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1 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. ~ Genesis 13:1-4
Today, we transition in Genesis 13 where everything is new again. This is an echo of the greatest promise God has given sinful man which is found in Jeremiah 31:33 which reads, "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
The back and forth nature of our faith is more normal we realize. All of us struggled with unbelief and doubt; without such a struggle, we have not a substantive faith in God. One of the greatest gifts of God to us in the Bible is its realism. The Bible doesn’t glamorize its main characters. It tells us the truth about each of them. That underscores the fact that it was at our hearts that we were lured away from God, and it is a new heart that we need. Someone once said, "The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings." In fact, in today's passage Abram gets a new beginning. Then in v.5-13 Abram gets a new burden. And then in v.14-18 Abram gets a new blessing.
In Genesis 12 Abram went down to Egypt when life looked bleak. In today's chapter, Abram went up from Egypt. This is an analogy of our walk with the Lord; we have our ups and we have our downs. Involved in the development of our faith in God are the ups and downs of life. In order for our faith to develop we must experience failure in order to be convinced that God's way is really the best for us especially when it does not make sense to us.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South."
In our last study we saw Abram’s journey to Egypt which occurred because of a famine in the land of Canaan. While they were there, Abram had told his wife to tell anyone they met that she was his sister. He did this in order to protect his own life in case someone wanted to kill him so that they could have her because she was an extremely beautiful lady. While in Egypt, Pharaoh’s house eventually took her in so that she could become Pharaoh’s wife. But in the process of this, God afflicted them with plagues to keep her from being taken as Pharoah's wife.
Abram and all who were with him headed northeast out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. Today's passage informs us they went up from Egypt to the South, but that doesn’t mean they headed south. Instead, they travelled to the South of the Land of Canaan which is an area known as the Negev, which means "south."
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold."
Even before he had gone to Egypt, Abram was already wealthy and had servants and goods, but while he was in Egypt his wealth increased even more. The Hebrew term for "very rich" means heaviness. In other words, he was heavy in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
As people, we generally look at others who have a lot of stuff or expensive things as more important than people who don’t have as much. We want to be associated with rich or important people more than those who are less so. If we ever meet someone famous, we want to tell others about it, even years later. But the Bible doesn’t teach this. If a person is rich or famous, it isn’t always an indication of divine favor. And if a person is poor, it is no indication of divine disfavor. The heaviness of wealth, such as Abram had, is something that requires great care or it becomes a burden too heavy to manage and the blessing can easily become a curse.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord."
As soon as Abram went back to the Promised Land, there was the tent and the altar again. There was no tent or altar in Egypt. The tent is a reminder that this world is not our home and the altar is a reminder that our allegiance is in heaven. Back in the Promised Land were Bethel and Ai. Bethel is a picture of heaven and Ai is a picture of hell. Abram lived between these two, both physically and spiritually, and for a second time in the narrative, Abram calls on the name of YHWH. While living on earth, between the only two possible destinations of the after-life, Abram set his eyes and his affections on the Lord.
Despite being a man of great wealth, Abram's eyes were right where they should have been, focused on his God, the God of the Bible. When Abram returned to the Promised Land, there was no mention of famine. All the money, fame, and power in this world will never be of more worth than what the Lord offers us. And if honoring the Lord is all that matters at the end of our lives, and we don’t know what moment will be the end of our lives, then honoring Him is all that matters throughout our lives. Any one of us could die at any moment. If, at this moment, our walk with the Lord is the only thing of true value, then it is the only thing of true value at any moment, because any moment could be our last moment here on this earth. When we pass from this realm, we will pass to the realm of eternity. Only that which is everlasting in its nature will perpetuate into eternity.
