“And he took … Lot, his nephew …”
“Then he proceeded from there (Shechem) to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the Name of the LORD.” Genesis 12:5a, 8 (NASB)
Abram, after the LORD had spoken to him in Shechem, continued on his trek through this land promised him, with his entire caravan, including his nephew Lot whom he had taken along when he’d departed Haran. He walked still southward some twenty plus miles. Coming up to a hill between what would come to be known as Bethel and Ai, instead of waiting for the LORD to first speak, Abram proceeds to here build yet another altar of sacrifice, and again he calls upon the Name of the LORD. However, at this place Abram does not hear from YHVH, so he pushes onward, again heading south, all the way down into the Negev, which name is derived from another, meaning, “to be parched”, a present day desert in Southern Israel; (the “Negev”, by name, carries an identical definition to Haran, from where he’d departed after the death of his father)… and he finds there in the parched Negev quite a severe famine. So he keeps moving, only this time in a westerly direction … all the way to Egypt.
What we don’t see, Beloved, is the reason for Abram not being able to hear from his LORD back on that hill near Bethel.
You know the story of Abram’s time in Egypt, with his wife having been taken by the Pharaoh, then restored back to him, at the end of Genesis 12. At the beginning of Genesis 13 we find Abram and his entire entourage – actually larger than when he’d gone down into Egypt because of all that Pharaoh had gifted him for Sarai – we see them all returning to the land of Canaan.
“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev … And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, … to the place of the altar, which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” excrpt frm. Genesis 13:1-4 (NASB)
At the place of his last sacrifice Abram again calls upon the Name of the LORD. It seems that his heart is hungry to hear from YHVH, I Am That I Am. There is something inside of this man that knows the Living promise, spoken both years before in Ur, and then only however many moons ago back up at Shechem, while it is an unfolding vision, is actually also an eternal friendship coming to be (Is. 41:8b; James 2:23) … this all was causing this man to keep pursuing hearing his LORD.
What Abram did not realize until his return to the altar he’d built, until he called again upon the LORD, was that there was a veil over the eyes and ears of his heart, a soul tie to this age, as it were, that was actually keeping him from hearing. Even so now, the Kindness and Grace of the LORD, in response to Abram’s continuing pursuit of His Voice, of this man’s pursuit of friendship with this Awesome God at the place of sacrifice, was about to cause this veil to be removed so that he could again hear, and likewise also see even more of the Divine promise unveiled.
“And he went … to the place of the altar which he had made formerly; and there Abram called on the Name of the LORD. Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together (lit. also “to dwell as one). And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.” Genesis 13:4a, 5-7 (NASB)
Abram calls upon the Name of the LORD at the altar of sacrifice … and immediately there is a sudden distraction (… Divinely caused to be brought about…?). Do not see this as just some worldly or even demonic distraction, Dear One. Abraham has called now twice upon the name of the LORD at this altar, and there had been no response. Yet it is very much on the LORD’s heart to respond. Please hear this, Beloved: the sacrifice upon the altar is not at all being ignored by our LORD.
So why no response?
LOT!
Lot had not merely joined his uncle on this journey from Haran; the scriptures say that Abram took Lot with him (Gen. 12:5). The hidden reason for Abram’s inability to continue hearing is seen in the definition of Lot’s name!
In the natural realm, the land could not presently sustain the wealth of flocks and cattle belonging to each man, to Abram and to Lot. Abram, not wanting any discord to persist with his kin, appealed to his nephew to choose which way to go, to the right or to the left, and that he himself would go the opposite direction. Lot would separate from his uncle, taking all his goods, choosing to go towards the well-watered circle of the valley around the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and eventually turning south towards one of the cities at the end of the Jordan’s final destination – Sodom.
Lot’s name means “veil”, like a tight cloth wrapped around one’s face, (Ref. 1 Kings 19:13 – the verb in this verse “wrapped his face ” is the root of Lot’s name). The soul tie to Lot, Abram’s nephew, was the wrap around the eyes and ears of Abram’s heart, blinding and muffling him from seeing and hearing any more from his LORD.
Twice in verse 6 the Holy Spirit had Moses to write that Abram and Lot could not “dwell as one”. There is, in the heart and purposes of the LORD of heaven and earth, in His verbalizing a promise from out of who He is, an unstoppable geizer, if you will, that requires the continual unfolding AND THUS a fulfilling of His promise, His heart, which will consequently force, I believe, situations to be agitated in order to bring into existense that Divine purpose and plan – which is ultimately to manifest and glorify His Son. Abram was pursuing His Voice by sacrifice, and it is so that the LORD could not hold back, could not allow to be held back the unfolding of His eternal plan for and through this man … for the sacrifice-pursuit was pointed directly to what the the eventual finished work of the cross would accomplish … a ripped veil access, a sacrificial pursuit by YHVH Himself … of you, a relationship which He had destined for each individual of all of mankind from before creation with Himself!
