The big picture
Abram returns from Egypt to the place of his earlier altar. Prosperity creates conflict between his herdsmen and Lot's. Their separation contrasts visible advantage with a promise that cannot yet be possessed.
Central truth
Abram offers Lot first choice to end their household conflict, and after Lot chooses the watered plain near Sodom, the LORD renews Abram's promise of land and innumerable descendants.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Genesis 13:1: “And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.”
Slow down at the turning point
Genesis 13:9: “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…”
Keep this word trail visible
Abram, land, LORD, herdmen, plain, cattle
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Genesis 13:1-4
Back to the altar
Begin with Abram's return from Egypt, still carrying the wealth gained there and with Lot beside him. Show that he goes back "Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first" and calls on the name of the LORD again. After the failure of 12:10-20, he returns to where he had worshipped. Teach this first because it frames the chapter as a fresh start in faith after a fall, and because the wealth he brings is about to create the next problem.
Genesis 13:5-7
Too much, too close
Read the cause of the strife plainly. Two rich households, a land that could not carry both, and herdsmen fighting over pasture and water. Explain "herdmen" as the hired shepherds. Note the comment about the Canaanite and the Perizzite: they are watching. Teach this step so the group sees a real conflict with a material cause, not a fault in one man's character. Many conflicts in families and churches have such causes, and the text takes them seriously.
Genesis 13:8-13
Abram's offer and Lot's choice
Read Abram's words slowly and point out the "I pray thee", the word "brethren" and the open offer of first choice. Explain that as the elder he could have chosen first. Then read Lot's look at the plain, and explain the comparisons, the garden of the LORD and the land of Egypt. Show that Lot moves toward the cities of the plain and "pitched his tent toward Sodom". Then read verse 13. The warning is given before the choice is finished, so the reader sees what Lot does not seem to weigh.
Genesis 13:14-18
Lift up thine eyes
Read God's word to Abram, which comes "after that Lot was separated from him". Abram, who gave up the first choice, is now told to look in all four directions and hear that all of it is promised to him and to his seed. Explain "as the dust of the earth" as countless descendants. Then read verse 17's command to walk the land and verse 18's response. Teach this last so the group sees that what Abram gave up in generosity, God answered with promise, without turning the sequence into a reward formula.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Abram was rewarded with the whole land because he was generous, so if we give, God will give us more."
The promise of the land was given long before, in 12:7, so God is renewing it, not paying for Abram's generosity. Verse 14 comes after the separation, and the timing is meaningful, but the chapter does not present a transaction. Generosity is good in itself; teach it without making it a technique to force God's hand.
"Lot was a wicked man who chose Sodom because he loved sin."
The text says Lot saw a well-watered plain and chose it. It says the men of Sodom were wicked, not that Lot chose them for their wickedness. Second Peter 2:7-8 calls Lot "just Lot" and says he was vexed by what he saw. His choice was unwise and dangerous, judged by sight alone, but the chapter does not give us all his motives.
"The land that looks best is always a trap; God's people should choose the worse option."
Abram's land was not bad, and Lot's was not wrong because it was fertile. The plain was beautiful "even as the garden of the LORD". The problem was the moral neighbourhood around it (13:13) and that Lot's choice seems to weigh only what he could see. Teach learners to weigh both the visible benefits and the setting, not to distrust good things.
Learning objectives
- Identify the material cause of the herdsmen's conflict.
- Trace Abram's return to his earlier altar.
- Explain the kinship appeal behind his offer to Lot.
- Contrast Lot's sight with the warning about Sodom.
- Compare Lot's looking with God's command to Abram to look.
- Distinguish the renewed promise from a universal reward formula.
Teacher preparation
- Read Genesis 12:8 and 20 to connect Abram's return, possessions, and earlier altar.
- Explain "brethren" in 13:8 as the kinship of uncle and nephew, clarified by 12:5.
- Sketch the broad contrast between Canaan and the Jordan plain; avoid claiming the exact position of each tent.
- Mark "lifted up his eyes" in 13:10 and God's invitation to look in 13:14.
- Prepare to distinguish the passage's explicit warning about Sodom from assumptions about everything Lot already knew.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate Genesis 13:6–9: the land cannot support both households together, and Abram offers separation to prevent strife between kin.
Scripture-supported
Compare Genesis 13:14–16 with 12:7; the land and descendants promise is renewed after the separation.
Strong inference
Set Genesis 13:10–13 beside 14–17: the paired acts of looking contrast attractive visible resources with land received through God's promise.
Possible or traditional reading
Treat the claim that Abram's offer directly caused God to reward him in Genesis 13:14–17 as an interpretation, not an explicit stated transaction.
Limit
State that Genesis 13:10–13 does not disclose all Lot's motives or establish that every materially attractive option is morally corrupt.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why can two wealthy households no longer live together peacefully?
What a good answer contains
Because of their success. Abram "was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (13:2), Lot "had flocks, and herds, and tents" (13:5), and "the land was not able to bear them" (13:6). The herdsmen quarrel (13:7), and the Book of Genesis adds that the Canaanite and the Perizzite were in the land too, so space was already short. A good answer names the real resource problem: too many animals for the grazing and water. A weak answer reduces it to bad attitudes, when the strife has a cause that needs a practical answer.
Show teacher guidance
Use verses 5–7 for livestock, land capacity, and competing herdsmen. This conflict needs more than a slogan about being nicer.
