Genesis 12 tells us that when Abram left Haran (at 75), that Lot went with him. But few people understand that Abram and Lot separate within that very year.
So Abram departed as Yehovah had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Gen 12:4)
What do we know about Lot? Here is the first and second time he is mentioned in Genesis.
This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. (Gen 11:27)
And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s woman, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. (Gen 11:31)
To understand who Lot is we must first understand who Terah and Haran are.
Terah was, until he left Babylon (via Ur), the head of Nimrod’s host for more than 50 years; and he was a very wealthy man. He bore Haran (and then Nahor) 32 years before Abram was born.
Haran was what I like to call a “fence-sitter,” neither cold or hot for Yehovah and His eternal and unchanging ways. Through a series of events which began with a sign in the heavens at the birth of Abram and concluded with Abram confronting his father (Terah), and then Nimrod himself, for encouraging ha·a·dams’s seed to worship images, both Haran (82) and Abram (50) are thrown into Nimrod’s fiery furnace. Haran was thrown in because of a lie Terah told to protect himself. You will have to read the links above to understand that story fully.
So, if Abram was 50, Lot had to be approximately 43; and the entitled son of Haran, the first-born son of Terah, the head of Nimrod’s host and the only heir of his father Haran.
We saw last time, after Nimrod called Abram out of the fiery furnace, that 200 men joined themselves to Abram and became his servants; and they and their families stayed at Terah’s house for 2 years. As Haran’s heir, Lot not only has his own home and servants, but also his father’s home and all his servants.
And now, 25 years later Abram is leaving the second time for Canaan (he has already lived there for 15 years and Haran for 8) and Lot is now going with him. Abram leaves the second time with around 1000+ people going with him (perhaps as many as 600 are men) and hundreds of sheep, goats and cattle.
But feeding this many people and animals in a drought is difficult and Abram is forced to go to Egypt. We talk about his visit there at length in our class today.
Look at how Genesis 13 starts.
Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his woman and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. (Gen 13:1)
All that Abram had, and he had a LOT of men, servants, cattle, silver and gold; but Lot and all he had was not part of Abram’s possessions.
Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. (Gen 13:5)
Lot was “with him,” but he did not obey Abram nor learn from him.
Was there anyone who went with Abram who did not obey him? Look what Yasher says about Lot.
Jasher 15:35 And Lot the son of Haran, Abram’s brother, had a heavy stock of cattle, flocks and herds and tents, for Yehovah was bountiful to him on account of Abram.
36 And when Abram was dwelling in the land the herdsmen of Lot quarreled with the herdsmen of Abram, for their property was too great for them to remain together in the land, and the land could not bear them on account of their cattle.
37 And when Abram’s herdsmen went to feed their flock they would not go into the fields of the people of the land, but the cattle of Lot’s herdsmen did otherwise, for they were suffered to feed in the fields of the people of the land [we will see that the “people of the land” are all men, Canaan’s seed].
38 And the people of the land saw this occurrence daily, and they came to Abram and quarreled with him on account of Lot’s herdsmen.
39 And Abram said to Lot, What is this thou art doing to me, to make me despicable to the inhabitants of the land, that thou orders thy herdsman to feed thy cattle in the fields of other people? Dost thou not know that I am a stranger in this land among Canaan’s seed, and why wilt thou do this unto me?
40 And Abram quarreled daily with Lot on account of this, but Lot would not listen to Abram, and he continued to do the same, and the inhabitants of the land came and told Abram.
Abram and Lot Separate
If one of the men or servants, who Abram is teaching and leading, were to disobey him they would be asked to leave. Those whom Abram leads MUST follow his directions or they will not be allowed to stay. But it is a different story for a relative who is simply “with” you. Listen to how Abram addresses Lot.
So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Please separate from me. If thou take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if thou go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Gen 13:8-9)
In Yasher he says it like this.
Yasher 15:42 But I pray thee separate from me, go and choose a place where thou may dwell with thy cattle and all belonging to thee, but keep thyself at a distance from me, thou and thy household. [Lot’s household is not Abram’s household.]
43 And be not afraid in going from me, for if any one do an injury to thee, let me know and I will avenge thy cause from him, only remove from me.
I think Lot was “with” Abram for two reasons; the blessing he received and the protection he enjoyed while he was “with” him. This makes me wonder, “what about Lot made him a righteous man?” Did he escape the burning at Sodom because he was righteous, or was it perhaps because of the words Abram spoke when Abram and Lot separated? Time will tell.
Abram and Lot Separate – Lot was Not “With” Abram
2G17 Genesis 13 and Yasher 14 – 15
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