NOTES for Gen 13:1-18

The Holy Land is one of the central, key concepts in the Bible. It is the object of the first promise given to the people, to Abram (later Abraham) and his descendants, and it is the main axis of sacred history. Today we read how Abram's nephew Lot decided to separate from Abram's clan and settle somewhere else. Naturally, since the Holy Land is promised only to Abram's people, Lot loses his share in this land and settles in Sodom, which will soon be destroyed. The first readers of this story may have seen in it an explanation of the fate of their neighbors, Moab and Ammon, whose ancestor, according to tradition, was Lot (Gen 19:36-38), and who did not enter the people of Israel or receive its inheritance. What this story will reveal to us -- a call to faithfulness, an encouragement of our own exclusiveness, or the need for hope for all -- depends largely on us.