At this juncture in Abram’s walk he was frankly not going to be able to receive more of the unfolding Eternal promise while part of his heart was being held captive to the growing, already voluminous, soul tie to this age overburdening his dwelling place (Ref. Mat. 10:37; Mk. 3:31-35). The LORD’s directive to Abram initially, way back in Ur of the Chaldees, was clear that there had to be a severing entirely from everything of his natural roots in this life, all the way down to his father’s house, in order for the promise to come to be (Gen. 12:1-3). Yet he had traveled to Haran with Terah, his father, and ended up being delayed there until his father died, thus having his LORD’s voice seeminly “dried up” the entire time he’d dwelt in the city whose name means “Parched”. Terah’s name, by definition, has to do with “delay”. When Terah had finally died, this part of Abram’s leaving his father’s house gave him at least a slight opening to hear again from YHVH, which did occur once he’d gotten down to Shechem.
I have been thinking on this entire Bethel/Gen. 13 account for days, asking the LORD to unveil what my heart was telling me that there was more to see in this. It was not my intent, at the completion of the previous Kairos, to dwell on this one thing, but to show all the places where Abraham would journey, build an altar, call upon the Name of the LORD, and to show the LORD’s response. But I believe there is something that the Holy Spirit would say as to this that is being unfolded concerning Abraham and concerning Lot. For there is a continuance, even a progression in each succeeding place to which Abram would go, where he calls upon the LORD, in conjunction with Lot.
The very moment, Beloved, that Lot separated from Abram, as soon as this “veil” is removed from Abram’s eyes there near Bethel, where twice he had called upon the name of the LORD, the eyes and ears of Abram’s heart are suddenly unstopped, are clearer now than ever before, opened to hear and see even more from his LORD …
“And the LORD SAID to Abram, AFTER LOT HAD SEPARATED FROM HIM, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever … Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”” Genesis 13:14-15, 17 (NASB)
Bethel and Ai are “markers”, if you will, current cities in the days of Moses to the generation to whom he is writing the book of Genesis, so that they could know where occurred the events of their forefathers. (Bethel was named Bethel by Jacob in Genesis 28, years after Abraham). The separation of Lot from Abram is huge in significance by reason of the definition of the names of these places west and east of the altar. Abram’s altar was on the hill between Bethel and Ai: Bethel to his west, Ai to the east. Lot chose what his eyes saw in the natural, what he beheld of this age, the eastern side, the well watered circle of the Jordan, because it was, in the natural, “like the garden of the LORD”, like Eden (Gen. 13:10). He was going to do what he could by his own effort to increase himself, his belongings, his possessions. The eyes and ears of Lot’s heart were utterly veiled, however, to Abram’s promise, completely wrapped up from beholding what only the eyes and ears of faith can see and hear … because his delight was this age. The direction he chose, easterly, through Ai, was prophetically in the direction of ruin. “Ai” means “heap of ruins”. Abram stayed west, on the side of Bethel, the “house of God”, because his eyes were on the promise before him, a promise that would extend in the increase already so effortlessly, and by Grace, his, the increase by Grace ahead of him into his lifetime, and then Blessings of “Blessing I will Bless you” (Gen. 22:17; Heb. 6:13-14) into centuries and milleniums in this age, and yet more, into eternity. Lot chose the cities he could see, and would eventually lose everything (Gen. 19, Mat. 10:39). Abram was living for the city he could not see (Heb. 11:13-16) because of the Living Voice of the God of Eternity that he was continually pursuing through sacrifice.
The Hebrew text of Genesis 13:11 & 14, in these two relatives separating, says that they separated “from upon one another”, as well as denoting that this detachment put alas a distinction from of the overshadowing of one over the other where one had disappeared in the shadow of the first. The unwrapping of this veil allowed the light of the LORD to no longer be shadowed from Abram’s ability to see and to hear his LORD. His sacrifice had, indeed, not been in vain. The Voice of which he longed to hear in the two times he had called upon the Name of YHVH at his altar was suddenly now as clear as day, and a joy to his heart.
