We begin this chapter with a full-scale rebellion of kings. Things were no different to today when people rebel and want to be free from domination and in turn want their own way. It seems that great disruption was caused (v1-10).
The king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah joined with three other kings and fought against four kings including Chedorlaomer king of Elam in the Valley of Siddim which was full of asphalt pits creating a dangerous area. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell there, and the rest fled to the mountains. The four kings took the possessions and provisions of Sodom and Gomorrah. They also took Lot and his goods. (v11-12) Lot now lived in Sodom. Note that he was described as Abram’s brother’s son, which was important as we shall see.
One man who escaped came and told Abram what had happened (v13,14). Abram had some allies and when he heard, he armed his 318 trained servants, born in his house. This shows Abram’s wealth to have that number of ‘home grown servants’ fully trained, his own army ready to go to war, even as far as Dan. Abram divided his forces, by night, against the four kings and attacked them as far north as Hobah, north of Damascus. Abram brought back all Lot’s goods as well as Lot, the women, and the people (v15-17). The king of Sodom went out to meet Abram on his return. One might have expected Lot to have taken the opportunity to get out of the wicked place of Sodom, but he didn’t, even though Abram had rescued him and his belongings. He had, apparently, become used to the wickedness of the place.
In verses 18-20 we have an amazing event of meeting with Abram on his return from rescuing Lot – “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.”
We are not told where Melchizedek appeared from, in fact we don’t know very much about him, except that he was a priest of God, but also referred to as king of Salem. Salem was the original Jerusalem. He was a king and a priest which was very unusual. He seems to appear suddenly and disappear just as suddenly. In the New Testament the writer to the Hebrews (7:3) described Melchizedek as “…. without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. “
Many commentators have thought that this was pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus. It was forbidden by God for a king to also be a priest and in 2 Chronicles 26 when King Uzziah took on priestly task he was struck with leprosy. Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, he worshiped God and blessed Abraham. The LORD is said to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron, thus this man was special.
Abram gave him a tithe (tenth) of all. I believe this is the first mention of tithe. It is our acknowledgement that all we have comes from God and He is worthy of our gifts. A tithe was subsequently ordered to be given by the Israelites under the law. Not only were there tithes but offerings on top of that. Some have said that we are not under the law but under grace so that we do not have to give to the LORD a tithe anymore. While that maybe so, I believe that we should give to the LORD and a tenth is a good place to start. He is worthy of all our gifts of money, of time and much more. It is part of our worship, which, of course, is not just when we attend church, but our daily lives.
In verses 21-24 the king of Sodom offers Abram the plunder taken when Abram rescued them from the four kings, but Abram refused saying that he had made a vow to the Most High God and didn’t want it being said that the king of Sodom had contributed to making Abram rich. He wanted to acknowledge that all he had had come from God not man. He did not impose his decision on the allies who had been with him – ‘…. they can take their portion.”
