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"And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of
Israel ALSO . . . . . we remember the fish, which we did eat in EGYPT."
Famine tested Abram while Lot was with him, "and Abram went down into Egypt"
(Gen. 12: 10). All this period in Egypt was so much waste of time. Abram returned with
Lot (Gen. 13: 1) unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and
there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot stands for the flesh which clogs and
trips the true child of God. So far as Terah was concerned, Abram did not move from
Haran until Terah was dead. With Lot, however, it was different. Abram began to
realize the need of separation, and the moment the trouble arose about the flocks and the
herds, Abram seemed to seize the opportunity: "Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me"
(Gen. 13: 9). Lot "lifted up his eyes" and chose the plain of Jordan. The Lord spoke to
Abram after that Lot was separated from him, "Lift up now thine eyes". Lot had lifted up
his and seen Sodom. Abram, when separated from Lot, saw his inheritance. Lot pitched
his tent toward Sodom--odious name! Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in
the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Hebron
means fellowship. Abram's fellowship with God was impossible while Lot remained with
him. How would the Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, understand all this?
Would not some of them begin to see the need for the separation from the "Lots" of their
profession? Would they not perceive the true Abrahamic spirit in the call to go outside
the camp?
Faith perfected.
It was after Abram's victory (where Lot met with such humiliating defeat) that he met
the high priest whose name so fills the epistle to the Hebrews (Melchisedec), and it is
immediately after the meeting with Melchisedec that we arrive at the inheritance and
righteousness of faith. This close association of righteousness and inheritance is a feature
lost sight of by too many for us to pass it by. Gen. 15: 6, the great passage concerning
justification by faith, is introduced by Abram's question concerning his heir, and the
Lord's answer concerning this is the groundwork of Abram's faith. Rom. 1:-3: lay the
foundation of justification by faith, and are followed by chapter 4:, which is nothing
more nor less than an exposition of Gen. 15: 6. In the midst of this chapter we read:
"The promise, that he should be the HEIR of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his
seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the
law be HEIRS, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect" (Rom. 4: 13,
14).
In like manner Gal. 3: 29 concludes with the words:
"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise
. . . . . if a son, then an heir of God through Christ . . . . . the son of the bondwoman shall
not be heir with the son of the freewoman" (Gal. 3: 29; 4: 7, 30).
Titus 3: 7 also testifies to the same truth:
"That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
aionian life."