EVEN AS THE GARDEN OF THE LORD

Many see this first day of the year as a time for decision and choice, an appropriate occasion for a fresh start with new objec­tives for life. It was not the New Year in Genesis 13, but for Lot, decision day had arrived. The combined flocks of Abraham and Lot overstretched the available pasture, v. 6, and this shortfall led to strife among the workforce. The discord threatened to sour the relationship between uncle and nephew, v. 8. Some­thing had to be done, and Abraham took the initiative. Although he was the older man, and clearly the senior partner, he allowed Lot to stake out his territory, v. 9. He would have the leftovers. What a lesson in what Paul calls ‘moderation’ (yieldingness, rea­sonableness, forbearance), Phil. 4. 5. His outlook is in sharp contrast to the aggressive grasping attitude of those who ‘look on (their) own things’, Phil. 2. 4.

What kind of considerations influenced Lot? The plain of Jor­dan had much to commend it. It was well irrigated and, in this respect, it resembled the garden of the Lord with its river that parted into four heads, Gen. 2. 10. Approximately two thousand years had passed since Adam and Eve had been expelled from that delightful environment, and yet evidently they had con­veyed to posterity details of the beauty and bounty of Eden. ‘The garden of the Lord’! It conjures up thoughts of tranquility and prosperity. Everything about Eden was aesthetically perfect, Gen. 2. 9. Lot had a strong religious reason for turning eastward! And yet there were danger signals. It was also like the land of Egypt, v. 10. With his uncle he had recently visited Egypt, an expedition that had been a spiritual disaster for Abraham. It seems as if there was something about Egypt that appealed to Lot, and now he craves that kind of environment. The proxim­ity to Sodom should have been a deterrent, for ‘the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly’, v. 13. Lot made a wretched choice; trying to save his life, he lost it. After a promising start there, he lost his wife, he lost his possessions and he lost his integrity. When choosing, be like Moses rather than Lot; ‘he had respect unto the recompence of the reward’, Heb. 11. 26.