GENESIS 13

THE RETURN • STRIFE AND SEPARATION • LOT CHOOSES • ABRAM RECEIVES THE LAND PROMISE

H. P. Mansfield Bible notes — checked and arranged in verse-by-verse Expositor style

Source: HPB 01-Gen01-Gen41.PDF, Genesis 13 photographed pages 57–58

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Mansfield presents Genesis 13 as the recovery of Abram after Egypt and the parallel decline of Lot. Abram returns to Bethel and the altar; prosperity then creates pressure, the herdsmen quarrel, and Abram chooses peace rather than asserting his rights.

The central contrast is between sight and faith. Lot lifts up his eyes and selects the fertile Jordan circuit for immediate advantage; after Lot has separated, Yahweh tells Abram to lift up his eyes and see the land promised to him and his seed for ever. The chapter closes with Abram at the oaks of Mamre near Hebron, again building an altar.

ABRAM RETURNS — GENESIS 13:1–4

Genesis 13:1 — “Abram went up out of Egypt”

The heading is THE RETURN. Mansfield deliberately contrasts Abram's going “down” into Egypt (12:10) with his going “up” from it. The failure becomes a lesson: he never again abandons the Land in this way; Genesis 24:6 later reflects his determination that Isaac should not be taken back to Mesopotamia.

Lot is still “with him,” but Mansfield notes that Abram, not Lot, takes the spiritual initiative.

Genesis 13:2 — “Abram was very rich”

Cattle, silver and gold are marked. Mansfield distinguishes Abram's riches from Lot's later description: silver and gold are mentioned for Abram, and he applies them symbolically to redemption and tried faith (1 Peter 1:18–19). Material blessing is real, but the following verses show that possessions can also become a test.

Genesis 13:3–4 — “unto the place of the altar… and there Abram called on the name of the LORD”

Abram retraces his route to Bethel, to the place of his tent and altar. Mansfield reads the journey as restoration to fellowship after the Egyptian lapse. Bethel (“House of God”) and Ai/Hai (“the Ruin”) again form the geographical and moral backdrop.

The return culminates in worship: Abram calls upon the Name of Yahweh. Recovery is therefore more than physical return; it restores the relationship that fear had disturbed.

STRIFE AND SEPARATION — GENESIS 13:5–13

Genesis 13:5–6 — “their substance was great”

Lot also has flocks, herds and tents, and the land cannot support both households together. Mansfield notes the irony that prosperity produces a crisis that poverty had not. The difficulty is practical, but the response to it exposes character.

Genesis 13:7 — “there was a strife between the herdmen”

The strife is the first of Mansfield's six steps in Lot's decline: strife (13:7), beheld (13:10), chose (13:11), pitched toward Sodom (13:12), dwelt in Sodom (14:12), and sat in the gate (19:1).

The Canaanite and Perizzite were then in the land. Mansfield identifies Perizzite from a term associated with village dwellers, in contrast to the city-dwelling Canaanites. More important is the witness issue: quarrelling brethren were surrounded by observers and enemies. He checks the anti-strife principle against Galatians 5:20, James 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:3 and 2 Timothy 2:24.

Genesis 13:8 — “Let there be no strife… for we be brethren”

Abram refuses to press his seniority. Mansfield links the conciliatory “men brethren” form with Acts 2:29 and the unity principle of Psalm 133:1. Proverbs 20:3 and 15:1 support the deliberate choice to cease from strife and answer softly.

This is peace-making by self-denial, not weakness. Abram takes responsibility for the conduct of his own household and offers a solution.

Genesis 13:9 — “Is not the whole land before thee?”

Abram waives first choice. His confidence is theological: the inheritance rests on Yahweh's promise, so he need not grasp the most attractive visible territory. Mansfield treats this as the opposite of Lot's coming decision by sight.

Genesis 13:10 — “Lot lifted up his eyes”

Lot surveys the well-watered kikkar — the “circle/circuit” of Jordan, not merely a flat plain. Mansfield contrasts Lot's natural sight with Abram's faith. The region looked like “the garden of Yahweh” and “the land of Egypt,” but the narrative immediately reminds the reader that Sodom and Gomorrah were doomed.

