Genesis 14:12-15:6

We begin this episode with Genesis 14:11-13, “Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.”

When the kings of the east left the area of Sodom and Gomorrah with their captives, they moved north along the west bank of the Dead Sea.

In fact, this wasn’t far from Hebron and Mamre where Abram was living.

Visitors to that area say that you can stand where Abram stood on that day and see any movement that takes place down toward the Dead Sea.

When word was brought to Abram that Lot has been taken captive, he immediately began to pursue the enemy as they moved north.

Notice that Abram has a group of men that are allied with him. They had to stand together in those days to protect themselves against enemies. They formed bonds where they would band together for the strength that numbers provided.

Lets’ go to verse 14, “Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.”

This reveals something of the extent of Abram’s possessions. It gives us some idea of the number of servants Abram had. In his own household, he could arm 318. How many did he have that he couldn’t arm? For instance, there’d also be women and children and old folk, but he could arm 318. And they were fully trained fighting men. To have that many trained hands indicates that Abram was carrying on quite a business of raising cattle and sheep. Although Abram was a man who walked in faith, he was also a prudent man.

Abram’s army chased the alliance of these four kings quote, “And pursued them unto Dan”. Dan is up in the north not far from the northern border of Israel. Interestingly, the gates of the city of Dan from Abram’s time have been discovered by archaeologists and can be viewed at the Israeli national park at Dan.

It’s good to get a bit more perspective on these times and the cultures we’re studying in Genesis. There was no United Nations peacekeeping force and no police forces. Nations were more often ruled by the strongest dictator or king who was around at the time. Cities were not the size of our cities today as we generally think of them, they were much smaller. Many of the great cities were the size of some of our small towns. Armies were numbered in hundreds rather than in the thousands they are today. Abrams force on today’s scale would have likely been in the multiple thousands.

Now to verse 15,  “He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.”

Abram pursued these men all the way north to Damascus and that’s quite a stretch.

Abram had military wisdom. Using the clever tactic of a surprise night attack, he split his army into two groups. One group made an attack, probably from the rear as they were chasing them.

The other group went around, and when the enemy turned to fight the first group, the second group came down upon them from behind.

As a result, Abram was able to get a victory. They scattered and fled across the desert, leaving the people and the booty they’d captured.

Notice the part of verse 15 which states, “and he and his servants attacked them”. Here’s this 70 or 80 year old bloke trotting through the desert at night, wielding his sword and then mixing it up with the enemy along with his trained troops. In fact, he’s leading them! Now I’m in my 70s and I’m prepared to admit that my faith would be severely tested at the idea of running through the scrub wielding a sword and chasing down an army of much younger men.

Now to verse 16,  “So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.”

You see, they were taking the women and the other people as slaves.

Abram’s done an amazing thing, and he’s done it because of his nephew Lot.

That’s the reason all of this is mentioned here. It’s part of the life of Abram that’s very important.

As we say over and over again and as we’ll continue to say, Romans 15:4 tells us, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” And further to that we’ve said that Jesus is on every page of the bible.

So, what are we supposed to learn and take comfort from in this story of Abram’s rescue of Lot? And where do we see our precious redeemer?

We were those off in slavery to sin and shame, then rescued by one who left his safety and happiness to do battle for us.

Our kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ, went to great trouble and distance, and with His courage and daring defeated the mighty enemy that had put us in bondage, and then He took all the enemy’s spoil.

Now we come to verse 17 and we read, “And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.”

The moment of success is always the moment of danger.

So, these kings had taken a lot of captives who they would have made slaves. Abram rescued them all and was bringing them back. And as he was returning, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram. He wants to negotiate. The king’s going to put a big temptation before Abram.

In the king of Sodom, we see a picture of satan, who comes “as an angel of light” as 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, however, before that meeting takes place, someone else is going to come out and meet Abram.

To Genesis 14:18 now where a great mystery takes place. Reading now, “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 

Melchizedek!

Where in the world did this man Melchizedek come from?

He just walks out on the page of Scripture with bread and wine, he blesses Abram, and then he walks off the page of Scripture.

That’s it! Where did he come from? Where’s he going? What’s his business? Who is he?

We have no idea of where Melchizedek came from, how he came to be in Canaan, how he came to be a worshipper and priest of the true God, and how Abram came to know about him. We only know he was there.

