Topic: How Yahweh deals with his creations (series 12)

Bible Texts (Concordant Version of the Old Testament and Concordant Literal New Testament with keywords Concordance (Genesis chapter 14: Main text)

               Hello my dear readers. I pray that the grace and mercy of Yahweh be unto you. It is another week to get blessed. In the last blog, you were informed about how Abram and Lot parted to different directions due to fight between Abram's shepherd and Lot's shepherd. I also mentioned towards the end of that blog that sometimes, Yahweh allows us to be distanced from those we love dearly for good reasons. Abram would have missed Lot but it was the best thing that happened to him. You will find out in this week blog.

This week, I like to discuss on things I admire from Abram's demonstration of love, faith and actions. This week blog made me have a rethink on my life and I hope you would have something to gain from it too.

Chapter 14 of the book of Genesis discussed some of the following events:

Ø  There was a war among cities in the land of Canaan and its surroundings. Nine cities precisely.

Ø  The war was as the result of 12 years domination of certain kings and their cities over the less powerful kings and their cities (verse 1-3). It was like making slaves out of the oppressed Kings and their cities.

Ø  In the thirteenth year, the oppressed kings revolted against their oppressors to gain their freedom. Can you relate this to Ukraine and Russian war among many other examples? This time, among the oppressed kings and cities was Sodom. So, Sodom and Gomorrah were separate kings and separate cities (verse 5-10).

Ø  King of Shinar and his allies defeated those kings that staged the revolt. The oppressors won the war.

Ø  The victors carted away the spoils of war from Sodom, Gomorrah and other defeated cities. This included Lot and all his belongings (verse 11-12).

Ø  The news of Lot was brought to Abram by the person that escaped during this war (verse 12).

When the sad news was brought to Abram, what do you think he should have done? Should he have  cared less? No! He stood up and did what a good big brother would have done to the son of his father's brother. In the current world we live, this might be somehow difficult but in Abram's case, he showed maturity.

Another thing I need to point out is that Abram did gathered 318 born in his household to go and fight and rescue the oppressed cities. This implies that Abram commanded respect of his followers. It also implied that Abram was a warrior and he trained his people to fight/defend themselves. Abram had followers who were loyal to him and were ready to work for him.

Despite the fact that Lot showed a glimpse of less care and respect to Abram when they had to choose the place to depart to/from (in chapter 13 of the book of Genesis), Abram showed up as a hero.

You can call this an instinct or blood relationship. Abram did not ask Yahweh for directives but he was with Abram just like he was with him when he went down to the land of Egypt in Genesis chapter 12 without consulting Yahweh. In other words, Yahweh orders the steps of his covenanted people. They are special people.

Abram and his men rescued not only his Lot but also the people of Sodom including all spoils of war carted away by the oppressors. The same Abram and his men killed all kings that oppressed their victims. What a great generous general Abram was!

               What stood out to me most is the fact that he refused to take reward for his actions from the King of Sodom. What might have happened to Abram? Has he learnt something new about his life? Has he realized something about who he was? Instead of being chastised by Yahweh for being a liar in Egypt, he rather left there with a lot of gifts. He did not earn the blessings/gifts in Genesis chapter 12. However this time, he earned it but he refused to receive this blessing from King of Sodom. Abram claimed that this would not give reason for this King of Sodom to say that he made Abram rich through the gifts he gave him. What was Abram thinking?

               I believe Abram has come to understand that Yahweh was the source of his wealth. Remember that in Genesis 12:1-3, Yahweh had covenanted blessing with Abram. He trusted Yahweh on these covenants and he was able to discern when to collect gifts and when not to.  In addition, I believe Abram probably knew the kind of person King of Sodom was. He somehow might not like this city because of their sinful acts but he saved this king and the people of this city because of his brother Lot. What generous Abram. He could have care less about the city of Sodom and forced his brother to continue to live with him. However, he did otherwise.

Abram helped Sodom, Gomorrah and other cities being oppressed by their oppressors but collected no dime from King of Sodom for this help. That is strange. I do not think Abram took this personal because he informed King of Sodom to give those who supported him to fight for the oppressed their portion of the spoil gathered by the King of Sodom. The news of Abram's victory and action went throughout the neighboring places. 

No wonder, he was visited by the King of Salem. This King shared and ate bread and wine with him. That was a great honor shown to Abram. The Bible says that King Melchizedek was also the priest for El Supreme. There is more information about this king in Bible new testaments. Abram gave a tenth of all the booty (spoils of war which he gathered by himself, not from King of Sodom). For visual learner like me, please see the picture below for better understanding.

With all that had happened to Lot, I think he should find another place other than Sodom and Gomorrah, if he did not want to live with Abram anymore. However, he still preferred to stay in the land of Sodom. What could possibly be wrong with Lot? Perhaps, we will find out in the nearest future. However, you can realize that Abram's level of faith had increased as Yahweh continued to relate with him. He knew that the victory he won was not because he was better than his enemies but because Yahweh was with him.

I have learnt a lot from Abram this week. I have more respect for him too. I hope this week blog has made sense to you too. I pray that Yahweh sends us a man like Abram who will love us unconditionally.

                                                      

Please, keep looking forward to reading my next week blog by the grace of Yahweh.

Please, make your comments and be nice with them. You are free to share this blog too.

Shalom.