Pastor Scott Jonas
Genesis 13-14
Abraham and Lot
Open
your Bibles to Genesis 13. So much has
happened in the first 12 chapters of the Bible.
If you jump in here you are going to feel a little lost. Kind of like seeing Avengers Infinity wars
without seeing any of the 18 other Marvel movies. So let me catch you up. On Genesis, not the Avengers.
The
focus is now on one man, Abram, and his wife Sara. As characters, they appear almost out of
nowhere. In Genesis 11 we have a
genealogy of the descendants after Noah.
At the end of that list, it says The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai who
was barren, she had no child. Then, the
Lord speaks to Abram and says, “Go from your country and your clan and your
father’s house to the land I will show you.
And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing.
So Abram and his nephew Lot took up their families and departed the land
of their forefathers. The Lord appears
to Abram again and shows him the land of Canaan and says, “I will give you this
land.” So Abram built an altar there and
worshipped the Lord.
Abraham
and the reader are left with a lot of questions: Why did God choose Abraham and Sara? Is it because they are good people? Is it because they are faithful? Why is God choosing a single man and family
at all? How does this fit into the big
plan to save creation? Lots of
questions. Abram has almost no answers. We are in a position to answer a few.
As
you are reading the story, the text does not usually give you the insights you
seek. In the Abraham story of Genesis we
don’t get a director’s commentary. You
know how when you buy a DVD, sometimes you can watch the film and hear
commentary by the director? We don’t get
that for most of Genesis. Instead we get
a story in which it describes God’s interactions with humans. God talks to Abram and tells him that He is
going to be made into a great nation. No
commentary as to Why? Or How?
But
some of our questions can be inferred from the story. Why did God choose Abram? It is unclear. But did God choose Abram because he was
already faithful and good?
Doubtful. Abram is not already a
faithful worshipper of the creator. Instead
it is after he encounters the true God that he responds with worship. After God speaks directly to Abram, then he
follows the Lord’s instructions. This
isn’t faith like Noah had. This is
something else. He isn’t like the
disciples who knew the Lord from the scriptures and then followed Jesus when
they met him. This is a man who was
probably a pagan, who God picks for his own purposes.
The
more we get into the story the more we realize that Abram is screwed up. He takes his wife and extended family down to
Egypt because there is a famine in the land.
Pharoah meets Abraham as the leader of this clan. Before they meet Abraham concocts a
plan. He is going to lie to Pharoah and
say that Sara is his sister, so that Pharoah does not kill Abraham in order to
get to Sara. Ladies, how are we feeling
about this plan? It is the act of a coward. Pharoah takes Sara into his house, because
according to Abram she was available.
The Lord struck the house of Pharoah with plagues (foreshadowing.) Pharoah sends the clan away. Abram is not a stand up guy.
Then
Abram and Lot, his nephew go up to the Land of Canaan. They are over looking the land. One way is the Land of Canaan, the land
promised to Abram’s off spring. Remember
Lot may be related to Abram but he is not Abram’s offspring. The Land of Canaan is promised to Abram not
Lot. The clan of Abram and Lot has grown
too large. They are ranchers with much
livestock. They require a great amount
of acreage to feed their sheep, oxen and donkeys. Abram looks at the land of Canaan and the
land next to it called the Jordan valley.
Abram allows Lot to pick between the promised land and the Jordan
Valley. He is offering his inheritance
from the Lord to someone else.
Thankfully, Lot chooses the Jordan Valley because it looked greener. Abraham has now shown himself to be a coward,
a bad husband, and frivolous with the Lord’s inheritance. Obviously God did not choose Abraham because
he is faithful and good. God must have
other reasons.
Despite
Abram’s ineptitude, the Lord reaffirms his promise. God says, “Lift your eyes and look from the
place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for
all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the
earth, so that if one could count each piece of dust, that would match the
number of your offspring. Arise and walk
the land that I give you. Abram responds
by building an altar. He is good at
building altars.
Chapter
14. Mesopotamia controls the
region. Four Kings from the East come to
demand their taxes. Five local kings
rebel, refusing Mesopatamia’s authority.
One of the defeated was the King of Sodom. Another defeated was the king of the city of
Gomorrah. The Mesopotamia Kings came in
smacked down the locals, took whatever they wanted and left. Lot’s clan got swept up in the melee. The mesopatmians took lot, the son of Abram’s
brother who was dwelling near Sodom and his possessions and went East. One man of Lot’s clan escaped and hurried to
Abram and told him the tale. Abram took
up 318 trained men and pursued the military caravan. At the end of the caravan was Lot and his
family.
Abraham
was a coward in Egypt. Now he is
brave. He showed himself to be a sinner
and now he shows the other side. At
night Abram and the 318 free his relatives.
They recover all of their possesions and people.
It
is easy to make this a hero’s story. The
hero of the Story, Abram, was a frightened mess in the opening chapter. But through the Lord he found his strength. He used violence to win the day. God is proud of him. With hard work and determination you can be a
hero like Abram. But we do not get that
commentary from the Lord. Instead, we
get a weird addendum after the climax of the story.
When
Abram, the 318, and Lot’s clan return they are met by one of the defeated
kings, the king of Sodom. At the Valley
of Shaveh(the appropriately named King’s valley), the King of Sodom and another
mysterious King meet them. This other
king has not been mentioned in the narrative yet even though there is an
extensive list of the defeated kings in the beginning of chapter 14. This mysterious figure is Melchizedek, the
King of Salem. He name means King of
righteousness. The region of Salem means
peace. And the region of salem would one
day become JeruSalem.
Melchizedek,
brings out wine and bread. He isn’t only
a King he is also a Priest. He is a
priest of the God Most high. If Abram,
was the hero of this story, then you can imagine, the King of Salem approaching
Abram, getting off his horse, and kneeling before the great warrior. He doesn’t do that. Instead, Melchizedek offers a prayer. He says “Blessed be Abram by God Most high,
Possesor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most high, who has deleivered
your enemies into your hands.”
Melchizedek
is wise as a man of God should be. He
knows that Abram isn’t the hero. The
Lord Most high is the hero. It is only
because God picked Abram that he is blessed.
It is only by the power of God that Lot’s captors were defeated. It was all God and Abram was lucky to be a
part of it.
Abram
is wise enough to agree. Instead of
being offended he affirms Melchizadek’s prayers. Abram separates a tenth of all of his gold,
silver and animals and gives it to the priest.
It is not the first recorded offering, that was cane and Able. But it is the first recorded Tithe, which
means 10%.
You
and I have two temptations, both bad.
One is to make Biblical characters into unattainable heros. The other is to make ourselves the hero of
the story. Instead, we should read the
Bible with God as the hero. Creation,
Flood, Babel, Abraham. God is the
hero.
What’s
fun is to think that the New Testament is sometimes the directors commentary on
the Old TEstmanet. The book of Hebrews
talks about this specific story in chapter 7.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem,
priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the
kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of
everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and
then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father
or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
4 See how great this man was to
whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants
of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take
tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers,[a] though these also are
descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them
received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is
beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case
tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is
testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives
tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his
ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
Jesus Compared to Melchizedek
11 Now if perfection had been
attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received
the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise
after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change
in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to
another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is
evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that
tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15 This becomes even more evident
when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a
priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but
by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former
commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the
law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced,
through which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath.
For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but
this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor
of a better covenant.00