Title Abram Saving Lot (Genesis 14:1-24)
Contents Last week, we talked about the choices of Lot and Abram.
Abram, who was called, left the homeland of his relatives and his father and went to the land God had directed. But when they entered the Promised Land, there were Canaanites living there (12:6). So Abram was puzzled. God appeared to the puzzled Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants” (12:7). Then Abram believed the word and built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
But the famine in the land was so severe that Abram left this land and went down to Egypt. (12:10) God promised Abram, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Because of this, He saves them from Pharaoh's hand and brings them out with great wealth.
Then, when he came to live between Bethel and Ai in the promised land, God blessed him immensely, so the pasture for feeding the animals was limited. Lot's servants and Abram's servants quarreled. (13:7) Abram and Lot separated, saying, “If you are left, I will go right, and if you right, I will go left.”
So Lot disregarded his uncle Abram's generosity and went to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, where there was plenty of water, as the Lord's garden, and as fertile as Egypt. Eventually, Lot entered the city of Sodom to live. (13:12) In this way, a war broke out while Lot was living in Sodom, and Lot was taken captive by the enemy. So Abram leads his allies and the house army to rescue Lot. So today, I'm going to talk about "Abram who saved Lot." I hope that God's grace will be with you as you speak these words.
I. Abram who saved Lot (1-16)
Years have passed since Abram broke up with Lot.
Meanwhile, Lot entered the city of Sodom and settled down, while Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. There was no war in the land of Canaan during the first 10 years of Abram's faith life. Lot entered the city of Sodom in order to live well physically and to obtain material things, but he met with great misfortune.
This is because the small cities around the Dead Sea formed an alliance with the five kingdoms of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar, and the Mesopotamian states they controlled (King Shinar, King Elam, King Ellasar, and Goim). A war broke out because he refused to pay the tribute to the king).
See verse 4.
“They served Chedorlaomer (king of Elam) for 12 years, and then they betrayed them in the 13th year.” So in the 14th year, the 4 Allied armies of Mesopotamia attacked. Sodom was defeated in this war, and some of the Sodomites were taken into captivity.(5-11)
However, Abram's nephew Lot, who lived in the city of Sodom (12), was also taken captive in this war. In other words, the five countries, including the king of Sodom, formed alliances and jointly defended them, but in the end, they suffered a devastating defeat in the war, and all the wealth and food of Sodom and Gomorrah were also taken away. Abram's nephew Lot, who lived in Sodom, was also taken captive.
When Abram heard this news, he took the 318 trained household troops he had at home and the allies of Mamre and his brothers (13, 14, 24) and launched a night raid to destroy the mighty Chedorlaomer (four alliances) and rescue Lot. I paid.
Abram divided his vassals (soldiers) into groups and used the night to destroy the enemies, and pursued them as far as Obah, on the left side of Damascus, to find all the stolen possessions, women, people, and nephew Lot.
Where did the gray-haired old man get such courage and strength, and it is really dangerous to challenge the mighty power allies. Not only was his life at risk, but he would have had to make many material sacrifices. But Abram did it. This must have been Abram's shepherd's heart, out of love for his nephew Lot, and out of the shepherd's heart to lead him to live an upright life of faith.
This would not have happened if Lot had not been brought to Canaan, but Abram did not regret or complain. When Abram heard that Lot was in trouble, he said, “It worked out, I thought it would be so,” and without even knowing his uncle, he went to Sodom and Gomorrah, which are like yellow ones. He said, “It’s okay,” and he loved the world more than God. Although it seems that he would rather rejoice and rejoice at what happened to Lot who entered the city of Sodom, saying, “I will seduce” Abram, not only his allies (13:24), but also the trained family he had at home, raided at night and raided the riches and Lot has been rescued.
Romans 15:1-3
“We who are strong ought to bear the weakness of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please our neighbor, but for the good and for the edification, for Christ did not please himself.”
When Abram saw what Lot was doing, he could have left it alone. He could have gotten revenge. However, there was the heart of a shepherd who had compassion on him, a heart to see him right before God, and a compassionate faith to love him. We must also learn this kind of faith.
Ⅱ. Abram who bears blessings well (17-24)
When Abram returns from victory in the war, two men come out and meet Abram.
① One was Melchizedek and the other was the king of Sodom. After meeting these two people, Abram can see that he is carrying out the blessings that God has given him.
