Today’s scene from the life of Abram is one of the most interesting in his whole narrative, not because the story is all that complicated or weird, but because of what subsequent interpreters have done with the various elements and characters. While we will acknowledge some of those rabbit trails, we’ll pass them quickly to keep our eyes on the man who embraced God’s call.
Genesis 14:17-18:
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
Abram has just rescued Lot and pulled off a pretty impressive military victory over Kedorlaomer and his allies. As Abram returns from victory, he quickly finds himself in the company of two important figures: the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, Melchizedek. This Melchizedek is an interesting fellow for multiple reasons. First, he is the king of Salem, which many think is a reference to Jerusalem. Second, he brings out bread and wine, which some Christian interpreters have speculated was the Eucharist (I’ll let you decide). Third, he was priest of God Most High. Who is this “God Most High?” It initially seems likely that God Most High is a reference to the supreme god of the Canaanite “pantheon” who is perceived as parallel to the God of Abram. Later interpreters probably considered him a priest of the creator God who Abram worshipped because Melchizedek’s priesthood is recognized as prototypical of the priesthood of Jesus (see Hebrews 7). If we keep our eyes on Abram, we’ll see that God Most High may indeed be the God of Abram.
Genesis 14:18b-20
He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Without later interpretations clouding our vision, we can see pretty clearly that Abram is receiving a blessing from a superior, after all, that’s how blessings usually work. So we would be left thinking that Abram rightly paid a tenth of his loot (setting the precedent of tithing) to a superior king while receiving a special blessing from that king’s deity. It was this superiority that caught the attention of the writer of Hebrews, who said that as priest in the order (think like) Melchizedek, Jesus was superior to any other mediator or priest (Hebrews 5-7). We shouldn’t make it any more complicated like some do by claiming that Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate Christ or an archangel. With another rabbit trail dodged, let’s keep an eye on Abram and find the heart of this whole story.
Genesis 14:21-22
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
The king of Sodom is silent while Abram and Melchizedek do their thing, but when he speaks up, it is as an inferior trying to pay tribute to Abram. However, Abram knows who has called him: the LORD, Yahweh. The man who embraced God’s call can call the LORD by name in the presence of those who only know him as God Most High, creator of heaven and earth. Abram’s relationship and position with God Most High is an intensely personal one. It is like knowing someone famous not as Mr. or Mrs. but by their first name. It’s like Abram says, “God Most High’s friends call him Yahweh.” To embrace God’s call is to know him and be known by him.
When this knowingness is shared, then one can embrace God’s promises and plans. Abram had every right to take the king of Sodom’s goods, but he refused the king’s help so that God’s promises could be manifested through him. In this refusal, Abram acts in faith showing that he will rely on God for help, not man. To embrace God’s call is to rely on God’s help, not man’s.
As we embrace God’s call in our lives today, we can join the psalmist in praying:
Psalm 146
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.
Jeremy Hyde
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