The Jordan is Mansfield's extended symbol of descent through judgment: he derives Jordan from yarad (“descend”) with Dan (“judgment”). The precise etymological construction is retained as Mansfield's exposition rather than asserted as an uncontested lexical derivation.

Genesis 13:11 — “Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan”

The decisive word is “chose.” Lot journeys east and separates from Abram. Mansfield connects his name, Lot, with the idea “Veiled,” and applies 2 Peter 1:9 to the loss of long-range spiritual vision. Proverbs 27:10 and Hebrews 10:25 are used to underline the danger of abandoning strengthening fellowship.

Genesis 13:12–13 — “pitched his tent toward Sodom”

Lot does not move into Sodom at once. Mansfield carefully traces the progression: first “toward” Sodom (13:12), later “in” Sodom (14:12). The men of Sodom are described as wicked and sinners before Yahweh exceedingly.

Published Mansfield recovers the lexical notes: ra'im/ra'a is associated with breaking or ruining the established order, while chatta'im/chatta carries the familiar sense of missing the mark. The point is that the spiritual reality of Lot's choice was the opposite of its attractive appearance.

THE LAND PROMISED FOR EVER — GENESIS 13:14–18

Genesis 13:14 — “after that Lot was separated… Lift up now thine eyes”

The deliberate verbal contrast is central. Lot lifted up his eyes of his own accord and saw immediate advantage; Yahweh now tells Abram to lift up his eyes after separation. Hebrews 11:13 and 2 Corinthians 4:18 express Mansfield's distinction between the seen and temporary and the unseen promise received by faith.

Genesis 13:15 — “to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever”

The promise is both to Abram and to his seed. Acts 7:5 is an important check: Abram did not receive the land as an inheritance in his mortal lifetime, so Mansfield sees the wording as requiring future fulfilment and resurrection. Genesis 17:7–8, Psalm 105:9–12, Romans 15:8 and Galatians 3:16, 26–29 are used to carry the promise forward to Christ and those in him.

Genesis 13:16 — “thy seed as the dust of the earth”

The dust figure marks the multitude aspect of the promise. Mansfield links it with the innumerable company of faith (Galatians 3:26–29; Revelation 7:9) and with Isaiah 49:20–21's astonishment at the enlarged family.

Genesis 13:17 — “Arise, walk through the land”

Abram is commanded to survey in faith what he does not yet possess. The action makes the promise part of his lived pilgrimage. Exodus 6:8, Deuteronomy 30:20 and 34:1–4 later preserve the same inheritance language.

Genesis 13:18 — “the oaks of Mamre… Hebron… an altar”

The KJV's “plain of Mamre” is, as in Genesis 12:6, better understood as oaks/terebinths: allon. Published Mansfield gives Mamre the sense “vigour/power,” producing his symbolic phrase “strong ones of power.”

Hebron is connected with joining/fellowship. Mansfield also notes that the city Hebron was founded later (Numbers 13:22); its mention here locates Mamre for the reader. Abram again builds an altar, so the chapter closes with strength, fellowship and worship rather than the apparent prosperity of Sodom.

PRINCIPAL THEMES

Recovery. Abram returns to Bethel and the altar after failure.

Prosperity can test. Material increase produces a conflict that must be handled spiritually.

Brotherly peace. Abram chooses self-denial rather than strife before a watching world.

Sight versus faith. Lot chooses what looks best; Abram waits for Yahweh to show him what is promised.

Decline is gradual. Lot moves from strife to seeing, choosing and pitching toward Sodom.

Separation and revelation. After Lot departs, the land promise is expanded and made personal to Abram.

Inheritance requires future fulfilment. Acts 7:5 confirms that Abram himself still awaits possession of the promised land.

Tent and altar. Abram remains a pilgrim and worshipper.

EDITORIAL VERIFICATION AND RECOVERED READINGS

RESIDUAL UNCERTAINTIES

• Several very small place-name and promise cross-references in the photographed margins remain too indistinct to recover safely.

• Mansfield’s extended Jordan name construction (“descender through judgment”) is preserved as his exposition; the finished note does not present the compound derivation as an undisputed modern lexical conclusion.

• Some geographical measurements in the long Jordan-valley marginal paragraph are secondary exposition rather than essential verse annotations and have been condensed rather than copied mechanically.