Genesis 13:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 13:14
And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
to break through · verb, niphal infinitive construct
up
שָׂ֣אsa'
H5375
to lift · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
eyes
עֵינֶ֙יךָ֙'ei.Nei.kha
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
look
וּרְאֵ֔הu.re.'Eh
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
place
הַמָּק֖וֹםha.ma.Kom
H4725
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
northward
צָפֹ֥נָהtza.Fo.nah
H6828
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix
southward
וָנֶ֖גְבָּהva.Neg.bah
H5045
the south (from its drought) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix
eastward
וָקֵ֥דְמָהva.Ke.de.mah
H6924
the front · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix
westward
וָיָֽמָּהva.Ya.mah
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the sout…
Deuteronomy 3:27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine ey…
Isaiah 49:18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt su…
Isaiah 60:4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daugh…
Genesis 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Go…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 13:14–end
We have here an account of a gracious visit which God paid to Abram, to confirm the promise to him and his. Observe,
I. When it was that God renewed and ratified the promise: After that Lot was separated from him, that is, 1. After the quarrel was over; for those are best prepared for the visits of divine grace whose spirits are calm and sedate, and not ruffled with any passion. 2. After Abram's humble self-denying condescensions to Lot for the preserving of peace. It was then that God came to him with this token of his favour. Note, God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace what we lose for the preservation of neighbourly peace. When Abram had willingly offered Lot one-half of his righ…
Lift up now thine eyes . . . all the land which thou seest--So extensive a survey of the country, in all directions, can be obtained from no other point in the neighborhood; and those plains and hills, then lying desolate before the eyes of the solitary patriarch, were to be peopled with a mighty nation "like the dust of the earth in number," as they were in Solomon's time (Kg1 4:20).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 13:14
The Lord said unto Abram - It is very likely that the angel of the covenant appeared to Abram in open day, when he could take a distinct view of the length and the breadth of this good land. The revelation made Gen 15:5, was evidently made in the night; for then he was called to number the stars, which could not be seen but in the night season: here he is called on to number the dust of the earth, Gen 13:16, which could not be seen but in the day-light.
John Gill on Genesis 13:14
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,.... The Lord appeared unto him as he had before, and with an articulate voice spoke unto him, to comfort him upon the separation of his kinsman from him, and to renew the grant of the land of Canaan to him and his seed, and to assure him, that though Lot had chosen the most delightful and fruitful part of the country, yet it should not be an inheritance to him and his posterity, but the whole land should be Abraham's and his seed's.
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art; being upon Mount Ephraim, between Bethel and Hai, see Genesis 12:8; from whence his view of the land might be extended very far:…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 14 and 15.) Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, towards the north, south, east, and west; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring. He set the four regions of the world: east, west, north, and south. But what is read in all the Scriptures, let it suffice to say once, that the sea is always considered to be in the west: because the region of Palestine is situated in such a way that the sea is in the western part.
See the promptness of God's providential recompense demonstrated in favor of the good man. Sacred Scripture wants to teach us the extent of the reimbursement the patriarch was accorded for such humility from the loving God. And so after saying that Lot took his leave and went off to the land he had selected on the score of its beauty, [Scripture] immediately added, "The Lord God said to Abram." Then, for our precise realization that he said this by way of rewarding him for what had been done for Lot, it added, "God said to Abram after Lot's parting with him," as if to say the following words to him without demur: You ceded the beautiful region to your nephew on account of your great restraint and thus gave evidence of your eminent humility and showed such concern for peace as to put up with anything for the sake of preventing any rivalry coming between you—accept from me a generous reward.
There follows a passage that clearly teaches us how fast the soul progresses once the excesses of the irrational parts have been eliminated and how much evil is produced by an accumulation of vices. Not without reason did Scripture put it this way: "And God said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him: '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 to you and to your descendants for ever.' " This text is the source from which the Stoic philosophers drew one of their doctrinal maxims: that everything belongs to the wise man. Indeed, north, south, east and west are the parts of the universe: they encompass the entire world. And when God promises that he will give all of this to Abraham, what else is he saying than that the wise and faithful man possesses all things, lacks nothing at all? For which reason Solomon also says in Proverbs, "The whole world of riches belongs to him who is faithful." How much earlier did Solomon live than Zeno the teacher and founder of the Stoic school itself! How much earlier was he than Plato, the very father of philosophy, or Pythagoras, who invented the term philosophy. But who is the faithful person if not one who is wise? For "the fool changes like the moon," but the wise person remains unchanging in faith.
Dictionary and topics
Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
East — (1.) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus “the east country” is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais (Zech. 8:7). (2). Properly what is in front of one, or a country that…
Lot — (Heb. goral, a “pebble”), a small stone used in casting lots (Num. 33:54; Jonah 1:7). The lot was always resorted to by the Hebrews with strictest reference to the interposition of God, and as a…
Meekness — A calm temper of mind, not easily provoked (James 3:13). Peculiar promises are made to the meek (Matt. 5:5; Isa. 66:2). The cultivation of this spirit is enjoined (Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; Zeph. 2:3),…
Sun — (Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The…
Canaan · .Promised to Abraham and his seed — .Promised to Abraham and his seed
Canaanites, The · Abraham: Was promised the country of, of inheritance — Abraham: Was promised the country of, of inheritance
Jews, The · Promises respecting made to: Abraham — Promises respecting made to: Abraham
Land · Original title to, from God — Original title to, from God
Lot · .Separates from Abraham, and lo — .Separates from Abraham, and lo
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And the Lord said unto Abram. Moses now relates that after Abram was separated from his nephew, divine consolation was administered for the appeasing of his mind. There is no doubt that the wound inflicted by that separation was very severe, since he was obliged to send away one who was not less dear to him than his own life. When it is said, therefore, that the Lord spoke, the circumstance of time requires to be noted; as if he had said, that the medicine of God's word was now brought to alleviate his pain. And thus he teaches us, that the best remedy for the mitigation and the cure of sadness, is placed in the word of God.
Lift up now thine eyes. Seeing that the Lord promises the land to…
After Lot's departure, Jehovah repeated to Abram (by a mental, inward assurance, as we may infer from the fact that אמר "said" is not accompanied by ויּרא "he appeared") His promise that He would give the land to him and to his seed in its whole extent, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, and would make his seed innumerable like the dust of the earth. From this we may see that the separation of Lot was in accordance with the will of God, as Lot had no share in the promise of God; though God afterwards saved him from destruction for Abram's sake. The possession of the land is promised עולם עד "for ever." The promise of God is unchangeable. As the seed of Abraham was to exist…
Abram could give Lot the choice land because he believed in God’s promise. Abram waited for God to give him the land; Lot just took what he wanted.
Rashi on Genesis 13:14
אחרי הפרד לוט AFTER LOT WAS SEPARATED FROM HIM — So long as the wicked (Lot) was with him the word of God kept away from him (i. e. God had no communion with Abraham) (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 10).
