Love of the land, pursuit of peace
Abram has just been promised the land, and he gives Lot first choice of it. Uriel Simon on the first of Abraham's contradictions.
The text
וַֽיְהִי־רִ֗יב בֵּ֚ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵֽה־אַבְרָ֔ם וּבֵ֖ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵה־ל֑וֹט וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י אָ֖ז יֹשֵׁ֥ב בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אַבְרָ֜ם אֶל־ל֗וֹט אַל־נָ֨א תְהִ֤י מְרִיבָה֙ בֵּינִ֣י וּבֵינֶ֔ךָ וּבֵ֥ין רֹעַ֖י וּבֵ֣ין רֹעֶ֑יךָ כִּֽי־אֲנָשִׁ֥ים אַחִ֖ים אֲנָֽחְנוּ׃ הֲלֹ֤א כׇל־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הִפָּ֥רֶד נָ֖א מֵעָלָ֑י אִם־הַשְּׂמֹ֣אל וְאֵימִ֔נָה וְאִם־הַיָּמִ֖ין וְאַשְׂמְאִֽילָה׃
And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot: 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.'
וַֽיהֹוָ֞ה אָמַ֣ר אֶל־אַבְרָ֗ם אַחֲרֵי֙ הִפָּֽרֶד־ל֣וֹט מֵֽעִמּ֔וֹ שָׂ֣א נָ֤א עֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ וּרְאֵ֔ה מִן־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֣ה שָׁ֑ם צָפֹ֥נָה וָנֶ֖גְבָּה וָקֵ֥דְמָה וָיָֽמָּה׃ כִּ֧י אֶת־כׇּל־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה רֹאֶ֖ה לְךָ֣ אֶתְּנֶ֑נָּה וּֽלְזַרְעֲךָ֖ עַד־עוֹלָֽם׃
And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him: 'Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.'
In his words
הניגוד הראשון הוא, במונחי העגה הפוליטית שלנו, הניגוד שבין "אהבת הארץ" מכאן ו"רדיפת שלום" מכאן.
The first contrast is, in the terms of our political jargon, the contrast between "love of the land" on the one side and "pursuit of peace" on the other.
צדקתו של אברהם, לעומת זאת, היא בגדר משימה
Abraham's righteousness, by contrast, is a task. (on Genesis 17:1, "walk before Me, and be wholehearted")
שאלות השעה באור המקרא, המקרא באור שאלות השעה
The questions of the hour in the light of the Bible; the Bible in the light of the questions of the hour. (the subtitle Simon gave the book in which this essay appears)
The teaching
Abram has just been promised the land (12:7) and has walked its length, building altars at Shechem and between Beth-el and Ai. Then his herdsmen and Lot's come to blows over pasture, and the Torah adds a detail that makes the quarrel more dangerous, not less: the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land
. Abram's answer is to give away first choice: הֲלֹא כׇל־הָאָרֶץ לְפָנֶיךָ, "Is not the whole land before thee?"
Uriel Simon named the tension in the vocabulary of Israeli politics: the first contrast is, in the terms of our political jargon, the contrast between "love of the land" on the one side and "pursuit of peace" on the other.
He was not a neutral reader. He was one of the founders of Oz VeShalom, the religious-Zionist peace movement, and he called the book this essay appears in Bakesh Shalom Verodfehu, "Seek peace and pursue it." But his point about Abraham is that the Torah does not let either value win. The man who yields first choice is the same man who walks the land, builds its altars and is promised it.
Read the next verses. The promise is renewed not before Abram gives way but straight after: the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him: Lift up now thine eyes … for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it
(13:14–15). Abram gets the view in every direction once he has stopped insisting on any one of them.
Simon came back to this all his life. In "The Biblical Destinies: Conditional Promises" (Tradition, 1978) he asked whether the Bible's promises of the land are absolute or conditional, and used Abraham to separate a people's natural attachment to its land from the attachment that comes with being chosen for it. The parasha ends with the verse that frames both: הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים (17:1). Abraham's righteousness, Simon wrote, is a task
, and so, on this reading, is the land.
For the table
- Abram says, "we are brethren." Is he describing what they are, or what he wants them to be?
- Does giving Lot first choice weaken Abram's claim to the land, or is it how he makes the claim?
- Where do two things you love, a place and peace with the people around you, pull against each other? Do you choose, or hold both?
Uriel Simon (Jerusalem, 1929 – 30 September 2026) taught Bible at Bar-Ilan University for decades. He read the Bible through its medieval interpreters, above all Abraham ibn Ezra, and wrote Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms, Reading Prophetic Narratives and the JPS commentary on Jonah. He won the Bialik Prize, and he was one of the founders of Oz VeShalom, the religious-Zionist peace movement. This reader takes one text and one of his teachings each week.
Read Simon himself
- אברהם המקראי – הברכה שבניגודים (Biblical Abraham: The Blessing of Contradictions), from Seek Peace and Pursue It (Yedioth Ahronoth, 2002), the essay quoted on this sheet.
- "The Religious Significance of the Peshat," Tradition 23:2 (1988), trans. Edward L. Greenstein.
- "The Biblical Destinies: Conditional Promises," Tradition 17:2 (1978).