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  COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 13-14
  by Chuck Smith
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DESCRIPTION
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CONTENT
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Thirteenth chapter of the book of Genesis. In chapter twelve, we find
that Abraham had gone down into Egypt because of the famine. And there
as the result of a lack of faith and trust in God to take care of him,
he had Sarai pass herself off as his sister. But God brought a plague
upon the Egyptians because the Pharaoh had more or less taken her into
his harem and he rebuked Abraham for the deception and ordered his men
to allow Abraham to travel freely. And so now Abraham is returning from
Egypt in chapter thirteen.

He went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot
with him, into the south (Gen 13:1).

That would be into the south part of the land of Canaan into the area of
Beersheba, Kadesh, Barnea, Hebron there in the southern part.

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold (Gen 13:2).

So God had blessed Abraham in a material way, "rich in cattle, silver,
gold."

And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the
place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai
(Gen 13:3);

So when Abraham first came into the land, his first stop was at Shechem,
and then he came back towards the Jordan River at a high point. This is
the highest point in the Jerusalem range of mountains, which begins
actually in the area of Samaria and goes almost to Beersheba. Just
before you get to Beersheba, you, the Jerusalem mountains sort of fade
out. But this is the highest point and there is this mountain between
the city of Bethel and Hai, the mountain in which he had just a
tremendous view of the entire land. Abraham, when he first came there,
was able to see the entire land, and there he built an altar unto the
Lord and worshipped the Lord, and now he returned again to this spot of
Bethel.

The place is actually sort of a significant place. It was near Bethel
there that Jacob was fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau, and he
used a pillow of a rock, and he had a dream and the awareness of the
presence of God. And there God made the covenant with Jacob, and said,
"I am going to be with you whithersoever you go. I\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/chuck-smith/commentary-on-genesis-13-14/
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