II. CHOICE IS BOTH THE EXPRESSION OF CHARACTER AND ITS DETERMINATION. So Lot shows what was in him, as Abram reveals his character in the choice.

1. Abram looks to the Lord, and Lot looks to the land. It is the contrast of the prayerful with the worldly spirit.

2. Abram showed himself to be a man of peace. Lot let the quarrelling go on; — who knows but he may profit by it in the end?

3. Abram was generous beyond the demands of ordinary liberality. He gave up the rights of his seniority, of family headship; chose to give up his choice, and let the younger man take what seemed to him best. And Lot took it — thinking only of his own interests.

4. Abram was the faithful friend. The friend of God is always the friend of man as well. Prosperity in this case, as in so many others, tested their friendship and fidelity more than adversity. Poverty and loneliness might bring them close together. While Abram was growing very rich, and Lot, the junior partner, was catching the overflow and coming to the possibility of self-support, he would by no means leave his advantage. But now that he has come to independence and can get no more out of his association with his older friend, but rather lose by it, he is quite ready to sever the connection.

III. THE FOLLY OF A WORLDLY CHOICE. The man who leaves out God, God's purpose for us and God's calling, is never wise and never comes to true success. The man who makes his decisions on the mere ground of worldly advantage is never sure and never safe. The example we are studying is striking in this regard. It is shown, whether you consider it as a mere natural succession of causes and effects or as a matter of supernatural awards. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. The principles taught, and the example set, by the Lord Jesus Christ do not seem at first sight to be well adapted to present success. The unpractical character of other-worldliness is often contemptuously set over against the evils of this-worldliness. But it is a great mistake. The principles of Christ are exactly adapted to this world and to this life, not to a shallow and disappointing success, but to the real attainment of all which in this world is best and most enduring. Every Abram who gives up all to follow God, God takes in hand and guides more safely than he could have gone alone.

(G. M. Boynton.)

II. THIS STORY SHOWS ON WHAT FRIVOLOUS GROUNDS MEN BECOME ESTRANGED. For the sake of some small advantage they fling away the hearts whose love is more precious than gold; or they make them suffer from their ill-humour and their peevishness, until it can be borne no longer. A friendship that has been tested by years of experience and the strongest proofs of affection, is sometimes quenched by the merest trifle.

III. This story shows HOW A GOOD MAN AVOIDS IMPENDING STRIFE. Not by standing stiffly upon his rights, but by timely concession.

IV. This story shows THE SPIRITUAL PERILS OF SELFISHNESS.

V. This story also shows THE REWARD OF PIETY (vers. 14-17). God gave Abram for a perpetual possession the land on which he gazed from the eminence of Bethel. He gave him His own friendship in the place of Lot's, for whose departure he sorrowed. He made him also, then a childless old man, hopeless of any posterity to bear his name, and who had hoped, perhaps, that Lot would be to him in place of a son — God made him, in anticipation, the father of a great multitude that could not be numbered. Thus his reward for his integrity and piety was exceeding great. Choosing God and the land where God was found, he derived from this world and its life the best it affords. It is ever so. He who chooses God for his portion, has also the best of His gifts.

(A. H. Currier.)

1. External advantages are not the chief end of life.

2. External advantages are not the true happiness of life.

3. External advantages, when considered by themselves, tend to corrupt the soul.

II. IT WAS UNGENEROUS.

III. IT SNOWED TOO LITTLE REGARD FOR SPIRITUAL INTERESTS.

(T. H. Leale.)

II. DURING HIS RESIDENCE IN SODOM. Preserved from the general contagion. A bold reprover of abominations. But one circumstance in this history is very remarkable. The very end for which Lot was induced to fix his residence at Sodom, was entirely defeated. Alas! how can we expect to prosper, when the love of gain is our principle? The Lord will, in mercy, disappoint His children, and bring them into trials to preserve them from apostacy. Behold Lot a stranger to comfort in Sodom. Grieved with observing the conduct of the wicked, as well as hated and persecuted by them! And what would avail him the fruitfulness of the soil?

