God teaches us, by the experience of human life, that all real and enduring good is beyond and above us. Like Abram, we are led on, gradually and painfully it may be, to higher things. We are leaving what is unreal and shadowy for a better and an enduring substance. We shall find in the end that all has failed with us, unless we have learned what is the spiritual significance of life, how we ought to employ it to glorify God and to prepare ourselves for all He shall unfold hereafter. Since the promises of life deceive us, let us learn that there is nothing sure but heaven.
IV. The spirit of devotion is strengthened. 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 (Gen. 13:18). As he did at the first, so he does now. He is alone with God, and the spirit of devotion revives and increases.
1. When God speaks to the soul, our sense of reverence is deepened. When the world is shut out, and all other objects are cleared away and we are alone with God, then we feel true reverence before so great and holy a presence. We are powerfully affected by the thought of the majesty of God and the littleness of ourselves.
2. When God speaks, our sense of duty is deepened. The first duty of all is to adore and worship our God, to build the altar of consecration, and devote ourselves to His service. And this feeling is always strengthened when God appears to our souls. Worship becomes more pleasing and earnest work when we know that we are receiving good, and that the object of it is there to bless. When we are alone with God, it is then that we rise to the summits of devotion and discern somewhat of the glory of that land which God has promised, and which will remain sure to us though all else seem to fail.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 13:14. God is able to compensate His children for the loss of human companionship. His presencealways with themis often most manifest when they are left alone.
Even so sweet a blessing as friendship has in it, like all other earthly good, an admixture of evil. The parting of friends is one of the sorrows of human life. Hence the importance of forming a friendship with God, whose love knows no change, and who cannot be severed from us. Abram was the friend of God; and now that he is left alone, the value of that sacred bond becomes more manifest.
Lot had lifted up his eyes, but only to feed his covetousness. He sought eagerly the goodly land before him, determined to enjoy its plenty, and little caring how he exposed his soul to peril. Now, Abram is commanded to lift up his eyes upon a better inheritance, for Gods blessing rested upon it, and it was the shadow and promise of higher things. Thus he who sought this world, lost it; and he who was willing to give up anything for the honour of God and religion, found it.(Fuller.)
Upon his withdrawment from Lot, the Lord again meets him in mercy, and renews to him His gracious covenant-promise. He bids him lift up his eyes and look around the whole horizon, surveying the land on the north and the south, on the east and the west, and then confirms to him and his posterity the gift of the whole as far as the eye could reach. How striking an instance this of the considerate kindness, of the recompensing mercy, of Him with whom we have to do. At the moment when Abram had been making the greatest sacrifices for peace, and demonstrating how loosely he sat by the richest earthly abundance compared with the desire of securing the Divine favour, the Most High visits him with a fresh manifestation of his favour, and comforts him with renewed assurances of his future inheritance.(Bush.)
Abram could not with his outward eye see all the land which God was about to give him. He must complete the picture in his imagination, and from what he could see, reason to what he could not. So we can behold but a small portion of our vast inheritance of faith, yet still enough to enable us to divine what God hath prepared for them that love Him.
God says to every believer, Look from the place where thou art.
1. We should not dwell despairingly upon our present losses and privations. We ought not to sorrow as men who have no hope.
2. We should look from that World which we must lose some day to that world which is sure, and abides for everParadise. The golden age of humanity is not here, but is ever beyond and above us.
Now that Lot was separated from Abram, the covenant head stands alone, and in a position to be addressed and dealt with in his covenant relations. He is now parted from his kinsman, the companion of his journeyings, and, isolated in the world, he is to receive the special encouragement of his covenant God. Now he is formally constituted the rightful owner of the land, and inducted into the heritage. He is to make a full survey of the land in all directions, and he is assured that it is his to inherit, and a title deed is given to him for his seed for ever(Jacobus).
Gen. 13:15. The first promise relates to the person of Abram; in him and in his name are embraced all promised blessings. In the second a seed was more definitely promised to Abram, and also the land of Canaan for the seed. But here, in opposition to the narrow limits in which he is with his herds, and to the pre-occupation of the best parts of the land by Lot, there is promised to him the whole land in its extension, and to the boundless territory, an innumerable seed. It should be observed that the whole fulness of the Divine promise is first unreservedly declared to Abram after the separation from Lot. Lot has taken beforehand his part of the good things. His choice appears as a mild or partial example of the choice of Esau (the choice of the lentile-pottage)(Lange).
Jehovah hath what He giveth; therefore He giveth freely, He cannot deceive.(Hughes).
The heavenly Canaan is to believers not as wages for service they have rendered, but the gift of God. It is, strictly speaking, an inheritance which we have lawfully derived by reason of our relationship to our Heavenly Father.
The term for ever, as applied to the land of Canaan, can only mean as long as the subject of it lasts. That must come to an end. But the Canaan above can have no end, for, unlike the earthly one, it is pure and unmixed good, and good is in its very nature eternal.
The reasoning of Paul respecting Abrams heavenly hope cannot possibly refer to anything short of the final and eternal inheritance of glory. To that, according to the Apostleand to nothing short of thatdid the patriarch look forward; certainly not to any merely temporary occupation of the land before the end of all things, nor to the possession of it, for a limited though protracted period, during the ages of millennial prosperity. The land of Canaan, and the earth of which it forms a part, may, for anything we can tell, be the local scene and seat of the inheritance that he means. The whole force of the Apostles argument depends on the contrast which he draws between Abrams condition as a stranger and pilgrim in the land, and his condition as having an eternal abode in heaven. When he formerly dwelt in the land, he confessed that he was a stranger and pilgrim on the earth; so also did his sons, Isaac and Jacob.(Chandlish.)
Gen. 13:16. The spiritual purport of the promise is here further reached, in the innumerable seed. The literal increase is not excluded, but this was not all that was meant, else it would be of small moment comparatively. God does not so account of the mere earthly progeny. He rebuked their boast of being Abrams seed according to the flesh. But the spiritual posterity, and the true Israel, after the spirit, this was the grant here made of Abram. And if ye be Christs, then are ye Abrams seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29.)(Jacobus.)
Abrams household is smaller than it was at the first; he is old and childless, and yet he believes that his seed shall be as the dust of the earth.
This multitude of seed, even when we take the ordinary sense which the form of expression bears in popular use, far transcends the productive powers of the promised land in its utmost extent. Yet to Abram, who was accustomed to the petty tribes that then roved over the pastures of Mesopotamia and Palestine, this disproportion would not be apparent. A people who should fill the land of Canaan would seem to him innumerable. But we see that the promise begins already to enlarge itself beyond the bounds of the natural seed of Abram.(Murphy.)
The multitude of the heirs of salvation must be great, for God will not allow the costly work of our redemption to end in an insignificant result. The fruits of grace must be on a scale with the Divine magnificence. The sons of glory will be many, even in the estimate of the Divine arithmetic. Hence, St. John saw in heaven A multitude which no man could number.
Gen. 13:17. God repeats His promises for the support of the faith of His servants.
We are bidden to survey the utmost dimensions of Gods promises (Eph. 3:19).
It is permitted to us to see and enjoy some portion of our spiritual inheritance; yet this conveys no sufficient idea of its greatness. We have dim suggestions of what we shall be, but the full glory of it doth not yet appear.
The largest latitude is thus allowed him, as the proprietor of the soil, to walk over the land in its utmost limits, at his own pleasure, and to call it all his own, and feel himself to be inducted thus, by the Divine grant, into the formal proprietorship of the whole country. And this grant of the earthly Canaan is typical of that higher heritage of the heavenly Canaanthe believers land of promise. For we which have believed do enter into rest (Heb. 4:3). For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day? (Heb. 4:8). And this is the better country, even an heavenly, which the covenant God of Abram promises to give to him personally.(Jacobus.)
