We have been steeped in greed from birth, so much so that we don’t even recognize it around us, much as a fish doesn’t recognize that it is swimming in water. We all know that money can’t buy the truly important things, but the billions spent each year on stuff we don’t need declares a large disparity between what we know and what we do. Our intentions and our actions are at odds with each other.
Genesis 13
"So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD. 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 8 So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left." 10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD. 14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." 18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD."
Abram, as the patriarch of the family, did not in any way have to offer Lot the pick of the best pasture. Through the eyes of oriental culture, it was a vastly generous bestowal. Lot shows a glimpse of his true nature in choosing the better of the grazing land, another cultural surprise when courtesy demanded the opposite. More than likely, Lot wasn’t fully conscious of what he was doing in choosing the plain of the Jordan, where not only was there the best grass for his herds but also cities infamous for their evil. We find out soon enough the results of this decision, but for now we should note that Lot’s greed directed him to override cultural courtesy and placed him in harm’s way.
I have noticed that many people, including myself at times, begin to get very territorial when it comes to money and how it is used. Christians struggle with this as much as non-Christians, because in our tolerant and diverse society it is embarrassing to be shown as greedy, but when the chips are down and how money is earned or spent is questioned, people act a lot differently than normal. And when offered a chance to significantly gain wealth, they will jump at the chance, even if it puts someone else at a disadvantage.
Sodom and Gomorrah was about a Lot more than attempted homosexual rape.
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