Now there are times throughout the Bible when the Holy Spirit uses omission to show us something. By that I mean if he told you the whole story, he’d fail to tell you the whole story. Does that sound weird? Well, it’s one of the great and wonderful language tools the Holy Spirit uses.  This encounter between Abram and Melchizedek is one of those occasions.

Scripture tells us nothing of Melchizedek’s parentage, nothing of his mother and father or his genealogy. All it tells us is that he was the king of Salem, and he was a servant or a priest of the most high God. By the way, Salem was the original Jerusalem and the name meant peace,

He came up to Abraham with what? Bread and wine, which are the symbols of communion. And he gave these to Abram and then he blessed him.

One thing that makes Melchizedek unique was he was both a king and a priest.

History shows that it’s dangerous to combine religious and civic authority and God forbade the kings of Israel to be priests and the priests to be kings.

In 2 Chronicles 26:16-23, King Uzziah tried to do the work of a priest, and God struck him with leprosy. Melchizedek was an exception.

Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High. El Elyon or El Elohim means “Highest God,” “Supreme Being” in other words. He’s a worshipper of the true God, and a priest of God Most High however, he’s not related to Abram or any other known covenant people of God.

How did this man Melchizedek find out about “the most high God”, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Living God. the God of Genesis 1, the God of Noah, and the God of Enoch? He found out somewhere.

Melchizedek has recognised the One and only true God not some god among the many pagan idol gods in which these ancient peoples believed in Abram’s day. Here’s a man who is high priest of the world of that day with a knowledge of the living and true God and he’s a priest of that living and true God.

He comes out, bringing bread and wine to Abram. Those are the elements of the Lord’s Supper! I wonder what he had in mind? Again, how much did Melchizedek know?

Melchizedek is mentioned in three places in Scripture.

In addition to this passage in Genesis, he’s also mentioned in Psalm 110:4, which is a prophecy of Christ. and reads, “The LORD has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.””

Finally, he’s mentioned several times in Hebrews.

Now these mentions in Hebrews, starting at Hebrews chapter 6 verse 20 and right through chapter 7 start by relating back to our current verses here in Genesis.

We’ll see this in detail when we get to the book of Hebrews but even a quick read of chapters 6 and 7 will help us understand why nothing is said about his origin in Genesis.

Nothing is said about Melchizedek’s parents, and that’s strange because the Book of Genesis is the book of families as we’ve seen. It tells about the beginnings of these families. Every other time an important figure, like Melchizedek, is introduced the genealogy, the ancestral line, the parents are mentioned.

We’ll read “He is the son of So–and–So,” or “These are the generations of So–and–So.” But we don’t have the generations of Melchizedek!

The writer of Hebrews makes it very clear that the reason there’s no record of Melchizedek’s father or mother or beginning or ending of days is because the whole story of Melchizedek is a picture or a type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The priesthood of Christ can be separated into 2 orders.

In what our Lord did in the sacrifice of Himself and in His entering the Holy of Holies, which is heaven today, Christ’s priesthood follows the order of Aaron. It’s known as the Aaronic priesthood where a mortal man is appointed a priest from the tribe of Levi, who are, of course, descendants of our man Abram.

However, in His person, our Lord had no beginning or ending of days, and His priesthood follows the order of Melchizedek.

As King, Christ is a son of Abraham, He is a son of David and we read about that in the Gospel of Matthew.

But, in the Gospel of John, we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”, that’s John 1 verses 1 to 14.

He had no beginning or ending of days as far as creation is concerned. He is the eternal God. He came out of heaven’s glory, the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory.

Here we have in Melchizedek a marvellous picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we know why Melchizedek “Brought forth bread and wine.” It’s because the Scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 24 to 26, referring to what Jesus said to His disciples at the Lord’s supper. Let’s read, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it (the bread) and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Melchizedek is anticipating the death of Christ here!

On that basis, he blessed Abram: “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth”—El Elohim, the Creator. This man was the high priest of the world in that day. The Lord Jesus is the great High Priest for the world today. The Lord Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek—not Aaron—as set forth here. Aaron was just for Israel and just for a Tabernacle. In His person, Christ is after the order of Melchizedek.

The very reason the Holy Spirit has given us this great mystery of Melchizedek is to give us yet another powerful picture of what the bible is all about, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Now to verse19,  “And he (Melchizedek) blessed him (Abram) and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”

Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek here at the very beginning acknowledging Melchizedek as a priest. How did he know about paying tithes? Obviously, he had a revelation from God concerning this—as well as concerning other matters.