The promises of God to His children are so great that it seems to us impossible that they shall be fulfilled to us; and, indeed, it is one of the great trials of our faith to believe them. It is said that a certain beggar once made an application to Alexander the Great for alms. The king, upon hearing the request, gave two hundred talents of silver to his servant, and commanded him to convey them to the poor man. The beggar, astonished at so unexpected a charity, said, Take it back and say, this is too much for a beggar to receive. Whereupon Alexander said, Tell him that if it is too much for a beggar to receive, it is not too much for a king to give. So when God gives He does not do it according to our narrow, niggardly notions, but He gives as a king, as one who is the proprietor of all kings.
What we can see with the spiritual eye we really possess.
Arise, walk through the land.
1. God allows His blessings to be put to the test of experiment. We can verify them one by one by observation and experience. We can feel and know.
2. God allows His blessings to become a vantage ground for faith. What He gives now promises to us higher and better things.
Gen. 13:18. Abram removed his tent. He is still a wanderer and pilgrim. Our human habitations are shifting, and there is only one certain dwelling placeour eternal home in heaven.
A third altar is here built by Abram. His wandering course requires a varying place of worship. It is the Omnipresent whom he adores. The previous visits of the Lord had completed the restoration of his inward peace, security, and liberty of access to God, which had been disturbed by his descent into Egypt, and the temptation that had overcome him there. He feels himself again at peace with God, and his fortitude is renewed. He grows in spiritual knowledge and practice under the great teacher.(Murphy.)
Believers, wherever they go, should provide for the public and private worship of God. In this Abram showed himself the father of the faithful. As it is a necessity of our physical nature that we should have some abode, so it is a necessity of our spiritual nature that we should find an abode for the Highest, a place where our own soul has a home, and where we feel the comforting presence of our God.
In all his wanderings through the world, and the varied scenes and changes through which he passes, the believer makes the worship of his God the first and last consideration.
Upon every remove, it is always recorded of Abram that he built an altar unto the Lord. Nothing could hinder him; not the fatigues and journeyings, the approach of age, the presence of enemies, the most difficult duties of life, nor the increase of his possessions. Nothing was allowed to interfere with his devotion to God. He kept up his correspondence with heaven.
Abrams altar was intended
1. As a public profession of religion in the midst of enemies;
2. As a constant memorial of Gods presence;
3. As a tribute of gratitude for His mercies;
4. As expressing a sense of obligation to His love, and a desire to enjoy His presence;
5. As a sign of his determination to be fully dedicated to God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Abram and Lot! Gen. 13:1-18. We have hereI. The Contention, which was
(1) unseemly,
(2) untimely, and
(3) unnecessary. II. The Consolation, which was
(1) unbounded,
(2) undoubted, and
(3) unearthly. Or, we have hereI. The Churlishness of the herdsmen. II. The Selfishness of Lot. III. The Unselfishness of Abram, and IV. The Graciousness of God. Or, we have hereI. The Return of Abram,
(1) forgiven and
(2) favoured. II. The Request of Abram,
(1) forbearing, and
(2) foregoing. III. The Reward of Abram (l) forgetting the earthly and
(2) foreshadowing the heavenly inheritance. The Lesson-Links or Truth-Thoughts are
1. Wealth means
(1) strife,
(2) sorrow, and
(3) separation.
2. Abram manifests
(1) faith,
(2) forbearance, and
(3) forgetfulness of self.
3. Worldly love means
(1) stupidity,
(2) suffering, and
(3) sinfulness.
4. God manifests
(1) favour,
(2) fulness, and
(3) faithfulness to Abram.
The pilgrims step in vain,
Seeks Edens sacred ground!
But in Hopes heavnly joys again,
An Eden may be found.Bowring.
Returns and Reviews! Gen. 13:1-3.
(1) The poet has immortalised the Swiss patriots sentiments on returning to the Alpine crags and peaks after strange and perilous experiences in exile. The historian has inscribed on the tablet of Church history the devout emotions of Arnaud on his return from danger and exile to the Vaudois Valleys. The litterateur has depicted on the page of his tale the joyful sensations of the emigrant, returning in safety and wealth to the home from which he had gone forth in peril and poverty.
(2) Abram had been driven by famine into the fruitful fields of Egypt, where he had narrowly escaped reaping death as the fruit of his fears and folly. God had in His wise and merciful Providence brought him back again to Hebron. He, therefore, calls on the name of the Lord. He, no doubt, received with thankfulness the Lords intimations of mercy as connected with his previous sojourn; and he, doubtless, acknowledged with gratitude Gods loving interposition with Pharaoh in his behalf.
(3) It is well to go back in review of old spots and past experiences in order to call up instrumentally thereby, says Doudney, the gracious acts, interposing goodness, and boundless benefits of our covenant-God in Christ. The light so shining upon the past prompts us to take down our harp from the willows, and to sing
His love in times past forbids me to think,
Hell leave me at last in trouble to sink.
Flocks and Herds! Gen. 13:2.
(1) In a very old Egyptian tomb near the Pyramids the flocks and herds of the principal occupant are pourtrayed. The numbers of them are told as 800 oxen, 200 cows, 2,000 goats, and 1,000 sheep. Job at first had 7,000 sheep, 500 yoke of oxen, 3,000 camels, etc. We can thus form some idea of the number and magnitude of the patriarchal flocks and herds.
(2) At the present day these are no exaggeration, however startling the figures sound. In an Australian sheep-run one grazier has nearly 20,000 sheep. Not long ago an American sheepowner had as many as 9,000 browsing on the heights of Omaha, so that when a traveller looked forth at daybreak the mountains seemed like waves of the sea. In Zululand the flocks and herds of Cetewayo were immense.
Abrams well was fannd by the breeze,
Whose murmur invited to sleep;
His altar was shaded with trees,
And his hills were white over with sheep.Shenstone.
Patriarchal Wealth! Gen. 13:2.
(1) Dr. Russell tells us that the people of Aleppo are supplied with the greater part of their butter, cheese, and flesh by the Arabs, Rushmans, or Turcomans, who travel about the country with their flocks and herds, as the patriarchs did of old. Before America became so thickly peopled, its primitive white patriarchs wandered with flocks over the richly-clothed savannahs and prairies. Having collected vast stores of cheese, honey, skins, etc., they would repair to the townships and dispose of them.
(2) The Hebrew patriarchs no doubt supplied the cities of Canaan in like manner. Hamor, in Gen. 34:21, expressly speaks of the patriarchs thus trading with his princes and people. La Rogue says that in the time of Pliny the riches both of the Parthians and Romans were melted down by the Arabs, who thus amassed large treasures of the precious metals. This probably explains how Abraham was rich, not only in cattle, but in silver and gold. Not that Abram trusted in his riches.
Oh! give me the riches that fade not, nor fly!
A treasure up yonder! a home in the sky!
Where beautiful things in their beauty still stay,
And where riches neer fly from the blessed away.Hunter.
Communion! Gen. 13:4.
(1) Watson says, that he knows of no pleasure so richno pleasure so hallowing in its influences, and no pleasure so constant in its supply of solace and strength, as that which springs from the true and spiritual worship of God. Pleasant as the cool water brooks are to a thirsty hart, so pleasant is it for the soul to live in communion with God.
(2) Rutherford wrote to his friend from the prison of Aberdeen, The king dineth with his prisoners, and his spikenard casteth a smell; he hath led me to such a pitch and degree of joyful communion with himself as I never before knew. This reminds us of Trapps quaint speech, that a good Christian is ever praying or praising: he drives a constant trade betwixt earth and heaven.
(3) Abram built his altar while the Canaanites looked on. He lifted up a testimony for God, and God honoured him; so that Abimelech was constrained to say, God is with thee in all that thou doest. Reader, in Greenland, the salutation of a visitor, when the door is opened, is this, Is God in this house? Remember that the home which has no family altar has no Divine delight.
