Abram rescues Lot
Genesis 14
Key verse 14:18-20
Good morning. It is always getting cold but shiny Sunday. I pray God may shine his bright light to our heart today. In the Bible, there is one verse about people’s plan but God’s leading. Proverb 16:9 says in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Last week, in chapter 13, Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan river. The land was like the land of God and the land of Egypt. In his heart, Lot thought that in the land, he could have a better life for his future. However, he did not know one thing: soon, war would break out in the place.
In today’s passage, when Abram heard of Lot’s situation, he called out the 318 trained men and pursued his enemies to rescue Lot. He planned how to attack his enemies during the night. His attack was successful. But the victory was nonsense. It was like my son Jacob – a middle school kid fighting against trained USA navy SEALs. But the Lord established Abram’s steps with his blessing. Through this passage, let us learn how God blessed Abram and why we should trust in God always by faith.
1. The war between five kings and four kings
Let’s look at the setting first in this chapter. Verses 1 and 2 introduced four kings and five kings. Who are they? The four kings were Amraphel (king of Shinar), Arioch (king of Ellasar), Kedorlaomer (king of Elam), and Tidal (king of Goyim). Five kings were Bera (king of Sodom), Birsha (king of Gomorrah), Shinab (king of Admah), Shemeber (king of Zeboyim), and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). Where are their kingdoms located?
[MAP 1] Among the four kings, Kedorlaomer was a powerful king. Elam was the old Persian empire. Shinar was the old Babylon empire; Goyim was the old Assyria empire. At that time, they were super-power nations. In the meantime, the five kingdoms, as you look at the map, they were just small city nations in Canaan.
Why did war break out among them? In verse 4, for twelve years the five kings had been subject to Kedorlaomer. They were subject to Kedorlaomer. He demanded them to offer tributes; probably salt, silver, gold, sheep, cattle, and young women every year. In Genesis 12, there was severe famine in Canaan. Yet, they had to send tributes every year. Then, in the thirteenth year, they rebelled against him. In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and his three allied kings invaded the five kingdoms. Even the army of Elam (old Persian empire) should be enough to destroy the five kings. But he united with other three powerful countries to defeat the five kingdoms.
In verses 5 – 7, they first defeated the Rephaites, the Zuzites, the Emites, the Horites, the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites.
[MAP 2] The Rephaites are called the Nephilim (the giants). The Horites lived in caves. The Amalekites and the Amorites were powerful people in the Canaan area. Yet, the armies of the four kings easily destroyed them. This shows how powerful, professional, and skillful they were. Kedorlaomer must have been a very cleaver, smart, and brave king.
Now in verse 8, the five kings marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim. Why did they camp there? Verse 10 says Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits.
[MAP 3] [MAP 4] The valley of Siddim was a natural fortress. It was full of tar pits. Tar pits are today like Asphalt pits. Once a man falls into the pit, the more you strive to get out of it, the more you will be drowned in the pit quickly. However, the four kings passed the tar pits and destroyed the five kings. They seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food. They also carried off all the people as plunder. Among them, Lot was there since he was living in Sodom.
In Genesis 13, Lot lived in the cities of the land, then near Sodom, now inside Sodom. He might enjoy the life of Sodom for a while. But when the war broke out, regardless of his will, he became a captive. He never imagined his life would end this way. His bad choice in the previous chapter caused him great disaster beyond his control.
Like Lot, in Luke 15, the second son chose to live a free life away from his father. He took all his shares and went to a foreign country. He thought he had a bright future. However, soon he wasted all his money. To make it worse, a severe famine came in the place. He longed to fill his stomach with the foods, but no one gave him anything. He said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
Like Lot and the second son, many people choose looking-good land, job, something else. However, Lot’s story teaches us that bad decisions bring disaster. It is sudden. It is beyond our control, a war or an earthquake or tornado or hurricane, anything bad can happen. So, as we learned last week, let us put God first in our decision-making.
2. God blessed Abram to defeat his enemies
In verse 13, a man reported to Abram about Lot. When he heard that Lot was taken captive, what did he do? If you were Abram, what would you do? Abram, without delay, called out the 318 trained men to rescue Lot. Who are the 318 trained men? Probably they were Abram’s servants. At that time, not like today, no police system. They got to protect themselves. Even if Abram believed God, but, in reality, he still had to train his men to survive.
Abram pursued the army of the four kings as far as Dan. The distance from Hebron where Aram lived to Dan is 200 km (125 miles). Abram was over 75 years old. Yet, he traveled more than 200 km to rescue Lot. During the night, he divided the men and attacked the army of the 4 kings. He recovered all the men, plunder, Lot and his possession as well. Honestly speaking, what he did was crazy. He did not need to risk his life. He could live a comfortable life since the area where he lived was in peace.
However, Abram loved Lot. He had compassion for Lot. He was willing to sacrifice to rescue Lot. Actually, his actions remind us of what Jesus did for us. We, all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. So, we became slaves to sin. We deserve it. God could just leave us to suffer under the power of sin. However, Jesus loved us. He had compassion for us. He came down all the way from heaven to earth to rescue us. He sacrificed his life on the cross to save us from the power of sin.
