There is just one word there about Lot—“and Lot went with Abram.” That is the key, you might say, to Lot’s life. He was a weaker character than Abram, and he followed his uncle.
When they got into the land that God had promised to give him, Abram found it already inhabited by great and warlike nations—not by one nation, but by a number of nations. What could he do, a solitary man, in that land? Not only was his faith tested by finding the land preoccupied by other strong and hostile nations, but he had not been there a great while before a great famine came upon him. No doubt a great conflict was going on in his breast, and he said to himself:
“What does this mean? Here I am, thirteen hundred miles away from my own land, and surrounded by a warlike people. And not only that, but a famine has come, and I must get out of this country.”
Now, I don’t believe that God sent Abram down to Egypt. I think that He was only testing him, that he might in his darkness and in his trouble be
DRAWN NEARER TO GOD.
I believe that many a time trouble and sorrow are permitted to come to us that we may see the face of God, and be shut up to trust in Him alone. But Abram went down into Egypt, and there he got into trouble by denying his wife. That is the blackest spot on Abram’s character. But when we get into Egypt we will always be getting into trouble.
II
Abram became rich; but we don’t hear of any altar—in fact, we hear of no altar at Haran, and we hear of no altar in Egypt. When he came up with Lot out of Egypt, they had great possessions, and they increased in wealth, and their herds had multiplied, until there was a strife among their herdsmen.
Now it is that Abram’s character shines out again. He might have said that he had a right to the best of everything, because he was the older, and because Lot would probably not have been worth anything if it had not been for Abram’s help. But instead of standing up for his rights, to choose the best of the land, he surrenders them, and says to the nephew:
“Take your choice. If you go to the right hand, I will take the left; or if you prefer the left hand, then I will go to the right.”