was chance of making money,
it was better for Lot to keep his family out of that wicked city.
But his eyes fell upon the well watered plains, and he pitched his
tent towards Sodom, and separated from Abram.

Now, notice that after Abram had let Lot have his choice, and Lot
had gone off to the plains, for the first time God had Abram alone.
His father had died at Haran, and he had left his brother there.
Now, after his nephew had left him, he moved down to Hebron, and
there built an altar. "Hebron" means _communion_. Here it is that
God came to him and said:

"Abram, look around as far as your eye can reach--it is all yours.
Look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed
as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of
the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through
the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will
give it unto thee."

"Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of
Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord."

It is astonishing how far you can see in that country. God took
Moses up on Pisgah and showed him the Promised Land. In Palestine, a
few years ago, I found that on Mount Olivet I could look over and
see the Mediterranean. I could look into the valley of the Jordan,
and see the Dead Sea. And on the plains of Sharon I could look up to
Mount Lebanon, and up at Mount Hermon, away beyond Nazareth. You can
see with the naked eye almost the length and breadth of that
country. So when God said to Abram that he might look to the north,
and that as far as he could see he could have the land; and then
look to the south, with its well-watered plains that Lot coveted,
and to the east and the west, from the sea to the Euphrates--then
God gave His friend Abram a clear title, no conditions whatever,
saying:

"I will give it all to you."

Lot chose all he could get, but it was not much. Abram let God
choose for him, and was given all the land. Lot had no security for
his choice, and soon lost all. Abram's right was maintained
undisputed by God the giver.

Do you know that the children of Israel never had faith enough to
take possession of all that land as far as the Euphrates? If they
had, probably Nebuchadnezzar would never have come and taken them
captives. Bu