Abram and Lot Part Ways 1 And Abram went up from Egypt — he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him — into the Negev.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 So Abraham left, taking with him his wife Sarah, which means "sovereign," not "servant." Therefore it was said to Abraham, "Listen to your wife Sarah." In fact, she who is liberated from the slavery of sin obtains sovereignty, not servitude.
Bede · AD 735 Abram went up therefore from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the southern region. He does not mean the southern region of Egypt, but of the promised land: for indeed he did not travel southward from Egypt, which whoever does, goes farther from the promised land: but leaving all of Egypt, part of which he had visited, he first ascended to the so…
2 And Abram was very heavy with livestock, with silver, and with gold.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 "He was very rich," as is natural for one who was not lacking in any good thing, who did not covet the goods of others, because he lacked nothing of what he would have wished to regard as his own. For this is what it means to be rich: to have what is sufficient to satisfy one's own desires. Frugality has a measure. Richness does not. Its measure is in the will of the seeker.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Let us not rush idly by this reading but rather recognize clearly the precision of sacred Scripture in recounting nothing to us as of no importance. "Now Abram was very rich," the text says. Consider first of all this very fact that its habit had been to convey nothing idly or to no purpose. In this case is it not without reason that [the text] calls him rich.
3 And he went by his stages from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Consider, I ask you, how he was a lover of peace and quiet and was constantly attentive to divine worship. The text says, remember, that he went down to that place where he had previously built the altar.
Bede · AD 735 To the place where he had previously pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai: at the place of the altar which he had made formerly, and he called upon the name of the Lord.
4 to the place of the altar he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 13, Verse 4) And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the wilderness. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel. It is said that Abram went up from Egypt in a splendid manner.
5 And Lot also, who went with Abram, had sheep and cattle and tents.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 It remains to be seen if Lot too, his nephew, was rich as one who belonged to the same family. But Scripture says only that he had many cattle.
Bede · AD 735 But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds, and tents; nor could the land bear them so that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together: hence there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of Abram's flocks and Lot's, and it is detailed how Lot departed from Abraham with their love preserved, preferring to separat…
6 And the land could not bear them living together, for their possessions were many, and they were not able to live together.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 In fact, since [Lot] had already deliberately begun to deviate from his uncle, the land could not support both of them dwelling together; indeed, no space can be large enough for those who love discord.… Even limited spaces are more than adequate for those who are meek and peace-loving, while for those whose mentality is one of discord even wide open spaces are too restricted.
7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then living in the land.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Let us now consider who are the shepherds, and what living creatures they shepherd and what was the nature of the dispute between the shepherds of Abraham and those of Lot. Shepherds are those who govern the flocks. They are diligent and wise when they do not allow their animals to trample the farmlands with their feet or to damage the crops with their teeth.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Notice how the abundance of their possessions proved to be a major cause for their separation, creating a division, sundering their harmony and undoing the bond of kinship. "Trouble developed between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen.
8 And Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no quarrel between me and you, or between my herdsmen and your herdsmen — for we are men who are brothers.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Rightly, then, devotion has claimed first place for itself. Let us consider now also the adornment of the other virtues. Holy Abraham enjoyed the presence of his nephew, to whom he showed fatherly affection. A conflict occurred between the servants of the nephew and those of the uncle.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 See the extraordinary degree of his humility; see the height of his wisdom. The elder, the senior, addresses his junior and calls his nephew "brother," admits him to the same rank as himself and retains no special distinction for himself.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate, please, from me. If you go left, I will go right; and if you go right, I will go left.”
Lot Proceeds toward Sodom 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well watered — before the LORD ruined Sodom and Gomorrah — like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, going toward Zoar.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Haughtiness is the companion of those who deviate from the truth. In fact, as Abraham was quite humble in that he offered the choice, so Lot was rather insolent in presuming to choose. Virtue humbles itself, whereas wickedness becomes arrogant. Lot should rather have relied on one more wise than he, to be on the safe side. Indeed, he did not have the knowledge to make a choice.
Bede · AD 735 Therefore, Lot, having lifted up his eyes, saw all the region around Jordan, which was all watered before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the paradise of the Lord and like Egypt as you go towards Zoar.
11 And Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed east; and they separated, each from his brother.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 How appropriately then Scripture says, "Lot," that is, deviation, "chose for himself." Indeed, God has placed before us good and evil, so that each may choose what he wishes.
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
13 And the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners against the LORD.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 But the fact that "the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners in the sight of the Lord" is not a matter of minor importance, in terms of the way God deals with human beings. Rather, its aim is to help us understand that the harsh gravity of sin can compel a gentle God to retaliate.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Do you observe Lot having regard only for the nature of the land and not considering the wickedness of the inhabitants? What good, after all, is fertility of land and abundance of produce when the inhabitants are evil in their ways? By contrast, what harm could come from solitude and a simple lifestyle when the inhabitants are more restrained?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13) And the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before God exceedingly. This addition, "before God," is superfluous in the Septuagint interpreters, since the inhabitants of Sodom were wicked and sinners among all people.
God Renews the Promise to Abram 14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes now, and look from the place where you are — northward and southward and eastward and westward.
Clement of Rome · AD 99 Abraham, styled "the friend," [Isaiah 41:8] was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God. He, in the exercise of obedience, went out from his own country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, in order that, by forsaking a small territory, and a weak family, and an insignificant house, he might inherit the promises of God.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 See the promptness of God's providential recompense demonstrated in favor of the good man. Sacred Scripture wants to teach us the extent of the reimbursement the patriarch was accorded for such humility from the loving God.
Bede · AD 735 And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him: Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward: all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. Some manuscripts have "unto the age," which both translate from the one Greek term Aeonion, αἰὼν.
15 For all the land that you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed forever.
16 And I will make your seed like the dust of the earth — so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your seed also could be counted.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Then, in case Abraham should have regard only to his own condition, his advanced years and Sarah's sterility, and thus lose confidence in the promise instead of trusting in the power of the One making the promise, he said, "I will make your descendants as numerous as all the grains of sand in the world.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is not innumerable to God, although it is to the human mind. But to God not even the dust of the earth is so. Further, the promise here made may be understood not only of the nation of Israel but of the whole seed of Abraham, which may be fitly compared with the dust for its multitude.
17 Rise, walk through the land, its length and its width — for to you I will give it.”
18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the LORD.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Wonderful the extent of the promise; remarkable the depth of generosity of the Lord of us all; extraordinary the degree of the reward conferred by him in his mercy and love on this blessed man and on the descendants destined to be born to him!
Bede · AD 735 And he built an altar to the Lord. And this is the third altar that Abraham built: for the first he built near the place of Shechem, the second between Bethel and Ai.