In Jesus, we are brothers and sisters. We are also in the Abram-Lot relationship. We should love and take care of each other as well.
Now let’s look at verse 17, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh. Then, in verse 18, all of sudden, who met Abram? Melchizedek, king of Salem. He brought out bread and wine. Who is he? He was priest of God Most High. Also, according to Hebrews 7, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
What was his message? Shall we read verse 19 and 20? and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
He taught Abram that Abram was blessed by God. What kind of blessing was he talking about? The creator God was with Abram and granted him a great victory! Abram defeated the powerful armies of the four kings. Humanly speaking, this does not make sense at all. No matter how the 318 were trained, no matter how Abram planned well, they could not win against professional soldiers.
So Melchizedek clearly told Abram that God was with him, and God fought for him in the battle. Abram won the battle because the battle belongs to God. In the Bible, there are some expressions of how God fights for his people. For example, God fought for Israel against Egypt. Exodus 14:14 says The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” 1 Samuel 17:47, when David, a fine-looking boy, fought against Goliath, it says And that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
God’s blessing confirms once again what God promised to Abram in Genesis 12 when God called him first time. It says “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you”. As God had promised, he blessed Abram. He made Abram a blessing to rescue many people from their captives. Through this victory, he made Abram’s name great.
I want to share how God blessed me when it seems to be impossible. When I tried to receive the green card (permanent residency in America), I sponsored myself to the US government not because I was outstanding but because no company wanted to support me. Humanly speaking, it was crazy. It was impossible. Probably everyone thought the same way. However, when God worked for me, I received 23 professional recommendation letters from all over the world. Because of the recommendations, I was able to receive permanent residency. I knew where this blessing came from: the creator God.
Now back to verse 20, Melchizedek said to Abram, And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. He told Abram to give the glory to God. His teaching might hurt Abram’s pride at that moment. Because Abram was returning like a victorious army general. All the people chanted for him and praised his name. They might shout ‘Abram, you are our hero and our Savior.’ It was a big temptation spiritually. Do you know when the most dangerous time is spiritually? It is right after great success. When people have nothing, in general they are humble. But as they are successful, they become proud, especially when people praise them, their spirit is up high. At that moment, Abram could be proud. He could be arrogant. ‘wow, I made this’. So, God helped Abram to give praise to God in the time of great victory. In that way, Abram still could be humble and continue to develop his personal relationship with God.
As God helped Abram, so does he help us as well. God sent us his son Jesus to save us from our sins. Jesus taught us to follow him not follow the trend of this world. He showed us the way, the truth. Also, God sent us the Holy Spirit to remind us of his teaching in the Scriptures, convict us of our sins. The Spirit is our wonderful counselor too. When we ask him, he is willing to advise us on the way of life as well.
Soon, Thanksgiving week is coming. We should thank God, praise him who has been with us this year, has blessed us in many ways. As I said last Sunday, please find 10 thanksgiving topics.
Now let’s look at verse 21. The king of Sodom met Abram. What did he say to Abram? Verse 21 says The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” He was very clever. ‘Give me the people and take all the goods for yourself.’ Now, Abram heard two opposite voices: the voice of God through Melchizedek against the voice of this world through the king of Sodom. Which voice did he choose?
3. Abram chose God
Let’s go back to verse 20b. It says Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. After Abram heard Melchizedek’s teaching, he offered Melchizedek a tenth (tithe). Tithe appears first time in the Bible. Based on today’s passage, it means that Abram chose to listen to the voice of God through Melchizedek: ‘yes, it is true. It is God who blessed me to win the battle.’ So, out of thankfulness, he offered a tenth of everything (materials).
Look at verses 22 – 24. Abram said to the king of Sodom, basically, that I will accept nothing so that you will never say I made Abram rich. Abram deserved to take everything since he defeated the army of the four kings. He could all the good things to himself. No one would blame him. However, he decided not to take anything. He seemed to be foolish. Who is going to say ‘no’ to money? But Abram returned everything with free of charge to honor the name of God.
Through Abram, we can learn it is important to listen to the voice of God through the Bible. But also, it is more important to choose the voice of God. Because not everyone chooses the words of God when they hear it. I pray we may choose to listen to the words of God and obey it.
In conclusion, in today’s passage, when Abram tried to rescue Lot, God blessed him to defeat the powerful armies. God fought for him. God also sent Melchizedek to teach him not to be arrogant in the time of great success, but instead give glory and honor to God. Also, Abram heard two opposite voices: the voice of God through Melchizedek VS the voice of this world through the king of Sodom. He chose to listen to the voice of God and expressed his faith through offering a tithe. In that way, he was able to overcome the temptation of money. What about Lot? Actually, he should be the first person to thank God and praise God. He should seek advice from Abram for his life. However, even after all great troubles, he returned to Sodom again. He was not able to overcome the life of Sodom. From the beginning, he should not have moved to Sodom. I pray we may learn a lesson from Lot’s mistake and most of all, experience God’s blessing in our life and give our praise to our creator God.