Genesis 14 
Abram's Victory

1. Battle and Victory — The Setup
   1. Minor Kings Skirmish
      1. In the middle of the story of Abram, we pause to take a look at the petty squabble of some kings of the Ancient Near East.
      2. It would seem at first to have nothing to do with Abram, yet here it is, right in the middle of his story.
      3. These are not famous kings; you won’t find them in the history books, yet here they are.
         1. We know about them only where they lived and that they fought.
         2. A few of their names are interesting
            1. Bera, King of Sodom — Name means "in evil" or "characterized by evil"
            2. Birsha, King of Gomorrah — Name means "in wickedness" or "characterized by wickedness"
            3. Shinab, King of Admah — In Hebrew the name means "Hater of father"
            4. Shemeber — "strong name" — remember how the Babelites tried to "make a name for themselves"
         3. They are indeed a priceless bunch
         4. Remember how 13.13 called the men of Sodom "exceedingling wicked and sinful against the Lord
         5. Apparently that’s true of the surrounding area as well
      4. In any event these kings were vassals, servants to the great king Chedorlaomer
         1. We tend to think of "kings" as grand individuals
         2. But they are more like "chieftains" to use the Irish term, or Indian chiefs to use the American Indian term
         3. They are simply rulers of small hordes of people that seek power by conquering one another
         4. And when one king conquers another, they’re both still called kings, but only one of them is the great king who has the right to command.
         5. For 12 years Chedorlaomer was that king
         6. Then the minor kings rebelled
      5. He came after them, conquering as he went.
         1. He comes from Mesopotamia, modern-day Persia, roughly the same place as Ur of the Chaldees where Abram had served other gods
         2. Apparently he had held sway over the entire Transjordan area to the north and east of them
         3. So he makes a leisurely marauding tour, re-conquering the rebel kings and reestablishing his sway over the entire Middle East
         4. And he ends up in Sodom and Gomorrah
            1. They and their allies flee
            2. Some fled to the asphalt pits, either dying or hiding there
            3. Otehers flee to the mountains
            4. And Chedorlaomer is left free to enslave those who could not flee and take all their goods
            5. It is a good day for Chedorlaomer, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah look pathetic and weak by comparison
   2. Abram Becomes Involved
      1. But without realizing it, Chedorlaomer made a massive tactical error. He took Lot.
      2. Up until now, the story has been almost mystifying
         1. Why are we being told all this?
         2. Isn’t this Abram’s story
         3. Now we know
      3. Scripture is at pains to point out that Lot was "Abram’s brother’s son."
      4. One might say that Lot brought this on himself by leaving the Promised Land
      5. One might point out that Abram had been called to leave even his family, so why should he go after Lot?
      6. And one might say that since Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be destroyed anyway, Abram had no business interfering with what might be thought of as the just judgment of God against those wicked people.
      7. Yet Abram hears of their defeat and Lot’s capture and goes to their rescue
      8. He takes with him an army of 318 men, along with the cohorts of Mamre the Amorite, and his brothers Eschol and Aner
         1. They are his allies
         2. Literally, they are in covenant with him
      9. And we are not told how to think about all this
         1. Scripture offers no divine judgment, no moral to the story at this point.
         2. Is Abram disobeying God’s command to leave his family?
         3. Is he once more disregarding the Promised Land to leave because there’s an "emergency"?
         4. Is he interfering with God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot?
         5. Is he trusting once more in the arm of flesh to save by amassing an army?
         6. Why is he making treaties with the Amorites, those iniquitous dwellers of the promised land who will one day be dispossessed?
         7. Or is he simply confessing that it is not for him to judge the Amorites or Sodom and Gomorrah, much less his nephew Lot, but he must do what he can to preserve his family and the lives of his neighbors in any way that does not contradict the command of God?
         8. This issue is not immediately settled, but it is good to raise it now so that we will know to look for an answer.
         9. right now though, this is just the straight newspaper report.
