Notes · Gen 13:1–18

The Return, the Separation, and the Land Promise

23 approved team notes on Gen 13:1–18.

Read Gen 13:1–18

Gen 13:1

exegeticalGen 13:1–18

New Testament reading

SaysActs 7:5, 2 Pet 2:7–8, and Heb 11:9 are the three New Testament passages treated as cross-references in this chapter, each from the BSB; no Greek form is claimed.
ImpliesActs 7:5 sits with the promise of the land as still ahead of Abram; Heb 11:9 sits with the walk and the tenting at Mamre.
Uncertain2 Pet 2:7–8 calls Lot righteous and does not decide the choice of 13:10–13; no verdict is given.

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exegeticalGen 13:1–18

Overview of Genesis 13

SaysGenesis 13 has three sections: 13:1–4, the return from Egypt to the altar; 13:5–13, the separation of Abram and Lot; and 13:14–18, the land promise, the walk, and Mamre.
ImpliesThe land-and-seed promise is God’s initiative, unfolded after Lot departs; Abram returns to the altar and to calling on the name; the persons are real; the destruction clause of 13:10 is prolepsis.
UncertainLot’s choice, the sense of miqqedem, the duration of forever, the sense of zera', what elone mamre names, and Abram’s offer remain open; each is set out on its grounds, and no verdict is given here.

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exegeticalGen 13:1–4

The return to the altar

SaysAbram went up from Egypt with his wife, all that was his, and Lot, returned by stages to the place of the altar between Bethel and Ai, and called on the name of the Lord; BSB differs from the Hebrew at the Negev, at possessions, and at the stages, and the Greek has the desert and, at 13:4, the tent.
ImpliesThe return goes back to the altar and the calling of 12:8, so the journey resumes where it broke off; that earlier reading is not reversed.
UncertainHow far 13:1–4 is meant to set the Egypt episode right remains open; Calvin’s checked reading of the return is attributed, and no verdict is given.

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historicalGen 13:1–18

The plain of the Jordan, Sodom, and Mamre: places in Genesis 13

SaysGen 13:10, 18: Lot saw that the whole circuit of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord and the land of Egypt, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; Abram came and settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron.
UncertainThe extent of the circuit of the Jordan, the sites of Sodom and Zoar, and whether Mamre names a tree, a grove, a valley or its owner are open; no ancient Near Eastern text is cited or compared, and the identifications do not fix the meaning.

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historicalGen 13:1–4

Abram’s return from Egypt to the altar, in early reading

SaysGen 13:1–4: Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev with his wife, all he had and Lot, very rich in livestock, silver and gold; he went by stages to Bethel, to the place of the altar he had made at first, and there called on the name of the Lord.
ImpliesSince Abram returns to the place of the altar he had built (13:4; 12:7–8) and calls on the Lord’s name there again, the narrative presents his return from Egypt as a return to the worship of the Lord who had appeared to him.
UncertainHow far 13:1–4 is meant to set the Egypt episode right is open; the early reading does not fix the meaning.

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languageGen 13:1–2

Up from Egypt, heavy with livestock

Saysוַיַּעַל אַבְרָם מִמִּצְרַיִם (“and Abram went up from Egypt”) answers the “went down” of 12:10. הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ is “he and his wife and all that was his”; BSB has “all his possessions.” וְלוֹט עִמּוֹ (“and Lot with him”) comes before the goal, and הַנֶּגְבָּה (“toward the Negev”) stands last; BSB moves “into the Negev” forward. The Greek has “εἰς τὴν ἔρημον” (“into the desert”) in the same last place.
SaysIn 13:2 וְאַבְרָם כָּבֵד מְאֹד is “and Abram was very heavy,” the adjective used of the famine in 12:10; here it means rich (BSB “extremely wealthy”). בַּמִּקְנֶה בַּכֶּסֶף וּבַזָּהָב is “in livestock, in silver and in gold.” The lexicon gives miqneh as “2. specif. of cows, sheep, and goats in herds and flocks” and zahav here as “2. gold as wealth.”

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languageGen 13:1–4

LXX Gen 13:1–4: the desert road and the tent at the altar

Says13:1 has εἰς τὴν ἔρημον where the MT has הַנֶּגְבָּה.
Says13:3 has ὅθεν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον where the MT has לְמַסָּעָיו מִנֶּגֶב.
Says13:4 has τὴν σκηνήν where the MT has בָּרִאשֹׁנָה; the Bodleian Genesis has ἀρχήν.
Impliesἀρχήν stands nearer in sense to בָּרִאשֹׁנָה than σκηνήν; no cause for the difference is assigned.

