Damariscotta Baptist Church

 

 

Genesis 14:13-24

We left off last week at the end of another flood. A flood of violence. There were five evil kings fighting four evil kings and the four evil kings won. The winning kings took what was for eating. Hyperlink back to the garden of Eden. The four kings also seized everything they could get their hands on and took it with them. Everything. Which included Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions.

We pick up the story today, in verse 13, where a refugee, a remnant, appears. Think back to the flood narrative, because that is the first time the word “to remain over” or “to be refuge from” appears. In the story of the flood, when the waters rise and wipe everyone and everything out, Noah and those with him in the ark remain as a “remnant.” 

A remnant, a refugee from this violent siege came and reported what had happened to Abram. The narrator reminds us exactly where Abram happened to be. He wasn’t anywhere near Sodom. He was living in tents among the sacred trees, by the oaks of Mamre. Oh, and who was Mamre? He was an Amorite. He was also the brother of a guy named Eshcol, whose name means “Grape Cluster,” more Eden imagery. Who was the brother of Aner, whose name means “donkey.” Oh, and these guys had no idea what was going on down in Sodom. They were having a great time because they had entered into a covenant with Abram and were living in “Eden.” 

So there were Canaanites down below getting slaughtered and there were Canaanites hanging out in the ark with Abram, God’s chosen one, and they were doing just fine. You remember what God had said, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” 

Abram hears the news and what does he immediately do? Check your literary design, we just had a flood, a cosmic rebellion. Next on the list is “re-creation & blessing.” Abram hears the news about his nephew Lot and we are told he gathers his trained men, those born of his house, all 318 of them, and chases after the Mesopatamian kings. In fact, we are told they chase them all the way unto Dan, which is in the far northern boundary. Then Abram performed a tactical maneuver. At night, he divided his men and they struck the enemy from all sides. Now mind you, the Mesopotamian kings could take out giants. They could also take out Canaanite kings. Oh, and Avram, well he has his 318 commando force and manages to do to them what they had done to the giants. 

How do you explain that? 

Abram was able to reroute them and chase them unto Hobah which is even farther north than Damascus. The results? Abram was able to retrieve all the stolen stuff. He gets his nephew Lot, their possessions along with all of the women and people. He was able to get it all back. 

There are a million unanswered questions here. 

Come on! 

This is remarkable!

We are supposed to be blown away by this scene. The author has provided a bit of a twist on the ark theme. There was this flood going on and our new Noah actually gets off the boat and it’s like he has a lifeboat with 318 other men and they become an agent of deliverance. 

He doesn’t deliver his family from just anyone. He defeats the Mesopotamian kings that had slaughtered giants and defeated the Canaanites. So if Abram can defeat these guys then just think about it, who is the real warrior? 

It surely looks like Abram is, or is he? 

Notice, Abram returns from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him with all of the loot that had been stolen and he encounters two more kings. 

The first king was the king of Sodom, who had somehow climbed out of a tar pit, and met Abram in the valley of the Shaveh, or the King’s Valley, that’s right by the hill that will later be called Jerusalem. 

But before he can say or do anything, Melchizedek, whose name means, My King is Righteous,” who was the king of Salem, which happen to be the last few letters of Jerusalem, that just happens to be the same letters as the Hebrew word for “shalom” or peace. 

And what does Melchizedek bring with him?  

He happens to bring some bread and wine, which is the first time we read of these as a pair. They will resonate throughout the narrative. They appear during the Passover and then in the New Testament when Jesus uses these items in the upper room which, when you think about it, happened to be a refuge, the night before the storm, or flood, where the Romans came to kill God’s chosen one. Who, like Abraham, was the unlikely deliverer. 

This is the birth of the unlikely hero motif that continues to come up throughout the narrative. 

Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High provides a feast, and he pronounces a blessing – here it is – the blessing after the cosmic rebellion! Check your literary design. Within this blessing we discover who really was the hero of the battle, because he offers praise to God Most High, who delivered the enemies into Abram’s hand. 

This happens to be a twist on the blessing. Up to this point, blessings had been about fruitfulness and abundance and fertility. Now there is a new element. We can now include protection and deliverance and for God to empower you over violent, greedy enemies. We will continue to see this type of blessing as we go on from here. 

