Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Abram separates from Lot. Lot chooses Sodom, Abram chooses Canaan, which God shows and promises to him in verse 14.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 13:1-18
1. So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the southern region. 2. And he was very rich in gold and silver. 3. And he returned by the way he had come, from the south to Bethel, to the place where he had previously pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai: 4. to the place of the altar which he had made before, and there he called upon the name of the Lord. 5. And Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds, and tents. 6. Nor could the land support them to dwell together, for their substance was great, and they could not dwell in common. 7. And so a quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Abram's flocks and those of Lot. Now at that time the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling in that land. 8. So Abram said to Lot: 'Let there be no quarrel, I beg you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. 9. Behold, the whole land is before you: withdraw from me, I pray you. If you go to the left, I will take the right; if you choose the right, I will go to the left.' 10. And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the region around the Jordan, which was entirely irrigated before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. 11. And Lot chose for himself the region around the Jordan, and departed from the East; and they separated, one from the other. 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, while Lot stayed in the towns that were around the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom. 13. Now the men of Sodom were very wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. 14. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you now are, to the north and the south, to the east and the west. 15. All the land which you see, I will give to you and to your seed forever. 16. And I will make your seed like the dust of the earth: if anyone can count the dust of the earth, he will be able to count your seed also. 17. Arise, and walk through the land in its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.' 18. So Abram, moving his tent, came and dwelt near the valley of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and he built there an altar to the Lord.
Verse 1: Abram Returns from Egypt
Toward the southern region -- with respect to Canaan, or Judea; for Sacred Scripture always arranges the directions of the world with reference to this land, since it was written for the Jews. This place was therefore in the south of Judea, but to the north of Egypt, for Abram returned to Bethel, from which he had departed.
Verse 4: The Place of the Altar
In the place of the altar -- to the place of the altar where, namely in chapter 12, verse 8, he had erected an altar. This is clear from the Hebrew.
Verse 5: Lot Who Was with Abram
Who was with Abram. By these words Moses signifies that Lot was blessed and enriched by God on account of his association with Abraham.
Tents -- that is, pavilions in which he himself lived with his family; for they did not live in houses but in huts, like pilgrims, as in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 9.
Verse 6: The Land Could Not Support Them
Nor could the land support them. The same portion of Canaan was not sufficient for the pastures needed to feed so many great flocks belonging to both of them. 'It is a worldly vice,' says St. Ambrose, Book I On Abraham, chapter 3, 'that the earth cannot contain the rich. For nothing is enough for the greed of the wealthy. The richer a person is, the more eager he is to possess. He desires to extend the boundaries of his fields and to exclude his neighbor. Was Abraham like this? By no means. Yet as one who is by no means greedy, he offers the choice; as a just man, he cuts off dissension.'
Verse 7: The Quarrel of the Herdsmen
And so a quarrel arose -- as each of the herdsmen claimed the better pastures for his own flocks. See here how wealth begets lawsuits and quarrels, even among the closest brothers and kinsmen. Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily 33: 'The herds were increased, he says, the flocks multiplied, abundant riches flowed in, and immediately concord is torn apart. Before there was peace and the bond of charity; now there is quarrel and strife. For where there is mine and yours, there is every kind of litigation; but where these do not exist, there peace and concord dwell secure.' Hence concerning the first Christians, Luke says (Acts 4:32): 'Now the multitude of believers was of one heart and one soul.' He adds the reason: 'Nor did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.'
Now at that time the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling in the land -- as if to say: lest therefore Abram and his family be invaded and oppressed by them while contending and quarreling with Lot; and again, lest the Canaanites be scandalized by these quarrels of the herdsmen, and so blaspheme the faithful and religious family of Abraham, and consequently be further turned away from his faith and religion, and from the true God. For this reason Abraham wished to separate from Lot, and so remove every occasion of scandal.
Verse 8: We Are Brothers
'For we are brothers.' 'Brothers,' that is, kinsmen; for Lot was the nephew of Abraham through his brother.
Verse 9: If to the Left or Right
'Behold, the whole land is before you' -- it is in your power and choice; you may choose whatever part of the region pleases you, for the inhabitants will gladly sell or lease it to you.
Abram the uncle here gives his nephew Lot the option to choose whatever region he wishes. Hence there seems to have arisen the ancient custom in the division of inheritance among brothers, that the elder brother, as the more prudent, divides the inheritance into equal parts, while the younger chooses (so that neither can complain of being deceived). St. Ambrose praises this, Book I On Abraham, chapter 3, and Augustine, Book XVI of The City of God, chapter 20. 'The Patriarch teaches, says Ambrose, what a division should be like: let the stronger divide, the weaker choose, so that there is nothing to complain about. For no one could challenge the portion of his own choosing. There remains no occasion for reneging to one who is given the option of choosing.'
'If to the left.' By 'left' he means the north, by 'right' the south. So the Chaldean and Vatablus. In the Hebrew the words are beautifully set against each other, for it reads thus: 'If you go left, I will go right; if you go right, I will go left' -- that is, if you choose the left, I will choose the right, and vice versa. St. Ambrose says excellently, Book II On Abraham, chapter 6: 'A man advanced in the discipline of philosophy, he says, said before our time that four qualities belong to a good man: first, that he strive to make all men his friends; second, that if he cannot make them friends, at least not make them enemies; third, that if even this is not possible, he depart on good terms; fourth, that if someone pursues him as he withdraws, he defend himself as he can. But the first three of these we recognize in Abraham, not in mere words but in true deeds. The fourth, however, does not apply, since even toward the one who was departing he preserved the affection of a parent, so that not only did he not pursue him, but he even rescued and freed him when captured.'
Verse 10: The Region around the Jordan
All the region round about the Jordan. Vatablus translates it as 'all the plains of the fields of the Jordan'; the Chaldean as 'all the plain of the Jordan.'
'Like the paradise of the Lord.' In Hebrew, kegan adonai, 'like the garden of the Lord,' which God had planted and adorned for Adam, Genesis 2:8; so St. Augustine. And like any other most delightful garden that was made by God or could be made.
'And like Egypt, as one comes to Segor,' as if to say: like that part of Egypt through which one travels to Segor, for this is irrigated by the Nile and therefore is most fertile. However, since this part of Egypt equally faces Sodom and Gomorrah, which were more notable cities than Segor -- and Moses would therefore have named them rather than Segor -- hence, secondly and more fittingly and genuinely, 'as one comes to Segor' refers not to 'like Egypt,' but rather above to 'the region of the Jordan, which was entirely irrigated as one came (in coming) to Segor,' as if to say: the entire Pentapolis before its destruction, especially from the place where Abram then was, going toward Segor, was well-watered and most fertile, like paradise and like Egypt, which the Nile makes fruitful. So St. Augustine, Cajetan, and Pererius.
Verse 11: Lot Chose for Himself
'And Lot chose for himself.' God permitted Lot to be deceived in this choice of his, both so that by his example and companionship the Sodomites might be stirred to hatred of sins and love of virtue, and also so that we might learn not to prefer the pleasant to the salutary, nor to follow our cupidity in making choices. 'The weaker one,' says St. Ambrose, Book I On Abraham, chapter 3, 'chooses the more pleasant, and disdains the more useful. For generally where the fruits are unequal, the more prudent one avoids the more pleasant. They quickly provoke envy, they quickly excite the mind of the greedy,' etc.
'He departed from the East.' You will say: Lot was going toward the Jordan and the Pentapolis, which are to the east; therefore he did not depart from the east, but rather approached it. Some respond that this is an interchange of prepositions: 'from' is put for 'to,' 'toward'; for the Hebrew reads 'he set out from the East,' that is, 'toward the East.' For it merely means to say that Lot withdrew from Abraham; the former traversed the east, the latter the west. That is to say, Lot withdrew from Abraham toward the east.
Secondly, others, following Pererius, respond that Lot departed from the East because he did not proceed directly and in a straight path from Bethel to the East, but turned his route sideways toward the Pentapolis, which with respect to Bethel was partly to the east, partly to the south. For since he was coming from the south, that is from Egypt, to Bethel, he did not proceed straight to the east, but turned his route back toward the south, whence he had come.
Thirdly, and most accurately, Moses here calls 'the East' the place where Lot and Abraham were staying when they separated from each other -- namely the place of which he said in chapter 12:8: 'And passing on from there to the mountain that was to the east of Bethel, he pitched his tent there, having Bethel to the west and Hai to the east.' This place, therefore, where the separation of Lot from Abraham took place, as is clear from chapter 13:3, is called 'the East,' because it was to the east of Bethel, and had Hai to the east. The meaning therefore is: Lot departed from the East, that is, from the place where he made the pact of separation with Abraham, which for the reasons just stated is called 'the East' by Moses.
'One from the other.' In Hebrew, 'a man from his brother,' that is, one from the other, brother from brother -- namely, uncle from nephew.
Verse 12: Abram Dwelt in Canaan
'Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan.' 'Canaan' here is the name of one people and one part of the promised land, situated along the Mediterranean Sea and the waters of the Jordan. For the Canaanite was one of the seven peoples dwelling in the promised land whom the Hebrews expelled; and from this people, as the principal one, the entire region was called Canaan or Canaanaea. In this sense, even Lot dwelling in Sodom dwelt in Canaan. But taking the word Canaan in the strict sense, as it is taken here, Abram dwelt in Canaan, while Lot dwelt not in Canaan but in Sodom. Sodom, however, belonged not properly to the Canaanites but to the Perizzites, says Tostatus.
'Lot, however, stayed in the towns that were around the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom' -- that is, Lot, traveling and wandering with his flocks, visited the towns and fields of the Jordan as far as Sodom, as the Hebrew clearly states.
Verse 13: The Sodomites Were Very Wicked
'The Sodomites were very wicked and sinners before the Lord' -- that is, extraordinary and most grievous sinners; for whatever is of God, or before God, is great and extraordinary. Ezekiel explains these sins, or rather the origin of these sins, in chapter 16:49, when he says: 'Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her' (the Septuagint translates: 'she and her daughters wallowed in delights, and boasted magnificently'), 'and they did not extend their hand to the poor and needy.' As if to say: this was the fivefold iniquity of Sodom, and the root and origin of the rest, namely of their monstrous lusts. The first iniquity of Sodom was pride; the second, fullness of bread and food, that is, feasting and drinking; the third, abundance and luxury of all things; the fourth, idleness. The question is asked: why did Aegisthus become an adulterer? The answer is ready at hand: he was idle.
The fifth was mercilessness. Hence St. Jerome, commenting on the cited verse of Ezekiel, says: 'Pride, fullness of bread, abundance of all things, idleness and luxury -- this is the sin of Sodom. And because of this, forgetfulness of God follows, which thinks that present goods will be perpetual. Hence it is written of Israel: He ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked. Knowing this, Solomon, the wisest of all, prays thus: Give me what is necessary and sufficient, lest being filled I become a liar and say: Who sees me? Or lest, reduced to poverty, I steal and perjure the name of my God.' So far St. Jerome.
Secondly, the Sodomites were sinners before the Lord, that is, openly, publicly, in the sight of this sun, with God Himself and the sun watching, they sinned shamelessly. As if to say: the Sodomites were not only most wicked, but also shameless, contemptuous of both God and men.
Thirdly, the Hebrew ladonai, which our translator renders as 'before the Lord,' can with Vatablus be translated 'against the Lord,' 'contrary to the Lord.'
All the greater was the virtue of Lot, in that he was the best among the worst, as St. Peter teaches (2 Peter 2:7) and St. Gregory (Moralia, Book I, chapter 1).
Verse 15: All the Land Which You See
'All the land which you see.' It is probable, as Pererius thinks, that God, or an angel in God's place, presented to the waking Abraham (just as to Moses in Deuteronomy 34:1) a vision of the entire promised land (for Abram could not naturally see all of it merely by looking around) and of each of its parts, in which he could see clearly, distinctly, and precisely everything in that land that was worth seeing. For in this way the devil showed Christ all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Matthew 4:8). And so St. Benedict, with God elevating him, saw the whole world as a tiny globe hanging in the air, subject to his eyes under a single ray of sunlight, as St. Gregory reports in Dialogues, Book II, chapter 35.
'I will give it to you, and to your seed forever.' The 'and' is explanatory and means the same as 'that is'; for what is given to his seed and posterity is considered to be given to Abraham, according to Canon 13. So St. Chrysostom and Cajetan. Therefore the literal promise here to the Hebrews is possession of the land of Canaan forever -- not absolutely, but relatively, that is, as long as this seed endures, namely the people and commonwealth of the Hebrews. For now that their kingdom and commonwealth has been scattered and overturned, what wonder if they no longer possess this land in which they had their commonwealth and kingdom?
Add, with St. Thomas -- or rather Thomas the Englishman --, Pererius and others, that this promise is conditional; for Canaan is promised to the Hebrews on this condition: that they in turn obey God and keep His law and worship, as is clear from Leviticus 26. Because the Jews had not done this, God rescinded His covenants and promises, and afflicted and overturned them, as He had threatened in Leviticus 26.
Note: God here rewards the meekness and magnanimity of Abraham, by which he had yielded the better pastures to Lot, though the younger, as if to say: You first yielded to Lot, for the sake of peace, you yielded the Pentapolis for the sake of peace; therefore I now give you greater things. 'All the land,' He says, 'which you see, I will give to you.' See how generously God rewards, if anything is relinquished for the sake of peace. Abram had yielded a small thing to Lot, and now he receives the whole land. Hence St. Ambrose, Book II On Abraham, chapter 7: 'From this, he says, as from a fountain, the Stoics drew the maxim of their philosophical doctrine that all things belong to the wise man. For the East and the West, the North and the South are portions of the whole. For in these the entire world is contained. When God promised to give these to Abraham, what else does He declare than that all things are at hand for the wise and faithful man, and nothing is lacking? Hence Solomon also says in Proverbs chapter 17: For the faithful man, the whole world is his wealth.' And then: 'How does the whole world belong to the wise man? Because nature itself gives him the lot of all things, even if he himself possesses nothing. Wisdom is mistress and possessor, which considers the gifts of nature as its own, since they were given for the use of men, and it needs nothing, even if the necessities of life are lacking. The wise man judges that whatever belongs to nature is his, for he lives according to nature. For he does not lose his right who remembers that he was made in the image of God, and that God said to men: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and all cattle, and all the earth, and everything that creeps upon the earth. And he knows that wisdom is the mother of all things and possesses the whole world.' Anagogically, the same author takes this as 'the land of the resurrection, which He promised to our fathers, flowing with milk and honey, the sweetness of life, the grace of joy, the splendor of glory, whose first heir was the Firstborn from the dead, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.'
So St. Chrysostom, Homily 34: 'The Patriarch knew, he says, that one who yields to those lesser than himself will obtain greater things, and so he yielded to Lot and chose the inferior region, in order to cut off the occasion of contention, and by his own special virtue to render his whole household peaceful.' And earlier: 'Nothing so keeps the soul in tranquility and peace as meekness and modesty. These are more useful to their possessor than any crown,' etc.
Anagogically, the spiritual seed of Abraham is promised here, that is, the faithful and many elect; and God here promises them the land of the living in heaven, to be possessed properly and forever. So from the Apostle, Romans 4:16, St. Augustine, City of God XVI, 21.
Verse 16: Like the Dust of the Earth
'Like the dust of the earth.' That is, I will give you very many, almost innumerable descendants. This is a hyperbole. For in strict arithmetic it is clear that there are far more grains of sand on earth than there are, have been, or will be Jews.
Symbolically, Isidore of Pelusium, Book III, letter 296, notes that the descendants of Abraham are here compared to the dust of the earth, but in chapter 15, verse 5, to the stars of heaven: because some of them were to be wise and holy, heavenly, exalted and illustrious like the stars of heaven, while others were to be foolish and wicked, earthly, base, and obscure, and therefore to be scattered throughout the whole earth like sand blown by the wind.
Verse 17: Walk through the Land
'Walk through.' He does not command but offers, as if to say: If you wish to know how great this land is, walk through it, and you will marvel and rejoice. So St. Chrysostom; for in fact Abram did not walk through all of Canaan.
Verse 18: The Valley of Mamre in Hebron
'The valley of Mamre.' In Hebrew it is elon Mambre, that is, 'the oak' or 'the oak grove of Mamre.' This valley was therefore planted with oaks; it was called Mamre after its owner, who was called Mamre, concerning whom see chapter 14:13.
'In Hebron' -- in the territory of Hebron, near Hebron.
'And he built there an altar to the Lord.' The devout Abram everywhere raises altars to the Lord, and says to God: 'From You is the beginning, in You shall it end.' Therefore the innovators who overthrow altars are not sons of Abraham.