ABRAHAM

12
ABRAHAM: FRIEND OF GOD AND FATHER OF FAITH
CHAPTER 3 - STRIFE OR SATISFACTION OF THE BELIEVER
LOT’S LOSS GENESIS 13:5-18
We come to chapter 13 finding Abram experiencing a time of personal revival in his life. Reading
verses 1-4 we discover that he is out of Egypt (a picture of the world in the Bible) and back to
Bethel, the house of God. We find him back to the place of the Altar and calling upon the name of
the Lord.
Our passage deals with a situation where the relationship of Abram and his nephew Lot has become
strained. At first reading we might not pick up on the spiritual significance of what takes place here,
but God is on the scene and working to accomplish His perfect will in the life of His man. God is
working through His providence to bring events about in such a way that His will is accomplished.
He wants Lot separated from Abram and it is interesting that He blesses them both so much that they
just cannot live in the same place anymore. The way that Abram deals with all of this is a testimony
of the spiritual growth that is taking place in his life.
We are going to see very clearly the difference of how a spiritually minded believer and a carnally
minded believer deal with problems and decisions that must be made in the course of life. Please
take note that we are talking about two believers that approach life and what is important in life very
differently.
IV. THE STRIFE BETWEEN THE BRETHREN. Verses 5 -7.
A. THE MIXED BLESSING. Verses 5 - 6
Not only has Abram increased in wealth over the years but Lot has also amassed a great deal of
possessions. He has accumulated “flocks, and herds, and tents.” And evidently he now has a
number of men working for him.
B. THE HERDSMEN’S STRIFE. Verse seven.
1. THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM.
With the blessing of the increase of Abram and Lot’s wealth in possessions there came a problem.
The land could not support them both and strife developed between these two men’s herdsmen.
We can imagine that they were probably fighting over grazing land, wells and such like things. The
question is, what should they do about it?
2. THE OBSERVING PEOPLE. Verse 7b.
We could very easily just read over this statement but the Holy Spirit recorded it for a reason. “. .
. the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.” These two groups of people were
the native inhabitants of the area. There are a couple things that come to mind here as to possible
considerations about this.