The Head-On Collision
Text: Genesis 13:1-18
When a corporation has some bad financial reverses, you are likely to read a press release that says something about getting back to the company’s core business. When a sports team gets outplayed, the coach’s press conference will usually have a statement about getting “back to basics.” In the Bible, there is a tradition of going “Back to Bethel.” Now, I believe “Bethel” is important because of the meaning of its name, “House of God,” and, in case you think I’m making too much of that, remember that the Bible speaks of it as Bethel in the Abraham story even though Jacob changes its name officially in Genesis 28 from Luz (“Scorned”) to Bethel.
So, we see Abram come back to Bethel in today’s text; Jacob commanded (in Genesis 31) to return to the land of promise by the “God of Bethel;” Jacob goes back to Bethel in Genesis 35 after his daughter is raped by a fellow whose last name was literally, “Son of a Donkey;” in both Joshua 16 and 18, Bethel is given as an allotment to the descendants of Joseph; in Judges 1, Bethel is captured by subterfuge fulfilling the promise in Joshua; Deborah sets up her camp between Ramah (“Great”) and Bethel; the Israelites go to Bethel to inquire about God’s will before starting a civil war to cleanse the nation (Joshua 20); after losing the initial battle in that civil war, Israel comes back to Bethel to find out what they’re supposed to do (Joshua 21); in I Samuel 7:16, we discover that Bethel was one of the places Samuel judged the people; when Elijah is passing his ministry to Elisha, they engage in a reverse conquest tour of Israel going from Bethel to Jericho (II Kings 2) and Elisha returns to Bethel after Elijah is translated (II Kings 2:23-24); after the northern kingdom (Israel) fell, a priest was installed at Bethel to teach the people how they should worship the Lord (II Kings 17:28); and throughout the prophets Amos and Hosea, Bethel is denounced as a holy sanctuary being used for the wrong purposes.
So, when we read in Genesis 13:3 that Abram has returned to that altar between Bethel and Ai, I don’t think it is unreasonable to claim that the patriarch was returning to basics and becoming dependent upon God once again. I don’t think this visible step in Abram’s pilgrimage is that unlike the believer who has failed, made a mistake or rebelled against the Lord such that she or he needs to confess sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and be filled with God’s presence in order to continue the journey successfully. Of course, if you think I’m reading too much into it, remember that the purpose of sacrifice in the patriarchal age was both to offer a gift to God and to gain forgiveness of sin—that mouthful known as “propitiation.”
Whenever we lose sight of God’s plan for our lives and end up investing too much of our lives in the secular world, we need to confess and get back on track. But one thing is sure, as soon as we’re acting with power and moving forward in faith, we’re going to experience some kind of push-back from the Enemy, God’s “disloyal opposition,” the Satan. But the dirtiest part of it is that, all too often, the conflict will come from someone close to us. In the church, it will often come from other brothers and sisters. And there’s worse news.
Do you notice what it says in both verse 2 (an accounting of Abram’s wealth in livestock, silver, and gold) and verse 6 (where it says that Lot had herds, too)? It says they were wealthy. In verse 6, it says that they were so well-off that they couldn’t live together anymore. Isn’t that ironic? I mean, they were fighting because God had blessed them.
Now, what I’m sad to say is that it often happens this way. When an individual gains a great deal of success or God gives a great deal of wealth or talent to that individual, it’s very easy for that person to think that she or he is responsible for that success, wealth or talent. They can become possessive instead of giving, selfish instead of serving. And in the church, we don’t usually see conflict in the congregation that is trying to grow and maybe even build a new building, but we sure see it grow selfish when it reaches a certain critical mass or gets too comfortable in its building. We don’t usually see conflict when a new church is building up to a healthy budget, but sometimes a church gets an endowment or a surplus and, bingo, it’s suddenly OUR money instead of the Lord’s money. I’m sorry to say that I once pastored a church where a lot of the congregation became obsessed over how the ethnic congregations were using THEIR kitchen or moving furniture in THEIR classroom.
I think, in Lot’s case, this is particularly sad. You see, in Hebrew, Lot’s name means “covered” or “wrapped.” Now, this might have been a way of saying that his destiny was covered over so that it was a secret, but I think it means that he was “protected.” He was protected when Terah brought him along to Haran and he was protected with Abram brought him along to the land of promise. In fact, all of that wealth in verse 6 was essentially “collateral blessing” from his relationship with Abram. Even today, when we’re around people who are right with God and living in faith, we often get “collateral blessings” that we wouldn’t expect—just from being around God’s people. God’s blessings to the faithful have a tendency to overflow. Guess who gets the advantage.
There’s also one more thing to see in verse 6. Notice that it concludes by talking about the Canaanites and Perizzites living in the land. I don’t know about you, but I find it fascinating that the Bible goes to the trouble of listing non-believers, non-Israelites, and potential enemies of God’s people right as we are reading about God’s people feuding. Does the reference signify at worst that we put ourselves in danger with regard to the secular world when we fight or does it mean, at best, that we aren’t having any positive influence on the world or even God’s purpose (in this case, the “land of promise”) when we fight? Either way, it isn’t a pretty picture.
Of course, whenever we are confronted by that conflict as we get refocused on the Lord, we have a chance to do the right thing. Verses 8-9 of this chapter shows us Abram passes the test this time. He submits his future and his wealth to Lot’s decision. Frankly, this reminds me of Paul’s admonition to the church in Philippi in Philippians 2:3 where he says to “consider one another more important than yourselves” and his command to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 5:21) when he says to “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” If we really practiced what Abram did and what Paul exhorted us to do, we wouldn’t be fighting over buildings or budgets anymore than Abram and Lot had anything to fight about after Abram subjected himself to Lot’s decision—even though one measure might be that Lot acted totally with self-interest.
