השמאל ואימינה, “to the left, and I will turn to the right.” This meant that if Lot chose to go to the left, Avram would go to the right, i.e. to the South, as this was the direction in which he was headed. We had been told already prior to the famine which broke out in the land of Canaan that Avram journeyed steadily in a southerly direction (12,9). On the other hand, ואם הימין, if Lot ”were to turn to the right,” Avram would force himself to move to the “left.” This is what Rashi explains.

It is somewhat amazing that Rashi should say of Avram that he said: “I will force myself to go to the left.” Since it had been Avram’s intention to travel in a southerly direction, why would he change direction? What Rashi must have meant is: “I will cause you to turn to the left.” [in other words, Avram did not really offer Lot a choice in the matter. Ed.] He would force Lot to move in a northerly direction. I have heard that the more accurate versions of Onkelos have the following wording: אם את לצפונא ואנא לדרומא ואם את לדרומא ואצפנך “If you turn north I will turn south; if you want to turn south I will have to force you to turn north.” Avram made it plain that the size of his herds dictated to him to travel in a southerly direction.

אברם ישב בארץ כנען, “Avram dwelled in the land of Canaan.” This means that he lived all over the land of Canaan as opposed to Lot who lived only in the Jordan valley. Avram continued the life of a nomad whereas Lot had a firm abode. The words בערי הככר do not mean that Lot lived in several towns of the valley simultaneously but that he lived “in one of the towns of the valley at a time.” This too was due to the extent of his herds. All of those towns were part of the land of Canaan. This is why the Torah wrote that Lot “chose for himself the entire valley of the Jordan river;” he concluded a treaty with Avram that the latter would not move to any part of that valley.

ויאהל עד סדום “his tent extended as far as the town of Sodom.” Here the Torah taught us something detrimental about Lot. He chose the proximity of evil people and pitched his tent among them. This is why the Torah immediately continues with telling us what kind of people lived in Sodom.

אחרי הפרד לוט, “after Lot had separated, etc.” The verse teaches that G’d had not communicated with Avram until he had separated himself from a wicked companion.

קום התהלך בארץ, “arise and walk throughout the land, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the words, G’d wanted Avram to stake a claim to different parts of the land already now by setting foot on it and by pointing out its boundaries and his having set foot on it. From a rational/investigative aspect, the word התהלך is one that occurs in connection with the emanation חכמה such as in Proverbs 6,22 בהתהלכך תנחה אותך, “when you walk it will guide you (the wisdom of Torah).” A similar thought is reflected in Psalms 39, 7 אך בצלם יתהלך איש, “man can walk (successfully) only if he enjoys the ‘image’ of G’d.” This is a reference to the format of the spiritual soul. Only selected righteous people have been mentioned as possessing such distinction. Examples of people who strove for the acquisition of such wisdom are Noach, Chanoch, and Avraham, and others like them. Seeing that Avraham acquired such wisdom in stages and that his soul kept traveling הלוך ונסוע הנגבה, “constantly approaching further to the ‘south,’ the symbol of חכמה, G’d said to Him: ‘arise and walk throughout the land.” This was in response to his unspoken request to attain ever greater insights. (Torat Chayim points out that the numerical value of the word הנגבה=65 equals that of א-דני the attribute of G’d which communicated with him). The relevance of this interpretation of our verse is based on the fact that the Torah nowhere reports that Avram actually traversed the land physically in accordance with G’d’s instructions. All the Torah reports is that Avram pitched his tent in Chevron. In other words, the Torah seems to emphasize that instead of walking Avram ישב “sat” in Chevron. We have already pointed out earlier that even the word ויאהל does not mean to pitch a physical tent as much as it refers to “pitching the tent of Torah”, i.e. establishing a spiritual abode. When G’d added כי לך אתננה, “for to you I will give it,” He also referred to the חכמה Avram had been searching for. G’d was going to grant Avram progressively greater insights into the workings of the universe, and He would help him acquire greater spiritual eminence. This is similar to Kings I 5,29 where the prophet reports וה' נתן חכמה לשלמה, ‘and the Lord had granted חכמה,’the emanation wisdom’ to Solomon.”