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Gen 13:3

languageGen 13:3–4

Back by stages to the altar between Bethel and Ai

Saysוַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו מִנֶּגֶב is “and he went by his stages from the Negev”; BSB has “journeyed from place to place.” He went עַד־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־הָיָה שָׁם אהלה בַּתְּחִלָּה, “to the place where his tent had been at the first.” The written form אהלה is read as “his tent,” and the Samaritan text in von Gall’s edition spells it אהלו. Batteḥillah is “at the first, first (or former) time, i.e. first in a series of occurrences.” בֵּין בֵּית־אֵל וּבֵין הָעָי (“between Bethel and Ai”) names the spot of 12:8.
SaysIn 13:4 אֶל־מְקוֹם הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה שָׁם בָּרִאשֹׁנָה is “to the place of the altar that he had made there at the first” (BSB “the site where he had built the altar”). Where the Hebrew has “at the first,” the Greek has “τὴν σκηνήν” (“the tent”). וַיִּקְרָא שָׁם אַבְרָם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה (“and Abram called there on the name of the Lord”) repeats וַיִּקְרָא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה of 12:8, adding “there” and Abram’s name.
ImpliesThe return goes back to the altar and the calling of 12:8, the last act before the descent to Egypt, so the journey resumes where it broke off.

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Gen 13:5

exegeticalGen 13:5–13

The separation of Abram and Lot

SaysLot had flocks, herds, and tents; the land did not bear them to dwell together; there was strife between the herdsmen; the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.
ImpliesThe persons are real.
UncertainThe offer and Lot’s choice are taken up in the notes that follow; source questions are pointed once to the two-accounts note and are not argued again.

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historicalGen 13:5–13

The separation of Abram and Lot in early reading

SaysGen 13:7–13: there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot; Abram, calling them brothers, asked Lot to separate and offered him the choice; Lot chose the whole circuit of the Jordan and journeyed from the east (or eastward); and the men of Sodom were very wicked and sinners against the Lord.
UncertainHow Lot’s choice is to be judged is open (13:10 says the plain was well watered; 2 Pet 2:7–8 calls Lot righteous); whether Abram’s offer shows trust or strains the promise of 12:7, and whether מִקֶּדֶם in 13:11 means “eastward” or “from the east” are open; no lean is taken, and the early readings do not fix the meaning.

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languageGen 13:5–13

LXX Gen 13:5–13: strife, the herdsmen and Lot’s choice

Says13:5 has κτήνη where the MT has וְאֹהָלִים.
Says13:8 has “your herdsmen” before “my herdsmen,” the reverse of וּבֵין רֹעַי וּבֵין רֹעֶיךָ.
Says13:9 has the statement καὶ ἰδοὺ where the MT has the question הֲלֹא.
Says13:10 has ὁ παράδεισος τοῦ θεοῦ for כְּגַן־יְהוָה.
Says13:11 has ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν for מִקֶּדֶם; 13:12 has ἐν Σοδόμοις for עַד־סְדֹם.
UncertainNo lean is taken on whether מִקֶּדֶם means “from the east” or “eastward,” or on Lot’s choice.

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languageGen 13:5–7

“The land did not bear them”

Saysוְגַם־לְלוֹט הַהֹלֵךְ אֶת־אַבְרָם is “and also to Lot, the one going with Abram,” and he had צֹאן־וּבָקָר וְאֹהָלִים (“flocks and herds and tents”). The Greek has “κτήνη” (“cattle”) where the Hebrew has “tents.”
SaysIn 13:6 וְלֹא־נָשָׂא אֹתָם הָאָרֶץ לָשֶׁבֶת יַחְדָּו is “and the land did not bear them, to dwell together”: nasa’ is “lift, carry,” with the land as subject. BSB has “the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together.” כִּי־הָיָה רְכוּשָׁם רָב (“for their goods were many”) is followed by וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לָשֶׁבֶת יַחְדָּו (“and they could not dwell together”), the phrase repeated.
SaysIn 13:7 וַיְהִי־רִיב is “and there was strife” (BSB “discord”), בֵּין רֹעֵי מִקְנֵה־אַבְרָם וּבֵין רֹעֵי מִקְנֵה־לוֹט (“between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock”). וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַפְּרִזִּי אָז יֹשֵׁב בָּאָרֶץ is “and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land”: two singular names for peoples, with one participle. BSB’s “also” is not in the Hebrew. The lexicon calls the Perizzite “of ancient inhab. of Canaan.”
UncertainThe Perizzites are not otherwise identified here. Whether their name is a people’s name or describes dwellers in open country is not settled by the verse. No lean is taken here.

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Gen 13:8

exegeticalGen 13:8–9

Abram’s offer

SaysAbram asks that there be no strife, for they are men, brothers; the Hebrew order of the pairs is not the BSB order, and at the herdsmen BSB follows the Greek, not the Hebrew; he offers Lot the choice of left or right.
UncertainThe offer may show generosity and trust in the promise of 12:7, or it may sit in tension with that promise; Calvin, Keil, Driver, and Skinner are attributed, and no verdict is given.