Tis that which makes my treasure,
Tis that which brings my gain;
Converting woe to pleasure,
And reaping joy for pain.Guyon.
Gods Gift! Gen. 13:14.
(1) It was a season of depression. One by one she had lost husband and children, save the youngest. Fondly had she nursed and nurtured him. Prayerfully had she trained and tended him. For years he had been her companion, and now earths last link was broken. When budding into manhood he had been suddenly taken from her side into the eternal world. A sense of unutterable loneliness was creeping over her heart. One friendone friend onlyhad she in the world; but that one friend was a friend indeed. Hastening to the desolate home, she ministered to the lonely and depressed heartwith almost angelic skill and sweetness winning back that heart to sweetness and cheerfulness.
(2) It was a time of depression to Abraham. Separated from country and kindred, he had but one link left to him of the chain of Mesopotamian associations. Now it had been snapped. Lot had gone forth to the plain of Sodom, and Abraham was alone. Sitting on the summit beside his altar and tent, beneath the shadow of Morehs wide spreading oak, Abraham prays for strength. One friendone friend onlyhad he in the world; but that friend was a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Jehovah-Jesus, whether in human form visibly or only to the inner consciousness we know not, appears, and ministers to him Gods Gift!
Thou whisperest some pleasant word,
I catch the much-loved tone;
I feel Thee near, my gracious Lord,
I know Thou keepest watch and ward,
And all my grief is gone.Anon.
Godliness Gain! Gen. 13:14, etc. A philosopher, on being pressed to embrace the promises of the Gospel, demurred on the ground that by professing Christ he would lose friends and fields. A Christian thereupon offered to give him on the spot a bond of security against all losses which he might incur by yielding to the Holy Spirit, and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as all his salvation and all his desire. Thus fortified against contingencies, the philosopher embraced Christianity, erected an altar in his family circle, and proclaimed himself a follower and servant of God. Years passed by, and the hour of the philosophers departure for the eternal world drew near. Conscious that his days were numbered, he sent for the Christian, who had given him the bond, and tearing the paper in pieces, he died saying, There is nothing for you to pay; for the Lord Jesus has made up to me an hundredfold for all I have ever suffered on His account.
For men, scanning the surface, count the wicked happy,
Nor heed the compensating bliss which glad-deneth the good in his afflictions.Tupper.
Christian Compensation! Gen. 13:14, etc. Abram, walking by faith, receives the promise of an eternal inheritancecompensating for his self-sacrifice of worldly interest in favour of Lot. This is the third occasion of Messiahs appearance to him; but it is the first time we find explicit mention made of what he himself is ultimately to possess. At the first interview came the Gospel privilege of free justification, on the faith of which Abram starts on pilgrimage. On the second occasion, the patriarch is briefly told that the earthly Canaan is to be the portion of his natural posterity. But on this third manifestation of Himself the Lord Jesus favours Abram with a fuller and more express communication. He is to be infefted in the land, says Candlish. He is to take a survey of itto make a measurement of itto assume investiture in the lordship of it: It is thine: to thee I give it. Yet it was not mere walking by sight over the earthly fields and pastures of Canaan, to which Abram was directed. He was to walk by faith up and down the heavenly plains and waters of Paradise, in the blessed hope and full assurance, of the resurrection of himself and his spiritual children to glory, and their full enjoyment of the everlasting inheritance of the saints in light. He was to survey
From every mountains rugged peak,
The blessed land of rest;
And from its fields of fadeless bloom
Feel zephyrs laden with perfume,
Cheering his pilgrim breast.
Abrams Seed! Gen. 13:16. Sitting one Sunday afternoon in the cosy parlour, warmed pleasantly by the winters fire, were mother and two children. Before them was Bible Pictures and Poems. It lay open at Genesis 13, and the conversation flowed upon Abram and his little plot of land known as Palestine. The mother had just read Gen. 13:16, when she was interrupted by her girl inquiring, in child-like curiosity, Did Abram have so many children as that? Speaking for the mother, it is well to notice that the prophecies of the Bible often have two or more meanings. This promise was true in two ways
(1) after the flesh;
(2) after the spirit.
(1) Literally after the flesh there never lived a man, since the days of the heads of the human race, whose children made so many nations as those of Abraham. Limiting the promise even to Isaac, look around over the ages and countries of Christendom alone, and see what myriads upon myriads of children Isaac had.
(2) Metaphorically, after the spirit, there never lived a man whose children were so numerous. Christianswhether Jewish or Gentile convertsare the children of Abram according to the promise. If we be Christs, says St. Paul, then are we Abrams seed and heirs according to the promise. Abrams seed during all the Christian centuries are to come from all Christian countries and sit down with him in the heavenly country.
Now, oer whose acres walk those blessed feet,
Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed
For our advantage to earths bitter cross?
Divine Duty! Gen. 13:17.
(1) Two men stood on a lofty slope in the West of England from which an extensive prospect of woodland and waterland presented itself. It was a charming scene, and the brilliant early summer sunshine added to the charm. The elder of the two was a wealthy merchant prince, who, wandering over seas and lands, had amassed wealth, and purchased the estates around. The lines on his face, the furrows on his brow, the far-away look in his eye, and the silver snows on his head, told that his pilgrimage could not be long. The younger one is his son, to whom he is saying, Look around, these are thine; to thee and thy children I give them; go forth and survey them to thy hearts content, as their future, rightful owner. And the young man, with grateful heart, went hither and thither.
(2) So with Abram. He was to arise and walk through the length and breadth of the land. When the Lord Jesus appeared to him beneath the giant oak of Moreh, Abram was able to look round and behold a wonderful country, wonderful in its fairness, fertility, and figuration. That country was Gods gift to him and to his children; and, as its rightful proprietor, he was to walk up and down in it, even as the squire, or nobleman, or prince surveys his wide domains from north to south, and east to west. Yet, after all, that land was itself a figure, and the gift itself a figure. To Abraham and his seed after the spirit was to be given a better countrythe wide fair fields and fruits of Gospel grace, the vast rich dells and dales of moral blessing.
Arrayed in beauteous green,
Its hills and valleys shine,
And to it Abraham is led
By Providence Divine.Doddridge.
Hebron-Heights! Gen. 13:18.
(1) It lies higher than any other city in Syria, wanting as it does but 500 feet of being as high as the snowclad summit of Snowdon in Wales. Thus, while it is far south and near the hot, dry desert airs, it is a region of refreshing coolness. Coming from Egypt towards Hebron, it certainly looks a lovely place. It lies in a long, narrow valley, full of vineyards and fruit-trees and gardens, with grey olive groves on the slope of the hills. The city was at the southern end of the valley; and near it, in Abrams day, was a grove of oaks belonging to one of the Canaanite inhabitants.
(2) Abram had before pitched his pilgrim-tent under the towering trunk of Morehs oaknow he does so again. It may sound strange to us that Abram could thus enter and take possession of land so near a mighty city as Hebron. But at the present day, a Bedaween sheikh will bring his tribe and flocks into the immediate vicinity of a Syrian town, and make his pilgrim-home there for a time. Even in our own country, centuries ago, the Egyptian gipsies were free to enter upon lands, and pitch their moving tents or trucks near townships.
(3) Abram was a wealthy chieftain, with a tribal band of servants and followers, whose tents were scattered over the table-land above the valley of Hebron. His immense flocks and herds wandered over all the hill-sides, cropping the sweet wild thyme and browsing on the pastures which abounded there. The people of Hebron dealt more in mercantile pursuits; so that they were less likely to resent Abrams appearance.
By gentle rivers of refreshment oft
Abram wandering was led; and borne aloft
In arms that failed him not, still fondly watched
From hidden dangers and destruction snatched.