On now to Genesis 14:21, “Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” 

This is the temptation of the king of Sodom to Abram that we mentioned before.

According to the Code of Hammurabi, of that day, our man Abram had a perfect right to the booty and even to the people of his conquest. The Code of Hammurabi is an incredibly substantial legal text from ancient Babylon which was rediscovered in 1901 at the site of Susa in present-day Iran, where it had been taken as plunder six hundred years after its creation. Much of it relates to the “eye for an eye” principle.

Now, the king of Sodom is a clever bloke. He says, “Give us the persons, and you take the booty—it’s yours.” That was a temptation to Abram.

Forever after, when anybody would say, “That man Abram is certainly a wealthy man. God has blessed him,” I think that the king of Sodom would have said, “Blessed him? Rubbish! God didn’t bless him. I gave it to him; I’m the one who made him rich!”

Abram knew that. Listen to him now in our next verse, Genesis 14 verse 22, “But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,”

Abram is still under the influence and that blessing of Melchizedek, and it is a good thing that he met Melchizedek.

God always prepares us for any temptation that comes to us. He says that He will never let any temptation come to us that we are not able to bear, that’s 1 Corinthians 10:13. God had prepared Abram well for this one.

To verse 23, “that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— 

We can imagine Abram making a covenant with God as he started out after Lot.

H might have said something like, “Oh, God, I’m not entering this war to get booty. I’m not after more possessions, you’ve given me all I need. I want to restore and recover my nephew Lot.”

And God permitted him to do that. Now Abram could easily have told the king of Sodom something like, “I worship the living and the true God. I’ve taken an oath that I would not take anything. You can’t make me rich. I won’t let you give me a shoestring or a piece of thread because, if you did even that, you would run around and say that you made me rich. If I get rich, God will have to do it.”

However, let’s look at what he did say.

Verse 24, “except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” 

Abram says, “These other men have a right to the booty, and they can have it, but I’m not taking anything. What the young men who are with me have eaten is their pay for serving you and delivering you. But as for me—you can’t give me a thing.”

 

We come to one of the high points of the Bible, Genesis 15:1 we read, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

 

This now is the fourth time that God has appeared to Abram.

God is developing this man, growing him in faith. God does well to appear to him now because Abram has taken a tremendous step of faith in going out and rescuing Lot and in turning down the booty that the king of Sodom offered him.

“Do not be afraid, Abram. Or rather He says “Fear Not”… I am your shield.”

My friends, this is so wonderful!

Abram had gone out and routed a very powerful force. He’d gone to war. But, let me ask you a question. Has the war been won? Now that it’s over can Abram sit back and relax? Hardly.

Abram had severely offended some powerful people who had already displayed their ruthlessness. He had every reason to be afraid.

Abram is in real danger and he would have been well aware of how vulnerable he had made himself to the vengeance and hostility of these ruthless and evil kings who would want retribution.

God told Abram not to be afraid because he was afraid, and for good reason. Yet God also gave him a reason to put away his fear. God doesn’t tell us “do not be afraid” without giving us a reason to put away our fear.

God simply reminds him, “I’m your shield, Abram. I’m your shield.” “And thy exceeding great reward.”

In other words, God says, “You did well to turn down the booty. I am your reward; I intend to reward you.”

Oh, why do we keep forgetting what God can do with a person when he’s willing to just believe God and look to Him?

God knows how to become the answer to our need. When we need a shield or a reward, He becomes those things for us. Spurgeon once said this, “I do not think that any human mind can ever grasp the fullness of the meaning of these four words, ‘I am thy reward.’ God himself is the reward of his faithful people”.

If we think Abram is one of these picture perfect, pious folks who walk around all day slowly with hands clasped looking up to heaven, we’d be very wrong.

Abram is very practical, and he’s going to get right down to the nitty–gritty now and I think that God likes us to do that.

Notice what Abram says—it is quite wonderful and very real.

Genesis 15:2 -3, “But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” 

Abram is saying to God, “I don’t want more riches; I don’t need them. I’m childless and I want a son.

It was as if Abram said, “What good is it that You are my shield and reward? The only thing I’ve ever wanted with any passion in my life is a son. Where are the descendants You promised me?”

