So Abram’s been cast out of Egypt by Pharaoh with all of his stuff, his wife, and his nephew Lot. Oh yeah, and Abram is loaded. He has piles of cattle and silver and gold. He’s a pretty wealthy man to say the least. 

 

Abram journeyed across the land, camping along the way. He travelled through the Negev as he moved into Bethel and then made a pit stop between Bethel and Ai—the place where he had built his first altar to God. There he prayed to God.

 

Now we haven’t heard a whole lot about Lot quite yet, but in Genesis 13:8-9 we discover that much like his uncle, he is very rich. This creates a problem for Abram and Lot because there is not enough land to support the two. There are quarrels going on between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds and things are becoming hectic.

 

Abram talks with Lot about this situation and proposes that they split up. After all, there is plenty of land out there. “If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left,” he tells him.

 

Lot took a look towards the east at the land of Jordan. It was well watered and vast plain—a great place to keep his possessions! Lot decided to head in that direction and set up his tent next to Sodom. Um…….. This is not a good place to hang out, incase you don’t know the story coming in a couple chapters. But we’ll get to that a little further down the road. But for now be aware that the people who live in Sodom are very evil and quite the sinners.

 

So now the two have parted ways and Abram moved into Canaan. God spoke to him and said, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its lengthy and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.”

 

And so Abram did. He settled in Hebron by the Oaks of Mamre and once again built an altar to God. Again, we see that he does this quite often and many times after God has talked to him audibly or made Himself known to Abram in some way, shape, or form as He just did.