Genesis 14: The King of Sodom and Abram

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Genesis 14.21-end, 15.1-6 September 11th 2022

So, we left off talking extensively about the fact that Father Abraham paid tithes to this truly mystical Old Testament character who bore the title, Melchizedek. And we read

14:20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Let’s read on and finish the chapter reading from verse 21-24

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Abram's Integrity

Okay let’s cover these last verses of chapter 14 before moving on to chapter 15. Remember, Abraham has returned from saving the people of Sodom and Gomorrah from being taken hostage along with their belongings. What do we notice? That while Abram saved the inhabitants of Sodom God, in chapter 19, is going to wipe them all out.

What I see in this is the fact that God is aways giving chances and extending his reach to souls in the dark. Every opportunity extended for people to turn. Perhaps we could read into this and believe that maybe the inhabitants of Sodom should have seen this invasion and capture as a wake-up call for them to turn to the living God and repent. All we can say is where Abraham first saved them, God will ultimately wipe them out. This speaks to free will choice in my mind, and opportunities to change that are extended to all in that day.

The Unfolding Exchange

So verse 21 after the exchange between Melchizedek and Abram apparently ends.

Genesis 14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

That seems like a pretty reasonable offer, right? I’ll take the people, you take the goods. Verse 22

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

Isn’t that an honorable attitude Abraham has toward God, calling Him “the Most High and possessor of heaven and earth?” This appears to be a primitive mode of appealing to God through an oath and calling him to witness this particular transaction being made.

We will see a shift in oath making in chapter 24 where the sign of the Covenant will include circumcision. Anyway, Abram continues and says in more detail of what he was swearing

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

Among the rabbinical writers the phrasing of “a thread tends to signify a yarn worn by young women to tie up their hair. Since Abram had rescued both the men and women that had been carried off by the confederate kings, and then king of Sodom had offered him all the goods, asking only for the persons, Abram answered by protesting against accepting any of their property including a man's shoelace or a woman’s hair tie but adds at verse 24:

24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

In other words, this oath excludes the food that the young men who went with him into war had consumed. This was all Abram claimed.

Genesis 15: The Promises of God

And we wrapped up Chapter 14 so let’s read the first six verses of chapter 15. This chapter is significant in the establishment and reiteration of the promises and the covenant God makes with Abram. Now, a lot happens in what appears to be a very short period of time – perhaps one day and an evening. Today we are only going to cover the first six verses. So, let’s read

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram:

The Promised Heir and Land

I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Now, before going back and hitting on the info of each verse I want to point out something about this chapter. Abraham was promised an heir by God. Abraham was also promised a land for an inheritance (Canaan). Think about this. For God to only promise him an heir without land would be nice but somewhat incomplete. Sort of like us getting pregnant but never having a home where we can raise the child. And to have been promised just a land but no heir, that would be even more hollow – as most of us know, possessions are nice but children give true importance to our possessions as they are the ones we get to pass our possessions down to – plus a home gives the children someplace to reside and have protection.

Symbolism of the Promised Land

For Abram to be the father of a great nation (offspring) it was really important that he would have a place (land) that they could call home. Got that picture in your head – because while this is the material picture for the Nation through which God was going to bring out through the yet to be born son of Abram, there is such importance to anyone who looks to God through faith on His Son as a fulfillment.

See, way outside this material type God would establish is the continual promise given to all the world that God would make children of Man Sons and Daughters of Abraham through adoption by faith AND he would promise them an exclusive land of their own (in this case, a Kingdom above). So, all of the types and pictures we are reading about here, while interesting, are emblematic of the real purpose and intent of God in having them first occur materially. Think about this. What good would it mean for God to give all who looked to His Son in faith the actual land of Canaan?

During Old Testament times Israel was referred to originally as the land of Canaan, which was the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The entire land of Canaan was approximately 6,600 square miles. Later when the land was conquered by the Israelites under Joshua it was divided to the 12 tribes of Israel and the total area consisted of around 12,000 square miles, from Syria in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and from Mount Hermon in the north to the Arabian Desert in the south. It was not until the time of king David that the land promised to Abraham, was seen as fulfilled, from the River of Egypt in the south to the Euphrates in the east.

The Heavenly Realm as Fulfillment

We will just use 12,000 square miles to represent the land God promised Abram which is a very small piece of land when we think about it – that’s about the size of Belgium, Vancouver Island, or all the Hawaiian Islands combined. Imagine all the believers in the world claiming Canaan as their land materially. Over a billion people living in that small area. Physically it’s idiotic to even consider. But take the imagery and assign it to a heavenly realm where by faith all inhabitants become heirs and second in becoming heir we all enter therein to a Kingdom home above.

