Genesis 13:13

Genesis 13:13. Sinners before the Lord exceedingly That is, impudent and daring sinners, who despised and openly defied God. Alas for Lot! He has got into bad company, and will find the beauty and fertility of the country but a poor recompense for the daily grief their wickedness and reproaches will cause him!

Genesis 13:14-15 . The Lord said unto Abram To comfort him after “Lot was separated from him,” and he was left alone, and in a less pleasant and fruitful soil than that which Lot had chosen; Lift up thine eyes, all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it. But, how was this land given to Abram, when it is expressly said by Stephen, Acts 7:5, “He (God) gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on!” The answer is, God gave him the right to it, though not the actual possession, until the time appointed, when the inhabitants of the land should prove themselves to be irreclaimable, and fully ripe for destruction. God explains it, “To thee and thy seed,” that is, to thee “in thy seed.” But how could it be said to be given them “for ever,” when, after a few hundreds of years they were turned out of it? To this it must be replied, that the promise was made to them, and intended to be fulfilled, upon condition of their obedience, as is often expressed in other places. And the expression עד עולם , here rendered for ever, often signifies only long continuance, as is evident from many passages of Scripture, in which the subjects to which it is applied do not, in their nature, admit of an eternal duration. Indeed, when the word is applied to the Jewish rites and ceremonies, as it often is, it signifies no more than during the standing of that dispensation, or till the coming of the Messiah. And thus it may be here understood.