Down in the Jordan valley, close by the side of Sodom, there are many dark tents. Cattle are feeding in the rich pasture lands and both the tents and the cattle belong to Abram’s nephew, Lot. Up among the rugged mountains, west of the Dead Sea, is Hebron, and there too we see many, many tents, and in the door of the tent of the ruler, or chief, we see Abram. There was a time when you would have seen the tents of Abram and Lot very near together. Why are they now separated by so many miles? Why did Abram let Lot choose first and take the best of the land? Why did Lot take the Jordan Valley? (Let the review so far as possible come spontaneously from the children, but if it lags in any degree, or if the important points are not brought out, ask questions that will make the story complete.) The days passed very pleasantly in Abram’s camp. There was now no quarreling among the herdsmen, but the camp was a busy place, for all had work to do. Abram himself was not idle. Among his servants there were more than three hundred men who were able to fight, and Abram needed to have soldiers to protect the great company of people over whom he was chief, and to protect the flocks from robbers if any should come to steal. So Abram spent quite a good deal of his time training his men, so that they would know how to obey and fight under a leader as all good soldiers must. The Lesson Story One day there was much excitement in Abram’s usually quiet camp. A crowd was gathered about a man from the plain who bore the stains of battle, and was worn and hurt with the roughness of the way he had traveled. Eagerly they questioned: “What has happened? How were you hurt? From what city have you come?” and soon they heard the story. “Four kings from Babylon, with their armies, came into the Jordan valley to fight against the cities of the plain because they had rebelled the year before and refused to pay tribute, as they had been doing. The five kings of the cities with their fighting men went out to meet their enemies, but were dreadfully beaten. Many were caught in the slime pits of the valley and died there. Some escaped to the mountains, as I did; but our enemies have taken the women and children and the goods and cattle of Sodom and Gomorrah and have gone back in triumph to their own country.” Of course you can guess the question that Abram and many others asked right away: “What has happened to Lot? Was he killed in the battle?” “No,” was the answer, “but he went out to help the king of Sodom and was taken prisoner. His wife and children were taken, too, and all his cattle.”