...and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)... (2Pt 2,7-8)

When looking back at the end of life, it is customary to reflect on the milestones that have mostly determined the course of a person's life. In Lot's case it was undoubtedly the moment of his separation from Abram.

Lot broke with him after the fiasco in Egypt. Abram was banished there in disgrace after the scandal, and his star lost its brilliance. He did get rich in Egypt, but thanks to Sarah, and so others could argue that it was almost a pointless scramble back and forth, a disgusting experience, and a return to an arid land. (Abram originally wanted to escape the famine, but had to return to Canaan earlier than planned, and the land still hasn't recovered from the drought.) Not surprisingly, Lot now viewed his uncle more critically than he ever had before. There were snide remarks in the caravan and tensions that began to flare into arguments between the shepherds. Only, if Lot had an attitude of exclusive respect for Abram, the shepherds would have known they couldn't afford it, and Lot would have silenced them. But things were different now, and Abram had no choice but to withdraw - he was guilty of it all. It was obvious he could not be relied upon 100% to always know where to go and what to do. And so, as they returned to arid Canaan and he headed for the heights again, Lot tapped his forehead. Suddenly he knew many things better than Abram did: for example, that now was the time to go elsewhere, to the irrigated places! Why is Abram making up nonsense again?

It was no wonder that the tension and loss of respect had resulted in their parting. The fact that it wasn't quite smooth was evidenced by the fact that they apparently didn't see each other much after that, and might not even see each other anymore.

And it was this watershed moment that determined what Lot would definitively lose, and what he would gain, later in life.

For he definitely lost contact with his uncle, the tribe that was then the only place where the true God was worshipped in Canaan. Abram was certainly not perfect, but he was seeking God. Lot did not have a living relationship with God, and so from then on he lost the motivation and guidance to God that being with Abram gave him. Slowly but surely, he has moved to a form of living by inertia, with a belief in an admittedly honorable moral culture, but one that no longer has the inner power to further transform, nor can it influence his own descendants or those around him.

He never lost prosperity, and may even have gained from it by parting, for i Sodom he was in more fertile places than before. He also gained a house in this Beverly Hills of that time and fellowship with its inhabitants, which he evidently greatly desired.

But Scripture is mercilessly true: he also gained a lifetime of tribulation. "Day by day his soul was afflicted," Peter says. Always, with no escape. If Lot took looked back now in the cave, the sight was pitiful. The part of his life that he had been most proud of so far, the part that was sovereignly his own, that he could make happen and didn't need Abram to do it - that had been taken away from him completely. Perhaps his eyes were now opened to see that, in the end, apart from the blissful moments of enjoying his wealth and hanging out with his neighbours, it had brought him nothing but misery, the disintegration of his family and the loss of his wife. What kind of life was it, anyway? Wasn't I a bit of a fool when I lived it?

But if the past was depressing, what is the present? As Lot looked around, it occurred to him that it was as dark as this cave.