We are Brothers

"We are Brothers" (Genesis 13:1-8)

It was a long journey. Abram didn't know what was going to happen to him along the way. Abram returns from Egypt and goes through southern Palestine. Palestine being a mountainous country, the entrance from Egypt through the border; to the south, it is a continuous climb.

I. From the Negev, the south, to Bethel in the north of Palestine (Canaan).

A. Abram was wealthy.

1. They were slow marches and frequent camping because he had to govern his movements by the prospect of water and pastures.

2. (Vs. 3-4) His transfer to Bethel was where he had his altar.

3. Abram invoked the name of Jehovah there. His desire was to revive his faith and piety.

4. He had been in Egypt on a long journey and returning was a long time without the altar; he had lied in Egypt.

5. It was a long caravan with Lot's quarrels and ambitions.

6. He wanted to take it to God and express his humility and regret for his misconduct in Egypt. In addition, his gratitude for his release from dangers and for seizing the first opportunity to return to Palestine.

7. He was leading his family to begin a life of prayer and worship on the altar he had raised.

8. There was strife. Abram's character appears here in a kinder light.

9. Having a strong sense of religion, he feared doing something that could damage his character and bring dishonor over his name.

10. The strife was aggravated by the fact that the Canaanite and the Perizzites then dwelt on the earth. The contest was very dangerous and scandalous.

11. Abram turned the contest into one that was extremely happy.

12. It is better to preserve peace than to let it break.

13. The proposal to stop the contest was made by Abram.

14. Abram: "There is no altercation between us now; we are brothers. the reason!"

15. Anger is calmed with a soft word, so that there can be a reconciliation.

16. If you are a child of God, you are a peacemaker; whatever the reaction of others, yours should be for peace.

17. Lot had to understand that the Canaanites and the Perizzites contends for nothing; but let us not fall into that ourselves, who know better things and aspire to "a better homeland."

18. We should quickly put an end to the strife and altercations that may arise at some point.

19. Do not forget that we are brothers.

20. We are rational creatures who must be guided by reason (ability of the human mind to establish relationships between ideas and draw conclusions or form judgments, understanding).

21. We are men, not raw animals; men, not children.

22. In the end, "we are brothers."

23. Men of the same nature, of the same family, of the same religion and "companions in obedience and companions in patience."

24. Why should we contend for space when there is enough space for both?

25. Abram thus offers him sufficient share of the land they were on.

26. Moreover, he gives him a choice and offers to stick with what he told him:

27. If you go to the left hand, I will go to the right; and if you go to the right, I will go to the left.

28. Abram had every reason in the world for him to choose first, he gives up his right.

29. For peace it is yielded.

30. Lot made his choice.

31. He saw the entire plain of the Jordan where Sodom sat and "that all of it was irrigated."

32. A good residence and in such fertile soil would grow and become rich, was his aspiration.

33. In whatever he chose, he and his family are taken captive.

34. God set fire to the city above his head and forced him to flee for his life to the mountain when he had chosen the plain in search of wealth and pleasure.

35. A carnal choice is a sinful choice and rarely succeeds.

36. Lot was setting up his tents until he reached Sodom.

37. When the war is over, God renews and ratifies the promise, when Lot is gone.

38. After Abram's humble decision to let Lot go and his heart was saddened, that's when God came to him with these words (V. 14) so kind and comforting: "Lift up your eyes now" and all his eyes were seeing would be for Abram.

39. Lot seemed to have paradise (Jehovah's Garden) (V.10), to have better land, but Abram had a better title, "he had the promise."

40. Two assurances God gives him: a good land and a great offspring to enjoy it.

41. A land famous above all because it was to be the Holy Land and the land of Immanuel.

42. He secures this land for himself and his offspring forever.

43. God Himself provides the inheritance of the heirs.

44. Abram stirred his tent when God confirms the promise, in submission to God's will, accommodating himself to the condition of a pilgrim.

45. Second, he built an altar to Jehovah there as a sign of gratitude to God.

46. Abram proved that he "loved" Lot and could be the patriarch of Israel. Amen.