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†. Gen 13:10 . . Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was
the whole plain of the Jordan, all of it-- this was before the Lord had
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah --all the way to Zoar, like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.
The Jordan Valley slopes southward like a ramp from an altitude of roughly
685 feet below sea level at the Sea of Galilee to an elevation of 1,384 feet
below sea level at the Dead Sea. Water was Lot's primary concern and there
was plenty of it down there in that valley 4,000 years ago. Along with
overflow from the Sea of Galilee, was an abundance of wadis and streams
draining into the Jordan Valley from the highlands.
In its heyday, the Jordan poured about 1.3 billion cubic feet of water per
year into the Dead Sea. Today-- due to dams, diversion, and pumping --
only about 2 or 3 percent of those ancient billions reach the sea. In the last
century alone, the Sea's level declined 80 feet in just the sixty years
between 1939 and 1999.
In Abram's day, the Jordan Valley in the region between the Dead Sea and
the Sea of Galilee was well watered, fertile, and very appealing to a cattle
baron like Lot. It had some pretty good jungles too: home to lots of fierce
lions at one time.
NOTE: The Israel of today is just a dried up husk of its former
environmental glory. For example: Israel's lions, now extinct, once inhabited
forests (Jer 5:6) mountain caves (Nahum 2:12) and the Jordan Valley (Jer
49:19). Israel's bears (2Kgs 2:24) were eradicated in the early 20th century.
The closest kin to the bears that once roamed wild there are the Syrian
brown bears kept in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.
What the world sees today in Palestine little resembles the land of milk and
honey into which Joshua brought Yhvh's people some 3,500 years ago; and
there's their own breaches of the covenant to thank for it.
"Even all nations shall say: Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this
land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
. . .Then men shall say: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and
worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom He had not given
unto them: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring
upon it all the curses that are written in this book" (Deut 29:24-27)
A menu of the curses is on public display at Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26,
and Deut 28:1-69.
†. Gen 13:11a . . So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the
Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward.
Today a descent down to Jericho from Bethel (modern Beitin) would be close
to a 4,000 foot drop in elevation. Whooee! That'll sure make your ears pop!
†. Gen 13:11b . .Thus they parted from each other;
To me, it would have made better horse sense in a foreign land to
consolidate their holdings-- sort of an Abraham & Lot Inc. --instead of
maintaining two separate independent enterprises. But I guess Lot had
ambitions and wanted to be his own man.
Either Lot had more mettle than uncle Abram; or was just downright
reckless because he had the moxie to go off on his own into a totally strange
region with absolutely no assurance that God would travel with him.
Explorers like Columbus, Cortez, Balboa, and Magellan have that kind of
nerve: they're strong and confident. But I don't think Abram ever was like
that. I seriously doubt he would have left Haran at all had not God called
him to it. I believe it was only the assurance of divine patronage that gave
Abram the courage to travel far from home in that day.
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†. Gen 13:10 . . Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was
the whole plain of the Jordan, all of it-- this was before the Lord had
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah --all the way to Zoar, like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.
The Jordan Valley slopes southward like a ramp from an altitude of roughly
685 feet below sea level at the Sea of Galilee to an elevation of 1,384 feet
below sea level at the Dead Sea. Water was Lot's primary concern and there
was plenty of it down there in that valley 4,000 years ago. Along with
overflow from the Sea of Galilee, was an abundance of wadis and streams
draining into the Jordan Valley from the highlands.
In its heyday, the Jordan poured about 1.3 billion cubic feet of water per
year into the Dead Sea. Today-- due to dams, diversion, and pumping --
only about 2 or 3 percent of those ancient billions reach the sea. In the last
century alone, the Sea's level declined 80 feet in just the sixty years
between 1939 and 1999.
In Abram's day, the Jordan Valley in the region between the Dead Sea and
the Sea of Galilee was well watered, fertile, and very appealing to a cattle
baron like Lot. It had some pretty good jungles too: home to lots of fierce
lions at one time.
NOTE: The Israel of today is just a dried up husk of its former
environmental glory. For example: Israel's lions, now extinct, once inhabited
forests (Jer 5:6) mountain caves (Nahum 2:12) and the Jordan Valley (Jer
49:19). Israel's bears (2Kgs 2:24) were eradicated in the early 20th century.
The closest kin to the bears that once roamed wild there are the Syrian
brown bears kept in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.
What the world sees today in Palestine little resembles the land of milk and
honey into which Joshua brought Yhvh's people some 3,500 years ago; and
there's their own breaches of the covenant to thank for it.
"Even all nations shall say: Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this
land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
. . .Then men shall say: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and
worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom He had not given
unto them: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring
upon it all the curses that are written in this book" (Deut 29:24-27)
A menu of the curses is on public display at Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26,
and Deut 28:1-69.
†. Gen 13:11a . . So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the
Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward.
Today a descent down to Jericho from Bethel (modern Beitin) would be close
to a 4,000 foot drop in elevation. Whooee! That'll sure make your ears pop!
†. Gen 13:11b . .Thus they parted from each other;
To me, it would have made better horse sense in a foreign land to
consolidate their holdings-- sort of an Abraham & Lot Inc. --instead of
maintaining two separate independent enterprises. But I guess Lot had
ambitions and wanted to be his own man.
Either Lot had more mettle than uncle Abram; or was just downright
reckless because he had the moxie to go off on his own into a totally strange
region with absolutely no assurance that God would travel with him.
Explorers like Columbus, Cortez, Balboa, and Magellan have that kind of
nerve: they're strong and confident. But I don't think Abram ever was like
that. I seriously doubt he would have left Haran at all had not God called
him to it. I believe it was only the assurance of divine patronage that gave
Abram the courage to travel far from home in that day.
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