Abrams Oak! Gen. 13:18.
(1) Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that in his day Abrams Oak stood. It is certain that an oak did stand about two miles from Hebron, on the undulating table land which stretches off from the top of the valley; but it is doubtful whether it really was the oak in Moreh. Under that tree Arabs, Jews, and Christians used to hold a fair every summer, and honour the tree by hanging their different pictures and images on it. The Emperor Constantine destroyed these symbols of tree-worship, but left the tree standing. It has long since gone.
(2) At the present day another oak is called Abrams oak, but this cannot be more than one thousand years old. It is, however, a fine old tree, its branches giving a shadow ninety feet in diameter. It stands some distance up the valley, with nice clean grass underneath, and a well of water near. English and American tourists picnic beneath its shadow. Out of the joints of the stones there are the prettiest dainty little ferns growing.
He sat him down beneath this tree, whose branches spread so fair,
And many a weary traveller found rest and refreshment there;
He showed the fount that flowed below, and parched lips on him smiled;
Men journeyed on and mutely blessed the patriarch of the wild.Shipton.
Abram! Gen. 13:18. The patriarch had his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. Those who are his seed should imitate their father, by putting on what he has bequeathed as the family heir-looms, viz., the greaves and headpiece. The gospel of peace will prepare the childrens feet as it prepared the fathers, for walking as strangers, warring as soldiers, and suffering as pilgrims on earth. The hope of salvation will guard the childrens heads, as it guarded their fathers head from the assaults of the enemy. Raised erect above the smoke and din of this earthly scene, Abrams children, by faith in Christ Jesus, should fix their steadfast and ever-brightening gaze on the glory to be revealed, looking for that city which hath foundations, their inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
When the shaded pilgrim-land
Fades before the closing eye,
Then, revealed on either hand,
Heavens own scenery shall lie;
Then the veil of flesh shall fall,
Now concealing, darkening all.Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(14) The Lord said unto Abram.The departure of Lot was certainly a great grief to Abram; for he lost thereby the companionship of the relative who had shared his abandonment of his country, and whom, probably, in his childless state, he had regarded as his heir. Jehovah, therefore, consoles him by a more definite promise of the possession of the whole land of which he had so generously given Lot the choice, and by the assurance that his own seed should be numerous as the dust of the earth. We may also feel sure that as Lot was deteriorating, so Abram was drawing nearer to God, and walking more closely with Him; and hence the fuller assurance of the Divine blessing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE PROMISE RENEWED TO ABRAM, Gen 13:14-18.
14. After that Lot was separated from him Now, in the gracious providence of Jehovah, the father of the faithful is cut loose from all his kindred according to the flesh . Thoroughly separated from home, country, and kin, (comp . Gen 12:1,) he is free to move in the line of the divine call and purpose .
In this renewal of the promise to Abram, (Gen 13:14-17,) we notice the following:
1.)
Look Feast thine eyes on it in all directions.
2.) It is thine for ever, and will be known through the centuries as the Land of Promise.
3.) Thy seed shall be as the multitudinous particles of the dust of the earth, innumerable by man.
4.)
Walk through the land At pleasure; survey it as thine own, although thou, in thy lifetime, dost not possess it.
5.) Know and remember it as a GIFT. , I will give it, is twice repeated. Gen 13:15; Gen 13:17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, to you I will give it and to your seed for ever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth then shall your seed also be countable.’
Note the deliberate contrast with verse 10. Lot lifted up his eyes with his main concern being how to extend his wealth and ensure his future, and beheld the Circle of Jordan, the way that finally led to sin. Abram must now lift up his eyes, but it is at the command of God, and he will see prosperity and blessing and a glorious future, for he has walked before God. The land that surrounds him will one day belong to his descendants who will be numberless, and it will be theirs ‘for ever’ that is, into the distant future. By leaving his future in the hands of God Abram has triumphed, and his future is secure.
Once again we are aware that God has appeared to Abram in awesome holiness, and renewed with him the covenant of grace between them. And this is the reason why this whole history is preserved in writing, because it was the background to these promises. Why did this man and his family tribe carry with them these heavy tablets? Because they were the evidence and assurance of God’s promises about what mattered to them most.
To be abundantly fruitful was the longing of every man in those times. Men lived on in their sons. Yet Abram’s wife was barren, a grief of heart to them both. And the land on which he sojourns belongs to others. So God promises that his seed will one day be beyond counting, and that the land will one day be his.
It is noteworthy throughout that Abram is faced with these two continual questions in his mind. (1). Why is my wife barren so that I have no children? And (2). What does the future hold for me in this land? Yahweh reveals His goodness and concern by continually reassuring him about them both.
That both these promises were fulfilled in part we know from the Bible. But who today can count the seed of Abram? And as for his seed , both Jew and Arab, they now possess the land that was given to him. They may at present misuse it, but who can now doubt that God has been faithful to Abram?
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth In Gen 13:14-18 we have the account of God revealing to Abraham his inheritance. This is the first time that Abraham will be shown by God the extent of his rightful inheritance. But the Lord did not reveal this to him until he had developed the humility to trust in God’s divine providence, which Abraham demonstrated by letting Lot choose between the portions of land. This is what is meant by Jesus’ statement in the Beatitudes that the meek shall inherit the earth (Mat 5:5). The word “earth” in this verse describes our earthly, possessions in this life. Meekness is how a man demonstrates his faith in God’s divine providence and divine provision. In contrast, pride is demonstrated when a man looks to himself for material possessions and ignores divine principles to live by.
Mat 5:5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
It is important to note that God did not draw any boundaries on this land. Rather he told Abraham to look to the north, south, east and west, and as far as he could see, this will be given to him (Gen 13:14-15). This suggests that God’s divine plan was for the nations of the earth to obtain righteousness and extend Abraham’s inheritance to the uttermost parts of the earth. This is essentially the commandment given to man in the beginning of Creation when God said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” (Gen 1:28) We can now understand how God could say that his descendants would be as the “as the dust of the earth” (Gen 13:16); for it would require the entire earth to provide habitat for such a number of people. Of course, Abraham as one man could only walk so far across the land (Gen 13:17), but God would take the Gospel across the earth through the feet of other righteous men and woman and possess nations and kingdoms. This was the office and ministry of the nation of Israel, to come in and possess the Promised Land and to extend it east to the Euphrates and west to Egypt (Gen 15:18). The office and ministry of the Church was to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Act 1:8). Thus, the meek shall indeed inherit the earth.
Gen 15:18, “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”
Act 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Gen 13:14 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:
Gen 13:14
Gen 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Gen 13:15
Gen 13:15 Scripture Reference – We have a New Testament reference to Gen 13:15 in Act 7:5, “And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.”
Gen 13:16 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.