“And the LORD said to Abram, AFTER LOT HAD SEPARATED FROM HIM, “Now lift up your eyes and look…” Genesis 13:14 (NASB)
The sad issue for Lot is that, while not, himself, having directly heard from YHVH the way his uncle did, the LORD nevertheless gave him an opportunity to let be removed the veil of his heart. When Abram, in Genesis 14:14-16, fought to rescue him and his family, along with the people of Lot’s chosen city, restoring also back to him all his possessions, upon their return trip south from the Damascus region, Abram encountered Melchizedek, the priesthood of Jesus (Heb. 7:1-3; Gen. 14:17-24) … Lot was among the throng who witnessed this supernatural meeting; and likewise another time, some years later, two angels who, with the LORD Himself, had been with Abram only hours earlier, came and stayed with Lot and his family, and then rescued them from the impending judgment only hours away (Gen. 18:22, 19:1ff). Nevertheless, the eyes and ears of Lot’s heart did not want anything more than what had existed before him in the natural realm. He had chosen the cities associated with the cities of the eastern side of the Jordan (Gen. 14:5b-8). It is a picture of choosing life before the cross, not wanting to live life through the cross; for the cross removes the veil of the heart (II Cor. 3:16). The western side of the Jordan, the baptism, as it were, through this river, was the place of true, enduring inheritance, where the Living Voice of the LORD is ever unveiled for access to keep hearing and to keep seeing. Lot never came to an altar of sacrifice himself. He had watched his uncle take communion with an eternal Priest and King … but Lot never came himself to the communion table, to the sacrifice where the voice of YHVH is ever alive with Grace and Promise of what is exceedingly greater than all that this life has to offer. His righteous soul lived in a daily torment of what he gave his eyes to see and his ears to hear (Ref. II Pet. 2:8). He never came into a promise of rest.
Lot would have one descendant several centuries later, a woman, to cross out of judgment through the River of Baptism and back into Divine promise … and come to be part of the lineage of THE Divine Promised Inheritance offered in sacrifice to the world, (Book of Ruth; Jhn 10:16). But it is terribly sad that this one man, whom the Scriptures call “righteous”, let his soul be tormented by the voices of this age instead of coming into rest for his soul under the example and blessing of his uncle Abraham.
This is a year of entering into the LORD’s Promises, Beloved, of having them unveiled to you more deeply than you ever have before. This Kairos season is in the determinate plan, the Divine Destiny of our LORD Jesus for you, an increasing unfolding to such a greater degree of Abba Father God’s inheritance to you, Dear One, to make even clearer the prophetic promises, even understanding and wisdom for the steps ahead, things into which we have only previously partially glimpsed. I’m not telling you to ask for strife as what came to be for Abraham and Lot. But if you will press back to Bethel because you want to pursue hearing, and seeing, even more from of the LORD, press into communion, Beloved, the Father’s most costly sacrifice that gained for us a ripped veil access to always abide, to always be able to hear Him! A number of you reading this have been crying out to the LORD – to hear more, for clearer vision, for understanding – crying out as to when will come to be the prophetic promises of yesterday. The answer will come to you, Beloved, in communion. Remember, the LORD’s table is not a place where the LORD recalls your sin, (Heb. 10:15, 17). It is a place for you to recall His eternal forgiveness, His eternal cleansing of you once and for all time – a place to recall your eternal sonship/daughtership because of His costly sacrifice to gain you; (Eph. 1:3-7)! (Some of you needed to hear this last statement over yourselves). I believe that you will find the Holy Spirit bringing about, or allowing, situations that cause any veil wrapping up the eyes and/or ears of your heart to be finally unwrapped. I believe we have entered into a season where what, of this age, captivated our hearts previously suddenly fall off. I believe you will find yourself effortlessly pressing into the LORD like you never did before, and you will find your time with Him even increasing, and your longing for time with Him augmenting, all effortlessly, because it is all a working of His Grace in you. What you had tried so often, so hard to do before in getting to this position only to fail, you will find now easier, way more than you expected, because it will be by His doing, not your effort.
Let fall off of you love for the things of this age, Dear One, even the noise, the news of this age. Let His Voice, the Voice of your Saviour, even His very Presence, capture your heart and mind. You will find His voice getting clearer and clearer, and dearer and dearer … and your authority in Him in this life increasing … And the world around you will notice you are rising way above the fears that shake them … and they will ask of the Hope that is within you.
You are greatly loved, Beloved. Mark Dingemans
kairos – (Kahee-ros’) – Strong’s concordance defines this word: “an occasion, I.e. set or proper time.” The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NASB) defines this word; “season, time, but not merely as a succession of moments, which is chronos,” [from which we derive the English word ‘chronology’]. “Kairos, however, implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.” This must be understood. Strategic times of the Lord do not necessarily imply good or convenient times. We are in Kairos times. Maybe not good or convenient times, but definitely strategic, opportune times because of the season we are in. We must have “ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” (Rev. 2:29), so as to respond correctly to the Kairos time.
* Some Scripture for this letter is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Other references translated from Grk. Txt as presented in T. Newberry’s Englishman’s Greek New Testament, Zondervan Publishing – 1982- originally published in London, Eng. 1877