This is the picture of Abraham, His seed, and the promised land of Canaan. So, we read at verse 1:

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

We have to suppose that YHWH came to Abram in vision here because Abram was contemplating what had just happened – that he had gone to battle,

Abram's Encounter with God

Abram had just saved a people and Lot (his nephew) and all of their goods, and that he refused to enrich himself with any of it – all the way down to a hair tie or shoelace. Perhaps he wondered after the fact if he was operating in the right way? Perhaps he feared not being in God’s favor for some reason or perhaps it was in reference to God appearing to Him in vision that He feared (which is what I tend to think). Some think that Abram was worried that the four kings would come back together and attack him and this was his state of mind at the moment of this visit.

Or maybe Abram was thinking that his lot was to now be a victor over men, and to pay more attention to being a warrior – who knows – But God seems to show up to tell him that he had bigger and better things in store for the Father of Faith, you know, like when a believer today is dedicated to the things of the Kingdom and has an opportunity pop up in their life that could move them away from that objective – perhaps that is why YHWH shows up at this moment. And what does he say?

God's Assurance to Abram

“Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” What a thing to have the living God say to you as a person! And yet this is what He says to all who come to Him by faith and trust in His promises while sojourning in this land of immediate tangible material reality. Notice that He called him by name and then reminds him that He is “His shield and His exceeding great reward.” This lends to the idea that Abram worried about retaliation for his conquest. But God tells him to “not fear.” And He gives him the reason why, saying, FOR I AM THY SHIELD AND THY EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD.

2Co 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulationA real historical event fulfilled in 70 A.D.—not a future apocalyptic crisis. More. 5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

Fear is normal and natural and good when appropriately present, but it must not override our faith and our trust that God is truly on our side and that He will protect and He will reward. The scripture even commends us to move forward, at times, fearing – which appears to mean to be aware of the need for God on our side and therefore moving forward with reverence and awe of this fact. But John adds another element to the mix saying in 1st John 4:18

1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The Essence of Perfect Love

What I think this alludes to is when we are operating in perfect love toward God (or another person) we have no need to fear God in the sense of His Just hand upon us because “perfect love (which is a verb) will remove all fear that naturally comes with imperfect or selfish love. This seems to be the situation with Abram as God is telling Him, do not fear, I am on your side, as your shield and your exceedingly great reward.

Here we also see that God, knowing Abram, knew his fear as David also confirms in Psalm 31:7-8 saying:

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

Take notice to what God actually says to Abram here: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and (I am) thy exceeding great reward.” He does not say, “I am the one who will exceedingly reward you” (though He does) but that Abrams reward is Him, again saying, “I am thy exceeding great reward.” I suggest that this hold true for all who walk in faith – that the reward is God – access to, relationship with, the power and presence of Him, here and now. And I suggest that

God's Promise to Abram

With Him actually being our reward we, in the end, partake of His very nature, as Peter writes to the believers in his day, saying:

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Yes, in the flesh it comes with trials and fears and loss and sometimes alienation, but He is the reward.

God's Assurance to Abram

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? It seems like Abram was starting to wonder what God was doing. I mean he was getting older and looking around was not seeing anything materialize relative to the promise of a son. So, he asks God a question, saying, “What will you give me seeing that I am childless” and he adds, “and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?”

He seems to be suggesting that his neighbors had children, and his servant (like Eliezer) had children who were even born in his house – was this child “to be seen as his own?” as verse 3 seems to suggest, saying:

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. So again, there seems to be some desperation in Abram, to the point that he is looking to some extenuating circumstance where he would have an heir and in this case it is asked if it was to be through the steward of his household instead of his own loins.

Who this steward of his house, Eliezer of Damascus, was, commentators are not agreed.

The Vision of the Stars

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. God reiterates the facts of His promise, as miraculous as these facts may seem. No matter how old you and Sarai are, God says, he that heir shall come forth out of your own body will be thine heir. And then we read at verse 5:

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. It appears that this whole transaction took place in the evening and either Abram had two visions – the first recorded in Genesis 15:1 and the second being recorded at verse 12 or what is mentioned in the beginning of this chapter is a part of the occurrences which took place after the sacrifice occurs (that we will read about next week).

I think we have two experiences – the first here in verse 1 and then another during the sacrifice we will read about happening in the verses to come. Here in the first section YHWH comes to Abram in vision and there is a conversation and then God “takes” Abram (which I believe means in vision) and shows him the stars of the heavens and says that if he can count them that is the number of his offspring.

And we have a choice to make – to take this literally, and believe that Abram would have as many children as the number of the sands or the stars, or it is meant figuratively. Because Abram's actual offspring pale in comparison to the number of the sand and stars we have to admit it's figurative. And even if we admit that the Kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. will increase forever with new children of Abram coming into the fold by virtue of faith and then adoption, we know that the number is still incomparable – at least at this point as it is estimated that about 110 billion people have lived on earth. Of them lets say an extremely large number of them have been true people of faith from the heart – 10 percent.