Gen 13:16
Gen 15:5-6, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
Gen 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Gen 13:18 Gen 13:18
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
God Repeats His Promise
v. 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; v. 15. for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever. v. 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. v. 17. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. v. 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.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Gen 13:14, Gen 13:15
And the Lord saidspeaking probably with an articulate voice; the third occasion on which the patriarch was directly addressed by God. The narrative, however, does not affirm that there was any actual theophanyunto Abramwho could readily recognize the voice which had twice already spoken to him. After that Lot was separated from him. Thus God approved that separation (Poole), and administered consolation to the troubled heart of the patriarch (Calvin), though Divine revelations are rather wont to be made to minds already quiet and sedate (Lyra). Lift up now thine eyes. Perhaps a studied reference to the act of Lot, which Moses describes in similar language (Gen 13:10), and possibly designed to suggest the greater satisfaction which would be imparted to the soul of Abram by the survey about to be made. And look from the place where thou art. Between Bethel and Ai, on cue of the mountain peaks (cf. Gen 12:8; Gen 13:3), from which a commanding view of almost the entire country could be obtained. Northwardtowards “the hills which divide Judaea from the rich plains of Samaria”and southwardas far as to the Hebron rangeand eastwardin the direction of the dark mountain wall of Moab, down through the rich ravine which leads from the central hills of Palestine to the valley of the Jordan, and across that very “circle” into which Lot has already departed with his flocksand westwardliterally, towards the sea. Cf. on the view from the stony but fertile plateau between Bethel and Ai, Stanley’s ‘ Sinai and Palestine,’ ch. 4. p. 218. For all the land which thou seesti.e. the entire country, a part being put for the wholeto thee will I give it. To avoid an apparent conflict between this Divine declaration and the words of Stephen (Act 7:5), it is proposed by some to read the next clause as epexegetic of the present (Ainsworth, Bush); but the land was really given to Abram as a nomade chief, in the sense that he peacefully lived for many years, grew old, and died within its borders (Clericus, Rosenmller, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’), while it was assigned to his descendants only because it had been first donated to him. And to thy seed. Not his bodily posterity alone, to whom the terrestrial Canaan was given, but also and chiefly his spiritual family, to whom was made over that better country, even an heavenly, of which the land of promise was a type. Forever. ‘Adh ‘olam (vide on Gen 9:16)==in perpetuity; i.e.
(1) to the close of that clam or period which was already measured out in the secret counsels of Jehovah for the duration of the seed of Abraham as a people, “quum terra in seculum promittitur, non simpliciter notatur. perpetuitas, sed quae finem accepit in Christo” (Calvin); and
(2) unto eternity, in so far as it was a promise of a spiritual inheritance to Abraham’s believing children. Thus as the promise did not preclude the expulsion of unbelieving Israel from the land, so neither does it guarantee to existing Jews a return to the earthly Paradise (Keil).
Gen 13:16
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. “As the land shall be great for thy people, thy posterity, so thy people shall be great or innumerable for the land” (Lunge). Afterwards the seed of Abram is likened to the stars of heaven for multitude (Gen 15:5). So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Gen 13:17
Arise. According to a common mode of Oriental speech, pleonastically affixed to verbs of going, going forward, and of setting about anything with impulse. Walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it. To be understood not as a literal direction, but as an intimation that he might leisurely survey his inheritance with the calm assurance that it was his. For I will give it unto thee.
Gen 13:18
Thenliterally, and, acting immediately as the heavenly voice directedAbram removedor rather pitched (cf. Gen 13:12)his tent, and dweltsettled down, made the central point of his subsequent abode in Canaan (Wordsworth)in the plain = oaks (Gesenius) or terebinths Celsins); vide Gen 12:6of Mamrean Amorite chieftain who afterwards became the friend and ally of Abram (Gen 14:13, Gen 14:24), and to whom probably the grove belongedwhich is in Hebrontwenty-two miles south of Jerusalem on the way to Beersheba, a town of great antiquity, having been built seven years before Zoan, in Egypt (Num 13:22). As it is elsewhere styled Kirjath-arba, or the city of Arba (Gen 23:2; Gen 35:27), and appears to have been so called until the conquest (Jos 14:15), the occurrence of the name Hebron is regarded as a trace of post-Mosaic authorship (Clericus, et alii); but it is more probable that Hebron was the original name of the city, and that it received the appellation Kirjath-arba on the arrival in the country of Arba the Anakite, perhaps during the sojourn of Jacob’s descendants in Egypt (Rosenmller, Bantugarten, Hengstenberg, Keil, Kurtz). The place is called by modern Arabs El Khalil, the friend of God. And built there an altar unto the Lord.
HOMILETICS
Gen 13:14-18
Magnanimity rewarded, or Divine compensations.
I. A REVELATION GIVEN. Immediately on Lot’s departure Jehovah approaches, the appearance of the heavenly Friend compensating for the loss of the earthly kinsman, as often happens in the Divine dealings with men and saints. The revelation now afforded to the patriarch was
1. Personal. Essentially a self-revealing God, only through the medium of a person can Jehovah give a full and clear unveilment of himself. Of this description was the theophany accorded to the solitary flock-master on the Bethel plateau; and in the man Christ Jesus have the saints a like disclosure of the person and character of the unapproachable Supreme.
2. Gracious. The dignity of him who thus appeared to the patriarch, the all-sufficient and self-existent Deity, and the character of him to whom such revelation was vouchsafed, the father of the faithful, but still a mere creature, and, apart from Divine grace, exposed to just condemnation, attest its stupendous condescension. Yet “such honor have all the saints” to whom, notwithstanding their personal insignificance and deep unworthiness, the supreme Deity has approached and unveiled himself in Christ.
3. Opportune. At the time when it was made the patriarch’s heart, we can imagine, was the seat of mingled emotions. Saddened by the loss of a kinsman who had been long his companion, and perhaps pained by the recollection of that kinsman’s avarice, dejected as he realized his solitude among hostile neighbors and in a foreign land, though, doubtless, also sustained by a consciousness of having acted well in parting with his nephew, the patriarch was much in need of Divine consolation and succor. And so are Christ’s visits to his people ever seasonable (Luk 24:15; Joh 6:20) and suitable to their wants.
4. Comforting. This was proved by his subsequent behavior. Plucking up the stakes of his tent, he resumed his travels, and at his next encampment built an altar for the worship of the Lord. It is a good sign that gracious visits to needy souls are having their desired effect when those souls are able to attend to the ordinary but necessary duties of life, and to preserve their relish for the public and private rites of religion.
II. A LAND GRANTED. For the loss of the Jordan circle the patriarch receives an express donation of the entire territory of Canaan. So Christ promises to reward his self-sacrificing followers in kind as well as quantity, and in the life that now is as well as in that which is to come (Mat 19:29). The grant made to Abram was
1. Magnificent. The grant of a land; of the land of Palestine in the first instance, and in the second of the better country, even an heavenly, of which the earthly Canaan was a type (Heb 11:8-10). The like grant is made to believers in the gospel (Mat 5:5; 1Co 3:22; 2Ti 2:12).
2. Certain. The complete isolation of the patriarch, the occupation of the land, and especially the barrenness of Sarai, were all calculated to make the Divine donation of the country before him but a doubtful gift after all. And so sometimes to Christians may the heavenly inheritance appear highly problematical. But the ground of certainty for them is precisely what it was to Abram, the word of the living God; and as Abram staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, so neither should they.
3. Perpetual. To thee, and to thy seed forever, were the terms in which the earthly Canaan was conveyed to the patriarch. That is, so long as the seed of Abram according to the flesh existed as a separate nation they should occupy the land of Canaan; while for his spiritual posterity the heavenly Canaan should continue an inalienable possession. So earth to the believer is a perpetual inheritance in the sense that “the world is his,” while heaven is an eternal country from which he shall go no more out.
III. A SEED PROMISED. The magnanimity of the patriarch had deprived him of a brother’s son; the grace of God rewarded him by promising a child of his own. No man ever comes off a loser who makes sacrifices for God. The seed promised was to be
1. Numerous. A multitude instead of one; exemplified in the untold millions of Abram’s natural descendants. So God delights to reward his people, returning to them a hundredfold for what they give to him (Mat 19:20; Eph 3:20).
2. Spiritual. An offspring united to him by bonds of grace in lieu of a kinsman connected with him by ties of blood; a prediction realized in the myriads of his believing children. Another principle which regulates the Divine compensations bestowed on saints is to take the less and give the greater, to remove the material and impart the spiritual (Joh 16:7; Joh 19:26).
