Genesis 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? separate yourself, I pray you, from me: if you will take the left hand, then I will go to the right… Abram met the danger as promptly and resolutely as the brave Hollanders, in days gone by, threw up their dykes against the encroaching sea. But how did he meet it? We might expect him to say, "Why this strife? Rebuke thy servants — they must yield to mine — I am the elder — and to me the land is promised." Would this have stopped the strife? It ought, certainly; all the right and authority were on his side, but the assertion of right does not always win the side that is in the wrong, and Abram chose a surer dyke to stop the threatening torrent. Did what he did say stop it? Yes, but not in the way we might have hoped. If Lot had said, "Nay, dear uncle, I cannot forestall thee — choose thou first," — that would have been a complete victory. But when we yield up a right for the sake of peace, we must not expect to be met with corresponding generosity; we must be prepared to be taken at our word, as Abram was. (E. Stock.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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