“And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the south.”
His great riches gotten in Egypt, hindreth him not to follow his vocation.
“And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai,”
He calleth the place by that name which was after given unto it, Gen. 28:19 .
“Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together.”
This incommodity came by their riches, which brake friendship and as it were the bound of nature. Gen. 36:7
“Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.”
Who seeing their contention, might blaspheme God and destroy them.
“Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren.”
He cutteth off the occasion of contention: therefore the evil ceaseth.
“Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.”
Abram resigneth his own right to buy peace.
“And Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor.”
Which was in Eden, Gen. 2:10 .
“And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other.”
This was done by God’s providence, that only Abram and his seed might dwell in the land of Canaan.
“And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord beyond measure.”
Lot thinking to get paradise, found hell.
“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west.”
The Lord comforted him, lest he should have taken thought for the departure of his nephew.
“All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.”
Meaning, a long time, and till the coming of Christ as Exod. 12:14 and 21:6; Deut. 15:17 , and spiritually this is referred to the true children of Abram, born according to the promise, and not according to the flesh, which are heirs of the true land of Canaan. Gen. 12:7 ; Gen. 15:7 , 11 ; Gen. 26:4 ; Deut. 34:4