   3. Abram Is Victorious
      1. We are not told how Abram’s forces compare with Chedorlaomer’s
         1. But it stands to reason they are inferior
         2. Chedorlaomer has just finished a successful undefeated conquest of the entire Transjordan area
         3. What will a band of Canaanites and Hebrews do?
      2. So Abram is cunning
         1. He divides his forces to attack from all sides
         2. He attacks by night to take advantage of the element of surprise
      3. Isn’t this just like Egypt where he was trusting his own cunning and ingenuity rather than the power of God?
      4. Yet here, Abram wins the battle
      5. His forces are victorious.
      6. He brings back all the goods and people
         1. Not just Lot and his goods
         2. But all the goods belonging to the 5 kings of the cities of the plains as well
2. Abram and the Two Kings — Tension and Resolution
   1. The Tension Has Not Yet Been Resolved
      1. You would think the story is over at this point
         1. I was initially going to preach just this portion and save verse 17 onward for next week.
         2. Hasn’t the tension been resolved?
         3. Don’t we have a happy ending?
         4. Simple story: Lot was captured, Abram goes to battle to restore Lot, Abram proves successful
         5. Even the title of this sermon, "Abram’s Victory" suggests that we’re wrapping up the story here. Abram has had his victory
      2. Yet when I wrote that title, I was thinking of a different victory; and we haven’t yet seen what that is.
      3. This story of petty kings squabbling and Abram rescuing Lot doesn’t resolve anything
      4. It just sets up the tension.
      5. Abram left the promised land to pursue this battle — does that mean he has lost faith
      6. Abram was in covenant with the Amorites, the wicked men whose descendants will be utterly slaughtered by Abram’s descendants, Israel — has this replaced his covenant with God?
      7. Abram proved very strong and clever in this event — will his head be turned?
         1. Will he trust in the arm of flesh and the ingenuity of the mind?
         2. Will he boast in his military superiority and keep the booty for himself?
         3. Will he prove to be just one more petty king of this earth, wanting only the goods of this world, full of himself and his own great name on the earth?
      8. And there, off in the distance, the king of Sodom is coming out to meet Abram in the King’s Valley (17)
      9. How will Abram deal with him?
         1. As a great king, dividing the spoil — Just another Chedorlaomer?
         2. As a vassal king, a weaker king, submitting to the king of Sodom?
         3. Either way, it would seem that Abram has thrown in his lot with the goods of this world and begun to worship human strength and material prosperity.
      10. But before the King of Sodom arrives, out of nowhere, another king shows up
   2. Abram and Melchizedek
      1. Who is this mysterious man, both priest and king, coming across the King’s Valley to Abram?
         1. We know nothing about him.
         2. He just shows up, mysteriously, at this point in the story and is identified as Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High
         3. We have not been told there were others devoted to the God who called Abram, and suddenly this man shows up.
         4. He has no genealogy, no mother or father that we know of.
         5. And after this story he as mysteriously disappears
         6. He is like a son of God, bursting forth on history for a single moment to declare the blessing and the will of God and then being caught up into heaven again.
         7. It is as though he is an eternal priest of God, always living to make intercession for his people.
      2. We know nothing about him except his name and titles
         1. Melchizedek — King of Righteousness, or "My king is righteous" (to contrast with wicked kings of Sodom and Gomorrah)
         2. King of Salem — King of Peace
            1. Salem means peace
            2. Salem is also the same as Jerusalem which simply means City of Peace
            3. So he comes forth from Zion, the place that God, a thousand years later will choose as his dwelling place forever
            4. But with such a mysterious character it is clear that he comes from the true and heavenly Zion, the place of God’s eternal dwelling above the heights of the clouds
         3. Priest of God Most High — He mediates between God and men
      3. Is he not a most sweet and wonderful picture of your Savior?
         1. Doesn’t Hebrews say that Jesus is a priest according to this order of priesthood, not the levitical priesthood which lives, grows old, and dies?
         2. For Christ is the true eternal priest and king who comes from God as the ruler and savior of his people
         3. He is your king of peace, for he has conquered all your enemies — even sin and death — that he might give you peace
         4. And your king is righteous, a very king of righteousness coming to divide the spoils, to dispense the rewards, and the spoils — the booty and the reward — are nothing less than his own righteousness which is from God
         5. He requires only that you acknowledge that the battle is his, that he is the true great king and only mediator between you and God.