III. AFTER HIS DEPARTURE FROM SODOM. He who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, fell into the most abominable wickedness indeed. This proves two things —

1. When we do stand, it is by the power of God alone: to Him therefore we must ascribe all the excellence and perseverance of His people. Even Paul, in his most advanced state, is nothing: "Not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

2. When we are not upheld by Him, no place is secure; and any temptation, how small soever, is enough to overcome as. What other expedient, then, is left us, but,(1) To be humbled under a sense of our great depravity and abominable corruptions. Instead of censuring the conduct of Lot, let us look into our own hearts, and we shall find abundant cause for humiliation. We are encouraged, however,(2) To apply to the blood of sprinkling for its cleansing influence, and that we may appear before God with joy and confidence; having "washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." But still it behoves us,(3) To watch and pray; remembering the dangers to which we are exposed, and that all our security from day to day must be in the power of God: "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto Thy statutes continually."

(Essex Remembrancer.)

II. HIS MOTIVE.

1. Not the expectation of better religious advantages.

2. Not the hope of benefiting others.

3. Evidently to advance his worldly interests.

III. WHAT HE GAINED. fit home in Sodom.

IV. WHAT HE LOST.

1. The helpful influence of Christian fellowship.

2. Moral tone in character — evidently on the downgrade.

3. His happiness.

4. His property; first in war, then by fire.

5. All of his adherents, and part of his own family, in the final destruction of Sodom.

(The Homiletic Review.)

1. Abram was a peace maker.

2. Abram was unselfish.

3. Abram was patient.

II. THE SELFISH CHOICE.

1. Lot was self-seeking.

2. Lot was worldly-minded.

3. Lot was hasty in his choice.

III. THE LARGE BLESSING.

(W. S. Smith, B. D.)

2. The lust of the eye, covetous desire may misguide gracious souls sometimes in their choice.

3. Pleasant fruitful possessions on earth are apt to take up too much the care of the saints.

4. The pleasantest habitations are not always the best: if God grow angry.

5. God spares not to destroy the choicest places where sin abounds (ver. 10).

6. Good men may be too selfish. He offers not Abram the choice.

7. God's own left to their choice, may choose and possess the worst portion.

8. Brethren may be parted by choice of distinct portions, when ordered by God to higher ends (ver. 11).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

2. The promised portion with all its inconveniences, is better than the most pleasant with sin.

3. Good souls may sometimes sit down with content in large and pleasant places without God.

4. Saints sometimes may meet with an hell, where they look for a paradise; so did Lot.

5. It is a soul blemish, for God's servants to covet fruitful places, though never so sinful (ver. 12).

6. Fruitful places are apt to have the foulest sinners.

7. The excess and height of sin is in obstinate opposition to Jehovah.

8. Jehovah will make known such to be sinners to the purpose and brand them, as here Sodom is notorious to all ages (ver. 13).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

1. To begin with, LET US ACCEPT THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THIS KINSMAN OF ABRAM WAS AN OLD TESTAMENT CHRISTIAN. A "righteous man" dwelling in Sodom is so palpably out of place in our conception of propriety that he needs the word offered in extenuation, namely, that, day after day, he vexed his righteous soul with the unlawful deeds he beheld around him. We must never forget that the question of his piety as an orthodox believer in God is settled for us (2 Peter 2:7, 8). But now, with all this generous notion of him, it muss be calmly acknowledged that Lot was a very poor Christian.

2. In the second place, find an instant explanation of the failure; LOT WAS A MERCENARY CHRISTIAN. The very earliest inquiry is, How did he come to be in Sodom at all? We must remember that Lot did not go to Sodom directly, nor even at once. Men do not ever plunge into evil; they glide, they slide, or they drift. Lot only pitched his tent "towards" Sodom. He went close enough to hear how prices were ranging from day to day; he had a market for all he had to barter; there was gossip among his neighbours; oh, it was a good, nice place, not so very wicked, and always so lively! This is the way of the world, and that is the way of worldly believers now in the New Testament church. They make compromises with a very easy conscience. They do not go straight into wrong; they "pitch their tents towards" it. "Men fall," said Guizot, "on the side toward which they lean."