3. Eminent. If Lot was renowned for wealth and worldly prudence, the unborn seed of Abram should be distinguished in the annals of both Church and world for riches of a more enduring character and wisdom of a nobler kind; a prophecy fulfilled in Israel after the flesh, which as a nation has always been more distinguished for intelligence and capacity than for numbers; in Israel after the spirit, or the Church of God, whose characteristics have ever been rare spiritual illumination and high moral potency; and in Israel’s Savior, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and “in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
Learn
1. That God is the ever-present though unseen Spectator of noble deeds.
2. That every act of self-sacrifice performed for his sake elicits his approbation.
3. That while he who keeps his life shall lose it, he who, for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s, loses it shall ultimately find it.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 13:14. And the Lord, &c. No sooner was Lot separated from Abram, than the Lord appears again to him, both to console him, to renew his promise with him, and to assure him that his posterity should certainly inherit this country: accordingly, he commands him to look every way, from the place where he was, that is, most probably from the mountain, where he pitched his tent before he went into AEgypt, ch. Gen 12:8. and to which he returned from thence, see Gen 12:3-4. and from which mountain he might command an extensive prospect of the country; all of which the Lord promises to give to him and to his seed for ever, Gen 12:15. But how was it given to Abram; when, as St. Stephen informs us, Act 7:5. He (God) gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on?But St. Stephen adds, yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him. How then was this promise fulfilled? We reply, 1st, that this promise gave to Abram an authentic right to all the land of Canaan; 2nd, that God himself explains, how it should be literally fulfilled, namely, in the posterity of Abram, to thee and to thy seed; that is to say, to thee, even to thy seed. The copulative particle has often this signification in the Hebrew. And it is explained ch. Gen 15:18. where it runs, Unto thy seed have I given, &c. But it is farther asked, how was it given to Abram and his seed for ever? To which we answer, 1st, that the phrase for ever ad-oulam, is frequently used in the Old Testament only for a long duration, not for eternity strictly so called. 2nd, That the divine promise implies a tacit condition, that the posterity of Abram should continue to possess the land for ever, if they persevered in faith and obedience to God, Lev 26:28. Deu 4:25-26. Isa 48:18; Isa 19:3 rdly, While it is always to be remembered, that, under the temporal promises, the spiritual ones are immediately referred to: so that, when God promises Abram and his seed that they should possess that land for ever, the principal design is to make known, that all those children of his, who imitate his faith and holiness, shall, by the efficacy of the blessed Seed, even Christ, be introduced into the everlasting possession of the heavenly Canaan.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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:
Observe God’s renewed visit to Abram. How much better was the patriarch in a barren land, with God for his portion, than Lot in all the fruitfulness of Sodom, amidst the filthy conversation of the wicked.–Reader! pause to remark, how abundantly the presence and favour of Jesus, compensate the absence of earthly friends.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 13:14 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:
Ver. 14. After that Lot was separated from him. ] Till Lot was departed, and the strife ceased, God appeared not. He is the God of peace, and hates contention; which as it indisposeth us to holy duties, 1Pe 3:7 so it keepeth God from us by his comforts and influences. They say of bees, that stir and strife among them is a sign their queen is about to remove, to leave the hive, and to be gone somewhere else. God refuseth to be served till the matter be agreed. Mat 5:24
Lift up now thine eyes.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 13:14-18
14The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. 16I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. 17Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” 18Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.
Gen 13:14 “The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him” Perhaps this fulfilled the condition of Gen 12:1. Abram moved by revelation (“lift up your eyes,” BDB 669, KB 724, Qal IMPERATIVE; “look,” BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal IMPERATIVE); Lot by self-interest (cf. Gen 13:10).
Gen 13:15 “all the land. . .forever” Two things must be remembered in this statement: (1) God’s covenant is always conditional on a human faith response (i.e., Deu 11:31-32; Deu 28:36; Deu 28:63-68; Deu 30:19-20) and (2) the Hebrew term “forever” (‘olam) must be interpreted in its context (see NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 1252-1253). It does not usually mean “forever” in the modern English sense of the term. See Special Topic: Forever following Special Topic: Covenant.
This is the heart of the issue about the Jews having a biblical claim in Palestine today. I am impressed by
1. Israel in Prophecy by William Hendricksen
2. Whose Promised Land? The Continuing Crisis Over Israel and Palestine by Colin Chapman
SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT
SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER (‘OLAM)
Gen 13:16 “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth” Here again is the metaphorical promise (cf. Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Gen 28:14; Exo 32:13; Num 23:10) of a son, a family, a tribe, and a great nation (YHWH also promises to bless Ishmael, cf. Gen 16:10; Gen 17:20). The promise is not to be through Lot; he is gone! Abram believes this promise (cf. Gen 15:6) and Paul uses this as the basis for his justification by grace through faith in Rom 4:3 and Gal 3:6.
In Genesis Abraham receives many promises from YHWH.
1. land – Gen 12:1-2; Gen 13:14-15; Gen 15:7; Gen 15:18; Gen 17:8
2. seed/descendants – Gen 12:2; Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5; Gen 15:18; Gen 17:2; Gen 17:4-7; Gen 17:16; Gen 17:19; Gen 22:17
3. covenant – Gen 17:7; Gen 17:19; Gen 17:21
4. special blessing of all nations through him – Gen 12:3; Gen 18:18; Gen 22:18; Gen 26:4; Gen 28:14
However, these are not conditional promises. There is an emphasis on obedience and actions on his part, Gen 12:1; Gen 13:17; Gen 17:1; Gen 17:23; Gen 18:19; Gen 22:16-18; Gen 26:4-5 (see Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, p. 3). Abram does not initiate, but he must respond appropriately!
Gen 13:17 YHWH commands Abram to check out his new gift.
1. “arise” or “go” – BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal IMPERATIVE (idiomatic, see note below)
2. “walk about” – BDB 229, KB 246, Hithpael IMPERATIVE (possibly a legal requirement for ownership of land)
The UBS’s Handbook on Genesis makes a good point about “arise” when used in combination with another command.
“Arise does not mean that Abram was seated or lying down when he was commanded to walk. In Hebrew the term has a rhetorical function when it occurs as a command followed by another command, indicating that the command is important and that the person should begin immediately to do the action commanded. For other examples in Genesis see Gen 19:15; Gen 21:18; Gen 28:2” (p. 304).
“I will give it to you” See note at Gen 13:15.
Gen 13:18 “the oaks of Mamre” Sacred tree(s) (BDB 18) are recurrent themes in early Israel (PLURAL in MT, but SINGULAR in the LXX and Peshitta).
1. great tree at Moreh – Gen 12:6; Deu 11:30
2. great tree at Mamre – Gen 13:18; Gen 14:13; Gen 18:1 (cf. Josephus, Antiq. 1.10.4)
3. great tree at Shechem – Gen 35:4; Jdg 9:6
4. great tree at Zaanannim – Jos 19:33; Jdg 4:11
5. great tree at Ophrah – Jdg 6:11; Jdg 6:19
6. great tree at Tabor – 1Sa 10:3 (no mention of an altar)
7. BDB 18 is equated with BDB 781 in Gen 18:1; Gen 18:4; Gen 18:8. BDB 781 is what the special tree(s) of Genesis 2-3 are called (cf. Gen 2:9; Gen 2:16-17; Gen 3:1-3; Gen 3:6; Gen 3:8; Gen 3:11-12; Gen 3:17; Gen 3:22; Gen 3:24)
“Hebron” At this time it was known as Kiriath-arba (cf. Gen 23:2; Gen 35:27), which shows that this account was written down at a later period after the name was changed by the invading Israelites.
“there he built an altar to the LORD” This new altar (often in the area of a pre-existing Canaanite worship site) is a recurrent theme of Abram’s sojourn in Canaan (cf. Gen 12:7; Gen 13:18; Gen 22:9). These altars probably involved an animal sacrifice, which had become a characteristic of the worship of YHWH.
