Lekh Lekha 5781

(8) Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen.

אל נא תהי מריבה, Let no quarrel develop between me and you. Abraham told Lot that what had started as an argument between their respective shepherds was bound to lead to a quarrel between the two of them even though Lot claimed that he would never allow this to happen. After all, he respected his uncle too highly as the senior member of the family. The substance of the shepherds' arguments concerned the fact that Lot allowed his shepherds to graze on privately owned land, counting on G'd's promise that the land would belong to Abraham's family in the future. Seeing that Abraham had no children and was genetically unable to father children, Lot viewed himself as Abraham's heir. Abraham alluded to this by the superfluous comment that they were brothers.

Abraham may also have hinted to Lot that the very fact that their principals were brothers made Lot's shepherds take that relationship for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt; had the two not been related, Lot's shepherds would have given Abraham the respect due him as an elder and as a person whom G'd had obviously favoured.