Now if you have your Bible, turn with us to the 12th Chapter of the Book of Genesis.  And we’re putting in today at Verse 13.  We’re looking at Abraham, and he’ll be a subject all the way through the Bible, by the way.  More is said about Abraham probably than any other in the Scripture.

Now we found that Abraham went into the land after he dilly-dallied in the land of Haran, and God appeared to him when he got into the land.  But he didn’t stay there.  Although he went up and down the lands, saw that it was a good land, and it’s not like it is today, Friends.  I’d have you know that because a great many people can’t understand how it could be called a land of milk and honey.  We’ll see that when we get to Deuteronomy what happened to the land.  But it was a glorious land in that day.  

ABRAHAM’S LAPSE OF FAITH

But a famine came, and this man Abraham goes down to Egypt, and he recognized he’d get in difficulty because of the beauty of his wife.  And we read here in Verse 12:

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.  Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.  (Genesis 12:10-13)

“Say, I pray the, thou art my sister,” by the way, was a half lie.  Half lie is sometimes is worse than a whole lie, and this time it was certainly to deceive.  And Abram said to his wife:  “Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.”  

DEAD SEA SCROLLS CONFIRMATION

Now they have found, as many of you know, what are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls over in Qumran along by the Dead Sea in caves there.  And one set they got, they couldn’t unroll it because it was so fragile, and it’d been wrapped so long, the leather, they were afraid it would just shatter and come to pieces.  They could see one name, Lamech, so they called it part of the Book of Lamech and said this was one of the apocryphal books of the Bible.  Boy, were they wrong.  

The nation Israel bought it and, in the museum there, they began to moisten it and soften it, and they were able to unroll it.  And what they found out was that it was the 12th Chapter, 13th Chapter, 14th Chapter, and 15th Chapter of the Book of Genesis, of all things—but not the text that we have; rather an interpretation of it.  And here in Chapter 12, in that part of it, why it tells about the beauty of Sarah, actually describing her features and telling about how beautiful she was.  Well, I think that merely confirms what the Word of God said.  Pharaoh certainly wanted her.

And then when you get to Chapter 13, God told Abram to walk through the land and the length and the breadth thereof, and this scroll gives a first person account by Abraham of his journey.  And the very interesting thing is that that’s not Scripture, but it merely confirms Scripture, and it also confirms the fact that that land was just like God said it was.  The eyewitness apparently back in those days was able to discover it.  And whether Abram ever gave a first-hand description, I don’t know, but the Word of God doesn’t say that; God says it.  And that ought to be enough for us, and God puts it on that kind of basis.

ENCOUNTER WITH PHAROAH

And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.

And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.  (Genesis 12:14-17)

Now you remember the encounter that he had down in the Land of Egypt.  The thing was that Pharaoh did take Sarah, and, as you well know, in that day they’d have to go through a period of preparation for a woman to become the wife of a ruler.  You find that in the Book of Esther.  And during that period, God appeared to Pharaoh and said, “Don’t you take that woman; that’s another man’s wife.”  And in Verse 18 of the 12th Chapter: 

And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.  And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.  (Genesis 12:18-20)

So God is overruling, but God does not appear to him in the Land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 13

ABRAM AND LOT SEPARATE

Now in Chapter 13, we see the return of Abram from the land down there, and what we have here is Abram and Lot leave Egypt and return to the Land of Promise, and Lot here separates from Abram and goes to Sodom.  And what happened?

Well, God appears to Abraham for the third time.  As long as he’s in the Land of Egypt and as long as he’s still holding on to Lot, God does not appear to him.  The minute that he comes back to the Land and there’s a separation from Lot, God appears to him.  Now I’ll begin reading in Chapter 13:1-2.

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

Now don’t miss this next verse.  Verse 2 of Genesis 13:

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Again, I repeat he was the John D. Rockefeller of that day.  And he was a very wealthy man at this time.

And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, 

That means he went way north of Jerusalem.

…unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;

Now you see he had come to the south, around Hebron.  Now he goes north of Jerusalem to Bethel.

Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

This man is a man, you see, that though he may stumble and fall, he comes back to God.  How wonderful it is to have a God we can come back to!

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.  (Genesis 12:3-5)

And Lot did pretty well also, you see, down in the Land of Egypt.

