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Studies in Genesis, Saved By Grace, Through Faith, Lesson XXXV, Genesis 14:21-24, 15:1-6
Abraham and his men return from the battle victorious, bringing with him the spoils of war, including his nephew Lot and family and others of the city of Sodom.
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God has blessed Abraham but in that blessing he has clearly attributed to the God whom he served the deliverance of Abraham’s enemies into his hands.
Abraham has also heard the praise of the world from the lips of the king of Sodom and other kings but Melchizedek is the one sent by God to put praise into its proper place.
His words were intended to remind Abram that the victory was God’s, and that his success was a result of God’s blessing.
For God had covenanted with Abraham by giving unconditional promises that He would indeed fulfill.
So with the victory celebrations and blessings concluded business is to be conducted and therefore the settlement of the spoils of war must be addressed.
And we read of this in Genesis 14:21, And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
The king of Sodom knows that all the spoils belong to Abram, both possessions and persons for the rule was well known that to the victor goes the spoils.
We used to call it, finders keepers, losers weepers!
The king of Sodom has witnessed one tenth of the possessions going to Melchizedek the king of Salem so he hopes he can at least have Abram return the rescued persons and suggests to Abram that he do that and keep the remainder, that is the goods.
To many this bargain would be most just to implement for in a way it could have been used to execute poetic justice.
It was a turning of the worm, an expression used to convey the message that even the meekest or most docile of creatures will retaliate or seek revenge if pushed too far.
Didn’t Lot get into this mess by taking first choice and choosing Sodom for its promise of material benefits without any consideration of his Uncle Abram’s welfare?
From a worldly standpoint Lot had gotten the best of Abram and now God was giving wealth back to Abram to whom it should have belonged in the first place.
But we find herein that Abram did not live in Sodom nor did he value the way of Sodom but valued the way of the most high God, the way of Melchizedek.
So in line with this we read Abram’s response in verse 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:
Absorb this: I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord.
Abram has chosen to depend upon the most high God for provision.
To whom is your hand out is the profound question?
Abram’s hand is outstretched in God’s direction and this demands him to refuse to keep even a thread of a shoelatchet earned from this victory.
Abram knows the ways of Sodom and knows that taking even a shoelatchet from the Sodomites will engender a memory against Abram, a memory that Abram is rich because of the spoils he kept from Sodom for they certainly must have been great.
He wants no reduction of God’s glory because of God’s provision to him so he gives away the spoils gained in battle.
Abram has a mind that any provision he accrues will always be gained from God’s hand of blessing and not from the spoils of battle. This is what lifting up your hand unto the Lord means.
(Will a preacher accept a one million dollar donation that came from a lottery winner?)
Where is the glory of God in that transaction?
So in his reply to the king of Sodom Abram speaks as Melchizedek spoke and copies his words in speaking of the Lord.
Melchizedek referred to his God and Abram’s as “God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.”
This was an unusual designation for God. In the Hebrew it is El Elyon, God Most High and yet Abram used it — the same words as Melchizedek had spoken.
The message from God had come loud and clear and Abram heard it.
Melchizedek’s visit to the victory celebration was no chance occurrence for it was part of God’s promise to Abram to make of him a great nation, the beginning of the families of all the earth who would be blessed.
It was a turning point for Abram for it bought victory into perspective.
God shares his glory with no one and his children are to always remember that any victory is His victory for it is He who has made them.
How could Abram keep the spoils of war and therefore give those around him opportunity to credit Abram’s success to worldly ventures.
Abram came to a deep conviction when he said, I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: 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.
And that deep conviction was that all that he had was because of God’s grace toward him and all those of his band.
Abram would indeed agree with our hymn: To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
And then say Amen to Isaiah 42:8, I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
And Romans 11:33-36, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
So, continuing in our study we move to Genesis chapter 15, reading verses 1-6
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. 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.
We are given in this passage the word of the Lord coming to Abram in a vision.
And the first two words of that vision is “Fear Not”.
Study the scriptures and you will find these two words prominently spoken wherever there was such a pronouncement of the word of God to man.
Fear is the natural expression from a wicked heart for fear is opposed to faith.