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languageGen 13:8–9

“Men, brothers” and the offer of left or right

Saysאַל־נָא תְהִי מְרִיבָה is “please let there be no strife,” a noun from the root of “strife” in 13:7. The Hebrew order is בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ (“between me and you”) and וּבֵין רֹעַי וּבֵין רֹעֶיךָ (“and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen”). BSB reverses both pairs: “between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen.” The Greek keeps “me and you” but has “τῶν ποιμένων σοῦ” (“your herdsmen”) first. כִּי־אֲנָשִׁים אַחִים אֲנָחְנוּ is “for we are men, brothers” (BSB “we are kinsmen”): Lot is Abram’s brother’s son (12:5), so “brothers” means near kin.
SaysIn 13:9 הֲלֹא כָל־הָאָרֶץ לְפָנֶיךָ asks “is not all the land before you?”; the Greek makes it a statement, “καὶ ἰδοὺ” (“and see”). הִפָּרֶד נָא מֵעָלָי is “separate, please, from me.” אִם־הַשְּׂמֹאל וְאֵימִנָה וְאִם־הַיָּמִין וְאַשְׂמְאִילָה is “if the left, then I will go right; and if the right, then I will go left”: two verbs formed from “right” and “left” (the lexicon: “=go to the left”).
UncertainThe offer may show generosity and trust in the promise of 12:7, or it may sit in tension with that promise, since Abram puts the choice of land in Lot’s hands. The words state the offer and do not weigh it. No lean is taken here.

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Gen 13:10

exegeticalGen 13:10–13

Lot’s choice and Sodom

SaysLot saw that the whole kikkar of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you come to Zoar; he chose it and set out miqqedem, and tented as far as Sodom; the men of Sodom were wicked.
ImpliesThe destruction clause is prolepsis, looking ahead to Genesis 19 from the narrator’s day; Sodom, the plain, and Zoar are real places; identifications and dates are not settled here.
UncertainSkinner’s gloss view is his; miqqedem may be from the east or eastward; how the choice is to be judged is open (the plain was well watered; 2 Pet 2:7–8 calls Lot righteous); no unnamed view is built from the watering alone, and no verdict is given.

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languageGen 13:10–11

The kikkar of the Jordan and Lot’s choice

Saysוַיִּשָּׂא־לוֹט אֶת־עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא (“and Lot lifted up his eyes and saw”) takes in אֶת־כָּל־כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן, “all the kikkar of the Jordan”: kikkar is a “round” or circle (BSB “plain of the Jordan”). כִּי כֻלָּהּ מַשְׁקֶה is “that all of it was a well-watered place” (the lexicon on the suffix: “the whole of it”). The Hebrew order is לִפְנֵי שַׁחֵת יְהוָה אֶת־סְדֹם וְאֶת־עֲמֹרָה (“before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah”), then כְּגַן־יְהוָה כְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם (“like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt”), then בֹּאֲכָה צֹעַר (“as you come to Zoar”). BSB moves “all the way to Zoar” forward and puts the destruction last. The Greek has “ὡς ὁ παράδεισος τοῦ θεοῦ” (“like the paradise of God”).
SaysIn 13:11 וַיִּבְחַר־לוֹ לוֹט אֵת כָּל־כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן is “and Lot chose for himself all the kikkar of the Jordan,” וַיִּסַּע לוֹט מִקֶּדֶם “and Lot set out miqqedem,” וַיִּפָּרְדוּ אִישׁ מֵעַל אָחִיו “and they separated, each from his brother.”
ImpliesThe destruction clause looks ahead to Gen 19 from the narrator’s day; Sodom, the plain and Zoar are real places.
UncertainSkinner holds that the clause “might very well be a gloss.” Miqqedem may be “eastward,” as the lexicon takes it with a verb of motion, or “from the east,” as the Greek “ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν”; BSB has “toward the east.” No lean is taken here.

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Gen 13:12

languageGen 13:12–13

Tenting as far as Sodom

Saysאַבְרָם יָשַׁב בְּאֶרֶץ־כְּנָעַן (“Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan”) and וְלוֹט יָשַׁב בְּעָרֵי הַכִּכָּר (“and Lot dwelt in the cities of the kikkar”) each put the name first, setting the two side by side. וַיֶּאֱהַל עַד־סְדֹם is “and he tented as far as Sodom” (BSB “pitched his tent toward Sodom”): the verb is made from “tent” (the lexicon: “tent, move tent fr. place to place”). The Greek has “ἐν Σοδόμοις” (“in Sodom”).
SaysIn 13:13 וְאַנְשֵׁי סְדֹם רָעִים וְחַטָּאִים לַיהוָה מְאֹד is “and the men of Sodom were evil and sinners against the Lord, greatly” (BSB “wicked, sinning greatly against the Lord”). The lexicon lists this use as “sinners against.”
UncertainLot’s move may be read as a worldly choice made with Sodom in view, or as a search for pasture with no fault named; 13:13 stands right after it without comment. No lean is taken here.

