Abram the Hebrew

Call to Worship

Psalm 7 NKJV

A Meditation Concerning the Words of Cush, a Benjamite. O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me, Lest they tear me like a lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver. O Lord my God, if I have done this: If there is iniquity in my hands, If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, Or have plundered my enemy without cause, Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me; Yes, let him trample my life to the earth, And lay my honor in the dust. Selah Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies; Rise up for me to the judgment You have commanded! So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You; For their sakes, therefore, return on high. The Lord shall judge the peoples; Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, And according to my integrity within me. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. My defense is of God, Who saves the upright in heart. God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day. If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, And has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown. I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Intro

Last week we saw that it is sometimes good to have separation to preserve the unity of brothers.

Abram and his nephew Lot and both been abundantly blessed by God, and now because of having flocks that were so large, their servants were quarreling.

The solution?

Separate.

Abram allowed Lot to choose.

Lot goes to the left, Abram will go to the right

We also saw another example in Scripture with Paul and Barnabas splitting up over John Mark and how that led to the blessing of two missionary teams and eventually Paul was able to reconcile with Mark, even requesting for Mark to come and help him towards the end of Paul’s life.

We talked about how a modern example of this is with the various denominations we have in the Church.

Yes, we have division because of sin, ultimately, but the formation of various denominations was also a blessing from God, so that we could worship at a Church maybe a little less annoyed than we would otherwise, over things like baptism, communion, and worship style.

As well as other theological differences.

We can still believe each other to be born again believers and members of the Body of Christ, but not irritate each other with endless debates over our theological differences.

Today, we are going to see the other side of that coin.

Yes, it’s ok to separate so we don’t keep fighting each other, but we still need to be willing to fight FOR each other as brothers.

Body

Genesis 14:1–4 NKJV

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, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

The first war recorded in Scripture

possibly the earliest recorded war ever

Shinar is Chaldea, Elam is Persia

These were probably not the main sovereigns of those great nations,

but either lower princes/ generals

or these were the rulers of colonies established by the larger kingdoms.

City states

Larger, more powerful kings/cities would make the smaller/weaker kingdoms pay tribute

This was common throughout history and prevalent in the near east during this time period.

Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela served Chedorlaomer of Elam for 12 years.

In the 13th year, they decided to rebel and not pay tribute.

In the 14th year, Chedorlaomer partnered with 3 other rulers to teach his rebellious tributes a lesson.

Genesis 14:5–7 NKJV

In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.

The main conflict of this war is between Chedorlaomer and the 5 kings that refused to pay tribute, yet the 4 allies don’t attack the 5 rebellious kings to begin with.

They start with the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the horites.

Then they attacked the country of the amalekites and the amorites.

We see military strategy from over 4000 years ago.

The Rephaim, if you remember, are associated with the Nephilim from a couple months ago when we were in Genesis 6.

Rephaim is often translated as “giant”

The Emim in Shaveh also seems to be giants.

Deuteronomy 2:11 “They were also regarded as giants (Rephaim), like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.”

So what/who were the Zuzim in Ham?

We don’t know. There is no other ‘Zuzim’ in Scripture, but there is a Zamzummim.

Deuteronomy 2:20 “(That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,”

Maybe Zuzim is another form of saying Zamzummim?

If so, all 3 of these groups are giants, and that just leaves us with the Horites from the first list.

Horite means ‘cave dweller’

The Septuagint confirms the understanding that it was giants and strong nations.

King Chedorlaomer and his allies skipped the rebellious cities of the plain and destroyed the neighboring nations that would potentially ally themselves with the rebels.

Instead of facing the rebels head on, they destroyed the most likely potential allies who were not expecting to be attacked, (Which included multiple tribes of giants)

and then turned his attention to the rebellious cities.

I’m thinking the rebels thought they would just be fighting against Chedorlaomer and that they could best him, but he brought allies and destroyed any hope of them gaining additional allies.

Genesis 14:8–12 NKJV

And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains. 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.

