Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/137

 Abraham and Lot

119

The southern shepherds contend for the same wells and pastures. Abraham is here represented as now dwelling, has always been l;etter suited for grazing than for agriculture,

part of Palestine, in which

chiefly

because of

its

insufficient

water supply.

It

the children realize that our ancestors were

make

is

important to

ifirst

of

all

shep-

The sons of Jacob such for a long time. And out in the desert, before they in Egypt were still shepherds. entered Canaan, the tribes must have lived entirely as shepherds. This fact of early In fact this is the only life possible in the desert.

herds, and continued as

shepherd life had a far-reaching effect upon the subsequent This matter will become clear to the and religion of Israel.

desert, life

teacher in time. it might be pointed out that it was not unThis is shepherds to quarrel, particularly for water. shown by the stories of Jacob and Rachel and Moses and Zipporah.

In

this

common V.

who

The Canaanites and

inhabited Palestine before

V. the

7.

connection

for

10.

Show on

curiosity

can not

see,

and

for a

the exact spot

map

the

interest

Perizzites its

the

valley

of

the

which they

will

learn

soon,

settled.

"Well-watered", because water was so scarce highly valued; this fact

Stimulate

Jordan.

of the children by telling them that they

very good reason,

where Lot

were two of the peoples

conquest by the tribes of Israel.

made

in

Palestine,

just this part of the country

and so seem so

desirable to Lot.

"Garden of the Lord", probably a reference to the story of the garden of Eden. (Cf. note to II, 8.) The valley of the Nile in Egypt is one of the most fertile spots

upon the

earth.

V. 11. Show on the map the relative locations of the two men. V. 12. "The Plain", i. e. the low-lying valley of the Jordan, of which the bed of the Dead Sea is the lowest part. XIV, 1. Some modern scholars have tried to identify some of the names of the kings given in these verses with names of early Babylonian and Elamite kings known from other historical sources, This is a legend pure and simple, but with questionable success. without the slightest historical basis. V. 2. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim were legendary cities in the lower Jordan valley, which, according to tradition, were destroyed by God, and whose sites are now covered by the Dead Sea.

For Sodom and Gomorrah cf. XIX and also Lesson IX for Zeboiim cf. Deuteronomy XIX, 22; Hosea XI, 8. These two passages make it clear that a tradition about Admah and

Admah and last