ולוט עמו הנגבה, “and Lot with him, southward.” In the same direction as they had been journeying ever since they had left Charan.

ולא נשא אותם, “the land did not offer sufficient virgin land to support their combined flocks and herds.” The Bible using the term ארץ, as if it were masculine here, is not a unique example. It also occurs in the masculine mode in Zachariah 14,10, as well as in Isaiah 9,18, and in Isaiah 33,9.

כי היה רכושם רב, “for their possessions were so vast.” The point the Torah is making is that, contrary to what could be expected, poverty leads to strife about sharing the little one owns, in this instance excessive wealth led to strife.

בין רועי מקנה אברם ובין רועי מקנה לוט, “between Avram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds.” Neither of them could locate additional grazing land which was not privately owned. The reason was that the Canaanites had claimed all that land as theirs.

כי כלה משקה, “for all of it was well irrigated.” Some commentators understand the verse: וירא את כל ככר הירדן, to mean that the river Jordan irrigated the entire region bountifully.

כגן ה, “as if it were a garden planted by Hashem Himself, not unlike Egypt which was also irrigated by the river Nile. (Compare Genesis 2,10)

ויפרדו איש מעל אחיו, “they separated totally from one another.” This separation lasted historically throughout the generations so that descendants (male) of Lot were never allowed to convert to Judaism. (Deuteronomy 23,4)

ויאהל עד סדום, “he erected his tents as far as Sodom.” He did not take up residence inside the city of Sodom, because he knew that those people were evil and wicked. This is also why later on the Torah described Lot as sitting in the gateway to Sodom. (19,1) His house, though part of the wall of Sodom, had its entrance outside that wall.

ואנשי סדום רעים, “the people of Sodom behaved wickedly toward fellow human beings.” This is spelled out in greater detail in Ezekiel, 17,49,) ויד עני ואביון לא החזיקה; “It did not support the poor or the destitute.”

וה' אמר אחרי הפרד לוט מעמו, “and Hashem had said after Lot had separated from him, etc.” G-d had told Avram that he made a mistake when he thought that Lot having moved to Sodom, or the valley near it was enough, as that was also part of the territories that He had in mind to give to Avram’s descendants as their ancestral territory.

אחרי הפרט לוט מעמו, “the need for this separation was to forestall Lot from ever claiming that his descendants were entitled to part of the land of Israel.” The relevant words concerning this interpretation are: כי את כל הארץ אשר אתה רואה, “for the whole land that you can see;” [Lot had also decided on the basis of what he could see. (13,10) Ed.] G-d emphasised that Lot should never have any claim to any part of the Holy Land.

כי את כל הארץ אשר אתה רואה, “for the whole land that you can see;” [Lot had also decided on the basis of what he could see. (13,10) Ed.] G-d emphasised that Lot should never have any claim to any part of the Holy Land.

קום התהלך בארץ, “arise and walk throughout the land;” in order to establish claim to it.

ויאהל אברם ויבא וישב, “Avram pitched his tent and arrived and settled;” actually, we would have expected the Torah to write the following sequence: ויבא אברם ויאהל וישב, “Avram arrived, pitched his tent, and settled;” we learn from the inverted sequence that the meaning of the word: ויאהל, here cannot be the usual meaning, i.e. “he pitched his tent;” here it means that “he folded his tent.” There are many words in the holy Tongue that have two different meanings depending the context in which they appear. The second meaning may be the opposite of the usual one. The best known example of this is the word דשן, which in Leviticus 6,3 means ash, residue, whereas in Exodus 27,3 is used as something being collected in special containers instead of something to be scattered removed. At any rate, Avram moved his tent from noman’s land in the land of Canaan to inhabited regions, i.e. elon moreh.