We’re not given much information about the actual battle, but the rebels were defeated pretty handily, with many being killed, some falling into the asphalt pits, and others fleeing into the mountains.

Everything of value was plundered from the 5 cities that refused to pay tribute.

This included Abram’s nephew Lot, who by this time was now a resident of Sodom.

All the goods that had caused dissension between Abram and Lot were now the plunder of Chedorlaomer.

How much better would it have been for Lot if he found a way to remain with Abram?

Sometimes in disagreements, there is no convincing the other party that they are making a mistake

They will have to learn that for themselves.

Better to not keep nagging them and fighting about it.

Genesis 14:13–16 NKJV

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. 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. 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. 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.

One of the sodomites escapes and makes his way to Abram the Hebrew

The first time one is noted as being a descendant of Eber.

Hebrew will be used later on by the children of Israel, but was first used by Abram.

He knew that Abram would be able to help.

He was not just looking out for Lot, but was most likely thinking of his own possessions and people that were taken as plunder.

Abram was well known to the sodomites as the uncle of Lot and as man with means.

“When Abram hear his brother was taken captive”

Again, Abram viewed Lot as more than a relative but as his own brother.

There is no delay

He hears that Lot has been taken, he immediately arms his servants to go to war.

This is likely why the Sodomite man came to Abram, knowing he was a man of action.

A few more than Gideon’s 300, but Abram take 318 of his own to pursue after Chedorlaomer and to save his brother Lot.

We have not idea how the numbers match up compared to what Gideon did, but it’s still clear that the Host who stole Lot was much greater than Abram.

Chedorlaomer already took out the potential threats in the region and left Abram alone.

Abram doesn’t just take his 318 men, but also his neighbors/allies and the men that came with them.

His allies were the brothers Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner.

These battles were not on the scale of those later recorded in Scripture.

Some of those had 100s of thousands of soldiers.

It is likely that none of the kings had armies larger than a few thousand

Abram displays his own military strategy:

He divides his forces and attacks by night. Guerrilla warfare.

Abram’s forces ended up pursuing the enemy over 100 miles away from where he started.

He not only Rescued Lot and all his possessions, but also everything else that was taken from by the conquering army of Chedorlaomer.

Conclusion/Application

There is a time to fight with brothers, and a time to fight for our brothers.

It is ok to have disagreements and arguments with brothers as we learned last week.

Sometime seperation is good to preserve the unity

But when an outsider comes in and attacks your brother, you defend him.

A familial example of this would be brothers that picked on each other.

Maybe the older picks on the younger; calling names, taunting, whatever.

But then some bully at school picks on the younger brother, the older brother goes and puts the bully in his place.

you don’t mess with my family.

We need to have that mentality.

Not that we pick on each other and do annoying things.

But it’s ok to have disagreements and fights over doctrine with other believers, but when cultists or atheists start picking on Christians whom we have disagreements, we side with our Christian brothers and support them against the pagans.

We don’t let pagans separate us and cause division.

Sometimes violence is the answer.

Though our holy religion teaches us to be for peace, yet it does not forbid us to provide for war.- Matthew Henry

Abram had a mini army, ready to defend his own.

The most just war ever.

Abram was not seeking conquest, fame, or riches.

He was fighting to save his nephew, his brother.

Christian men need to be prepared to defend what God has given us.

The evangelical Church has castrated men, especially over the last 50 years.

As feminism has subtlety crept into the church, encouraging women to be more masculine, a coinciding trend has been working to encourage men to be more feminine.

Don’t raise your voice.

Don’t use harsh language.

Let’s just get along; don’t rock the boat

And now the church tolerates all kinds of abominations.

St. Nicholas is famous for punching the heretic Arius.

Martin Luther is famous for using all kinds of strong language and insults to protect against perversion of the Gospel.

Christian men were willing to die (and kill if necessary) to protect the bodies and souls.

Matthew 5:38–48 NKJV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.