Treasures New and Old

Genesis: Chapter Fourteen: The Battle of Kings

We now come to the famous battle of the kings, Lot’s imprisonment, and Abram’s servant army and their victory against the five kings. But the special moment of real note is the entrance into history of the Priest-King, Melchizedek, who blessed Abram with bread and wine. This is significant for a number of reasons: (1) Jesus is of the priest-king after the order of Melchizedek, (2) Jesus, at the Last Supper, introduced the importance of bread and wine, and (3) the bread and wine are symbolic of Christ’s sacrifice of His body and blood on our behalf.

Let’s begin . . .

Outline:

1. The Battle of Four King Against Five Kings:
2. The Rebellion Against King Chedorlaomor (vs. 1-12)
3. Abram Defeats Chedorlaomer and Saves Lot and Company (vs. 13-16)
4. Abram Blesses the King of Salem – Melchizedek (vs. 17-20)
5. Abram Refuses Any Reward from the King of Sodom (vs. 21-24)

Genesis 14:1-12:

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

• Verse 12: By this time, note where Lot and his family are living. What happened to all his servants, herders? Sheep and other animals? How far has he fallen so quickly?

• Note that battles of this kind took time to plan, gather, muster, march, assemble, execute, collect loot, captives, regroup, and then do it all over again.

• The four kings of Mesopotamia and Elam (east of Babylonia) were robber kings. Amraphel, the king of Shinar (Babylonia), was not Hammurabi as some once thought, Arioch (servant of the moon god, Aku) ruled Ellasar (Larsa) and dominated Ur, Chedorlaomer (“servant of the god Logomar”) king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations (could possibly be a confederacy of Hittite cities) came down and conquered the five cities of the Jordan/Dead Sea plain.

• Chedorlaomer was apparently the leading king of the four-king confederacy. Sodom and the other four cities of the plain served him; that is, they were his subjects and sent him tribute or taxes every year for twelve years. But Elam was far away, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled, which means they sent to tribute and paid no taxes.

• On the way they may have had to fight and defeat the Rephaites (giants – a tall people who were remnants of early inhabitants of Canaan) at Ashteroth Karnaim (named for the two-horned image of the goddess, Astarte or Ishtar) about twenty miles east of the Sea of Galilee in Bashan. Goliah’s ancestors?

Genesis 14:13-16:

And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

• It is speculation that the runner was one of the previous servants of Lot. The runner warned Abram of a possible attack by the five kings, or let Abram know that his nephew was taken captive as a slave.

• Abram prepared a wise battle plan that included two forces coming at the marauders from their flanks at night (they were most likely over-confident, potentially by now drunk and carless as they leisurely headed home with their loot and slaves).

• Abram has 318 trained-in-battle/warfare men at his disposal. Why? How big does this imply his entourage might have been with old men, women, and children? What of the men left behind to attend to the animals and other goods as well as defend the families?

• Abram pursued them a number of miles, possibly over several days. It is assumed that as the enemy fled, they abandoned the stolen goods and captives, allowing Abram to recover it/them all back.

• Notice that Abram did not quit with partial success.

• Three hundred is an interesting number – how many ended up being used by God to help Gideon?

• Note that Melchizedek was both a priest and king.

• Note that three other prominent men living near Abram helped as well (Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre). What we don’t know is if they also had servants/men that they commanded.

Genesis 14:17-20: “And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomor, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”

• “After the slaughter of Chedorlaomer” lets us know that Abram didn’t quit until the threat was eliminated. A robber king like Chedorlaomer would have lain low for a while, built back up his army’s strength, and went out robbing again once he thought he could. It is assumed that Abram knew this since Chedorlaomer had colleted tribute for twelve years before the war of the kings. Do we see this pattern today with any people or religious groups?

• Melchezedek (“king of righteousness,” cf. Hebrews 7:2), king of Salem, (“peace,” or “at peace,” and old name for Jerusalem) was a priest of El Elyon, “God Most High.”

• The Bible recognizes Melchizedek as a priest without any genealogical record mentioned in the Scriptures, (no father or mother to lend authority to him) which in Hebrews 7 means his authority was given directly by God Himself just as Jesus was given authority later.

• Note that he brought out bread and wine – important elements for Passover and for the Lord’s Supper. Did this set some precedence for Christ at the Last Supper? Bread- body and wine – blood.

• The Most High (El Elyon) is praised and blessed as the possessor of heaven and earth and for having provided victory to Abram over the enemy. This verifies that Melchizedek was a believer and priest of the one true God.

• Also note he is King of Salem – ancient word for peace. Do you see the parallels to Jesus? He is what we call a type of Christ in the Old Testament pointing to Christ as one of the shadows/mysteries.

• Abram giving tithes to Melchizedek is very significant. Note three things: (1) Salem, as a city, was on the west side of the Jordan River and was never threatened – yet Mechizedek came out to bless Abram anyway, (2) by giving tithes to Mechizedek, Abram was acknowledging that Melchizedek is superior to him and deserved the tithes, and (3) finally, in verse 23, Abram refused to accept any reward from the rescued kings and their people – so what did Abram use as his tithes?

• Also note: reference to Dan confuses many scholars. How did Moses know that this would be Dan’s portion? Or was it a different Dan? Was this book written by Moses after God had already described to him in the wilderness wanderings where Dan’s portion would be?

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe