Genesis 49 - Tent of the Righteous
Today's text is Genesis 13:10-18.
“Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.” Amen.
Return to Canaan and Faith Reform
After Abram returned from Egypt, what we discover about him is that new reforms are taking place in his faith. I mentioned that this reform of faith is not about doing something different or new, or trying to become renewed, but about returning to the essence. This is different from returning to one's original intention. Because Abraham is returning to God. How about us? If you are concerned that your faith is stagnant, or if you feel that the direction of your faith is focused on yourself rather than moving towards God, or if you still feel that you have insufficient faith in every aspect, then the way you think about faith and all your worries should not go towards what you think is most effective, but it is inevitably essential to return to the essence of faith, that is, to God, and to the cross. Because without it, we cannot expect true reform in our faith. So, when Abraham returned to Canaan from Egypt, a reform of worship occurred first. In approaching God, in worshipping God, he tried to return to the essence. The next thing that happened to Abraham, as we looked at last time, was a reform concerning his possessions. He came to know that everything he possessed now was not his own, but God's, and that God would protect it. Through all the events that occurred because he lied, calling Sarai his sister despite her being his wife, he came to know more clearly who God is. So even when determining the boundary of the land with Lot or deciding which side to live on, he knew that choosing which land did not matter.
New Conflict: Strife Amidst Abundance (Meribah)
In that respect, we should be more cautious in interpreting the story that because Lot's choice of Sodom itself was wrong, he eventually experienced the tribulation of fleeing from Sodom as punishment from God.
Lot's Righteousness (2 Peter)
Please look up 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 6 to 8. "if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—" This passage is Peter talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And as shown in verses 7 and 8, Lot is described as suffering at the hands of the lawless people of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's not that Lot is being punished because he chose Sodom; rather, the righteous Lot lived in Sodom, but he suffered by seeing their wicked actions, and his righteous soul was tormented. He lived in Sodom for many years, but his heart was grieved, and he was rather suffering. And He clearly identifies him as a righteous man. Therefore, it is not that God blessed Abraham because he was righteous, and punished Lot because he was a sinner. This is a very important clue in understanding today's text. Judging by the word 'righteous man', Lot had faith and was a man of faith.
Lot's Gradual Move: Towards Sodom
If we look closely at the text, we can see that Lot never directly chose Sodom. If you look at verse 12 of today's text, it says, 'Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain.' Initially, the place Lot chose was east of the Jordan, and he stayed in the various cities in that Jordan plain. Then, moving his tent, he eventually reached Sodom. Ultimately, Sodom was not a place Lot chose first and went to.
Lot's Choice Criterion: Visible Abundance (Land of Egypt)
The reason he first chose the land east of the Jordan appears in verse 10. 'Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan towards Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.' That is, when Lot looked towards the region of Zoar in the Jordan plain, he realized that the land was well watered. The subsequent passage describing the land is commentary written by Moses. That is, Moses, feeling through God's inspiration what Lot felt while looking at the land, recorded it as it was, interpreting Lot's state and adding commentary. Therefore, through this content, we can understand what moved Lot's heart as he looked at the land and why he made such a decision. The Bible is not trying to tell a story that Lot decided to go to a place with much water, and that land eventually turned out to be the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, the hotbed of wickedness, as one might easily think.
The Promised Land: Sodom Area Included (Genesis 15)
Was the land Lot chose truly a den of iniquity abandoned by God, such an evil land? The passage immediately following this verse reveals the fact that the land Lot chose was also part of God's promised land. Today's text begins with the story of Lot lifting up his eyes and looking at the Jordan region. But the exact same expression appears in verse 14. 'After Lot had parted from Abram, the LORD said to Abram, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.”' After Abraham separated from Lot, the LORD tells Abraham to lift up his eyes from where he is standing and look in all directions. And the Hebrew word used here for 'look' is the exact same word used when Lot looked at the Jordan region. Like Lot, Abraham also looked up from that spot. If so, Abraham also looked around 360 degrees, east, west, south, north, from the same place as Lot. The only difference was that Lot looked only towards the east of the Jordan, while Abraham saw all directions. Therefore, Abraham also saw the land east of the Jordan that Lot saw.
Keeping this fact in mind, let's examine the next verse, 15. You might be a little surprised. 'All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.' Then it is clear that the land seen includes the land Lot chose and moved to. Just in case some of you still harbor doubts, I will prove this fact through another part of the scripture. It is Genesis chapter 15, verse 18. 'On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.”' That is, the boundaries of the land that Abraham saw in all directions in today's text are specifically mentioned in this chapter 15. From where to where are the boundaries? Yes, from the river of Egypt in the land of Egypt to the Euphrates River. However, the fulfillment of this word will actually take place during the Solomonic dynasty. The northernmost tip of Solomon's kingdom was the Euphrates River. And the river of Egypt is in the southern end, where the Sinai Peninsula begins. This river was called the river of Egypt because Egyptian influence reached it. And the kingdoms of David and Solomon ruled the region between them, and that is precisely the land promised to Abraham mentioned in chapter 15. This content also appears again in 2 Chronicles chapter 9. 'Solomon ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt'. Thus, God's promise to Abraham in today's text was finally fulfilled by David and Solomon. The Dead Sea, as you well know, is a lake located east of Southern Judah, where Jerusalem and Hebron are situated. And following the Dead Sea northward, there exists the smaller Sea of Galilee. The eastern region adjacent to the Dead Sea is the land of Moab, and above it is Ammon. Solomon's kingdom at that time included all these regions. And that land of Moab is precisely the region where Sodom and Gomorrah, which we are looking at today, were located. Like Ammon, the name Moab is the name of Lot's son, whom you know well. Thus, the boundary from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River, promised by God to Abraham as a covenant, including this land of Moab, was all fulfilled by David and Solomon. If so, the place called Zoar that Lot looked at in today's text is a small city at the southern end of the Dead Sea. And the place from which Lot viewed this Zoar was Bethel, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. This place is located even further north than Jerusalem. You might think it's quite a distance. However, even from the coastal area of Torrance in LA where we live, on a clear day, Catalina Island, which is about an hour away by boat, is visible. Similarly, Lot could see Zoar, located south of the Dead Sea, from the mountains in the Bethel region north of the Dead Sea. And Lot decides to go right there. And God tells Abraham that He will grant all that is visible, including Zoar where Lot migrated, and give it as the promised land. Thus, we have learned that the land Lot migrated to was also the covenant land promised by God to Abraham, and therefore, the land itself posed no problem.
Abraham's Reform of Possession: God is Everything
Abraham was a man who had already experienced the reform of possession. He knew that everything he owned belonged to God. This reform of possession is not a trivial reform of the sort where we give up everything we have, lay it down before God, and then God repays us with something greater. True reform of possession is confessing that because everything I have belongs to God, now only God is the center of my life, my most precious being, and I have become content with God alone. Thus, God now ruled over Abraham and all his descendants forever, and the kingdom of God began to be established through Abraham.
Abraham's True Virtue: Trust in God
Through this, Abraham's interest was no longer in his possessions, and he was able to have peace without strife. The word peace does not simply mean living harmoniously without fighting, but rather means that he was no longer bound only by earthly things but began to seek things belonging to God that exist beyond them. Abraham no longer placed all his heart on earthly things, nor did he live with them as his purpose; now, heavenly things began to be the purpose of his life. This is precisely the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He realized that the fruits one can bear by pursuing earthly things are merely envy, jealousy, and strife, and instead, he understood what the fruit of a life lived according to the Spirit is, and began to seek heavenly things. As a result, he pursued true peace, the treasure of heaven, and acted not merely like someone who stops fighting, but like someone who enjoys heavenly peace.
The Danger of Seeing with the Eyes
In contrast, Lot, although Abraham allowed it, valued worldly things, that is, the abundance or scarcity of his own possessions, much more than the fruit of the Spirit. That's why Lot made this choice, and what he relied on for that choice was his eyes. He relied on the reality he saw. And unfortunately, those eyes were not eyes that were with God. In Lot's eyes, the immediate water for his livestock was important. So he had no choice but to look for a place with plenty of water. For him, what was important was not the peace he could make with Abraham, but the property he possessed. How to protect that property became the biggest issue. He sought only his own benefit.
Pursuit of Wrong Benefit (False Self-Love)
It is not unconditionally evil for a person to seek their own benefit. The Bible also says that among the benefits we should seek, the most important is seeking the benefit of one's own soul. Also, among the verses we know well, there is the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Thus, the Bible clearly shows us how important we inevitably consider ourselves to be. And you must know that all believers in Jesus, including myself and you, are beings of such precious value that Christ would give His life for you. You are all people who possess the value of the blood of Jesus Christ. You must keep in mind that you have the value that God would die for you. That's how precious and valuable you are. Thus, it is not unconditionally problematic for a person to cherish their own benefit and precious things. However, Lot in today's text becomes problematic because he limited his benefit solely to the benefit he saw with his own eyes. That is, the outcome changes depending on how our eyes that see benefit have become. If you and I had eyes with no problems at all, we would feel no trouble seeing ahead. But if you were to see wearing pitch-black sunglasses, this world would look much darker. You and I always think we are normal, that all the judgments we make are not wrong, and that we are doing the right thing. But the Bible tells us that we do not have eyes that see this world correctly, nor the ability to see correctly and make true decisions. However, it is truly difficult for us to admit that fact. So we constantly try to see for ourselves, judge for ourselves, and think we are right. But the Bible asks us whether what we saw and judged in that way is indeed right. If our eyes are stained with sin and greed, then what we can see with our eyes is only sin and greed. Furthermore, we tend not to even try to see beyond what is right in front of our eyes. Therefore, if we seek the benefit seen with our own eyes, it will always be wrong and become the pursuit of vanity. And through your long lives, you would have realized how much vanity we pursued and insisted on, and you would also know well how much loss you suffered because of it.
God's Benefit: Participating in Holiness (Hebrews 12)
But the truly upsetting and regrettable fact is that by living pursuing only what we see with our eyes as our benefit, we have often missed the benefits God intended to give us in all those moments. That is, we lived a life where we had to endure double losses. It is the word from Hebrews: 'They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best'. Here, 'they' refers to parents. That is, it means that parents disciplined their children according to their own will. To understand this passage well, we need to be a bit honest. We always think we discipline our children hoping they will turn out well. But if we look deeper into our hearts, although there is love for the child, deep down, we might have been angry at the child talking back to us, or often felt offended by the child's attitude of not following our commands. Thus, even the attitude of parents in this world towards their children is not perfect.
God's Discipline: Love for Benefit
Therefore, the writer of Hebrews says this: 'but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.' That is, even when God disciplines, that discipline is solely for our benefit. He is God. That's why God has no hesitation. Even though we might think we have lived through this difficult world alone, without even feeling God's touch in our lives, God says that all the events and experiences we had to pass through and endure throughout our entire lives were solely for our benefit. Among all those things, there were not only joyful moments but also moments of God's discipline, and even that was for our benefit. Therefore, this is something only God can do. If so, what is our benefit? The benefit God thinks of for us must inevitably be different from the benefit we think of for ourselves. The benefit we can think of is merely becoming a little more comfortable and happy. It's just about having more things to laugh about. But as you know from living, our lives cannot always be happy just because something to laugh about happened. We have experiences where after that happy time passes, numerous difficult and lonely times are always waiting for us. Why else would Chinese idioms like "turning misfortune into a blessing" (전화위복) or "the old man of the frontier losing his horse" (세옹지마) have arisen? Just as good things happening can eventually lead to bad things, and being upset about bad things can conversely lead to joy from that same event, life is said to be like a roller coaster, repeating ups and downs like this. But God says that for Him, all these things are for our benefit, and there is no roller coaster-like up and down here. The reason is that God's purpose for us is solely to make us participate in His holiness. Therefore, through all these things, He aims to bring us to the mature measure of Jesus Christ. Because this is our benefit. For this, God sometimes raises the rod against us, and He does not hesitate to take away the possessions we truly value. Because what God considers most beneficial for us is becoming like Christ and approaching God to seek the Lord, He does not want us to stop seeking the Lord because of worldly things and live chasing the blessed things the world talks about. We find it very difficult to train our children in such a way and often fail to discipline them well. Human parents inevitably have limitations and ultimately cannot raise their children correctly. But God is someone who can weep with us for our benefit, someone who sheds blood with us, and He absolutely does not stop in the work of helping us grow to the mature measure of Jesus Christ. Thus, He eventually makes us participate in His holiness. If our focus is directed towards ourselves, all the judgments we make and the benefits we pursue inevitably head towards our greed. And that greed is always connected to the world.
Land of Egypt vs. Promised Land: Difference in Dependence (Deuteronomy 11)
And that can be expressed as 'false self-love'. And 'false self-love', or 'false benefit', is compared to the 'land of Egypt' in today's text. Deuteronomy explains this word in a little more detail. It is Deuteronomy chapter 11, verses 10 to 12. "The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end." In the land of Egypt, watering by foot means that we can supply water artificially and thus achieve what we desire ourselves. However, the promised land means that it is a land where God, not us, must supply all those things.
Lot's Eyes: Worldly Abundance and Sin
Thus, in Lot's eyes, the land of Egypt, the land that seemed capable of making everything abundant by itself, looked good. But ultimately, the very land that Lot's eyes saw was a land that did not need God. Therefore, it could only be wicked and full of sin.
Abraham's Tent: A Life Moving According to the Promise
In contrast, Abram remained in the land of Canaan. Verse 12: "Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom." Here it records that Lot lived among the cities of the plain. Cities were comfortable places to dwell and live. So he kept moving his tent and eventually went as far as Sodom. But Abram lived in the land of Canaan. Here, 'lived' means he pitched his tent in that land. Verse 18: "So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD." Thus, Abram did not go to the city but lived pitching a tent. Living in a city offers many conveniences. But living in a tent requires enduring the hardship of folding the tent and moving each time. That is, Abram became a person who could only look to God and rely on Him in his life. He did not settle down. He continued to move and lived according to God's promise. Wherever God's word was, wherever God stayed, that place, wherever it might be, could become the destination of his life.
True Freedom: Within God's Rule
His life was not lived according to his own will, but according to God's will. Which side looks more free to you? Is it Lot's life in the city where everything goes according to his will, or Abraham's life where God is the master leading him? What do you think? Some might think Lot's life is much freer. Because he could choose and live as he wished. But friends, the Bible does not call that freedom true freedom. True freedom is not doing whatever I want, but being under God's rule. That is true freedom.
Our Resemblance to Lot: A Double-Minded Faith?
Faith like Lot's can, in some ways, be a life very commonly seen among us. It seems like living a life of faith, attending church well, but the standard of my life is still my will, not God's will, and what I consider important is seeking my happiness and benefit, not seeking God's righteousness. So, while living a life of faith, one is always tired, always quarreling, and problems constantly arise. And then one comes to think that their life belongs to this earth rather than belonging to God.
God's Grace: Abraham's Intercession and Lot's Salvation
However, the fact that God ultimately does not abandon such a Lot but saves him also makes us marvel greatly. Because Lot, like Abram, was also a righteous man. As a result, Lot escaped God's righteous judgment. Although he lost everything, he was a righteous man who obtained salvation along with Abram.
God's Love and Our Response
God loves you like this. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, no matter how much you have failed, God calls you. He tells you to turn your heart and come back. His love is so great that God does things we cannot do. Therefore, you and I have no choice but to return to God.
The Tent of the Righteous: God's Presence and Salvation (Psalm 118)
Lot stayed in the cities, but Abram lived in a tent. Psalm 118 contains a song about the tent of the righteous. The song begins like this: "Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’" It says there is joy and salvation in this tent. Because God is present together. Because God's presence is there, and it is a place ruled by God. Even if that place looks like a shabby tent compared to the world, we live there. Because God is with us in that tent. And there we sing of salvation and sing of joy.
Closing Prayer
Let's pray! Lord of love, we thank you for your hand that leads us. Lord, what we rely on is not our eyes, hands, and feet, but only God, the one God! Open our eyes, Lord. Open our ears, Lord. So let us hear and see God's voice. Lord, help us not to seek the world's benefit, but let us become those who participate only in God's benefit and holiness. Help us to love the tent of the righteous entrusted to us, and enable us to care for one another and achieve the perfect unity that the Lord brings about. Until the day we go before the Lord, on the path of walking hand in hand with the Lord, let us not be discouraged or give up, and let us look towards the Lord's kingdom. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!