1. Abel – Gen 4:4 4. Isaac – Gen 26:25
2. Noah – Gen 8:20 5. Jacob – Gen 33:20; Gen 35:7
3. Abram – Gen 13:18; Gen 15:12-21. Job – Job 1:5
Animal sacrifices are continued in the Exodus (cf. Exodus 12) and developed in the Mosaic covenant (Leviticus 1-7, 16).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
look. Note Abraham’s four “looks”: Gen 13:14 (earth); Gen 15:5 (heaven); Gen 18:2 (Jehovah); Gen 22:13 (a substitute).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Abram at Hebron; Lot Taken Captive
Gen 13:14-18; Gen 14:1-12
Lot lifted up his eyes for himself, but when the last of Lots followers had streamed out of the camp, God bade Abram lift up his eyes, not to choose, but to behold what God had chosen for him. He must first estimate his possessions, and then enjoy them. Let us count up our treasures in Christ, and use them. Lot grasped at and lost his all. Abram left and inherited all. Notice how prodigal Gods provision is: All the land for ever as the dust the length and breadth. It was a far cry from the valley of the Euphrates to Sodom, and the little confederate kings dared to rebel against Chedorlaomer, who swept over their lands like a sirocco, and marched up the valley of the Jordan, laden with booty, and carrying Lot. You cannot have the sweets of the world and miss its bitters. The path of separation is the only way of safety and peace!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
was: Gen 13:11
Lift: Gen 13:10, Isa 49:18, Isa 60:4
northward: Gen 28:14, Deu 3:27
Reciprocal: Gen 28:4 – which Gen 35:12 – the land Exo 3:8 – unto a good Exo 33:1 – Unto Deu 1:8 – which Jos 2:9 – that the Lord Psa 105:42 – For he Isa 51:2 – for Act 7:3 – the land Heb 7:6 – had
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Faith as Exemplified in Abraham
Gen 12:1-4, Gen 12:7-9; Gen 13:14-18
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. Does God still speak to men as He spoke to Abraham? Our Scripture opens with the statement, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram * *.” If the Lord said something to Abraham, may He not also say something to us? Does the Lord still guide men into His perfect will?
The Lord said unto Abraham, “Get thee * * unto a land that I will shew thee.” The Lord, therefore, undertook to guide Abraham along the way; does He guide us? What we want to know is whether it is possible for a man in the 20th century A. D. to have a contact, personal and direct, with God, such as Abraham had centuries before Christ? Has God changed in His methods?
There is one thing we know; God’s direct method of dealing with men is seen from the first verse of the Bible to the last verse of the Bible. We believe that He is now doing the same thing.
Are the ones reading these words guided of God?
2. Does God still make promises to men? God said unto Abraham, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”
Are the days past and gone when we can count on God’s direct promises to us? We know that the Lord told the disciples, “I am with you”; and we know that He said that He would be with us to the end of the world. Is He, therefore, with us personally and individually?
If you feel that you are left out, is it because God left you out, or is it because you yourself have never yielded to Him?-because you have never shown any willingness to follow when He spoke?
3. Did the promise God made to Abraham fail? God said:
(1) That He would show Abraham a land; and He did. He showed him the land of Canaan, and told him that He would give that land unto him, and unto his seed.
(2) He told Abraham that He would make of him a great nation. He has done this. What people is there like unto the people of Israel? This is a nation from the loins of Abraham.
(3) He told Abraham that He would make his name great. Is Abraham’s name great? Even the rebellious rulers of Israel said, “We have Abraham to our father.”
(4) God said, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” We believe that this is true to this day. God pity the individuals, or the nations, which set themselves against the Children of Israel, Abraham’s seed; God’s curse will rest upon them; the years have proved this. On the other hand, those who bless Abraham’s seed are blessed.
4. Did Abraham prove himself a man of faith? Gen 12:4 begins, “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.” In the Book of Hebrews it says that he went out not knowing whither he went. How many saints are there, today, who would pack up their goods, take their families, and start anywhere without knowing where they were going? Abraham did this. Gen 12:4 tells us, “Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.” Gen 12:5 says, “They went forth to go into the land of Canaan.” Gen 12:6 says “Abram passed through the land.” Gen 12:8, “He removed from thence unto a mountain on the east.” Gen 12:9, “And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.” Gen 12:10 says, “Abram went down into Egypt.”
I. FAITH WAVERING (Gen 12:9-12)
As Abraham moved along his way, he found difficulties. Tests always follow the walk of faith.
1. The promise restated. The 7th verse of Gen 12:1-20 says, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” He delights in holding before us what He has in view. It is this that we need to keep before our eyes.
David said, “I have set the Lord always before me.” Of Moses it is written that he saw the invisible. True men of God look far beyond the present, into the future.
2. The famine. Gen 12:10 tells us that there was a famine in the land. It did not seem at all as Abraham, perhaps, had imagined. When the famine came Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there. Abraham seemed to forget that wherever God sends us, He can keep us. God proved, in later years, that He could feed obedient servants with manna for bread; and with quails for meat. He proved that He could take water out of a flinty rock, where there was no water. Abraham, however, had not known this, and he went down to Egypt.
3. Sarah was taken. When they arrived in Egypt Abraham said unto his wife, “I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.” Whenever we get down into Egypt, our faith wavers. God had said, “Unto thee, and to thy seed,” and Sarah was a party to the promise; yet, Abraham was afraid for Sarah’s safety.
Did he not know that God could take care of Sarah? We know it, for God took care of two million people as they journeyed through a wilderness infested with all kinds of pests and diseases.
II. FAITH TRUSTING (Gen 13:8-10)
1. The conflict. In Gen 13:7 of chapter 13, we learn that there was a strife which came up between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of Abraham. Even among saints, such conflicts are liable to arise.
2. A magnanimous spirit. When Abraham saw that it would be necessary to sever himself and his cattle from Lot and his cattle, Abraham said, “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.”
When we are walking with God, we do not need to worry about even the things which are our own.
3. Lot’s choice. When Lot was given the opportunity of his choice, we read that he “Beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where.” So Lot chose the way that led down to Sodom and Gomorrah.
4. God’s word to Abraham. After Lot was gone, the Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said unto him, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”
God will always care for the one who is open-hearted and open-handed toward his fellow man. God will always provide the needs of the man who will trust Him, in faith. So it was that Abraham removed his tent, and dwelt in the plain of Mamre. The very word “Mamre” means “fatness.” Is that where we are dwelling? Let us be very careful to get into the place where God can bless us.
III. FAITH INQUIRING (Gen 15:1-2)
1. God’s words of comfort. Gen 15:1 of chapter 15 opens with the statement, “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram.” Does the word of the Lord come to you? The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Does God come to you in visions upon your bed, in your dreams, in His Word, in His providences, in the hour when you seek His face in prayer? To Abraham God said, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” We have come into a blessed place, in faith, when we learn that it is God, and not us, that gives the victory.
2. Abraham’s inquiry. “And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless?” Abraham was reminding God that His promise depended absolutely and entirely upon his having a seed; yet, he was childless. The months were fast slipping by; the years were multiplying; and Abraham said, “Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed,” How often does God seem to hold back the fulfillment of His promise for the while i We must remember, however, that a promise deferred, is not a promise broken.
3. Where faith caught a vision. During the time of Abraham’s inquiry the Lord brought him forth abroad, and said, “Look now toward Heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” This time we read in Gen 15:6, “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.”
Then the Lord said unto Abraham, “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.” Thank God for the Abraham; thank God that he had a faith which could accept the promise!
We wonder how many of us have such a faith?
IV. FAITH WORSHIPING (Gen 17:1-3)
1. The glorious fellowship. Abraham had now become 90 years of age. His wife was about 80. The years were fast flying, and the seed had not yet been born. It was at this time that the Lord appeared to Abraham, and said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.”