That would mean that approximately 11 billion souls have been believers. Not close to the 200 trillion billion stars. The point? This type of speech is figurative. After the first vision he is then brought forth to see if he can number the stars; and as he finds this impossible, he is assured that as they are to him innumerable, so shall his posterity be; and that all of these children would spring from him.

Faith in Scripture

from one who would proceed from his own bowels-one who should be his own legitimate child.

And now to the point as Moses writes

6 And he (Abram) believed in the LORD; and he (YHWH) counted it to him (ABRAM) for righteousness.

In the whole scope of scripture there are a number of highlight passages that establish and explain all the important tenets of this sacred faith: In the august company of the entire Old Testament we might be able to say that we just read the single most pregnant passage. Yes, there is an order of events that lay out the principles of salvation –

The human race fell into sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. through disobedience by the whole human race (Adam and Eve). The establishment of the Law which while perfect, shows the inability of human beings to save themselves through obedience to it. God so loving the world that He gave us His only human Son. And then comes the principle of Faith – established right here in the person of Abram, the Father of Faith.

Understanding Faith

Let’s talk about faith for a minute, specifically,

• What faith is?
• What faith is not.
• Why is it so loved by God?
• How does it come to us?
• How is it increased?
• Can it leave or fail?

So first, what is faith? Using the scripture to define it for us, faith is a substance, but better put, it is a “confidence.” In what, in THINGS hoped for. I want you to take particular note of that word things hoped for. What things? The PROMISES of God.

Here Abram was promised a land and offspring. He believed these promises (or things) that he hoped for that were given to Him by God. Faith is the confidence in the Promises hoped for . . . and the scripture continues, “it (faith) is the evidence of (what – here is that word again) faith is the evidence of THINGS not seen.” Things is used twice in the passage that defines faith – Faith is the Substance of THINGS hoped for the Evidence of THINGS not seen.

Promises of God

What are these “things?” Faith is the substance (confidence ) of “the promises of God” hoped for, the evidence of the promises of God not seen. NOT SEEN. That is key, folks. “Faith is the confidence in the promises of God hoped for, the proof of the promises of God not seen.”

Abram, the father of the faith, was promised, against all odds, that he would be the actual literal father of what seems like billions of offspring, and this promise was given when it looked like the fulfillment of it was pretty much impossible – he was old, his wife was old – their bodies dead. He asked the LORD about the offspring of his servant being the one, but God took him and reiterated his unseen promise by showing him the stars of the sky (before he showed him the sands of the ground) and we read, and Abram

“believed in the LORD; and he (YHWH) counted it to him (ABRAM) for righteousness.”

I like how this is written – Abram believed in the LORD – it does not say Abram believed in the promises given, which he did, but to believe in the promise here means that he ultimately believed in the Lord who made the promise. This is the central principle of faith – to believe/receive/trust in the Promises of the Lord.

Faith is the confidence in the promises of the LORD, the proof of the LORD not seen,” or the promises the Lord makes that have yet to be proven. We all walk by faith as believers today. We have NOT seen the Lord. We have NOT seen His kingdom. We do not KNOW anything. We have faith. And we have faith in both the promises the LORD has made and the LORD who makes them as a keeper of these promises.

I get sort of amused by all the attempts to argue points of so called, “knowledge” Christians use to as a means to support their faith – meaning all the wisdom of the world to prove the Bible and God’s promises as true. But notice here that Abram’s choice to believe the LORD was not founded on ANY sort of reasonable logic. God did not give Abram a bunch of proofs – in fact it was the opposite, Abram was losing proofs as he and his wife got too old to reproduce but he still believed in the LORD.

Adam and Eve had the choice to believe in the LORD or

Faith As a Choice

not – they had no proof of deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. resulting in disobedience – and they chose to not believe. There was not indication that the world of Noah would be flooded. No indication that all the animals would gather or agree to gather to get on the ark. Noah chose to believe and acted as told. Likewise with Abram. And likewise . . . with us. Faith is choosing to believe in the promises of God –

The promise of salvation through His Son
The promise of life after this
The promise of a Kingdom of God above
The promise of a good Resurrection
The promise that all of this actually means something.

We DON’T know, folks. That is the key. Instead we CHOOSE to believe. All faith or confidence in both the Promises of God and even more so, confidence in the God who made these promises and that they still have application to us.

