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 [be] brethren.
Ver. 8. And Abram said to Lot.] Speech endeth anger, silence nourisheth it. Much malice and grudge would be avoided, and the very poison of it drawn out, did we but give it a vent at first, by reasoning with the party that wronged us, and expostulating the injury, which most times is but a mere mistake. Now many, on the contrary, harbour this viper in their bosoms, till it hath eaten to their hearts; they not only let "the sun go down," but go its whole round "upon their wrath," Eph 4:26 and cannot find time from one end of the year to the other, to utter their minds, and compound their discords. Not only Abram, but Aristippus shall rise up in judgment against such pseudo-Christians, and condemn them. For when Aeschines and he had been at long debate, a and there was, I stout, and thou stout, and neither could find in their hearts to go to the other; Aristippus went at length to Aeschines, and said unto him, "Shall we not agree to be friends, before we make ourselves a common scorn to the whole country?" Whereunto when Aeschines answered, that he was content to be friends with all his heart; Aristippus replied, "Remember then, that although I were the elder and the better man, yet I first sought unto thee." "In very deed," said Aeschines, "thou art a far better man than I; for I began the quarrel, and thou hast been first in making up the breach." And thus these two became fast friends for ever.
For we are brethren.] This is a cooler; and should be like the angel that stayed Abram's hand when the blow was coming.
a Plutarch De Cohib. Ira, Laer., lib. ii.