Genesis 13:10

III.. SELFISH CHOICE.

10. And Lot lifted up his eyes.

Instead of reciprocating the magnanimity of one to whom he was so much indebted, Lot determined to accept the offer and to make the most out of it possible. Therefore he "lifted up his eyes" to survey the country. From the mountain heights of Bethel, it was only necessary to "lift up his eyes," in order to see the whole country. "From the spot where they were negotiating, the mountain summit east of Bethel, under its grove of oaks where the tent was pitched, Lot looked down upon the green valley of the Jordan--its tropical luxuriance visible even from thence--beautiful and well-watered as that garden of Eden, of which the fame still lingered in their Chaldean hills, or as the valley of the Nile, where they had so lately sojourned. He chose the rich soil, and with it the corrupt civilization, which had grown up in the rank climate of that steep descent, and once more turned his face to the eastward, and left to Abraham the hardship, the glory and the virtues of the rugged hills, and the sea breezes, and the inexhaustible future of western Palestine. It was Abraham's, henceforward; he was to arise and walk through the length and the breadth of it, for God had given it to him. This was the first appropriation, the first consecration of the Holy Land."-- Stanley.

Behold all the plain.

The valley of the Jordan, with the rich lands of its lower course.

Well watered everywhere.

In the thirsty East water is regarded as the greatest of earthly blessings. Where there is water, there is fertility; where it is absent, there is desert. The Jordan, with its tributaries, in that tropical climate, converted the valley into. garden of vegetation. The garden of Eden was watered with four rivers, Egypt by the Nile; the luxuriant valley of the Jordan reminded of these.

Until thou comest unto Zoar.

Zoar was. city at the southern terminus of the valley, and the fertility extended until Zoar was reached.