Abram, the Warrior

"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. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, 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. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 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, 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: 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." (Genesis 14:13-24)

If Abram had been different person, he might have heard the news about Lot's captivity, from that one who escaped the battle, and responded with something similar to "Serves him right!" Certainly we must acknowledge that Lot removed himself from God's protection when he agreed to remove to a separate land from Abram, rather than choosing to resolve whatever in-fighting was happening amongst his servants with Abram's servants, and remain, at all costs, where God was…and that was with Abram. Choosing to become a resident of this land that God had not led him into, prepared the stage for the trouble that later came to him.

But Abram, God's choice for a good reason, returned no evil for evil, but instead immediately went to rescue his "brother" in the Lord, taking 318 of his servants who had prudently been trained, apparently, in case of just such an event. This shows us how large Abram's holdings were if he was able to take such a large number of servants away the caring of his tents and animals, and still go pursue the evil kings. When the survivor of the first battle, along with Mamre the Amorite and Eshcol and Aner came to join forces with Abram, he wisely allowed them to do so, not disdaining them as unworthy to fight with him or self-righteously declaring his need of the Lord's help only. In other words, even while Abram knew God was with him, he did not refuse extra hands to fight the battle with. And God honored that. Together this confederacy attacked Lot's captors, in the dark of night when panic and pandemonium would ensue amidst a group of men already worn out from the first battle; killing Chedorlaomer and all of the kings who had allied themselves with Chedorlaomer. Abram returned with many people and goods, including Lot and family, which had been taken originally from Sodom and the other kings against Chedorlaomer. And it appears that there was very little or no loss to Abram, as it is not mentioned.

But when the king of Sodom came to receive his returned goods and people from Abram, his offer to leave the goods with Abram as a reward was not received by Abram. Abram returned all of his goods and people to that king and shone as a man of the most high God by declaring his vow that we were beforehand unaware of: that he would receive nothing from the king of Sodom in case it could be said of Abram that he became rich from such a one as that king, rather than by the blessings of the most High God alone. What a declaration of faith and a witness to his God that was! And it shows as well that Abram fought this battle (the only one he ever fought in) not for reward but for the sake of a brother, putting all that owned at risk for another. That says a lot about Abram.

But in the midst of this recounting of events we meet for the first time a figure of whom little is known and much is speculated: Melchizedek, king of Salem who is the "priest of the most high God."

The bible mentions Melchisedek in several other places, both Old Testament and New; we will review those passages tomorrow and learn more about this very unique individual.