3. Observe, in the third place, THAT LOT WAS SOON EVIDENCED AS A BACKSLIDING CHRISTIAN. How do we know this? We notice that wherever Abram went in that wandering life of his, he set up an altar the first thing he did, and a regular service of worship made him known as a follower of Jehovah. A careful search will fail to reveal that Lot ever did anything to cause remark in this direction. The story of the life of that group of sons and sons-in-law is just downward, downward, as they grew depraved more and more in tastes, capabilities, and principles. First, they "walked in the counsel of the ungodly"; next, they were found to "stand in the way of sinners"; then they began to "sit in the seat of the scornful." And the one great commonplace lesson for us to learn is this: even a believer who neglects his religious duty is moving forward in sin.

4. But pass on; for we need, in the fourth place, to look at LOT AS A SERIOUSLY UNHAPPY CHRISTIAN. He "vexed his righteous soul" there from day to day, in seeing and hearing the unlawful deeds of those indescribably vicious people; he detested their "filthy conversation." Now, I know you will give me full sympathy when I say I am really glad this patriarch had a miserable time. I wish it had been worse. It is the only evidence we get of his sincerity as a child of God.

5. Once more; you are ready, in the fifth place, to find in this man LOT A MOST INEFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN. When you discover how worldly a man has become, you are not at all surprised to see that his religious usefulness is destroyed. So slight was the influence of this patriarch over those who knew him best, that even when he had received a visit from the angels sent from God in heaven, and came forth trembling and frightened to tell them that the city was soon to be destroyed, they jeered at him for a coward, and laughed at him for a fool. It was clear to them that the less he said about his interviews with God, the safer it would be for his credit; they thought he was joking.

6. It is somewhat cheering now, in the sixth place, to look upon Lot as A TRULY SAVED CHRISTIAN. And yet we are forced to go over into the New Testament passage to get our proof; read again the text of Peter. This shows, not only that Lot was saved, but that his salvation, so graciously achieved, was of so narrow a sort that it could be given as one of the extreme examples of Divine mercy towards the undeserving; and that it must be taken in connection with the fact that all the inhabitants of the wicked city, out of which he was so hurriedly rushed, were "turned into ashes." Furthermore, this passage shows that, while "the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly," He knows how also "to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." One thing is absolutely clear; he never could have been saved in Sodom. The turning point in his career was reached when Sodom was set on fire.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

2. But, as another point of contrast, notice how Abraham took a long look forward, while Lot chose simply for the immediate future. "He that believeth shall not make haste." "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it."

3. Note, finally, the contrast in the after career of the two men. From this point on, there is evident a gradual process of deterioration in Lot. "Toward Sodom" soon became "in Sodom." In Sodom soon developed into matrimonial alliances between the members of his family and the Sodomites. Then last of all, and worst of all, his own moral nature was hardened; the womanhood of his daughters was dishonoured; and the closing incidents of his life were such that we gladly draw a veil over their enormity, and sigh to think that, after so fair a morning, his sun went down behind so dark a cloud. But while Lot deteriorated, Abraham advanced. That which marked Lot's point of departure from the right course was a milestone that indicated new progress in Abraham. The decision which he made over this dispute was another step in that upward ladder of self-conquest on the topmost round of which he stood when he laid Isaac upon the altar. It was an important decision for both, yet it was all over a very ordinary and everyday occurrence. We are continually having to make similar decisions in our common lives, and always we are tested by them. It is a very solemn question how we have stood such tests; and if we want to stand them as Abraham did, we must be partakers of Abraham's faith; for that faith, as we have seen, animated the patriarch, not only in such great things as the leaving of his country and the sacrifice of his son, but also the actions of his life in his intercourse with his fellow men,

(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

II. A CHOICE WHICH DEPRIVED HIM OF A GOOD MAN'S COMPANY. Every worldly-minded man forfeits —

1. The sympathy of good men.

2. The assistance of the good.

III. A CHOICE ANTAGONISTIC TO THE GOOD MORAL TRAINING OF HIS FAMILY. Moral culture ought to be of greater importance in our estimation than wealth.

