Genesis 13:11-13

Lot, however, chose neither of these options, north or south. Instead he decided to move east into the Jordan Valley (Genesis 13:11). Earlier we read that Adam, Eve, and Cain traveled east after they sinned (Genesis 3:24; Genesis 4:16) and that the people of Babel went east and rebelled against God (Genesis 11:2). Thus Lot’s move east makes us a bit uneasy (cf. Genesis 12:3). At this time the Jordan River was the eastern border of Canaan that continued south from the southeastern end of the Salt (Dead) Sea and southwest toward Kadesh (lit. cultic shrine) Barnea (Genesis 10:19). It then proceeded to the Great (Mediterranean) Sea along the Wadi el Arish (Brook of Egypt; cf. Numbers 34:1-12; Joshua 15:1-12). The text contrasts "the land of Canaan" with "the cities of the Valley" (Genesis 13:12). The place Lot chose to settle was on the eastern frontier of the Promised Land (Genesis 13:11).

The location of Sodom is still uncertain. There are three primary possibilities: north of the Dead Sea, southeast of the Dead Sea, or under the southern basin of the Dead Sea. The second option seems most probable.

". . . this choice by Lot made rather final the rupture between him and Abram." [Note: Harold Stigers, Commentary on Genesis, p. 146.]

Lot’s choice erected another hurdle for Abram’s faith in the promises of God and precipitated another crisis in the "obstacle story" of how God would fulfill His promises to Abram. Lot chose the Jordan Valley.

"Due to the combination of water (emerging from underground springs fed by the limestone hills farther west [of Jericho]), soil (deposited on the plain from the same hills) and climate (warm and sunny during most of the year), the region is known for all types of agricultural products, especially dates and balsam (used in ancient ointments). . . . It is not surprising that Lot, who with Abraham had lived for a short time in the lush Nile Valley of Egypt [chose as he did] . . . His choice appears to have been made from the mountains northeast of Bethel, with a view of the Jericho oasis or the Plains of Moab." [Note: James Monson, The Land Between, pp. 163-64.]

Lot’s choice seems to have been influenced to some extent by a desire to ally with the native inhabitants (cf. Genesis 13:7; Genesis 13:12; Genesis 19:1-26) as well as by the natural fruitfulness of the Jordan Valley (Genesis 13:10).

"In any given situation, what you are determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do." [Note: Haddon Robinson, Leadership 3:1 (Winter 1982):104.]

"The close parallels between the two [cities, i.e., Babylon and Sodom] which are created in the narrative of chapter 13 suggest that the author intends both cities to tell the same story. As in the case of parallels and repetitions throughout the book, the double account of God’s destruction of the ’city in the east’ is intended to drive home the point that God’s judgment of the wicked is certain and imminent (cf. Genesis 41:32)." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 144.]