God commanded Abram to fear not for Abram and all to whom he becomes father are to walk without fear for faith and fear are not compatible and will not walk together for they are never agreed.
For when fear comes, faith departs, but when faith comes fear scatters.
And faith comes when God’s word is believed and God’s word to Abram was to remind him that God is his shield and his exceeding great reward.
The command to fear not is always followed by God’s word.
Do you fear?
If you do get into God’s word by faith and fear will always depart.
So for God to come to Abram in a vision saying Fear not, Abram, no doubt was wrestling with his fears.
And those fears I believe concerned his and Sarai’s barrenness for at this time they are childless.
God had brought to Abram’s mind something about exceeding great reward and Abram then brought up the subject of an heir, the subject of a son for this would be great reward indeed.
Genesis 15:2, 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?
Hadn’t God promised to multiply his descendants as the dust of the earth and certainly this implied a son or sons to begin this multiplication?
According to Genesis 16:3 Abram and Sarai had been in the land nearly ten years, but no son had been given them.
So we are witness to Abram’s fears driving his thoughts away from God’s promises and making plans ahead of God thinking that his servant will be his heir.
That is what fear does.
It pushes aside the waiting on God and instead brings in plans apart from God’s promises and will.
But God knows Abram’s frame, God knows Abram’s weaknesses, he knows his fragility, so he graciously brings Abram back on the path of faith, the path that says his son shall come forth from him and his heir will not be his servant, Eliezer of Damascus.
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.
God in verse 6 gives us the most important truth about faith.
And it regards how to be righteous before God.
And it has not a thing to do with righteous deeds for Abram simply believed God and God counted Abram as righteous.
So in this book of beginnings this truth shows us that right standing with God is only by faith apart from any works.
Satan has so corrupted this truth in the minds and hearts of men and women, boys and girls by the preaching and teaching the doctrine of works.
It is as if all people are born equipped with this evil doctrine for that is what the sinful nature craves, a do-it-yourself salvation.
And these doctrines are planted worldwide in every culture always competing with God’s truth that salvation only comes by faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ, apart from any and every work that man can do.
We read in Romans 4:13, For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
And we also read in Ephesian 2:8,9, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
God brought comfort to Abram and encouragement to him to simply trust in Him and blessings would come.
There is no teaching here that good works move God to bless with salvation.
But there is teaching here that believing God’s word will bring God’s blessing.
The world preaches all kinds of ways to be blessed by the world but every one of those ways are on the broad way which has one end and one ending only, an ending called destruction.
Yes, there are material blessings on that road but they are simply vanity and vexation of spirit for they never lead to life.
But true blessings, eternal blessings only come to those whose faith is in God and that always indicates faith in God’s word.
The most practical thing you can do is to trust in the one who made you for he knows every moving part, every thought, every way, every heart and it is just sensible to trust that He will guide you along every path of blessing for he cares for you.
It is completely insane and if I may use the words, senseless, and foolish, to do otherwise.
Just a cursory reading of God’s manual of life, the Bible, will bring you to the knowledge that the greatest of blessings only come to those who trust the Lord by faith.
And it is a faith that is certain, a no doubt about it kind of faith.
It is not a faith that says I sure hope its true, for it is a faith that knows it’s true for God himself has revealed it to you by giving you the new birth of a new creation in Christ Jesus.
For God himself has set your feet upon a solid rock, a solid rock called Jesus.
In Genesis 15:6 the word righteousness appears for the first time in the Bible.
It means being acceptable to God.
It means being right before God.
6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
God counted it to him means God made Abram righteous.
Counted in the Hebrew means to plait or interpenetrate which means to weave or to fabricate or to make.
It means to crochet or to knit.
Abram believed God and because of this God made Abram right before Him.
Abram’s standing before God was right only because of God’s act with was moved by Abram’s faith.
Works had nothing whatsoever to do with it. And this truth is Bible wide, from cover to cover. The Apostle Paul had no argument with this truth for read in: Titus 3:5-7, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And following this in verse 8 works are put into their proper place, a place following, not a part of, salvation. Titus 3:8, This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Note the timing: They which have believed maintain good works!
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