How does Abram respond when he and Lot can no longer live together?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Abram asks that their households stop quarrelling and offers Lot a choice of where to go. Lot chooses the country around the Jordan, and they separate. The Lord then promises Abram the land he can see and descendants beyond counting.

Chapter breakdown

Abram went up from Egypt into the south with his wife, all his possessions, and Lot. He was very rich in gold and silver. He returned along his earlier route from the south to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Hai where he had previously pitched his tent. At the altar he had built before, he called on the Lord’s name.

Lot also had flocks of sheep, herds of animals, and tents. Their possessions were so great that the land could not support them living together. A quarrel arose between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s. The Chanaanite and the Pherezite were living in that country at the time.

Abram asked Lot to allow no quarrel between them or between their herdsmen, because they were family. He said that the whole land lay before Lot and asked him to separate from him. If Lot went left, Abram would go right; if Lot chose right, Abram would go left.

Lot looked at the country around the Jordan and saw that it was watered throughout. The account describes it before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, comparing it to the Lord’s paradise and to Egypt as one comes to Segor. Lot chose the country around the Jordan. This edition says he “departed from the east,” and the two relatives separated. Abram lived in Chanaan. Lot stayed in the towns around the Jordan and lived in Sodom. The men of Sodom were very wicked and sinned before the Lord beyond measure.

After Lot had separated from Abram, the Lord told Abram to look from where he stood towards the north, south, east, and west. He would give all the land Abram could see to him and his descendants forever. He would make those descendants like the dust of the earth: if someone could count the dust, that person could count Abram’s descendants too. He told Abram to rise and walk through the length and breadth of the land, because he would give it to him.

Abram moved his tent to the valley of Mambre in Hebron and lived there. He built an altar to the Lord.

The story inside

Abram’s offer responds to a specific problem: the two households have so much that the land cannot support their living together, and their herdsmen quarrel. He appeals to their family relationship and makes a two-way offer. Whichever direction Lot chooses, Abram will take the other. Lot looks at the well-watered Jordan country and chooses it; the account then gives their separate homes. It also places the description of that attractive land beside its warning about Sodom’s wickedness. The reader can see both facts, but the narrator does not tell us what Lot privately thought about Sodom. After the separation, the Lord tells Abram to look in every direction and promises him the land and many descendants. That order of events is clear; the text does not say the promise is a payment for giving Lot a choice. The story develops the stated response to a quarrel without inventing other options or predicting their outcomes.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The account identifies the problem before giving the response. Great possessions make it impossible for Abram and Lot to live together, and their herdsmen quarrel. Wealth here brings a practical difficulty for two households. The chapter does not identify particular wells, water shortages, or armed neighbours as the cause.
2
Abram’s words connect the proposed separation with their family bond. He asks for no quarrel and offers to take the direction Lot does not choose. That gives Lot a real choice and leads to separate places to live. It is enough to explain the action; the text does not need an invented rule about an older relative’s rights.
3
The promise includes more than a view of the land. The Lord names all four directions, promises the visible land to Abram and his descendants forever, compares their number to dust, and tells him to walk the land’s length and breadth. Keeping the command as well as the promise helps the reader understand what Abram is told to do. His move to Mambre ends with another altar.

Test your recall

How do the households’ possessions lead to a quarrel, and how does Abram’s offer lead to their separation?

Show answer

Both households have many animals and possessions, and the land cannot support them living together. Their herdsmen quarrel. Abram asks that they avoid fighting because they are kin, then lets Lot choose a direction while he takes the other. Lot chooses the well-watered Jordan country, and the households separate.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 1414–1428
Genesis Chapter 13 Abram and Lot part from each other. God’s promise to Abram. 13:1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the south. 13:2. And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver. 13:3. And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai, 13:4. In the place of the altar which he had made before, and there he called upon the name of the Lord.
Lines 1430–1439
13:5. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents. 13:6. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together. 13:7. Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.
Lines 1441–1447
13:8. Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren. 13:9. Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.
Lines 1449–1462
13:10. And Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. 13:11. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other. 13:12. Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan: and Lot abode in the towns, that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom. 13:13. And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord beyond measure.
Lines 1464–1476
13:14. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. 13:15. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever. 13:16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also. 13:17. Arise and walk through the land in the length, and the breadth thereof: for I will give it to thee.
Lines 1478–1481
13:18. So Abram removing his tent, came, and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.