Avraham was told to go "to the land that I will show you." In order to merit the land that God looks at, he first had to  learn how to see. He descended to Egypt where Pharaoh "saw" Sarah, and came back to the Promised Land where Lot "lifted up his eyes and saw" Sodom, and chose to leave Avraham. Only then did he merit lifting up his own eyes and seeing the land in its holiness.  

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