It must have taken a lot of courage, a lot of empathy, a lot of faith, or a significant amount of all three for Abram to stand on those rugged hillsides of Israel and give Lot the choice of fertile, fecund valley versus those dry, rocky hillsides that had to be terraced in order to hold enough rainwater to be arid. The description later in the chapter makes the Valley of Sodom (probably under the southern edge of the Dead Sea today) sound like a veritable Garden of Eden. Abram must have known how Lot would choose, but he must have sensed deep down inside himself that God’s promises don’t depend on our calculations. He must have figured that he plus God equaled a formula for success no matter where he allowed his flocks and herds to pasture.
I think it also suggests that we on a modern journey of faith need to learn that faith doesn’t mean walking by sight. Faith means following God whether God leads us to orchards of low-lying fruit where our work is easy and the harvest is great or whether God leads us to dry, rocky hills where we scratch out a little progress with great difficulty and have trouble seeing the results of God’s plan. In faith, we don’t necessarily create homogenous churches simply because they appear to grow faster. In faith, we don’t necessarily do everything the same way simply because it’s worked in the past. Faith means finding out what God is doing and getting in on it.
Now, speaking of that self-interest with regard to Lot, is it me or is there really a progression where Lot gets pulled into the orbit of Sodom? I mean, here in Genesis 13:12, his tents are moved so close to the secular city that it seems like he can observe the city from the “front porch” of his tent. Then, by the middle of Genesis 14 (v. 12), we discover that he is at least carried away as a prisoner of war as though he was a resident of Sodom. I know that isn’t definitive evidence because the conquering kings might have picked up the farmers in the valley, too. At any rate, we do know that Lot had become comfortable IN Sodom by Genesis 19 because he is sitting at the city gate when the angels come to warn him.
For those of you who don’t know, the city gate of a major Near Eastern city was where they transacted all of the important business. Criminal trials, land purchases, and major decisions were all transacted there. So sitting in the city gate implies that Lot had attained some status in Sodom. It might be considered the same as the Chamber of Commerce or maybe, the City Council. Regardless, it suggests that Lot was a person of substance there and quite comfortable within that immoral society. He had become so “tolerant” or “politically correct” that he was oblivious to danger of sin (v. 13). The shame of it is that Lot ends up locked out of the “land of promise” and, as we’ll discover later in the book, actually sires not one but two future enemies of God’s people.
Now, I know a lot of people don’t believe me when I point out Lot’s entropic fall into the carnality of Sodom. They point to the reference to “righteous” Lot in II Peter 2:7. They assume that the positive word about Lot in that book makes up for all of the negative actions here. I think they’re a bit myopic here. If you read that passage, it talks about how miserable Lot was in Sodom, how tormented he was. You see, when those who know what God wants are involved with those who are not in God’s will without being able to make a difference in the lives of the wicked, it’s a miserable feeling. When God’s people compromise with those who belong to the Enemy, they cannot experience God’s blessing.
Yes, Lot gets rescued from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he sinks to new depths and he settles for a legacy beyond the Jordan instead of within the “land of promise.” We can never reach the potential God wants for us if we aren’t in tune with God’s purposes and following God’s path. When, like Lot, we focus on the obvious and convenient, we’re probably not seeking a word from the Lord.
But the best news of this passage to me is what God tells Abram after Lot moves away. God tells Abram to stand on that high mountain and look to both the north and the south, the east and the west. Then, God tells him that his offspring will gain everything that he can see and that he can claim. Verses 14-16 command us to open our eyes to what God is showing us about the ultimate purpose for our lives. Depending on where Abram was standing when God spoke to him, it’s possible that he could have seen all the way to the Mediterranean in the West, into what is now Lebanon to the North, into what is now Jordan to the East, and to the dry plains of the Negeb to the South. If he could see into what is now Jordan, it puts the lie to that old Jewish joke that Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness for 40 years and directed them to settle in the only place that didn’t have oil. Certainly, there are later descriptions of the land of promise that could include the oil country if Israel had taken it to their limit.
One thing’s for sure, Abram could see the valley where Lot had settled. Just because we think we’ve sacrificed something for God’s sake doesn’t mean that God won’t give it back. Abram thought that valley belonged to someone else, but God promised it again (as God will again and again in the book) to Abram’s descendants. You can’t out-give God.
Notice, then, what God tells Abram in verses 17-18. One has to actively trod the ground God promises in order to claim it. And it’s no different for you and me. When God promises something, we need to step forward as though we’ve already received it. We need to make plans like we have it and we need to act like we have it. I’m constantly intrigued by the tense we read in the King James Version of Mark 11:24 when Jesus says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them.” The New American Standard Bible reads, “believe that you have received them” and the New International Version reads, “believe that you have received it.” When we act in faith, we are to act like it’s done.
The journey of faith doesn’t stop with the promise anymore than a win in sports ends with the game plan. It has to be executed. The biggest difference between sports and faith is that the coach can’t play for you in sports, but God’s Holy Spirit empowers us in faith.
So, what does Abram’s experience teach us about faith, today. First, I am so thankful that the Bible gives us accounts of people who fail so that we can see how to react to failure. I believe Abram failed when he went to Egypt, but he made a big comeback when he returned to Bethel. And, as modern believers, we can make a comeback when we repent and turn back to God’s basics. Second, we discovered that blessings can turn to conflict when God’s tangible blessings become OUR possessions instead of God’s instruments or vessels. Third, we learned that tolerance and lack of spiritual discernment can keep us from reaching our full potential. Fourth, we learned that God’s plan is beyond our sight, but requires us to act in faith as though we’ve already received the blessing. Let’s each get back to our own Bethel and start exploring our full potential within God’s grace.