Can a man be perfect before God-perfect in his faith, and in his life? Certainly, he can; for God would not ask of us that which we, empowered by the Holy Ghost, cannot do.
2. An overwhelming promise. “I will make My Covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” How wonderful for God to make a tryst, a Covenant between Himself and men. This is just like our Lord. We sing, “Blest be the tie that binds”; and we think of saints bound together; but here is a tie more precious, a life bound to God. I “will multiply thee exceedingly.” Has not God also said to us that He will bless us with all spiritual blessings? Has He not even said that He will do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us?
3. The worshiping servant. Gen 17:3 says, “And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him.” The accomplishments of faith never make one proud or self-centered. The closer God draws to us; the larger His promise of blessing, the more do we feel like falling down upon our faces in hallowed adoration and worship.
V. FAITH SEEING THINGS DESTINED TO COME TO PASS (Gen 18:17-18)
1. The visit of three men from Heaven. The Lord and two angels came to Abraham, as he stood in his tent door in the heat of the day. The man of faith, who walked with God, arose immediately, and ran to meet them from the tent door, bowing himself toward the ground. He welcomed his Heavenly Visitors, hastened to wash their feet, and bade them sit under a tree while he brought them a morsel of bread.
It was a wonderful visitation. We read that Abraham said to Sarah, “Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.” Meanwhile, Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good. He gave it unto a young man, who hasted to dress it. Then Abraham took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed and set it before them.
Would you not love to do as much for your Lord? If He came to your house, would you not give Him the very best? Certainly you would. Then why not do it now?
2. A revelation. As they sat together, the Lord said unto Abraham, “Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” Sarah heard it in the tent door, and she laughed. She laughed because she was old, and Abraham was older. The angel quickly reproved Sarah by saying, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” However, Sarah believed God, In the Book of Hebrews we read, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed.” Her faith gave her the strength.
3. The second revelation. As they were together that day, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.”
Here is something very remarkable. God is going to tell Abraham what He is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the reason for the Divine confidence is because He knew of Abraham’s future, and because He knew also of his family fidelity. If we expect God to show us things, we must live worthy of His Name.
4. Faith praying. Gen 18:23 tells us that Abraham drew near to pray concerning the destruction of Sodom, for he knew that his nephew, Lot, and Lot’s family were in Sodom.
Abraham’s faith was not wavering so far as God was concerned, but his faith in his nephew’s faithfulness wavered. “God remembered Abraham” and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow. The man of faith proved to be a man of prayer.
VI. FAITH’S GREATEST TEST AND TRIUMPH (Gen 22:2; Gen 22:5; Gen 22:12)
1. God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice his son. In answer to faith Isaac had now been born; he was the well-beloved of his father. God, however, said unto Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest * * and offer him there for a burnt offering.”
Here is perhaps the greatest mark of Abraham’s faith. He had waited long for Isaac to be born, and when he came, Abraham knew that God’s promise was in course of fulfillment; for the promise had been, “Unto thee, and to thy seed.” In Isaac, Abraham saw centered, everything God had ever promised him. Everything therefore was in the balance. Even the birth of Christ, according to the flesh, was in the balance.
2. A faithful obedience. We read in the Book of Acts of the obedience of faith. Here is an example of it that is unparalleled. “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son.”
3. Where faith triumphed even over death. As the two of them walked on together; Isaac, with the wood upon his shoulders; Abraham with the fire and the knife in his hand; Isaac said unto his father, “My father”: and he said, “Here am I, my son.” “And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.”
When they came to the place, Isaac was bound and laid upon the wood, and Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. Did Abraham expect to slay him?
Abraham meant simply this (it is expressed in the Book of Hebrews): “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
As Abraham heard the Voice commanding him to stay his hand, and he saw the ram caught in the thicket ready to be sacrificed instead of his son, Abraham saw the day of Christ and was glad.
VII. FAITH’S FINAL PROVIDENCE (Gen 24:3-4)
1. Abraham’s command to his servant. Abraham was old, well stricken in years, and he knew that he must soon be going the way of all men. His heart dwelt upon his son Isaac. If Christ was to be born of the seed of Abraham, Isaac must have a wife. Therefore, Abraham told his servant that ruled over all he had, “Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven.” What was the oath that Abraham demanded of his servant? Here it is, “Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.”
2. Abraham’s faith in the successful issue of his command. Immediately Abraham’s servant said unto him, “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land.” Abraham replied with words which breathed the spirit of his faith: “The Lord God of Heaven, which took me from my father’s, house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.” Abraham knew that God would not fail him in this.
3. What came to pass. When the servant of Abraham arrived in the far country, he had not finished praying, when, lifting up his eyes, he saw Rebekah coming, and the damsel, having filled her water pitcher, gave him to drink, and then drew water and filled the troughs for the camels.
The next morning Abraham’s servant said, “Send me away unto my master,” and the. mother of Rebekah said, “Wilt thou go with this man?” and she said, “I will go.” As they left that day, Rebekah’s brother and mother called out after her daughter, “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.” It was not long until the happy marriage was consummated in the tent of Sarah. God had vindicated the faith of the man who was His friend. As we close, we call upon every young man and young woman who reads these words to join Abraham in the life of faith. When you pray, “believe that ye receive them (the things that you ask for), and ye shall have them.” Let faith do her perfect work.
AN ILLUSTRATION
I want to remind you of one picture. In Job 38:35 we read that the Lord said to Job, “Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?” No, Job could not do it But God can. He sends the lightnings on their mission, and they go to Him, and say, Here we are! But, as I read these words * * I was overwhelmed as I thought of the contrast between the lightnings, which instantly obey God’s voice, and so many Christians, laggards who should be running, shirkers giving way to self-indulgence, men and women who put their hands to the plow and turn back, some who say “I go, sir,” and go not! What might it mean if 3,000 people here this evening heard God’s bidding and said, like the lightnings, “Here we are!”
You will have read how twice since September Mussolini has ordered a test mobilization of the whole Italian people. At his word they stood ready as a nation to follow their leader, and do his bidding. They said “Here we are.” Is Christ the Son of God, who bought us with His own Blood, to find His followers less responsive, less unreservedly at His disposal? * * * May there be a collective response from Christ’s warriors, “Here we are”?-F. H.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
13:14 And the LORD said unto {k} 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:
(k) The Lord comforted him, lest he should have taken thought for the departure of his nephew.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Abram was now without an heir. However, Yahweh appeared to him at this crucial time (Gen 13:14) and reconfirmed the promise of land that, He said, He would give to Abram’s offspring (Gen 13:15).
Abram "lifted up his eyes" also (Gen 13:14), but he saw the whole land as far as he could see in every direction. God repeated His promise to give him and his descendants all the land he saw. This promise was more specific than God’s previous promises regarding the seed and the land (Gen 12:2; Gen 12:7). This was God’s third revelation to Abram. It contained three specifics.
1. Abram’s heir would be his own seed (offspring; Gen 13:15-16).
2. God would give the land to Abram and his descendants forever (Gen 13:15).
3. Abram’s descendants would be innumerable (Gen 13:16).
The figure of "dust" suggests physical seed (Gen 13:16; cf. Gen 2:7). The "stars" figure given later (Gen 15:5) suggests heavenly or spiritual seed, in addition to physical seed.
God’s encouragement to walk through the land (Gen 13:17) implied that Abram should claim the promise by treading the land under his feet. In the ancient Near East victorious armies claimed defeated territory by marching through it.
"The divine promise of land and other blessings (Gen 12:1-3; Gen 15:18-21; Gen 17:1-8) is in the form of a covenant known technically in ancient Near Eastern studies as a ’covenant of grant.’ It was made at the initiative of the granter and often with no preconditions or qualifications." [Note: Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, p. 36, n. 39.]