XIII. ABRAM’S RETURN FROM EGYPT AND HIS SEPARATION FROM LOT. (1-4) HE WENT ON HIS JOURNEYS. — Or, _according to his stations,_ which the Vulgate very reasonably translates, “by the same route by which he had come.” This route was first into the south, the Negeb, which is virtually a proper name, an... [ Continue Reading ]
LOT. — He, too, had possibly received presents in Egypt, for we find him rivalling his uncle in wealth; and the “tents” show that he had numerous followers, and, like Abram, was the chief of a powerful clan. The repetition that “the land was not able to bear them,” and that “they could not dwell tog... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PERIZZITE. — We find mention in the Bible both of Perazites, translated _villages,_ in 1 Samuel 6:18; Esther 9:19; and of Perizzites, who are sometimes opposed to the Canaanites, as here and in Genesis 34:30, and sometimes described as one of the tribes settled in Palestine (Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THERE BE NO STRIFE. — It is evident that Lot was beginning to take part with his herdmen, and regard himself as an injured man. But Abram meets him with the utmost generosity, acknowledges that their growth in wealth rendered a separation necessary, and gives him his choice. And Lot accepts it.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PLAIN OF JORDAN. — This word, _Ciccar,_ literally means the _circuit,_ or, as it is translated in St. Matthew 3:5, “the region round about Jordan,” and, according to Mr. Conder (_Tent Work,_ ii., p. 14), is the proper name of the Jordan valley, and especially of the plain of Jericho. It is now c... [ Continue Reading ]
LOT JOURNEYED EAST. — This is the word translated “eastward” in Genesis 2:8, and “from the east” in Genesis 11:2. Here it can only mean _towards the east. _... [ Continue Reading ]
LOT DWELLED IN THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. — Heb., _of the Ciccar._ Not as yet within their walls, but in their neighbourhood, and evidently with a longing “toward Sodom,” where, in Genesis 19, we find him sitting in the gate as a citizen, and with his tent changed to a house. While, then, Abram contin... [ Continue Reading ]
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 m... [ Continue Reading ]
WALK THROUGH THE LAND. — Repeated change of scene is not merely one of the pleasures of the nomad life, but also a necessity; for the uplands, covered with rich herbage in the spring, are usually burnt up in summer, and in the winter are exposed to driving winds and rain-storms. In these journeyings... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PLAIN OF MAMRE. — (Heb., _oaks of Mamre._ See on Genesis 12:6). Mamre was an Amorite, then living, and as he was confederate with Abram, it was apparently with the consent of the Amorites, and by virtue of the treaty entered into with them, that Abram made this oak-grove one of his permanent sta... [ Continue Reading ]