1. Because it is of higher value.

2. Because it elevates the man.

3. Because its beneficial results are more certain.

IV. A CHOICE WHICH EXPOSED HIM TO MANY DANGERS.

1. The danger of his sympathy with the good being narrowed.

2. The danger of looking upon sin in a false light.

3. The danger of losing his own soul.

(Homilist.)

1. That there are constantly before us opportunities of selection.

2. That that is not the most advantageous which at first sight appears so.

3. That any course entered upon without consulting the guiding of Providence is likely to lead us astray.

II. THE NATURAL TENDENCY OF AN UNRENEWED HEART. Looking to what is pleasant.

III. THE MERCY OR DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Lot brought trouble on himself, but God did not desert him.

IV. THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF PIETY: WITH SIN.

(Homilist.)

(Colton.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

1. The choice of a place of residence.

2. The choice of a trade or profession. "What is likely to be the moral and spiritual effect of this pursuit on me?"

3. The choice of a life partner.

II. THE STEALTHY INSIDIOUSNESS OF SIN. There is a wide difference between the happy household that used to join with Abram's in sacrifice at the Bethel altar and that which we read of in Sodom on the night before the destruction of that city. That divergence was not caused by any single volcanic upheaval of passion, but by gradual defection. We have the key to it in the question addressed by Lot to the angel, when, asking to be allowed to flee into Zoar, he said, "Is it not a little one?" Depend. upon it, that was not the first time Lot reasoned in such a way. Most likely he did so on the very occasion of this first fatal choice. He saw Sodom in the plain, but he said within himself, "I need not go into the city, I can always keep myself secluded," and promising this to himself he pitched toward Sodom. But after a time he became accustomed to the men of the place. He saw many advantages in the protection of their walls, as compared with his defenceless nomad life. Thus the temptation to go into the city, which he would at first have repelled from him with scorn, was entertained, and concerning it also the old argument was used — "No doubt the city is wicked, but I need not mingle with the inhabitants, and when I come to balance the matter I must not let a little thing like that prejudice blind me to my own interests"; and in this way he went into Sodom. In a similar manner he came to allow intermarriages between the families of the city and his own. All this illustrates the deceitfulness of sin. No one ever became very wicked all at once. The descent of the road that leadeth to destruction is made in single steps, and these not on a clear and well-marked staircase, but on an incline which seems to be but little out of the horizontal line. Be on your guard against the first temptation, and whenever an evil pleads with you, saying, "Am I not a little one?"

III. THE NECESSITY OF WATCHFULNESS AGAINST SIN THROUGHOUT ONE'S EARTHLY LIFE. Every time of life has its peculiar dangers. There are, as medical men will attest, certain critical ages at which the bodily constitution seems to pass through a severe ordeal, so that it either yields in death, or comes out unharmed; and what the issue shall be depends, under God, very much on what the person's daily habits have been. If he have been what is called a fast, free liver, there is little likelihood that he will weather the storm; but if he have been moderate in all things, there is the greater probability that he will round the cape. Now it is similar in spiritual life. There are seasons of greater danger than others to the best interests of the soul. Youth is a perilous season, but the noon and afternoon of life are beset with dangers as great as its morning, and our only safety lies in perpetual vigilance. It is pitiful to think how often character deteriorates in later life. You cannot read of Noah without reflecting that the glorious reputation of a long career may be thrown into shadow at the last by a besetting sin. You cannot study the life of David without remarking how the purity of his character is eclipsed by the darkness of a sin which was that, not of a youth, but of a man past the meridian of his age. Ye men of middle life, and you who are verging toward old age, be on your guard. Remember Lot! and beware of allowing your conscience to be blunted with iniquity. Above all, beware of that seductive sin which is the parent of so many more — intemperance.

(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

1. The society of his best friend.

2. His intense hatred toward wickedness.

3. A due regard for the spiritual welfare of his family.

4. Religious influence over men.

5. His property.

6. Influence over his own children.

7. His children.

8. His wife.

9. His good name.

(John A. Ewalt.)

(W. Adamson.)

2. Even religious men, says Robertson, sometimes settle in a foreign country, notoriously licentious, merely that they may increase their wealth. But very soon they find to their cost that God has terrible modes of retribution. In the choice of homes, of friends, and in alliances, he who selects according to the desires of the flesh lays up in store for himself many troubles and anxieties. Such was Lot's experience.

