October 31, Genesis 14
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) - Genesis 14:18
Imagine an exquisitely cut gemstone that catches and intensifies the light that shines on it. It would make a magnificent solitaire. But sometimes a master jeweler enhances a stone’s beauty by placing it in a setting that lifts and accentuates the brilliance of the centerpiece jewel in the setting.
That's the way I think of Genesis 14. Several interesting ideas catch our attention and kindle our imagination. But the sparkling centerpiece of this chapter is Melchizedek.
The warfare described in the opening verses was not an international conflict involving massive numbers of troops. These "kings" were probably more like self-appointed mayors who controlled their own city. Their “armies” were probably bands of armed servants. Think more like Robin Hood and his men raiding and taking what they could, not a king and his army going to war against another nation. Later in the Bible, David led a band of raiders who did essentially the same thing these people were doing.
These kings formed a federation of likeminded allies. They would join together to fight others instead of fighting among themselves. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and a couple of other nearby towns got tired of serving the other group. They formed their own coalition and fought back. They lost the battle, their people and their stuff to Chedorlaomer and his associates. Remember, Lot had moved to that area in the last chapter. Now he, his family and all their possessions had been seized. Their captors would help themselves to their wealth and make slaves of the people, keeping the ones they wanted and selling the others.
All that is in the story to get us to Abram's involvement in it. An escapee told “Abram the Hebrew" what had happened. Abram gathered his own trained fighting force and called on his neighboring allies to join him in a recuse and recovery mission. He chased Lot’s kidnappers about four days' distance from his home and defeated the raiders' coalition in a surprise night attack. He got Lot and his family and possessions back.
This story reminds us that Abram was a wealthy, powerful man. It also paints a vivid picture of the violent times in which Abram lived. But all details are in the text to get us to the main feature—Abram's meeting with the mysterious Melchizedek, king of Salem and high priest of God.
In a book filled with genealogical information, Melchizedek is a stark contrast. As the writer of Hebrews will note, Melchizedek appears without father or mother. It’s also clear that Abram was not the only monotheist of his day. God had dealings with other people who are not recorded in the storyline of the Bible. Melchizedek was an example. He knew Abram's God by name. He knew the Lord as both Yahweh (LORD) and El-El-Yon (God Most High). He brought out bread and wine and communed with Abraham, pronounced a blessing on him and received a tithe from Abram. Those details hint at the significance the New Testament shows about this man. His name and title mean King of Peace and King of Righteousness. He was both a king and a priest at once. He ministered to Jews and Gentiles, and had no recorded beginning or end. All those details make Melchizedek a type (a symbolic representation) of Christ. Abram's interaction with him forms an important argument for the superiority of Christ's priesthood in the New Testament.
After the meeting with Melchizedek, the king of Sodom proposed a settlement to Abram. He offered Abram the entire inventory of reclaimed possessions in exchange for the people. Abram refused to be enriched by any deal with Sodom's king. He went to get his nephew back, and that was all he took.
The surrounding story is interesting and raises questions we'd like to know more about, but their purpose was to get Melchizedek onstage. He disappears again, surfacing in only one other verse in the Old Testament (Psalm 110:4). But he will be back in the New Testament, exalting Jesus as the reality of what Melchizedek only typified.
The Bible is an amazing book. It was written across centuries and tells one very big story, the story of God's plan to redeem the fallen human race in Christ. But along the way, there are fascinating details that the master Storyteller weaves together to show us our Savior. We will never fully master all this book contains. But our aim is not to achieve mastery over the information, but for the One revealed in the book to have mastery over us.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—October 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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