~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha - Lech Lecha

וישא לוט את עיניו וירא את כל ככר הירדן כי כלה משקה לפני שחת ה' את סדם ואת עמורה כגן ה' בארץ מצרים באנה צער

Lot deserted Avraham Aveinu for the fertile land of סדם. He should have stayed with Avraham and his way of life. He was happy “to leave Avraham and his God” (Rashi).

There is a פסוק in a הפטורה from עושה עושר ולא במשפט בחצי ימיו יעזבנו - ישעיה . One who gets rich in an unjust manner, his money will leave him halfway through his life. This means that either he will die young or that he will lose his money while still young. By leaving Avraham on behalf of fertile land, Lot was earning his riches extremely unjustifiably. Lot soon lost his money and almost lost his life. The land was fertile like a “גן ה'“ but for Lot it was like going to “ ארץ מצרים“ ultimately “באנה צער” coming toצער – pain.

~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha – Lech Lecha

Only after leaving Avram did Lot get captured. It would seem from this that the z’chus of Avram had protected Lot until then. In Parshas Shlach, Calev spoke about the z’chus of tzadikim saving the people of Eretz Cnaan.