Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan
Because of its good pasturage, and because of the plenty of water
there; the want of both which was the inconvenience he had
laboured under, and had occasioned the strife between his and
Abram's servants: and Lot journeyed east,
or "eastward"; for the plain of Jordan, and that part of the land
on which Sodom and Gomorrah stood, were to the east of Bethel:
the phrase is by some rendered "from the east" F25, and
the particle used most commonly so signifies; and Jarchi
observes, that he journeyed from east to west; and Aben Ezra
says, that Sodom was at the west of Bethel, in which he is most
certainly wrong, for it was most clearly in the eastern part of
the land; wherefore others, that follow this version, interpret
it, that he went from the east of Bethel, or he went into that
country situated at the east with respect to the land of Canaan;
but it is best to render it as we do, east or eastward, to or
towards the east F26: and they separated
themselves the one from the other;
that is, Abram and Lot, they parted good friends by consent; and
the one went with his family, flocks, and herds, to one place,
and settled there; and the other in another place, and so further
animosities and contentions were prevented.
F25 (Mdqm) "ab Oriente", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Cocceius, Schmidt.
F26 "Orientem versus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cartwrightus.
