City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

¹⁷ After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; ²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

Genesis 14:17-24 (ESV)

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵ What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, ¹⁸ and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Reflection

This passage often sticks in my mind because I’m not used to thinking of Abram as a great military mind, but for his day he clearly was.  Perhaps the reason we do not think of him that way is because he had so many other things going on in his life.  In today’s devotional, we start with Abram coming off his victory in the first world war.  He has won the war, now he must win the peace.  He is confronted with two kings.  First, king of Salem, who offers him bread and wine, perhaps a foreshadowing of a meal Christ would one day serve.  Then the king of Sodom who offers riches and the enslavement of some unfortunate souls. His response to the bread and the wine is to give a tenth of everything he has.  His response to Sodom is to say in no uncertain turns that he wants nothing to do with them. 

I have read this passage many times now, and it seems that there is a larger conversation going on between God and Abram, but we are only catching snatches of it.  God has promised Abram that he would be a great nation, but Abram does not see this victory as the fulfillment of that promise.  What is it about Melchizedek king of Salem (later to be known as Jerusalem) that makes Abram, say, “yes, this is my man” but to the king of Sodom “I have nothing to do with you”?  Did Abram already know Melchizedek?  Was it the fact that Melchizedek was a priest and a king that led Abram to give him the tithe?  Did Abram understand that the priestly order of Melchizedek was part of the promise and the covenant he had made with God?

Later in Genesis we find out how wicked Sodom was, but was it clear to Abram, at this time, that he should not maintain this relationship?  Was there something about the attitude of the king of Sodom, making demands for the people that just rubbed Abram the wrong way?  Abram recognized something about these two kings.  One offered a path that was clearly in line with God’s calling and the other offered something in opposition to God’s calling.  So, Abram did as the Apostle Paul later writes, he came out from Sodom and was separate.

Application

We live in a crazy world.  The prevalence if sin and rebellion is as bad as it has ever been.  All day long we are bombarded with messages from our society that say, “forget about what the Bible says.  Or if you must read your Bible, fine, but do it later.  Or only read certain passages.”  And it is not enough that you decide not to participate in the thinking of the age, but if you do not pledge your loyalty to it, you will be in danger of being cancelled, discarded, and persecuted.  This is how it was in Paul’s day.  Turn to the Lord and find fellowship in Him.  Jesus is sufficient to overcome this world’s thinking and strengthen you against it.

Prayer

Dear Lord, we are challenged in every area of our lives with the attacks of this wicked generation.  You have told us to come out and be separate, but you also know that we must still live in this world.  So, I pray for strength to hold my ground.  I pray for a closer fellowship with You.  And I pray for grace to minister to people I do not agree with, that Your gospel might be preached.  In Jesus name, amen.