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His first altar was at Shechem. As regards his wealth, while his cattle had been greatly increased in Egypt, he had probably brought the silver and gold with him from Mesopotamia. Gold, however, was plentiful at that time in Egypt, but silver rare.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-5.htm">Genesis 13:5</a></div><div class="verse">And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.</div>(5, 6) <span class= "bld">Lot</span>.—He, too, had possibly received presents in Egypt, for we find him rivalling his uncle in wealth; and the “tents” show that he had numerous followers, and, like Abram, was the chief of a powerful clan. The repetition that “the land was not able to bear them,” and that “they could not dwell together,” implies that the difficulty had long been felt before it led to an open rupture.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-7.htm">Genesis 13:7</a></div><div class="verse">And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">The Perizzite.</span>—We find mention in the Bible both of Perazites, translated <span class= "ital">villages, </span>in <a href="/1_samuel/6-18.htm" title="And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even to the great stone of Abel, where on they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.">1Samuel 6:18</a>, <a href="/esther/9-19.htm" title="Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelled in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.">Esther 9:19</a>; and of Perizzites, who are sometimes opposed to the Canaanites, as here and in <a href="/genesis/34-30.htm" title="And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.">Genesis 34:30</a>, and sometimes described as one of the tribes settled in Palestine (<a href="/exodus/3-8.htm" title="And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.">Exodus 3:8</a>; <a href="/exodus/3-17.htm" title="And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.">Exodus 3:17</a>; <a href="/joshua/17-15.htm" title="And Joshua answered them, If you be a great people, then get you up to the wood country, and cut down for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for you.">Joshua 17:15</a>; <a href="/judges/3-5.htm" title="And the children of Israel dwelled among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:">Judges 3:5</a>). They are not mentioned among the races descended from Canaan, and probably were the earlier inhabitants of the country, who, being a pastoral people, possessed of no towns, were not able to make head against the Hamite settlers, but maintained themselves in the open country. Perazite and Perizzite are probably the same word, and both signify <span class= "ital">lowlander, </span>though finally they were driven to the mountains (<a href="/joshua/11-3.htm" title="And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.">Joshua 11:3</a>). As the Canaanites devoted their main strength to a maritime life and trade, they would not attempt to extirpate these natives, but would be content with driving them into the interior. As thus some districts would be occupied by the dominant Canaanites, and others by these aborigines, two such large clans as those of Abram and Lot would find it difficult to discover unoccupied land enough to provide pasture for their cattle. The land must have been very thinly peopled for it to have been possible for them to do this, even when they had arranged to dwell apart.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-8.htm">Genesis 13:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we <i>be</i> brethren.</div>(8, 9) <span class= "bld">Let there be no strife.</span>—It is evident that Lot was beginning to take part with his herdmen, and regard himself as an injured man. But Abram meets him with the utmost generosity, acknowledges that their growth in wealth rendered a separation necessary, and gives him his choice. And Lot accepts it. Instead of feeling that it was due to his uncle’s age and rank to yield to him the preference, he greedily accepts the offer, selects the region that seemed to offer the greatest earthly advantages, but finds in the long run that it has perils which far outweigh its promises of wealth and pleasure.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-10.htm">Genesis 13:10</a></div><div class="verse">And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it <i>was</i> well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, <i>even</i> as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">The plain of Jordan.</span>—This word, <span class= "ital">Ciccar, </span>literally means the <span class= "ital">circuit, </span>or, as it is translated in St. <a href="/matthew/3-5.htm" title="Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,">Matthew 3:5</a>, “the region round about Jordan,” and, according to Mr. Conder (<span class= "ital">Tent Work, </span>ii., p. 14), is the proper name of the Jordan valley, and especially of the plain of Jericho. It is now called the Gnor, or <span class= "ital">depression, </span>and is one of the most remarkable districts in the world, being a deep crack or fissure, with chalk rocks upon the western and sandstone on the eastern side, over which lies limestone, geologically of the age of our green-sand formation. It is thus what is technically called by miners a fault, the formations on the two sides having been displaced by some tremendous convulsion of nature. Most of the valley lies below the level of the Mediterranean, the Sea of Galilee being, by Mr. Conder’s observations, about 682 feet below it, and the Dead Sea no less than 1,292 feet. As the watershed to the south rises to a level of 200 feet above the Mediterranean, al) egress for the waters is thereby cut off, and there are numerous proofs that at some distant period the whole valley, about 150 miles in length, was a succession of large lakes. But even in Abram’s days the Jordan poured down a far larger volume of water than at present; for by the loss of its forests the climate of Palestine has become much more dry than of old, and regions once fertile are now barren. And as the supply of water has become less than that lost by evaporation, the Dead Sea has gradually receded, and left around it arid wastes covered over with incrustations of salt.<p><span class= "bld">As the garden of the Lord.