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Gen 13:14

exegeticalGen 13:14–17

The land promise after Lot departs

SaysAfter Lot had separated, the Lord told Abram to look in four directions, promised all the land he saw to him and to his seed forever, and told him to walk the land in its length and breadth; the Greek adds a further forever at 13:17, which the Hebrew lacks.
ImpliesThis speech unfolds the grant of 12:7 after Lot departs; the promise is God’s initiative; the 13:14–17 verbal xref covers what this speech adds and is not a reversal of the 12:7 xref.
UncertainCalvin, Driver, and Skinner are attributed on the timing and on the later-hand view; source questions are pointed once and not argued again.

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historicalGen 13:14–18

The land promise after Lot’s departure, in early reading

SaysGen 13:14–17: after Lot had separated, the Lord told Abram to look in every direction, promised all the land he saw to him and to his offspring forever, promised offspring like the dust of the earth, and told him to walk through the land in its length and breadth.
UncertainWhether “offspring” (13:15–16) is collective, singular, or both, and how long עַד־עוֹלָם (“forever”) runs in this grant, are open; no lean is taken, and the early readings do not fix the meaning.

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languageGen 13:14–18

LXX Gen 13:14–18: sand for dust, the added “forever” and the oak of Mamre

Says13:14 has θεὸς for וַיהוָה and λίβα for וָנֶגְבָּה.
Says13:16 has ἄμμον, “sand,” where the MT has כַּעֲפַר, “dust.”
Says13:17 ends καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, which the MT and the Cotton and Bodleian Genesis lack.
Says13:18 has the singular τὴν δρῦν for the plural בְּאֵלֹנֵי.
UncertainNo lean is taken on the seed, on how long “forever” runs, or on what the oak of Mamre was.

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languageGen 13:14–18

Look, walk, and settle at Mamre

Saysוַיהוָה אָמַר (“and the Lord said”) puts the subject first, not the usual narrative form; then אַחֲרֵי הִפָּרֶד־לוֹט מֵעִמּוֹ (“after Lot had separated from him”). שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה (“lift up, please, your eyes and see”) answers Lot’s look in 13:10, now in all four directions.
SaysIn 13:15 לְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה וּלְזַרְעֲךָ עַד־עוֹלָם is “to you I will give it, and to your seed, until forever.” In 13:16 וְשַׂמְתִּי אֶת־זַרְעֲךָ כַּעֲפַר הָאָרֶץ is “and I will make your seed like the dust of the earth” (the Greek has “ὡς τὴν ἄμμον τῆς γῆς”, “as the sand”). 13:17 has קוּם הִתְהַלֵּךְ בָּאָרֶץ לְאָרְכָּהּ וּלְרָחְבָּהּ (“arise, walk about in the land, its length and its breadth”). In 13:18 וַיֶּאֱהַל אַבְרָם וַיָּבֹא וַיֵּשֶׁב is “and Abram tented and came and dwelt” בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא, a plural: “by the terebinths of Mamre” (BSB “Oaks of Mamre”). The Samaritan text in von Gall has באלוני, plural too; the Greek has “τὴν δρῦν” (singular).
UncertainOn “forever,” Calvin reads “that period which was brought to a close by the advent of Christ,” and Keil the promise “exalted from its temporal form to its true essence”; Augustine weighs it against “to eternity,” and Skinner doubts that it adds anything to 12:7. No lean is taken here.
UncertainKeil and Driver take Mamre as the owner of the trees (14:13); Skinner holds that Abram “inaugurates the local sanctuary there”; Calvin renders “plain” and later “oak, or valley,” and Augustine “oak.” No lean is taken here.

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Gen 13:15

exegeticalGen 13:15–16

Seed, dust, and forever

SaysThe Lord promises the land to Abram and to his seed forever, and will make that seed like the dust of the earth; BSB has offspring, the Targum has sons, and the Greek has sand for dust.
UncertainZera' may be collective, singular, or both, as already treated at Genesis 12; on forever, Calvin, Keil, Augustine, and Skinner are attributed, and no verdict is given.

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Gen 13:18

exegeticalGen 13:18

Mamre and the altar

SaysAbram tented, came, and settled by the terebinths of Mamre at Hebron, a plural in the Hebrew and in the Samaritan text, and built an altar there; BSB has Oaks of Mamre, and the Greek has a singular oak.
UncertainMamre may name a landmark, an owner (14:13), a plain or valley, or, in Skinner’s view, a local sanctuary; all views are attributed, and no verdict is given.

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