14:1-7 While Abram was at Hebron there was trouble brewing between some of the kings in the region. There were four powerful kings that had come into the area from Elam and Shinar to the east. These four powerful kings conquered the five weaker kings who ruled the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area. The five weaker kings had to pay tribute (goods and money) to the four powerful kings. In class we compared the situation to the mob coming into a neighborhood and forcing the business owners to pay protection money. This arrangement went on for 12 years but in the 13th year the five weaker kings rebelled. So the four strong kings flexed their muscles and conquered a large area occupied by the Rephaites, Zuzites, Emites, Horites, Amalekites and Amorites. This was intended to intimidate the five weaker kings.
v. 8-12 Nevertheless, the five weaker kings drew up battle lines and prepared to fight the four kings. But the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled to the hills, leaving their cities on the plain vulnerable to attack. So the four kings attacked Sodom and Gomorrah, taking all the people and all their goods. Then they went away, apparently heading back to their home in the east. Unfortunately they carried off Lot and all his possessions. This now becomes Abram's war.
v. 13-16 When one of the survivors told Abram that Lot had been taken captive he called out 318 trained men who had been born in his own household and began pursuing the four powerful kings. He went north as far as Dan and during the night split his men into smaller groups to attack the kings. Abram chased the kings as far as Hobah, north of Damascus and recovered all the goods. He brought back Lot and his possessions along with all the people who had been taken captive. Abram and only a few men had done what five kings and their armies were unable to do. Click to see the handout.
v. 17-20 But this isn't the end of the story. After Abram defeated the four kings, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in a place called the King's Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, also came out meet him. Melchizedek was priest of God Most High. He brought bread and wine and blessed Abram saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe (10%) of all the goods he had recovered from the four kings. This was Abram's acknowledgement that it was God Most High who had made it possible for him to defeat the four powerful kings.
v. 21 Then the king of Sodom (the one who fled instead of defending his own people) said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself." The king of Sodom was now the king of an empty city and he wanted his people back. As we discussed in class, he wanted his "tax base" returned to him and he was willing to give Abram a handsome reward by letting him keep the flocks, herds, silver, gold, etc. Abram wasn't obligated to give anything back. He could have easily killed the king and made himself the new king of Sodom.
v. 22-24 Abram told the king that he'd raised his hand to the Lord in a solemn oath that he would accept nothing belonging to the king, "not even a thread or the thong of a sandal" so that the king would never be able to say, "I made Abram rich." He would only accept the food his men had already eaten and a share for each of the three men who were his allies in the fight.
15:1 After this incredible victory over the four kings Abram had a vision in which the Lord said, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." Notice the three parts of this message and how closely related it is to what Abram had just been through.
1) He's told not to be "afraid" at a time when he was probably still shaken up from fighting the four kings.
2) The Lord is his "shield"-- it was certainly the Lord who shielded him in battle.
3) The Lord is his "very great reward"-- a much greater reward than what was offered by the king of Sodom.
v. 2-4 Abram asks the Lord, "What can you give me since I remain childless?" He had no children to inherit the land the Lord had promised to give him. He had only a trusted servant who would be his heir. The Lord said "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." Abram's descendants would be as countless as the stars in the sky.
v. 6 Now here's a critically important verse. "Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." We discussed in class how Abram not only believed that the Lord exists but he believed what the Lord was saying to him. "Believing the Lord" is not synonymous with "believing in the Lord." When Abram believed the Lord it showed that he trusted the Lord to tell him the truth. Abram believed the Lord when he said he would have a son who would be heir to all the land the Lord had promised him. And the Lord credited Abram's belief as righteousness. In other words, the fact that Abram believed the Lord showed that Abram was righteous in the sight of God.
v. 7 The Lord told Abram that He was the one who brought him out of Ur and led him to Canaan in order to take possession of the land that would eventually be passed down to his descendants (the Israelites). Abram needed to understand that the Lord who spoke to him in Haran and all the other places he had traveled was the same Lord who was speaking to Him now. In Abram's day, people worshiped many local gods. For example, those who lived in the mountains worshiped certain gods. People living near the sea worshiped other gods. When a person moved from one place to another they adapted to the local rituals and worshiped the gods of that place. But Abram was being led, sustained and protected by a God who was not stuck in one place. Abram's God was everywhere he went.
We'll talk about this much more next time. See you then.
--Sandy Blank
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