Genesis 14
Book of Genesis • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We have already seen God do some amazing things with Abram, none of which did Abram deserve. Sure he responded in faith some times, and other times he responded in fear, made his own plan and got stuck in difficult situations. in Chapter 13 we see Lot given the option of where to take his animals and where to live. Lot chooses to live in Sodom, a city full of people given over to their own desires, not caring about God or their fellow people. in Chapter 14 we are going to see the result of Lot’s choice.
1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; 2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. 3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 7 And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. 8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; 9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. 10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. 11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. 12 And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
What we see here is nations all under service to King of Elam. in the 13th year of serving king Chedorlaomer of Elam, 5 of the 9 rebelled against Elam and 3 other nations remained loyal to Elam. Sodom and Gomorrah are among the 5 that rebelled.
the 9 nations go to war 4 against 5 and the battle at the dead sea did not go well for the ones who rebelled. Elam and the other 3 chased them and began to kill them and plunder their cities. When they get to Sodom, Lot finds himself caught in the middle of a political war that I’m sure he did not want to be involved in. Because he lived there, he was captured by the 4 kings and taken away.
13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.
not a hard verse, a friend of Abram escaped and came to Abram and told him that Lot had been taken by the 4 kings.
Before we continue on this story I want to take a moment to point out something. This is the first time in the Bible that the word “Hebrew” is used.
We think of the word Hebrew and associate it Isreal, but Isreal had not yet been named as the nation God would build. What does the word Hebrew mean?
What is a Hebrew? The word “Hebrew” in the Hebrew language is עברי (Ivrie). The root letters are used to mean cross over, or pass through. Today in Israel, we can use the word to talk about moving houses, transgressing laws, going through some difficulties, crossing the road, crossing over a river, and so on. Traversing, passing, or crossing over, essentially. In the Bible, it seems to have primarily referred to those who traversed rivers.
Abram was called a Hebrew because he was known as the one who traveled. for the next 1,000 years the nation people that came from Abram were known as Hebrew because of the traveling that they did.
Ok back to the main plot.
14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Ok, just take a moment and think of how amazing this is. 4 complete armies travel and destroy 5 other ones, taking all their wealth and many of their people. Abram is told and he grabs his 318 servants that were trained to go after them. I just gotta take a moment. I’m not sure how many people those 4 nations had with them but it had to be a lot more than 318… They follow after them all the way to the northern part of the region called Dan. At night they split up so they could attack each encampment at the same time, and they just killed them. the ones that escaped ran to Hobah and Abram follows after them. With God’s help they get the people and all the things that those kings stole from Sodom.
17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.
Kings Dale = Valley
Before we move on, let’s take note of something. God preserved this very wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah. God showed His power to this very wicked group of people. This could have been a big turning point for these pagan nations. We will see in future chapters, they still served their own lusts instead of turning to the true God!
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
I want to point out another interesting fact, God chose Abram from a pagan nation to be his chosen people, if there was already a nation with a king who properly worshipped the one true God, Why did God not use Melchizedek? Why did he choose to use a nobody like Abram?
I can’t for sure project my ideas onto God but I can for sure say, God’s ways are higher than ours and He had a specific plan just for Abram and his family.
This makes me think of Jesus’ words Luke 5:32
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
God had a kingdom that by all accounts was already serving Him, so God came to an unbeliever and called him!
We are seeing God’s character all the way through the Bible, He desires to call the most wicked sinners to be saved by his Grace.
Melchizedek was not just king of Salem but he was the priest of the true God. This king knew it was God’s grace the provided deliverance. Abram takes 10 percent of everything that was brought back and gives it to the priest to use for the purpose of worship to the true God.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will take nothing that is yours, not a thread or a sandal strap; lest you say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept only that which my men have eaten and the portion that belongs to the men who went with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”
The pagan king of sodom says, give us all our people and you can keep everything else you brought back. Abram says no, I’ll let the troops take a small pay, and the rest will go back to you, because I want the world to know that all we have is because of God’s blessings and was not given to us by people.
There is so much we can learn about God and how to worship him from this passage. a couple things I want to point out that can teach us about proper God worship is this.
Proper worship of God means following him into scary, maybe even dangerous situations, trusting Him to bring you through. Abram could have stayed home in Mamre and never went to rescue those who were taken, but then these 9 whole nations would not have seen God’s awesome power.
Proper worship always gives God all the credit. Anything that would direct the attention away from God and onto me or someone else should be avoided. God should get all the credit, because God is the one who worked it all out and gave you the abilities you have.
Proper worship gives back to God. Everything I have came from God, and because I love Him and appreciate what He has done in and through me, I’m going to give back to God. He blessed me and I want to be a funnel that God uses to bless others. Not because of a command, but because I love God, I give to His ministries and desire to have what was given to me be used to bless others.
Proper worship is not selfish. I don’t just look for opportunities for people to give to me. Abram could have said, “I deserve this, I traveled countless KM to free these people, I’m taking what is owed me.” instead he realized he did not act and help to get things, he helped out of love for his family and God that was under attack, His focus was on God and his provision and he rejected the provisions from the pagans. to many people today feel they are entitled to get this money or that from the pagan government, instead of looking to God to provide and trusting Him.
I hope we are beginning to see who our God is and how much power he has. We can follow him, into impossible circumstances, we can trust him to provide and we can do all this while giving Him all the praise and refusing to let non-believers steal the credit for what God is doing.