Reading for February 16th

Read Genesis 13.1-18 Abram and his nephew Lot separate into different territories.
In verse 3 after the famine is over, Abram and Sarai return to Canaan
where his tent had been at the beginning (12.8).
In verses 8-9 as the elder uncle, Abram could have chosen whatever land he wished.
Instead, Abram graciously allows his young nephew Lot to select land first.
In verse 10 the green and lush plain of the Jordan looked like the garden of the LORD,
an allusion to the garden of Eden in Gen 2.
Like the land of Egypt points forward to Israel's experience in Egypt where the Nile River
provides fertile crops.
But the lush appearance of the area is deceptive: The people of the area are wicked,
great sinners (v. 13).
Genesis 19 will tell the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
This destruction will dramatically change the lush land into a dry desert (19.24-25).
In verse 11 Lot will become the ancestor of two nations that will border Canaan or Israel
on its eastern boundary, Moab and Ammon (19.30-38).
In verses 14-18 the first promise to Abram had not specified the exact land God
would give him (12.2).
But now God invites Abraham to lay claim to a specific piece of real estate
by making a full survey of it.
God also reaffirms that Abram will have descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth (v. 16).
God's promises of land and children become more visible and real to Abram.
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