We are then told Abram gave a tenth of everything to Melchizedek. Like Noah, who was delivered from the flood and first provided an offering, Abram gives an offering. 

Next we have the king of Sodom stepping in. Remember him, he was the first one to greet Abram but Melchizedek sort of butted in and provided the feast and the blessing. He’s been watching this going down and if you recall, all of the possessions that Abram had, once belonged to the king of Sodom. He demands his stuff back. Not all of it, mind you, Abram did manage to retrieve it, so the greedy king of Sodom comes up with sort of a deal. The king of Sodom gets the people and Abram can keep the goods. 

Check out Abram’s response. He’s finally starting to listen. 

God has been telling Abram all along that He wants to bless him, with fruitfulness, abundance and fertility and now with protection and deliverance. It’s finally sinking in because Abram responds to the king of Sodom with, “You know what, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth and I have entered a covenant. Yahweh has promised to bless me. So if I take the stuff you are offering me, you will always be able to say, “You know why Abram’s wealthy? It’s because of me.” 

Avram doesn’t want that. We finally see Abram begin to trust that Yahweh has his back.

Within a tale between two kings, Avram is learning how to trust. Instead of securing goods for himself, he actually gives away what belongs to him to the king of Righteousness. 

The story began with kings of Mesopotamia slaughtering giants. But Abram was able to slaughter the kings of Mesopotamia. He clearly comes out as the most significant one in the story. But then look at what he does. He meets the king of Righteousness and honors him by giving him a 10th of all in the little giving feast that they have. The final result is the king of Righteousness comes out on the top of the status chain in this narrative. 

Can you see how Abram’s relationship to abundance has evolved? 

He’s had circumstances involving abundance before and failed. Now he’s having a feast on the high place, with the royal priest of God Most High and it’s awesome. Oh, and should a king of Sodom step in and try and ruin the event, Abram’s not having it. He snubs the snake and says, “I don’t want what doesn’t belong to me.” 

It’s a climatic moment. It brings together the Eden story, the Cain story, all of the themes we have covered so far. 

Although Melchizedek appears in only three verses in the Scriptures the thread of Melchizedek runs through the rest of the Hebrew Bible and into the New Testament. When David unites all his brothers and all the tribes, he declares this same hilltop to be the new capital city. He then brings the temple up and he holds a huge feast, and they make seven sacrifices, David then dresses up like he’s the high priest and takes up a Melchizedek-like priesthood. 

Psalm 110 is all about this and was actually one of Jesus’ favorite psalms. Jesus himself claimed to be a David Melchizedek-like figure. 

So actually who is Melchizedek? 

The idea of Levi’s line being priests hasn’t been created yet. Some commentators have calibrated the ages of the sons of Noah and decided Shem, the chosen son, could have still been alive. Possibly, but in the narrative sense, Melchizedek is seen as the narrative image of an image of God, a human image of God, a royal priest, ruling and reigning, representing God’s generosity and blessing to Abram, who was the chosen one. He was able to help Abram see something that apparently Abram wasn’t able to see and that many of us today have difficulty seeing. 

All of our stuff and any sort of victory we may have, in reality, have little to do with us, 

they are gifts of God’s blessings. 

In our Wednesday night Bible Study we are going through a study guide based on the television series, “The Chosen.” 

Each chapter focuses on those words, “the chosen.” Each week we are reminded that we are chosen, just like Abram. Like Abram, who walks away from his encounter with Melchizedek changed, he clearly has a different relationship to his stuff, we too should meditate on this story. 

What about you? 

What is your relationship with your stuff? 

Do you see it as something you have earned? 

Worked hard for? Achieved? 

Or like Abram, do you recognize all that you have, 

all of your victories 

are gifts of God’s blessing? 

Have you noticed the portrait of God has been behind the scenes? He is only talked about in chapter 14. God’s role in the story has been very much in the background. Again, a lot like life today. God is ever present but not exactly center stage, unless we put Him there. God is the same today. Just as in this story, the portrait of God is seen as patient, waiting for his bumbling chosen one to clue into the fact that God wants to bless him. May we, like Abram, wake up and recognize it.