When Abram returned from the battle, Melchizedek king of Salem came out to meet Abram with bread and wine. Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God. Salem is the old name of Jerusalem, meaning peace, and Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.”
Many scholars speculate that this Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah. Because Shem lived 502 years after Noah's flood (11:10,11), and Abram's time was only about 400 years after Noah's flood.
David prophesied that God would send Christ the Eternal High Priest after this order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).
So this Melchizedek was a shadow of the Christ to come. (Hebrews 7:16,17) God sent this Melchizedek to Abram to feed the soldiers who were weary from battle with bread and wine, and to give them strength and comfort. This shows what kind of blessings Christ will bestow upon Abram's descendants when he comes as the eternal High Priest.
Melchizedek blessed Abram after serving bread and wine.
See verses 19 and 20.
“O Lord of heaven and earth, Most High God, bless Abram. Blessed be the Most High God, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
When Melchizedek blessed Abram in this way, Abram received the blessing and gave a tenth to Melchizedek. This was the origin of tithing.
When Abram returned from victory in the war, it must have been easy for him to fall into the pride that he had successfully planned and won. Then, in verse 20, Melchizedek appeared to him and said, “God has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram believed that this victory was from God and offered a thank-you gift to Melchizedek.
Therefore, the meaning of tithing is an expression of gratitude to God and a confession of faith that we believe and believe that God is the source of blessings.
Dr. Shin Sa-hoon, a long-time head of the Department of Religion at Seoul National University, has always said that when figuring out the number of Christians, only those who pay tithing should count as members. Because these are the only people who truly believe in God's blessings and live. God promises to open the gates of heaven and pour out blessings on those who live by this faith. (Mal 3:10) Believers of other religions give gifts to give us victory, but we Christians are not satisfied with the victory and blessing we have already received. It is to offer a gift with a grateful heart. (Ephesians 1:3) This is different from pagan religions.
Today Abram has won the war greatly. On the day of victory, Abram was humble and gave thanks to God and glorified him. I paid tithing as a token of that.
People are arrogant and arrogant when they win or receive many blessings, but Abram is rather humble and holds blessings when he wins and gets many things. I pray that you will learn the faith of Abram to handle the blessings well on the day of victory.
2) This is Abram, who met the king of Sodom and endured the faith well (21-24).
Meanwhile, the king of Sodom showed great favor to Abram, who returned victorious. See verse 21.
“Send the people to me, and you take the goods.” The king of Sodom was very grateful to Abram for rescuing his people. So he told them to take all the wealth they had saved.(21) But Abram had nothing for the glory of God.
See verses 22 and 23.
In the name of the Most High God, Lord of heaven and earth, he raised his hand and swore, refusing the substance the king of Sodom had asked him to take. Didn't take any. Not a single aura was taken. Not a single strand of sourness was taken. The reason was for the honor of God, and for the glory of God, no spoil was taken.
The king of Sodom feared that Abram had become rich because of me, so Abram returned the booty cleanly. Not a single one was touched. Abram was not just blinded by the incoming matter. Abram could take possession of this material because Abram came to retrieve what he had lost in the war, but Abram was detached from material things.
This was because he clearly knew that the source of his blessing was in God. It is because we experienced God who blesses us so that the pasture becomes narrow if we keep our faith. Now, I did not want to sin or hide the glory of God because of material things. So Abram could say, without quarreling with his nephew in front of strangers, that if you right, I will go left, and if you left, I will go right.
Even there he was able to claim good land. But even then, knowing that the source of material and blessings was in God, I was able to yield.
Again today, I believed that the Lord, who gives victory in war, would give me material things if I kept my faith, and I was not blinded by the materials that just came in. I wasn't greedy.
Abram, who had a strong sense of materialism, was able to use vast amounts of material to rescue Lot.
They also gave God the material that was to be dedicated to God with joy.
Also, for the honor and glory of God, he rejected the material of the king of Sodom. Abram was able to lead such a successful material life because he believed in God, the source of blessings.
When we do not believe in this God, we become scornful about material matters and become infinitely inferior. Also, they love money more than God. (2 Timothy 6:10) Those who love money fall into harmful lusts, and those who love money are deceived and depart from the faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows.( 1 Timothy 6:9,10)
Abram was establishing the biblical material view that God is the source of blessing and that God blesses him if he keeps the center of his faith, so he overcame all material tests and gave glory to God.
I pray that you will establish the “biblical view of materialism” that this Abram had.