Abraham separated from Ur, was separated from his father’s house, from Terah, he was separated from Egypt now, and now he is going to be further separated from his kindred, from Lot his nephew. It is interesting to note, as we look at this in passing (we will get to it a little bit later here), but it was not until after Abraham was separated from Lot, that God told Abram to “lift up your eyes and see the land which I am going to give you.” It is entirely possible, since the promised seed had not been given yet, that Abraham might have had Lot in the back of his mind as a possible heir. God is going to show Abraham that Lot is not the heir and they are going to separate.
I think that it is interesting as it shows in verses 3 and 4, that God brought Abraham back from the place in which he swerved to go down into Egypt. I think there is a lesson there. Sometimes, brethren, we have to backtrack almost to the very beginning, to get back on the beam so we can continue our journey to the right destination. I want to show you a couple of places in the New Testament where the apostle shows that very clearly.
That is another reason, another piece of evidence, why I think that Abram made a mistake in going down to Egypt. It was not a continuation of the journey except that it was a digression off to the side. God made it work out, and Abram learned some things from it, but it was not something that was necessary for his perfection. It does not seem that God was very involved in leading Abram to that area.
Now in Christianity, one is either moving forward, digressing off to the side, or being swept backward. There is no standing still. When Abram returns to Bethel, he has much more understanding, and with it he is able to point to a further separation of his kindred Lot.
Now let us recapitulate before we go on, because I want to give you another reason why I think Abraham made a mistake in going down to Egypt. Did you notice whenever you read through Genesis 12:10, that there was no mention of an altar, no mention of worship, no mention of prayer, no mention of walking with God, no mention of communion with God. God is mentioned only in plaguing Pharaoh for having taking Sarai into his harem. To me, the absence of these things is indicative of Abram’s closeness to God then. And it is only after he leaves Egypt and he gets back into the land of promise in Bethel, which means “house of God,” that an altar and calling on God is mentioned, all of those in Genesis 13:3-4.
His blessing is dependent on obedience. But does the blessing of prosperity always mean that it is a well deserved blessing from God? We know that the wicked prosper, so, obviously, that cannot be true. In the Old Testament context of the covenant, prosperity is a sign of God's approval and blessing. Throughout the entire Old Testament we see example after example of how prosperity was given as a direct blessing for obedience.
Abraham and many of the patriarchs were very wealthy. Genesis 13:2 says, "Abraham was very rich in cattle." It does not just say he was rich, but very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. If you think about people today in the church, you just do not see anyone that you would call very wealthy in these material goods.
Prosperity must be used with righteousness if it is to continue for eternity. Prosperity of itself is a blessing from God. How we use it is of the utmost importance. Abraham is a typical example of a wealthy, God fearing man who used his wealth righteously. He was a very generous man. Do you remember the example of Lot, when they were looking down on the land, and Abraham told Lot to choose the best land for himself, whatever you want. So Abraham, although greatly wealthy, had the right attitude and was willing to lose the best of what he had to give to someone else.
Here is a play on words, as we saw earlier. It is God's intention that we understand this first of all in its spiritual sense. Wealth is a problem, not intrinsically, but because of human nature; but still it is not the problem. The Bible tells me in Genesis 13:2 that Abraham was exceedingly rich. God does not exaggerate. But Abraham, the father of the faithful, was exceedingly rich. Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David were rich. Undoubtedly, others were too, and it teaches us that a person can be both wealthy and godly.
This young man's value system—the young man in Matthew 19—was like almost everybody else's: completely out of whack. He was more fearful about lacking material wealth than he was about his need for something spiritual that Jesus could give him, something that he could receive from no other source. Attitude is the problem, a person's state of mind. If a person's state of mind is correct, if he is poor in spirit, he can handle wealth like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David did. Attitude is the problem. This young man in Matthew 19 could not handle wealth because of his attitude, his state of his mind. What we are concerned about here is what a man thinks about himself spiritually, morally, and ethically, first of all in relation to God, and then also in relation to fellowman and things.
In the Old Testament context of the covenant, prosperity is a sign of God's approval and blessing. Abraham and many of the patriarchs were very wealthy. Genesis 13:2 says Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. David acquired great wealth and Solomon received even greater wealth as a mark of God's acceptance of his attitude. Israel entered the Promised Land as a special gift from God and it was very rich since it was part of the Fertile Crescent, a lucrative trade group and strongly desired by other, more powerful nations, no doubt designed by God.
The prosperity of itself is a blessing from God, but how we use it is where we get into trouble. Abraham is a typical example of a wealthy God-fearing man who used his wealth righteously. The right use of wealth requires generous liberality towards those in need.
When it says he went to the south, you know if you went south from Egypt you would go to Ethiopia. But it means he went to the south of the land of Canaan, to the Negev, into the area of Beersheba. But he did not stop in Beersheba.
Now, we have not just one very rich man, but we have two. Lot is not called very rich, but he was also quite well off.