         6. You win this battle by surrender, by bowing the knee to one greater than you.
         7. this is the victory that we are about to see Abram achieve, retaining his faith and despising the goods of the world.
      4. He brings out bread and wine
         1. that he may nourish Abram who is weary from battle
         2. And thus Abram will know where his strength really comes from
         3. To fellowship with Abram, sitting at table to eat
         4. And thus Abram will know who his true and lasting friend and companion is
      5. We are blind if we fail to see in this a picture of the Lord’s Supper
         1. It can be no accident that our Savior — our king of righteousness and priest of God Most High — chose bread and wine to seal to us the benefits of the new covenant
         2. So that as live on this earth we are nourished from heaven
         3. And the glory for every victory, every perseverance, every good thing goes to Christ who continually feeds us.
         4. And as we fellowship at that table with one another in Christ, we renounce the hold the world has on us, and we renounce our interest in the goods of this world, and we ask only that we should be fed the bread and wine of heaven, the body and blood of Christ that we should take all nourishment and strength from him.
      6. So Melchizedek blesses Abram, giving glory to God
         1. He reminds Abram who he really depends on for blessing
            1. Not his own strength or ingenuity
            2. But God most high, the true great king to which all other kings must bow
         2. He reminds Abram of God’s credentials
            1. creator of heaven and earth
            2. possessor of heaven and earth
            3. God is the one who owns everything, so he is the one who has a right to divide all the booty
      7. And he blesses God, for it is God alone who has delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand.
      8. How will Abram respond?
         1. Will he say, I have made myself great. I will divide the spoil. I will distribute the booty.
         2. No! He bows the knee to this great king, representative of the greatest king of all
         3. He bows the knee to Jesus, here pictured, and confesses that he has no strength in himself
         4. He pays him a tithe, a tenth of all he has won
         5. And by this he confesses that all he owns belongs to God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth
         6. He seeks no earthly glory in this, only that he should be on a right footing with the God of all.
      9. Still, the tension is not quite over.
      10. Will Abram serve God alone or will he attempt what Jesus said was impossible — to serve God and money?
   3. Abram and the King of Sodom
      1. Remember his name, Bera — He is as much a king of evil as Melchizedek is a king of righteousness
      2. A greater contrast to the nobility and majesty of Melchizedek could hardly be imagined.
      3. He comes up to Abram and grunts only 6 words, "Give me people; you take goods."
      4. He is greedy, ungrateful, and trying to assert his authority as king in the region, even over the one who saved his life.
      5. By right of conquest, the people and the goods belong to Abram. The king of Sodom makes demands he has no right to make.
      6. And he makes his demand "Give me people" before he gets around to telling Abram, you can keep the goods
      7. He owes Abram his life, yet he never gets around to thanking him and acknowledging that anything Abram gives him in addition to this is pure grace
      8. Abram understood this in dealing with Melchizedek
      9. But the King of Sodom is a picture of the warped thinking of this world
         1. He overestimates his rights
         2. Has no gratitude to the one who granted him life
         3. But demands more without pausing to thank
      10. The King of Sodom, ludicrously, is trying to pass himself off as the great king and Abram as the lesser
          1. The saying, "To the victor belong the spoils" is true in the Ancient Near East
          2. The king who divides the booty after a war is considered the great king
          3. It is to him that all the booty really belongs and he dispenses it to the other kings according to the measure of their service to him.
          4. This king, whose men had been routed and had fallen by the sword or sunk into the tar pits or fled into the mountains or enslaved — he is trying to pass himself off as the great king and a conquering hero.
          5. He is a picture of what Abram would have become if he had not immediately given all glory to God and paid a tithe to the priest of God most high
      11. Abram proves noble in this encounter as well
      12. He disdains Sodom’s offer lest that king say, "It is I who made Abram rich" rather than God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.
      13. Let us imitate his faith

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