And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.  And there was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.  (Genesis 13:6-7)

May I say the Word of God’s a marvelous word if you just only let it speak to you.  And will you notice this.  Abram actually got two things in the land of Egypt that caused him untold grief.  One was riches.  The second was a little Egyptian maid by the name of Hagar.  We’ll see that later.  But here he got riches, and it causes him and Lot now to have to separate.  There’s strife between them.  

And then did you notice this statement: The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwell in the land?  The very interesting thing is Abram’s herdmen and Lot’s herdman are fighting, and here come Abram and Lot and they disagree.  And then the Canaanite whispers over to the Perizzite and says, “Look at them.  Ha.  Fighting again.  They came into this land, built an altar to the living and true God.  My, how we looked up to Abram.  And we thought when he first came here he was such a wonderful man, and we knew he was honest.  Knew he was truthful.  But look at him now.  Look at the strife they’re having.”  And I don’t think the Perizzite and the Canaanite were very well impressed by Abram and Lot at this time.  

Let me say this to you.  I may step on somebody’s toes.  I don’t know your town.  I don’t know where you live, but in your town if you’re like the other towns and the town I came from, the Methodists and the Baptists, and the Presbyterians, they just didn’t get along.  And they were fighting.  And sometimes in the church today there are these internal fights, and the unsaved man on the outside, he knows about it.  May I say to you…He says, “If that’s Christianity, I don’t want any of it.  I can get a fight outside; I don’t need to join the church to get a fight.”  The Lord Jesus says to the church today, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you’re fundamental and you organize a church.”  OH NO.  He said, “By this shall all men know that you’re my disciples if you have love one for another.”  (John 13:35)  The Perizzite and the Canaanite, those old rascals, they know when you’re fighting on the inside, Friends.  

That’s the reason I had an uncle that never came to the Lord.  My aunt used to weep and say, “Oh, he won’t listen.”  Well, you know why?  Well, with her lived a sister, another aunt.  I used to go there sometimes Sunday for dinner.  You know what we had for dinner?  “Roast preacher.”  One of my aunts went to the Methodist Church; the other went to Presbyterian Church, and, oh boy, did they try to outdo each other, talking about the preacher and the fights that were going on.  I used to watch my uncle.  He’d just sit there and eat.  When he’d get up, he’d leave, go down to his club on Sunday afternoon.  He’d come home that evening; he wasn’t drunk, but he sure had several drinks.  May I say to you, they never won him.  A lot of people are not being won today, my Friend, because of the strife that’s inside the church.  This is an interesting thing right here.  “The Canaanite and the Perizzite they dwell in the land.”  And they still dwell in the land; they’re right near your church, by the way.

Now will you notice (in Genesis 13:8-9):

And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, 

Now it’s Abram, by the way, that makes the division.  Abram’s a great man.  Listen to him.

…I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my 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 take 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 it took a big man to tell him that.  In other words, Lot could choose what he wanted and Abram would take what was left.  Verse 10-12:

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.

Now that was a beautiful spot in those days.

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.

That’s interesting.  All his days in that land when he was with Abram, at night he’d just push back the flap of his tent and look out and say, “Mrs. Lot, isn’t that a beautiful spot down there?”  In the morning, he’d get up and he said, “My, it looks so attractive down there.”  And the grass is always greener in the other pasture.  And when the day came when he could make a decision and go, you know the direction he went.  No man falls suddenly.  It always takes place over a period of time.  You begin to lift the flap of your tent and you pitch your tent toward Sodom, and that’s the beginning.  Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw the plain, and he heads in that direction.  That’s the biggest mistake he ever made in his life.  Now he didn’t know this; Verse 13:

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

We’ll see what happened to Lot and Mrs. Lot and the family down in Sodom later on.  

GOD REAFFIRMS PROMISE TO ABRAM

Now Verse 14-15.

And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, 

Now here is the third appearance of God to this man.

Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

This is the land God’s going to give him.  Now, as God continues to appear to him, and later on to the other patriarchs, God puts sideboards around that land.  In other words, he put a border to it.  And told them exactly the land; He was very specific about it.  