3. How frequently, remarks Blunt, have men found that their greatest disquietudes and troubles have been the fruits of their own selfish selectings. Often that "vale of Siddim" which they have most anxiously coveted, has been the wellspring from whence has flowed the bitter waters of sorrow and distress. Far better, if God tries us by putting a blank paper into our hands, to fill in our free choice, humbly to refer the choice back to Him.

(W. Adamson.)

(Bishop Horne.)

(M. Dods, D. D.)

II. Let us look at LOT'S CHOICE in its nature and results, and learn the character and end of the self-seeker; remembering, meanwhile, the representative character of Lot, and gathering lessons of wisdom from the ashes of his ruined hopes.

1. First, then, there was in that choice, as there ever is in the conduct of the self-seeker, a disregard of delicate moral obligations and the interests of others involved.

2. But in this choice of Lot was also a disregard of his own highest interests. He seems not to have paused to consider the effect of his decision upon his own character and future well-being. The material good in that tempting scene blinded his eyes to every other good, and to the dangers of the choice. It is related in ancient history that the inhabitants of Oenoe, a town upon a dry island in the vicinity of Athens, bestowed much labour to draw into it a river to water it and make it more fruitful. But when the work was completed and the passages were all opened, the water came rushing in so furiously that it overflowed the whole island and drowned all the people. So, in the accomplishment of their ambitious ends, men do not pause to consider contingent results: and when the channels of desire are fully open and the long looked for tide of prosperity rises, lo! its streams come rushing in with a fearful, fatal force, whelming the soul in ruin and destruction.

3. Lot may have flattered himself that he had made a capital choice; let us see what it involved.(1) Separation from a devoted friend and benefactor. He might have remained in such proximity to Abraham as to have shared his companionship and counsel. It is a critical day for a young man when he severs his connection with the friends of his early years.(2) He not only separated himself far from Abraham, but became the companion of the wicked Sodomites.

(C. H. Payne, D. D.)

(J. N. Norton, D. D.)

(J. Parker, D. D.)

(J. Parker, D. D.)

     4241   Garden of Eden
     4468   horticulture

Genesis 13:1-12

     5076   Abraham, life of

Genesis 13:4-12

     5077   Abraham, character

Genesis 13:8-11

     8410   decision-making, examples

Genesis 13:10-11

     4260   rivers and streams
     8827   selfishness

Genesis 13:10-12

     4224   cities of the plain

Genesis 13:10-13

     4275   Sodom and Gomorrah

August 11. "All the Land which Thou Seest" (Gen. xiii. 15).
"All the land which thou seest" (Gen. xiii. 15). The actual provisions of His grace come from the inner vision. He who puts the instinct in the bosom of yonder bird to cross the continent in search of summer sunshine in yonder Southern clime is too good to deceive it, and just as surely as He has put the instinct in its breast, so has He also put the balmy breezes and the vernal sunshine yonder to meet it when it arrives. He who gave to Abraham the vision of the Land of Promise, also said in infinite …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Importance of a Choice
'And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hal; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Land of Promise
"All the Land which thou seest, to thee will I give it."--Gen. xiii. 15. Gertrude of Hellfde, 1330. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 It was as if upon His breast He laid His piercèd hand, And said "To thee, beloved and blest, I give this goodly land." O Land of fountains and of deeps, Of God's exhaustless store-- O blessed Land, where he who reaps Shall never hunger more-- O summer Land, for ever fair With God's unfading flowers; O Land, where spices fill the air, And songs the golden towers-- …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Wilderness: Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11. Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1-13.
The University of Arabia: Jesus' naturalness--the Spirit's presence--intensity, Luke 2:45-51.--a true perspective--- the temptation's path--sin's path--John's grouping, 1 John 2:16.--the Spirit's plan--why--the devil's weakness--the Spirit's leading--a wilderness for every God-used man, Moses, Elijah, Paul. Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar: Jesus the only one led up to be tempted--the wilderness--its history, Genesis 13:10-13. 18:16-19:38.--Jesus really tempted--no wrong here in inner response--every …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament