Abram and Lot Separate

Genesis 13

Abram has put Pharaoh in an awkward position, so it's time to leave Egypt.  Abram and Lot have been doing well, so much so that their tribes and herds are too large to stay in the same place.  Abram calls on the LORD (for wisdom and guidance?) and he and Lot decide to split amicably.

So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. He journeyed on by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, and there was strife between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land.

Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

More (reaffirmed) promises from God to Abram about the land and his offspring.  And in an echo of the command to Noah to be fruitful, multiply, and spread over the earth - Abram is told to walk through the length and breadth of the land.

Instead, Abram moved his tent and settled in.  He built an altar to God (which means he's praising and preaching), but it remains to be seen if his obedience continues and he walks through the land.

And again, conversation with (from) God, with Abram listening and doing.

Tim's imagination has infected mine.  I'm seeing Gary Cooper, but in desert robes, listening to God and simply saying, "Yup."