And, by the way, may I just interject this.  That ought to get rid of that song, “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.”  Ha.  If there ever was a song that needed NOT to be sung at a funeral, that’s the one. “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.”  Can you imagine Abraham now looking northward, eastward, southward, and westward and singing “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere” when he was standing right in the middle of it?  May I say to you, Friends, Heaven is a real place…not a beautiful isle of somewhere; a very definite place.  The Word of God is quite specific.  And those of you that were with us through the Book of Revelation know that actually God made it so specific, he put the boundary right around it, and we can know something about it.  God does not deal with that which was theoretical, but that which is actual and real.  Now God says:

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.  (Genesis 13:16)

Now you’ll notice what God does for this man.  He now labels the land, tells him he’s in it.  He also confirms again the fact that he’s going to have a tremendous offspring, which he has had.  Now he says in Verse 17:

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

And the very interesting thing is that this scroll, Dead Sea Scroll, they called it the Book of Lamech, and it wasn’t that at all.  And actually it describes this particular section of Genesis, and here it says, Abraham was to walk through the land in the length and in the breadth thereof, and the scroll gives a first person account by Abraham of the land; just what it was.  It was a wonderful land in that day.  Now, Verse 18.

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.

And here he goes again.  He’s quite an altar builder.  You could always tell where Abraham had been.  He left a testimony.  They’ve left a footprint on the moon.  They’ve left a flag up there and a little motto:  We’ve come in peace.  But they didn’t leave the Bible, the Word of God.  Well, it wouldn’t have done any good anyway, but it reveals the difference in the age and the thinking of the period in which we live today.  The important thing to Abraham was an altar to the Lord, and that’s exactly what he built.  And Mamre means “richness” and Hebron means “communion”.  That’s a marvelous place to dwell.  I think that you can locate that tree where Abraham was, by the way, and the well that’s there.  I’ve been there.  It’s quite an interesting spot between Hebron and Mamre, and that is where Abraham dwelt.  It’s a good place to be in the place of richness and then a place of communion with God, and this seems to have been his home.  That’s where he’s buried today.  This is the place that he wanted to go. 

CHAPTER 14

CAPTURE OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Now that brings us to Chapter 14 of Genesis.  And here in Chapter 14 we find the first war, and Abraham delivers Lot, and we find the first priest; Abraham blessed by Melchizedek.  These are the two great truths that are here.  And in one sense, this is one of the most remarkable chapters.  It doesn’t seem to fit in with the story at all.  You feel like it could be left out; that there’s continuity without it.  But may I say again, it’s one of the most important chapters that we have in the Book of Genesis.  And we have in this chapter a very remarkable account of two things:  the first war and then this first priest, Melchizedek.

Now let’s come to the first here, because this is extremely important.  

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; that these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.  (Genesis 14:1-2)

This’s a very good exercise as you can see in pronunciation.  But this is a very important chapter.  Now we find here that, first of all, this is a historical document.  The kings of the east defeat the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah; that’s what we have here in the first eleven verses.  And for quite a few years, the critical, radical scholars rejected this.  They said that these men do not appear in history at all; that they are not in secular history and that this was a rather ridiculous story.  Did you know today that these men have been found on monuments, and they’ve been found on tablets and that they did exist!  In fact, Amraphel is the Hammurabi of secular history.  And note this, because it’s very important to get this before us.  This is tremendously significant that we have here.

Now we find that there was war, and this is the first war that’s mentioned.  So you see mankind began early in making war.  And now we find that: 

All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.  Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.  (Genesis 14:3-4)

Now that was what brought the kings of the east, and they came against Sodom and Gomorrah.  Now this is nothing in the world but a historical record, and I’m not intending to read this verse by verse here, and you probably noticed that we’ve pretty much read the first part of Genesis verse-by-verse and have dealt with it.  That is something I wish we could do for the entire Bible, but there are times when we will pass over sections, and we’re doing that right here.

Now the kings of the east, they come and they overcome the kings that have joined together around the Dead Sea, the lower part of it.  And they’re on their way to take back these as captives.  Now if you have a map, and it’s nice to have a map in the back of your Bible to turn to, you’ll find out they almost went by Abraham’s tent in order to leave the Dead Sea, go back up through the Fertile Crescent, and then go back to the land that they came from in the east.  

Now we’re going to follow that next time, because we’re going to see Abraham doing a very remarkable thing as he, with a surprise attack, rescues Lot.  Until next time, may God richly bless you.