Bible History of the Old Testament

No. 11

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     The Separation of Abram and Lot

     Up until this time, Lot had been with his Uncle Abram in all his wanderings.  But a separation had to take place between them also.  Abram and his seed had to be kept distinctly different from every other race, so that in future generations he could be known as the father of the faithful from whom the Messiah would ultimately come.  This Divine Will of God was brought about by a set of natural circumstances, though.  

     Abram and Lot had both become wealthy and their herds had both increased dramatically.  They had left Egypt with a huge amount of livestock that already added to what they had previously.  This started leading to great disputes among the men they both had carrying for their herds.  There just wasn't enough grazing room for all the herds they both had.  The Bible notes that the Canaanites and Perizzites dwelled in the land then and must have witnessed their strife.  

     Abram didn't want this to continue, so he proposed a voluntary separation and by his own goodness allowed Lot to choose which of the land he wanted.  Abram didn't have to do that because he was the oldest and could have invoked his privileges as the senior member.  Abram had faith that he would get the land that God wanted him to have and he didn't want to make the choice himself.  

     As they stood on the highest ridge between Bethel and Ai, it must have been no choice at all to the naked eye as to which land was the choicest to have.  Looking one way, it was mostly mountains and rugged terrain and the other way was the mountains of Moab.  At their foot was the Jordan Valley which lay in all its richness and had such fertile ground.  In the immediate foreground lay the hills above Jericho.  As they gazed upon it, the whole cleft of the Jordan valley was rich with the most luxuriant tropical vegetation, with the sweetest spot of all being around the Lake of Sodom, which at that time was probably a sweetwater lake.  In this area, rich cities had sprung up that were very beautiful, but were also terribly corrupt.  

     As Lot saw the beauty in this place his heart went out after it and he was not careful to inquire into the character of the inhabitants of the cities.  Instead of asking God to choose where he would live, he looked at the beauty of the land with his sights being set on things beneath instead of on things above.  Even though God must have not been pleased with the choice Lot made, he still watched over him and didn't let him be destroyed years later when destruction came to the cities.

     At the time it may have seemed like Abram had gotten the bad part of the deal.  He was left out there with his family in the desolate hills of Judaea.  But Jehovah once more came to him and renewed his promise that he had made earlier to him.  He bestowed the land upon Abram and his seed forever.  The terms of this promise were not made void by the seventy years which Judah spent in the captivity of Babylon, nor yet were they annulled by the eighteen centuries of Israel's  unbelief and dispersion.  God said that no matter what in the end his promise would be established forever.  

     Abram must have understood the word of Jehovah because he now took possession of the promised land by faith.  He was directed to walk through it.  In the course of these wanderings he reached Hebron, one of the most ancient cities in the world.  There in the wood of Mamre he pitched his tent under a tree and built an altar unto Jehovah.  It seems that this place continued through the rest of his life to be one of the centers of his movements.  

     Meanwhile, Lot had taken up his abode in a district which, like the rest of Canaan at the time of Joshua's conquest, was subdivided among a number of small kings, each ruling over a city and the immediately surrounding neighborhood.  For twelve years this whole district had been in subjection to a greater authority called Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they all decided to rebel against him.  In the fourteenth year, it seems that Chedorlaomer  got tired of their rebellion and decided to send great numbers of his soldiers to wipe them out so that he could still be in control of the region.  Among all this chaos, the invaders went to Sodom and Gomorrah and plundered the towns and took the inhabitants away captive.  It just so happened that Lot was among them.

     This was the first time in scripture history that the world-kingdom that Nimrod had founded had come in contact with the people of God, and this was on the very soil of Palestine.  Chedorlaomer and his confederates occupied the very land and place where afterwards the Babylonian and Assyrian empires were.  

     It became necessary, therefore, that Abram should interfere.  God had given him the land and He now called him to become its deliverer.  One of the men who had escaped came and told Abram what had happened.  Abram immediately brought together his trained servants which numbered 318.  They were joined by Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, the chieftains to whom the district around Hebron belonged.  They went in pursuit of Chedorlaomer and his men.  

     Probably, the later were reveling in their great victory and they had become careless, thinking that they had gotten away with their great feat.  They may have feasted, or been laden with captives and spoil and traveling very slowly, but whatever the case they were not aware of any coming danger.  Abram had previously divided his force and suddenly attacked them in the dead of night and from several sides at the same time.  He inflicted upon them a great slaughter and pursued them almost all the way to Damascus.  Every bit of the spoils and captives among them were rescued and brought back, with Lot being among them.  

     As the returning host of Abram entered the valley of Shaveh, close under the walls of what afterwards became Jerusalem, they were met by two persons bearing very different characters, and coming from opposite directions.  From the banks of Jordan the new king of Sodom, the old one having been killed in battle, came up to thank Abram and to offer him the spoils he had rightfully won from the battle.  In the other direction from Salem, or ancient Jerusalem, came the priest-king Melchizedek who came to bless Abram and refresh him with bread and wine.  It was this memorable meeting that gave the valley its name 'the king's dale', and it was here in later times that Absalom erected for himself a monumental pillar.  

     The thing that was so monumental to Abram about this was that Melchizedek just appeared suddenly, unexpectedly and mysteriously, and then just as suddenly he disappeared.  There is an abundance of genealogical details of that period, but there is absolutely nothing known of him.  He is not in the roll of kings and their achievements, and his name and reign, his birth and death remain unmentioned.  It is thought that he was to represent a type of Christ.  He blessed Abram and his blessing sounded like a ratification of the bestowal of the land upon the patriarch, while Abram gave him tithes of all the spoil.  Abram himself refused to touch any of it, and his allies were only allowed to take their portion.  

     Melchizedek was only a shadow and a type;  Christ is the reality and the antitype.  It might be for this reason that scripture did not give any genealogy about him.  Though Abram declined the king of Sodom's offer of the spoils, just saying that all he wanted was the people that were taken hostage, he bent low before Melchizedek to receive the blessing that he bestowed on him.  He wanted to receive the spiritual inheritance that Melchizedek now would bequeath him.  God had summoned him to the war and had given him the victory and he only wanted to walk in God's blessings for his life. 

     For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site www.cathydeaton.com   There are other articles of interest there also.   

     This text is taken from the book Bible History Old Testament written by Alfred Edersheim.  It is used by permission.