You’ve promised to make me a father of nations and that my offspring will be as numberless as the sand on the seashore. But I don’t even have one child!”

According to the law of the day, Eliezer, his steward, his head servant, who did have an offspring, would in time inherit if Abram didn’t have a child.

To a degree, this question doubted God. Yet we can pick up the difference between a doubt that denies God’s promise and a doubt that desires God’s promise.

Abram wanted to believe and looked to God to strengthen his faith.

Now look at Genesis 15:4. “And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 

God is very practical when a man is practical with Him.

He says, “I am going to give you a son, Abram. I am going to give you a son.”

Now God took Abram by the hand and brought him out into the night.

Verse 15, ” Then He (God) brought him (Abram) outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 

This is remarkable.

First God said to him that his offspring would be as numberless as the sand on the seashore, and now He says they will be as numberless as the stars in heaven. Abram could not number the stars. He could see approximately four thousand from where he stood, but there were a great many more. Abram couldn’t number his offspring, and neither could you or I today.

Abram actually has two seeds. He has a physical seed, the nation Israel, and he has a spiritual seed, the church.

How does the church become Abraham’s spiritual seed? By faith.

Paul told the Galatians in Galatians 3 verse 29 that they were the sons of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. They were not sons from the natural line but by a spiritual seed.

This promise was repeated to Abram in such a clear and certain way that it was reasonable to suppose that he expected it would be fulfilled soon. Yet in the timeline of Abram’s life, the fulfilment of this promise was still 15 years away.

No wonder the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 6 verses 11 to 12 and I read, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises”.

We need faith and patience to inherit God’s promises.

God explained exactly what He meant in His promise to Abram.

He meant that it wasn’t a spiritual descendant who would inherit the promise (such as Eliezer), but an actual flesh-and-blood descendant.

It was necessary to clarify this because we can all so easily misunderstand God’s promises.

Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them. God not only told Abram the promise again, but He confirmed it with an illustration. The stars in the sky showed how vast the number of Abram’s descendants would be.

One of those descendants – the greatest of all of them – would be the Bright and Morning Star of Revelation 22:16.

To Genesis 15:6, “And he (Abram) believed in the LORD, and He (The Lord) accounted it to him for righteousness.”

This is one of the greatest statements in the Scriptures: “And he believed in the LORD.”

What this means is that Abram said amen or “So be it” to God.

God has said, “I will do this for you,” and Abram says to God, “I believe You. So be it. I believe it.” And that was counted to him for righteousness.

Paul speaks of this in Romans 4 verses 1 to 5 and I’ll read this from the New Living Translation to try and get over clearly what Pauls’s saying because in the next few minutes, we’re going to see the very basis, the foundation of the Christianity.

Verse 1 “Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 

(Verse 2) If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 

(Verse 3) For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 

(Verse 4) When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. 

(And verse 5) But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” 

Abraham just believed God.

He just accepted what God said, and he believed God. That’s the way we’re saved: to believe that God has done something for you, that Christ died for you and rose again. God will declare you righteous by simply believing and accepting that fact.

In the third chapter of Galatians, we have this same great truth and I’ll read again from the NLT for clarity, Galatians 3:6  In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 

(verse 7) The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 

(verse 8)  What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 

(verse 9)  So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. 

The faith which Abraham had made him faithful to God, but he was not saved by being faithful. There a a great multitude of people throughout history and today who are faithful but are lost. He was saved by believing in what God said. This is vital and all–important for us to see.

 

Next time we’re going to expand on this and we’ll see the magnitude of the importance of this

Abram believed God!

That was all! And that was counted to him as righteousness.

Now Abram does something interesting.

God said to him Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” And he (Abram) said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

Again, Abram is a very practical man. He believes in the reality over the romance.

I think all of us need to do that. We need reality today in our Christian lives. If reality is not in our life, there’s nothing there. There’s a great lack of reality in the Body of Christ today and the romance or that which sounds good but has little or no basis in reality is everywhere.

Little by little that unreality enables ridiculous and impossibly twisted doctrines to shape the Church making it appear to the world as an irrelevant group of misfits who are only good for laughing at.

Abram is very practical.

He deals in reality. He wants to know something, and he’d like to have it in writing.

The Bible says nothing about God meeting Abram at the solicitor’s office, or going to a justice of the peace to get a legal document signed, but in the terms of the law of our day, that is exactly what God said to Abram.