Genesis 14: Slaughter of Kings
So continuing on in the story of Abram, he has finally resettled in Shechem near the oak of Mamre, the fertile area of the land of Canaan, where the LORD first appeared to him. He has fulfilled his end of the LORD’s promise, and received a reinforced set of blessings and promises, as his nephew Lot has left him to go to Sodom in the East. Now at this point in the story, we know very little about Sodom, except that the land is quite fertile (in the Jordan River Valley) and the men of Sodom were wicked – “great sinners against the LORD”. Now this means that they not only knew the LORD, but that they had purposely rebelled against him – it was not the guilt of ignorance. Now some time has passed, and the story picks up:
“In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, these kings made war with Bela king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar. [Genesis 14:1-7]
So there’s a ton of names and places and kings and peoples here. A whole study could be done on the geography of the land, but I will spare those gory details. The basic idea is that Chedorlaomer was the king of the realm, and that the king of Sodom (king of wicked men) rebelled against him. The text doesn’t note whether they agreed to serve Chedorlaomer out of agreement, or whether they were in forced subjugation (he had conquered them), but regardless, they rose up against him in rebellion. And Chedorlaomer returned their rebellion in kind with an attack, and defeated the kingdoms around for some space. But they had yet to destroy the king of Sodom and those with him.
“Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the kill country. So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.” [Genesis 14:8-12]
So this ended in utter defeat for Sodom and those with him. It even seemed that God was against them: they had five kings (one more than the other), but yet they had not the courage to stand up and instead fled, falling into pits on their way out, the land helping Chedorlaomer in his wrath. This foreshadows the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah after this, as they had rebelled against God, and were cast down in His wrath. But instead of bitumen pits and swords, it was to be fire, brimstone, and salt. The marsh and oil pits were to be more full of death, being completely inhabitable with salt water. But like the story coming, there were survivors here.
The key part in how it relates to the story is the last verse – that of Lot also being taken by the kings as well. This is the only reason for deliverance for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah; it was a grace in two ways. Firstly, that on account of Lot, because he is the kindred of Abram, who is blessed by God, the people are blessed with deliverance from their physical trials. This is not because of their goodness, because it was already declared that they were “great sinners to the LORD”. It was also a grace, because it gave insight into their error – namely their rebellion – and directed them toward Lot as a good person to heed.
“Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol and of Aner. There were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.” [Genesis 14:13-16]
Abram, remember, was living in the place where the LORD met him previously, before his faithless wandering to Egypt and after his return. God has now graciously given him peace and allies in the place he once afraid to live. In this, the LORD shows his faithfulness to his promise. And we can see that he has begun to bless Abraham, as he has 318 men that have been born in his house as servants. And now the report comes that Lot has been captured by the kings with Chedorlaomer, due to his association with the people of Sodom. His lot was thrown in with them, so to speak.
And he goes out with those men, and went quite a ways out pursuing them, with his 318. Now, I don’t know how many troops a king had in that day, but I would imagine that 5 kings would have considerably more troops than that, especially considering the number of enemies they had just defeated without difficulty. It was almost that the LORD had given their enemies into his hand. But here, Abram routs them, as the LORD turns the tables on them. He once again is true to his promise to bless Abram, which included protected his kindred, and especially from 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse,” curses his enemies and delivers them into his hand, allowing him to not only bring back Lot with his possessions, but also the women and the people of the other kings who were attacked. All of this, due to Lot’s association with Abram. There aren’t scales here, with Lot’s goodness weighing greater than the evil of the Sodomites – there is only the LORD’s promise and his pursuit. He had exacted punishment on the physical rebellion of the people of Sodom, but showed them grace due to Lot. This was a precursor to the later episode when the LORD would judge the spiritual rebellion of the people of Sodom, and would once again try to save them through Lot, but they would not listen.
“After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram give him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eschol, and Mamre take their share.”" [Genesis 14:17-24]
This is such a rich text, that books could be written on the subject, and I will merely take the top layer. After the defeat of the kings, Abram is met by two people, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek king of Salem. He is met by the king of an evil people, and by the king of peace, who was priest of God Most High. I would imagine that Abram expected the king of Sodom to return, since he had rescued all of his people and possessions, but who was this Melchizedek? And who is this God Most High?
This is the first time that Abram encounters this name for the LORD – God Most High. But his response shows that it is clear to him that this is the LORD, which would make this Melchizedek the priest of the LORD – the first recorded priest of the LORD (and the only not descended from Abram). And he makes it clear that God Most High has not only blessed him and delivered his enemies into his hand, but that he is also possessor (or creator) of heaven and earth. He reveals more of the LORD to Abram, who had only known him as a powerful god who had thus far kept his promises, and had intervened powerfully and miraculously to keep them.
And Abram’s response is worship – a gift of sacrifice. A gift of giving back to the LORD what he has already given to us – showing that we are completely dependent on him for our nourishment. Abram gave him a tenth (tithe) of everything. Is that everything he owned, or everything he gained by the victory? Most likely the latter, as he would have left the women and children back at his tents in Mamre. So it was his latest income, which is where we get the idea from the tithe (which is given in more detail in the Mosaic Law). The key takeaway is that not only is the tithe a great form of worship for God Most High, but that all that we give him is what he has already given to us. None of this would have been Abram’s if the LORD had not blessed him – it was a rout only due to divine intervention.
The most interesting part is that Abram gets nothing for all of this – the remaining 90% goes back to the king of Sodom, as well as his friends Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. Abram swore to the LORD that he would not take anything from this possessions. Why? Because he was blessed by the “Possessor of heaven and earth” – there was no reason for him to find other ways of gaining possessions. All of it was already the LORD’s and Abram was to trust that he would fulfill his promises. In this instance, Abram is able to point toward the promise of being a blessing to all the families of the earth – by showing that his blessing comes from the LORD, and that those who blessed him and were connected with him, would receive blessings.
Additionally, it should be noted that he refused to take anything from the king of Sodom – that is, he refused to benefit from evil, or to take any help from evil people. He could not be accused of using dishonest means of achieving his success.
Now back to the interaction with Melchizedek. First it says that the king of Salem (his name also means king of righteousness), brought out bread and wine. Then right afterward it says that he was priest of God Most High. In other words, this bread and wine was not just the main forms of sustenance, but also a primary act of worship to the LORD. By eating the bread and drinking the wine, Abram was worshipping the LORD with the priest king of peace and righteousness – he was participating in both the peace and righteousness of the LORD. The bread and the wine weave themselves through the Passover (especially in the seder), and have their climax in the Last Supper, which was where Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples before being crucified as the Passover lamb. Thus, our current participation with Christ in communion takes us back to this first instance of worship with the priest king of the LORD.
