Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

13:1-18 GENESIS
nephew with unfailing solicitude nderness. Now
the two must part, since each requi
watering radius for his flocks and
choice of territory rests with t
generously cedes this right to his
to take advantage of this unf
picks the greener and richer por
know what fate lay in store for
or how glorious was to be the fu
country to the west? The narrati
of gentle irony, the ever-present iron
Lot lifted up his eyes. Th
he were standing was the conspi
and Ai, from the top of which, according to travelers,
they could see the Jordan, the broad grasslands on either
bank, “and the waving verdure which marks the course of
the stream.” “The plain chosen was situated in, or at least
included, the tract to the south of the Dead Sea, where at
that time there were copious springs and an abundance of
sweet water.” It is surely obvious that Lot was looking out
for “number one,” as we say in American slang. Jamieson
(CECG, 134) : In ye Lot’s choice: A choice excellent from
a worldly point of view, but most inexpedient for his best
interests. He seems, though a good man, to have been
too much under the influence of a selfish and covetous
spirit; and how many, alas! imperil the good of their souls
for the prospect of worldly advantage.” Lange (CDHCG,
398): “It is the vale of Siddim (14:3), the present region
of the Dead Sea, which is here intended. That the lower
valley of the Jordan was peculiarly well-watered, and a
rich pasture region, is expressed by a twofold comparison:
it was as Paradise, and as the land of Egypt. The lower
plain of the Jordan was glorious as the vanished glory of
Paradise, or as the rich plains of the Nile in Egypt, which
were still fresh in the memory of Lot.” The land was
watered not by trenches and canals (irrigation) but by
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