Catholic Commentary on Genesis 13

"Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever." (Genesis 13:14-15)

Abram and Lot

Abram returns from Egypt very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold. He and his nephew Lot are both so rich that the land cannot support them both. Strife breaks out between their herdsmen. Abram responds with generosity: the whole land is before them, let Lot choose first. This is the action of one who lives from the promise rather than from anxiety about resources. If God has promised the whole land, there is no need to fight over any portion of it. Lot looks and sees the whole plain of the Jordan, well watered like the garden of the LORD, like Egypt. He chooses the east. He pitches his tent near Sodom. Abram settles in Canaan.

After Lot has left, the LORD speaks again to Abram: Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. The promise is renewed and enlarged precisely after Abram's act of generous self-surrender. This is the consistent pattern of the kingdom of God: the one who releases what they hold receives more than they surrendered. Abram moves to Hebron and builds another altar. The pattern of receiving the promise, building an altar, and moving on is the rhythm of the patriarchal faith: always in motion, always worshipping, always holding the promise lightly enough to share.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Abram let Lot choose first. He did not calculate his own advantage or protect his share. He lived from the sufficiency of God's promise and so could afford to be generous. Generosity is always grounded in theology: the person who believes God is sufficient can afford to give away what would otherwise feel indispensable. What are you holding tightly that you could afford to release, if you truly believed the promise?

Prayer

Lord God, you told Abram to look in every direction and promised him all that he could see. After his generosity, you enlarged the vision. Make us generous people who live from your abundance rather than anxious people who grasp at scarcity. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

13
Abram and Lot Part Ways
1 So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him. 2 And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
 
3 From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, 4 to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
 
5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist. 7 And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
 
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
Lot Proceeds toward Sodom
 
10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.
 
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
God Renews the Promise to Abram
 
14 After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, 15 for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.* 13:15 Cited in Galatians 3:16
 
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.”
 
18 So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks † 13:18 Or Terebinths or Great Trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

*13:15 13:15 Cited in Galatians 3:16

†13:18 13:18 Or Terebinths or Great Trees

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