2. What does Abram call Lot when he proposes separation?
What a good answer contains
"Brethren": "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren" (13:8). Lot is his nephew (12:5), but Abram uses the language of brothers, which puts their kinship ahead of the dispute. A good answer sees that Abram names the relationship before he names the solution. A weak answer misses the word or reads it as a literal claim that Lot was his brother.
Show teacher guidance
Locate "brethren" in verse 8 and the uncle-nephew relationship in 12:5. His appeal puts kinship before competition over grazing.
3. What does Abram actually offer Lot?
What a good answer contains
The first choice. "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" (13:9). The older man, the one to whom God had promised the land, lets the younger choose and promises to take whatever is left. A good answer sees the generosity and the risk. It also notices that Abram asks rather than commands, with "I pray thee" twice. A weak answer says Abram ordered Lot away.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 9 carefully: a first choice of direction and Abram's willingness to take the other. Do not invent a command requiring Lot's obedience.
4. What makes the Jordan plain attractive and troubling at once?
What a good answer contains
Verse 10 says the plain "was well watered every where", "even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt". It looks like Eden and like the rich country Abram had just left. But the Book of Genesis adds two warnings: it was so "before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah" (13:10), and "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly" (13:13). A good answer holds the beauty and the danger together. A weak answer says Lot simply chose the best land and leaves it there.
Show teacher guidance
Pair its water in verse 10 with Sodom's wickedness in verse 13. The green view does not disclose the whole neighborhood.
5. How are the two acts of looking different?
What a good answer contains
Lot "lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan" (13:10), and chose by what he saw. Then the LORD tells Abram, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look", in every direction, "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it" (13:14-15). Lot looks and takes; Abram looks and receives a promise. A good answer sees the deliberate echo and the difference between choosing by sight and receiving by God's word. A weak answer misses that both men lift up their eyes.
Show teacher guidance
Compare verses 10 and 14–17. Lot selects what he sees; Abram is invited to see what God promises to give.
6. What does Abram do after receiving the renewed promise?
What a good answer contains
He moves. "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" (13:18). God had told him to "walk through the land" (13:17), and he walks, still in a tent, and worships. A good answer sees that the promise is not yet possession: Abram lives in the land as a sojourner with an altar. A weak answer says he took ownership of the land at once.
Show teacher guidance
Read verses 17–18 for movement to Mamre and another altar. Do not replace continued tent life with immediate ownership of the entire land.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask learners to assess a fictional opportunity using both visible benefits and the ethical environment, not appearance alone.
Relationships and community
Design a fair solution for two fictional teams sharing insufficient space; include an actual resource adjustment rather than only goodwill.
Generosity without bargaining
Discuss how to make a peace-seeking concession without treating it as a technique that forces God to provide a larger reward.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Back to the altar
The strife
Read 13:5-7. Take question one and list the causes on the board.
Abram's offer
Read 13:8-9. Take questions two and three and confusion one.
Lot's look
Read 13:10-13. Take question four and confusions two and three.
God's look
Read 13:14-18. Take questions five and six. Read the key verse together and give out the handout.
90 minutes
Shared space
Ask about a time two families or groups had to share too little space. Read 13:1-7.
Real causes
Take question one. Use the second application to design a fair solution for two teams.
We be brethren
Read 13:8-9 twice. Take questions two and three.
Lot lifted up his eyes
Read 13:10-13 and 2 Peter 2:7-8. Take question four and confusions two and three.
Abram lifts up his eyes
Read 13:14-17 and 12:7. Take question five and confusion one.
Walking the land
Read 13:18. Take question six and the third application.
Choosing well
Use the first application on weighing an opportunity by more than appearance.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for peace in one conflict you know.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Give two children a pile of toy animals and a small mat that cannot hold them all. Let them work out a fair way to share. Then tell how Abram let Lot choose first because they were family. Show a picture of green land and a picture of a city, and say Lot only looked at the green. Teach that God saw Abram and made him a promise.
Youth
Ask young people about arguments over space, phones or rooms at home. Read 13:5-9 and talk about how Abram kept the relationship first. Then compare Lot's choice by sight with Abram's promise from God. Ask what they choose by appearance alone, such as friends, schools or jobs, and what else they should weigh.
Adults
Adults deal with resource conflicts in families, inheritances, businesses and churches. Spend time on the practical wisdom of 13:8-9. Discuss how to weigh an attractive opportunity with a dangerous setting. Treat Lot fairly with 2 Peter 2:7-8. Help the group avoid the reward formula, while still seeing God's renewed promise in 13:14-17.
One to one
Read the chapter and ask whether there is a strife in their life that needs a practical answer, not only goodwill. If they are facing a choice, read 13:10-13 together and talk about what they can see and what they cannot. End with 13:14-15 and the reminder that God's promises do not depend on our getting the best land first.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Genesis 13:1-18
The passage in brief
In Genesis 13 Abram returns from Egypt with Lot, and both are very rich. Their herdsmen quarrel because the land cannot support them both. Abram tells Lot they should not fight because they are family, and lets Lot choose where to go. Lot chooses the well-watered Jordan plain near Sodom, whose people are wicked. Then God tells Abram to look in every direction and promises to give him all the land and countless descendants. Abram moves to Hebron and builds an altar.
A verse to keep
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
Genesis 13:8 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why did the herdsmen of Abram and Lot quarrel?
How did Abram try to solve the problem in 13:8-9?
What did God promise Abram after Lot left?
This week
In one disagreement this week, put the relationship first and offer a fair way forward.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
