"'And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.' He gave him a tenth of all."
-Genesis 14:20
Genesis Bible Academy is turning out to be a great learning experience for me. I hope that you are learning a lot about it through these posts. Yesterday we learned about Genesis 14, when Abram rescues his nephew Lot. In Genesis 13, Lot had chosen the better land for himself, only thinking about his well-being. In this passage we learn that Lot had moved as far as the city of Sodom, which is a wicked and sinful city. Five nations rebel against their king, causing a war between nine nations, a four on five battle. The four nations are able to defeat the five and restore the kingship of Chedorlaomer, who had ruled these nations before. Among the defeated nations was Sodom, resulting in the capture of Lot.
Abram learns that Lot has been captured by these powerful nations, and he decides that he will go rescue Lot. Abram gathers some men and some allies, and they go to war against these four nations. Abram is able to defeat them, and he rescues Lot from them. Afterwards Abram meets with one of his allies, Melchizedek and one the enemies, the king of Sodom. Melchizedek worships God and gives Abram and his men food and wine. Abram refuses to take anything from the king of Sodom, because he knew that if he did the king of Sodom could use that as leverage against Abram.
In this passage, I noticed that it has a striking resemblance to the story of the Jesus. When Lot had been captured, it was because he was selfish and decided to live in the wicked city of Sodom. Lot had chosen to live precariously, and this caused him to become a prisoner. Abram had every right to leave Lot captured, because Lot had brought this upon himself. However, Abram still loved Lot, so Abram risks his life for Lot. He couldn't allow Lot to remain a prisoner and possibly be killed. In a war that looked foolish and seemed like certain death for Abram, he was able to defeat Chedorlaomer and rescue Lot.
Like Lot, we too are prisoners. We have chosen to live wicked lives and to live for our own selfish reasons. God has every right to leave us trapped in our sin because we brought wrath upon ourselves. However, God loves us too much to let us remain trapped and die in our sin. In a plan that seemed foolish and ridiculous, Jesus died and rose again to save us. He defeated Satan and rescued us from the power of sin, and gave us life.
Before I end, I want to talk about Abram's decision not to take anything from the king of Sodom. When Abram meets with Melchizedek, they worship God, and Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had. When the king of Sodom tries to lure Abram into taking the spoils of war for himself, Abram refuses because he had made an oath to God. Abram could have taken everything from the defeated kings, and made himself very rich. Abram also did not have to give Melchizedek anything and keep everything for himself. Why doesn't Abram do this?
Abram could have made himself very rich and powerful; in fact, He could have made himself a king. However, by this time in his life, Abram knew who the real King was. Abram refuses to allow himself to become consumed in riches because he wanted to honor the King and Lord of his life. We too have to resist the temptations of this world and honor the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. God loved us so much that He sent His only son to die for us, and He is the only one that deserves our praise.
-Smart
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