The fact of the matter is, the difference between believers and non-believers is believer CHOOSE to see the evidence around us through eyes of faith and non-believers do not. It is all perspective and choice. One person sees the stars and thinks, this is a godless cold universe produced by a mechanical impersonal inanimate hand and another looks to the stars and sees the creative hand of our God and accepts Him. There is no “proof” and nothing to argue. I wish Christians everywhere would start standing up to faith as a badge of honor rather than thinking that they need to prove their faith with knowledge and human wisdom.

The Nature of Faith

FAITH is a choice, and FAITH is the confidence in things HOPED FOR, the evidence of things UNSEEN.

What faith isn’t?

Faith is not proof. Or Knowledge. It is not Certainty. So don’t argue the faith from proof. Argue the faith from your faith. Why?

We are not saved, we are not imputed with God’s righteousness, by knowledge. We cannot please God by our human wisdom. We please Him by . . . FAITH, as the writer of Hebrews makes plain, saying,

“Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him.”

So, we please God by what?

By choosing to believe and have confidence in His PROMISES that we HOPE FOR, to choose to believe and have confidence in evidences NOT . . . SEEN!!

Faith and Righteousness

Why is faith so loved by God?

I don’t know, but from what we can say is when people made in His image choose to believe, He is pleased. This is what the biblical record shows over and over again. And it is what we see here in the example of Abram.

How does faith come to us?

I don’t know. It SEEMS to have something to do with desire of the individual, the willingness, a humility before God, perhaps, and to have capacity (eyes and ears opened – which may come by and through God to us).

I know the Calvinists maintain that God must give us faith in order to see and hear, but that is debatable.

Why did Abram believe and then why would God count his belief as righteousness if God was the one who gave it to him in the first place? We have questions.

I maintain, rightfully or wrongly, that possessing faith must somehow include an act of freewill. Perhaps this comes by virtue of someone wanting to first hear, or to see, or of humble heart seeking Him over self, or of someone seeking to love the light more than the obscurity of the Dark.

Perhaps God calls with evidences that witness of Him for all to see and hear and believe and only some, with the right desires, will.

All we can say is what scripture says here when it comes to Abram, that he:

“believed in the LORD; and he (YHWH) counted it (this belief or faith) to him (ABRAM) for righteousness.”

Allow a brief anecdote. I was the opposite of a man of faith when I was LDS. I actually mocked it, believe it or not. This was me, not the teachings of the LDS.

Anyway, after I was regenerated by the Spirit and enrolled in ministry school, I began to pray for faith. Every day, on my drive to school in the mornings, I prayed for God to increase my faith.

This is something He did, and He appears to have done it through both my reading and hearing the word (which presents His promises to us allowing us the choice to believe in them or not).

The Nature of Faith and Its Challenges

Incrementally, my faith – both the strength of it and the amount of it – appears to have increased. But the nob called, “challenges to faith” are continually turned up by God and he never lets me rest in stasis of faith. As Jesus says, the husbandman is cutting us back to produce more fruit. We will see this in the story of Abram where He is first promised incalculable offspring, is forced to wait on the arrival of His first born Son to get the promise going, and then God will turn the heat up telling Abram to sacrifice that only Son in the future!

So too, as I first sought to possess faith, then settled in on accepting faith, the challenges in life have incrementally increased challenging the faith I think I possess. We might wonder why would we subject ourselves to this? Why not just reject faith and choose to see everything around us as godless and without promise? The only answer I can offer is because we choose to believe in this God who operates this way and we choose to believe that this choice pleases Him – and passages like this go a long way in helping verify this stance to be true.

Sources of Strength and The Role of Scripture

We also trust, of course, that faith comes by the hearing of the Word. I suggest that this is because in and through the hearing of the Word, the promises of God are made manifest and as we learn and hear them who choose to believe them . . . or not. Finally, there is the debate about whether faith can be lost? The answer to this is dependent on how it was first obtained. The Reformed thinkers are the ones who maintain that saving faith is given to all people by God unconditionally, therefore it cannot be forfeited or lost. On the other hand, those who believe faith is a personal choice resulting from freewill suggest that it’s possible to weaken in the faith or to even abandon it.

The Personal Choice of Faith

Because God accounted “Abram’s faith as righteousness,” (whose faith? Abrams) I suggest that faith is always a personal choice, and it can unquestionably be forfeited by the individual involved. Not lost. Forfeited up. Because of this, the scripture also speaks to a number of enemies to faith – including what scripture refers to as, an “evil heart of unbelief.” The things that tend to lend to an evil heart of unbelief include, from what I can tell:

1. The cares and riches of the world, including all that is in the world,
2. Being offended by the Word and its precepts
3. Pride
4. Materialism and money, and
5. Sin (or self-will) embraced by the flesh as acceptable.

We will stop here and continue on talking about this single most important Old Testament passage next week.

Questions/Answers

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