Genesis 14

Genesis 14:14

In Genesis 14 we learn about the first ever war in the world! Apparently, this war has been named amongst bible scholars as the “War of Nine Kings”. After 12 years of being under the rule of king Kedorlaomer of Elam several kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, rebelled against him for their freedom. Abram was not considered a king, yet he found himself in the midst of this war because Lot was taken captive along with all he owned. Lot was found living in Sodom, the city of sin. Let that sink in for a second. Lot initially settled outside of the city of Sodom, but now we see that he made home within the city of Sodom which was known for its wickedness. Now he’s captured and caught in the crossfires of a war he had nothing to do with. Many of us are like Lot, comfortable in environments where sin lives while steadily getting caught in crossfires and spiritual warfare that wasn’t meant for us to experience or deal with in the first place. Proverbs 4:14 tells us this “Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving.”

Abram rescued Lot and recovered everything that was taken. Not because of his might or the might of the men he took with him to battle, but because of God’s favor. No other trained army of men could defeat king Kedorlaomer, but Abram had God on his side. He receives further confirmation from the Lord through the blessing from Melchizedek who was a priest of God and king of Salem. I loved watching this video about the significance of Melchizedek’s blessing over Abram.

To further show his trust in God, Abram rejects the king of Sodom’s proposal to keep all of the goods he recovered from his victory in the war against king Kedorlaomer. He knew that keeping something that was not given to him by God would taint his testimony of God’s goodness and leave opportunities for others to take God’s glory for themselves. This was a deep act of trust and humility. Abram had just given away a tenth of everything he owned to Melchizedek and was now being tempted to acquire back a portion of that which he just gave away. But he stood in oath to God declaring that he will only receive the riches that come from the fruit of God’s blessing and not by the fruit of someone else’s tree.

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