Genesis 13:17














I. How IT MAY HAVE LOOKED TO LOT.

1. As a matter of business it was good.

2. In its moral aspects the step was dangerous. But -

3. Doubtless at first Lot did not intend entering the city. And perhaps -

4. Lot may have justified his doubtful conduct by hoping that he would have opportunities of doing good to the Sodomites.

II. How IT MUST HAVE LOOKED TO THE SODOMITES. It must have -

1. Surprised them to see a good man like Lot coming to a neighborhood so bad.

2. Led them to think adversely of a religion that preferred worldly advantage to spiritual interest.

3. Rendered them impervious to any influence for good from Lot's example. Lessons: -

1. It is perilous to go towards Sodom if one wants to keep out of Sodom.

2. It is useless preaching to Sodomites while gathering wealth in Sodom. - W.

All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.
I. THE DIVINE VOICE IS MORE DISTINCTLY HEARD.

1. We need this consolation to confirm our faith.

2. We require a renewed sense of the Divine approval.

3. We require comfort for the evils we have suffered on account of religion.

II. THE DIVINE PROMISES ARE MORE CLEARLY APPREHENDED.

1. We are more free to survey the greatness of our inheritance.

2. We have an enhanced idea of the plentifulness of the Divine resources.

III. WE ARE LED ON TO PERCEIVE THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE.

1. Our senses deceive us.

2. Our youthful hopes deceive us. Let us learn, then, that "there is nothing sure but heaven."

IV. THE SPIRIT OF DEVOTION IS STRENGTHENED.

1. When God speaks to the soul, our sense of reverence is deepened.

2. When God speaks, our sense of duty is deepened.

(T. H. Leale.)

I. GOD ALWAYS COMES NEAR TO HIS SEPARATED ONES.

II. GOD WILL DO BETTER FOR THOSE WHO TRUST HIM, THAN THEY COULD DO FOR THEMSELVES.

III. GOD BIDS US APPROPRIATE HIS GIFTS (ver. 17).

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

1. Saints who hang loose, and are indifferent for the world, have the best appearance of God.

2. God is not forgetful to comfort His, who are willing to bear injuries from men for His sake.

3. God hath a speech to make His own to understand His mind. So God said to Abram.

4. When creature comforts leave God's servants, usually He comes Himself to them.

5. God singles out souls to whom He speaks comfortably in His promises; a stranger intermeddleth not with their joy.

6. Sensible demonstrations God sometimes affords of future mercies unto His.

7. Large bounds God hath allowed for the typical inheritance of His Church here, which note larger in the heavenly Canaan.

8. God's demonstration of mercies sometimes precedes His donation and infers it (ver. 14).

9. God is free and full in allotting the inheritance of His Church.

10. Jehovah hath what He giveth, therefore He giveth surely; He cannot deceive.

11. God's promise to Abram is fulfilled to his seed, through many generations.

12. God hath His ever in making covenant with His people according to His will; which it concerneth God's covenanted ones to know (ver. 15).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

There is nothing lost by meekness and yielding. Abraham yields over his right of choice: Lot taketh it. And, behold, Lot is crossed in that which he chose, Abraham blessed in that which was left him. As heaven is taken by violence, so is earth with meekness. And God (the true Proprietary) loves no tenants better, nor grants larger leases to any, than the meek.

(J. Trapp.)

Men use to reckon their wealth, not by what ready money they have only, but by the good bonds and leases they can produce. A great part of a Christian's estate lies in bonds and bills of God's hands.

(J. Trapp.)

In commercial crises, manhood is at a greater discount than funds are. Suppose a man had said to me last spring, "If there comes a pinch in your affairs, draw on me for ten thousand dollars." The man said so last spring, but I should not dare to draw on him this autumn. I should say, "Times have changed; he would not abide by it." But God's promises are from everlasting to everlasting; and He always stands up to them. There never was a run on heaven which was not promptly met. No creature in all the world, or in lying, audacious hell, shall ever say that he drew a draft on heaven and that God dishonoured it.

(H. W. Beecher.)

I will make thy seed as the dust. —

1. Promise to promise, seed to land, God adds to His covenanted friend Abram, for his good.

2. God's word of promise calleth things that are not, as if they were. that is, puts into being what is not.

3. God's word of promise putting into being is irreversible. He speaketh and doth it.

4. Innumerable issues, as the dust, sand, and stars, can God raise out of dead bodies (Hebrews 11:22).

5. Children are God's gift, when and to whom He pleaseth (Psalm 127).

6. Man's reach of understanding is too shallow to compass the works of God's promise (ver. 16).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

Walk through the land.

1. Double demonstrations of mercies, and double promises, will God give for the support of the faith of His servants.

2. God enjoins experience sometimes for the help of faith in His promises.

3. God would have His saints reach the utmost dimensions of His promises (Ephesians 3:19).

4. God showeth good things to His people which He purposeth to bestow on their succeeding generations.

5. God's promise to the head is performed in the seed.

6. Free promise should provoke souls to get experience of the good things to come.

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

People
Abram, Canaanites, Lot, Mamre, Perizzites, Zoar
Places
Ai, Bethel, Betonim, Canaan, Egypt, Gomorrah, Hebron, Jordan River, Negeb, Sodom, Zoar
Topics
Arise, Breadth, Giving, Length, Rise, Walk
Outline
1. Abram and Lot return with great riches out of Egypt.
6. Strife arises between Abram's herdsmen and those of Lot.
8. Abram allows Lot to choose his part of the country,
10. and Lot goes toward Sodom.
14. God renews his promise to Abram.
18. He moves to Hebron, and there builds an altar.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 13:17

     4803   breadth
     4832   length
     5197   walking

Genesis 13:14-17

     5477   property, land
     7258   promised land, early history

Genesis 13:15-17

     4207   land, divine gift

Library
July 21. "Look from the Place Where Thou Art" (Gen. xiii. 14).
"Look from the place where thou art" (Gen. xiii. 14). Let us now see the blessedness of faith. Our own littleness and nothingness sometimes becomes bondage. We are so small in our own eyes we dare not claim God's mighty promises. We say: "If I could be sure I was in God's way I could trust." This is all wrong. Self-consciousness is a great barrier to faith. Get your eyes on Him and Him alone; not on your faith, but on the Author of your faith; not a half look, but a steadfast, prolonged look, with
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

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

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