herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the
whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me: if thou wilt lake the left hand, then I will
go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand,
then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes,
and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well
watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land
of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him
all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and
they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram
dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the
cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the
Lord exceedingly.'--GENESIS xiii. 1-13.

The main lesson of this section is the wisdom of seeking spiritual
rather than temporal good. That is illustrated on both sides.
Prosperity attends Abram and Lot while they think more of obeying
God than of flocks and herds. Lot makes a mistake, as far as this
world is concerned, when he chooses his place of abode for the sake
of its material advantages. But the introductory verses (vv. 1-4)
suggest a question, and seem to teach an important lesson. Was Abram
right in so soon leaving the land to which God had led him, and
going down to Egypt? Was that not taking the bit between his teeth?
He had been commanded to go to Canaan; should he not have stopped
there--famine or no famine--till the same authority commanded him to
leave the land? If God had put him there, should he not have trusted
God to keep him alive in famine? The narrative seems to imply that
his going to Egypt was a failure of faith. It gives no hint of a