</span>—Mr. Palmer (<span class= "ital">Desert of the Exodus. </span>p. 465) describes the fertility of the Jordan valley as follows:—“Although the immediate vicinity of the Dead Sea is barren enough, the Ghor, or deep depression at the northern and southern extremities, teems with life and vegetation; and even where the cliffs rise sheer up from the water’s edge, streams of fresh water dash down the ravines, and bring the verdure with them almost to the Salt Sea’s brink.” The same writer (p. 480) has also shown conclusively, with Mr. Grove, Dr. Tristram, and others, that Sodom and Gomorrha were at the northern end of the lake, and not, as was previously supposed, at the southern. For the Ciccar is strictly the part of the Ghor near Jericho, and as the Dead Sea is forty-six miles in length, its southern extremity was far away out of sight. Moreover, Lot was standing some miles away to the north-west, on the high ground between Beth-el and Ai, whence “the northern end of the Dead Sea, and the barren tract which extends from the oasis of Jericho to it and the Jordan, are distinctly visible” (Dr. Tristram, <span class= "ital">Sunday at Home, </span>1872, p. 215). This “barren tract” was once the Ciccar, and the traces of ancient irrigation and aqueducts attest its former fertility. It was upon this district, “well watered everywhere,” that Lot gazed so covetously, and its richness is indicated by a double comparison: for, first, it was like Jehovah’s garden in Eden, watered by its four rivers; and next, it was like Egypt, rendered fertile by artificial means.<p><span class= "bld">As thou comest unto Zoar.</span>—This makes no sense whatsoever. <span class= "ital">No </span>person on the route to Egypt could possibly take Zoar in his way; and of the five cities of the plain this was the least like Paradise. The Syriac has preserved the right reading, namely, Zoan. This city, however, was called Zor, or Zar, by the Egyptians (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, viii.</span> 147), and was situated on the eastern side of the Tanaitic branch of the Nile, at the head of a fertile plain, called “the field of Zoan” in <a href="/psalms/78-12.htm" title="Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.">Psalm 78:12</a>. Through this rich and well-watered region Lot had lately travelled in Abram’s company, and the luxuriant vegetation there made it not unworthy to be compared with Paradise.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-11.htm">Genesis 13:11</a></div><div class="verse">Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Lot journeyed east.</span>—This is the word translated “eastward” in <a href="/genesis/2-8.htm" title="And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.">Genesis 2:8</a>, and “from the east” in <a href="/genesis/11-2.htm" title="And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelled there.">Genesis 11:2</a>. Here it can only mean <span class= "ital">towards the east.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-12.htm">Genesis 13:12</a></div><div class="verse">Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched <i>his</i> tent toward Sodom.</div>(12, 13) <span class= "bld">Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">of the Ciccar. </span>Not as yet within their walls, but in their neighbourhood, and evidently with a longing “toward Sodom,” where, in Genesis 19, we find him sitting in the gate as a citizen, and with his tent changed to a house. While, then, Abram continued to lead a hardy life as a stranger upon the bracing hills, Lot sighed for the less self-denying habits of the city; and probably, when he had descended into the Ghor, the enervating climate, which so developed the sensual vices of the people as to make them “sinners before Jehovah” (see on <a href="/genesis/10-9.htm" title="He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: why it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.">Genesis 10:9</a>), disposed Lot also to quit his tent, and yield himself to a luxurious and easy manner of living.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-14.htm">Genesis 13:14</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:</div>(14) <span class= "bld">The Lord said unto Abram.</span>—The departure of Lot was certainly a great grief to Abram; for he lost thereby the companionship of the relative who had shared his abandonment of his country, and whom, probably, in his childless state, he had regarded as his heir. Jehovah, therefore, consoles him by a more definite promise of the possession of the whole land of which he had so generously given Lot the choice, and by the assurance that his own seed should be numerous as the dust of the earth. We may also feel sure that as Lot was deteriorating, so Abram was drawing nearer to God, and walking more closely with Him; and hence the fuller assurance of the Divine blessing.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-17.htm">Genesis 13:17</a></div><div class="verse">Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Walk through the land.</span>—Repeated change of scene is not merely one of the pleasures of the nomad life, but also a necessity; for the uplands, covered with rich herbage in the spring, are usually burnt up in summer, and in the winter are exposed to driving winds and rain-storms. In these journeyings Abram is now to have the tranquil pleasure of feeling that his seed will inherit each beautiful spot that he visits, and that he is taking possession of it, and hallowing it for them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/13-18.htm">Genesis 13:18</a></div><div class="verse">Then Abram removed <i>his</i> tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which <i>is</i> in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">The plain of Mamre.</span>—(Heb., <span class= "ital">oaks of Mamre. </span>See on <a href="/genesis/12-6.htm" title="And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.">Genesis 12:6</a>). Mamre was an Amorite, then living, and as he was confederate with Abram, it was apparently with the consent of the Amorites, and by virtue of the treaty entered into with them, that Abram made this oak-grove one of his permanent stations.<p><span class= "bld">Hebron.</span>—That is, <span class= "ital">alliance. </span>Hebron was perhaps so called from the confederacy formed between Abram and the Amorites, and was apparently the name not only of a city, but of a district, as the oaks of Mamre are described as being “in Hebron.” For its other name, Kirjath-arba, see note on <a href="/genesis/23-2.htm" title="And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.">Genesis 23:2</a>.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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