1. Introduction

There is an epic war as five kings’ rebel against four ruling kings. The four kings win, and they continue conquering and taking captives. This results in the capture of Abram’s nephew Lot. Abram leads a rescue mission, defeats the enemy, and encounters Melchizedek, the king of Salem. The chapter highlights Abram’s faith, leadership, and stance on material wealth

2. Abram rescues Lot from the Kings

Abram is a very wealthy man with a lor of servants who are also trained in battle. He sets out to rescue Lot. He pursues them to the north of Israel near Dan to explain to modern readers as Dan did not exist at that time.

They are wise to attack at night. The rescue mission is a great success, with the four Kings defeated and everyone and all possessions recovered.

3. Abram and Melchizedek Meet

We don’t know much about Melchizedek. His name means “king of righteousness”. He is the King of Salem (Peace). The place will later be renamed Jerusalem (Jerus-Salem). He was a priest but yet the Aaronic priesthood was not yet in existence.

See Psalm 110:1,4 speaks about the Messiah being of the priestly order of Melchizedek. Jesus was not a descendent of Aaron, yet He came as a priest. Melchizedek was both a priest and a king. This was also true of Jesus. Hebrews 7:3 described Melchizedek as without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Because of this passage, some have thought Melchizedek was actually a pre-Bethlehem appearance of Jesus.

Melchizedek served Abram bread and wine and blesses Abraham. Abram gave him a tenth of everything that he had which shows what a high opinion he had of him. This was BEFORE tithing was made part of the Mosaic law, we see two examples of tithing in Genesis – here and Jacob’s promise as an act of worship in response to a dream of a ladder into heaven at Bethel, “of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” (Genesis 28:22).

We can say with confidence that if Melchizedek was not an appearance of Jesus Himself, at the very least he is a remarkable type or picture of Jesus.

4. Abram and the King of Sodom

The king of Sodom wanted to reward Abram for all he did in recovering what was taken by the partnership of the four kings, and he offered Abram a tremendous amount of plunder. Abram refused any portion of the plunder because he would not allow anyone say that a man had made Abram rich. Abram determined that all of the credit for his success and wealth should go to God and God alone. He would not want a gift from the King of Sodom as he knew him to be an evil person.

However, at the same time, Abram did not impose his principles on his Amorite allies (Genesis 14:13). They were entitled to as much of the spoil as was appropriate under the customs of the time.

We can see below a comparison between the two kings.

Categories: Genesis

Tags: bible, christianity, Genesis, jesus, melchizedek