Genesis 059 – God’s Strength

Genesis 059 – God’s Strength

By Dr. Andy Woods – 12/21/2021

Genesis 14: 1-16

Alright! Well, good morning everybody. Let’s take our Bibles if you could and open them to the 14th chapter of the book of Genesis and as you’re doing that you can pray for me on how to teach this exactly.

GENESIS STRUCTURE

1. 1. Beginning of the Human race (Gen. 1‒11)
   2. Beginning of the Hebrew race (Gen. 12‒50)

1. 1. Genesis 1-11 (four events)
      1. Creation (1-2)
      2. Fall (3-5)
      3. Flood (6-9)
      4. National dispersion (10-11)

1. 1. Genesis 12-50 (four people)
      1. Abraham (12:1–25:11)
      2. Isaac (25:12–26:35)
      3. Jacob (27–36)
      4. Joseph (37–50)

But we have completed Genesis, 1 through 11 which features creation, fall, flood, national dispersion, tracing through those chapters a very special blessing of a coming Messiah and then, beginning in Genesis, 12, we learn of a very special nation that will mediate those messianic blessings to the earth, that nation is Israel and it begins with this man, the Patriarch Abram and so, as we’ve been tracking Abram’s life into chapter 12 and into chapter 13 that we completed last week, we now move into something that happened in Genesis, 14 where Abram actually is going to rescue his nephew Lot and he’s going to win a conflict here that he had no business winning from the human side.

Genesis, 12‒14 – Abram’s Early Journeys

1. 1. Unconditional promises (Gen 12:1-3)
   2. From Haran to Canaan (Gen 12:4-5)
   3. In Canaan (Gen 12:6-9)
   4. In Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)
   5. Abram and Lot Separate (Gen 13:1-13)
   6. Reaffirmation of Abram’s promises (Gen 13:14-18)
   7. Abram Rescues Lot (Gen 14:1-24)
   8. Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:1-21)

So that’s why I’ve entitled this message “God’s Strength”. It’s amazing what people can do when they rely upon the strength of the Lord and so we can take this chapter, I don’t think we can get through all of it today, but we can take this chapter and divide it into three parts.

Genesis 14:1‒24 – Abram Rescues Lot

1. 1. 1. War (Gen 14:1-12)
      2. Rescue (Gen 14:13-16)
      3. Interaction with two kings (Gen 14:17-24)

We have a war verses 1 through 12 (Gen 14:1-12), a rescue operation verses 13 through 16 (Gen 14:13-16) and then the chapter sort of ends with Abram having a conversation with two kings in verses 17 through 24 (Gen 14:17-24) but let’s start here with the.. with the war. 2:14

Notice if you will Genesis chapter 14 and notice if you will verse 1 (Gen 14:1), it says: It came about in the days of… and hear these hard names, so I’m going to cheat, I’ll just call the first king the king of Shinar, can I do that? Everybody is Yes, please, please… Second king is the king of Ellasar, the third king is the king of Elam and the fourth king is the king of Goiim. You’ll notice it says here: …It came to pass… this is the first ever military style campaign or conflict recorded in the Bible. In fact, there’s so much to tell here, you almost get the impression that this really happened. What a shock, huh? And I think that the detail is given by the Holy Spirit to tell us that you’re not reading “Veggietales” here, this is not “Jack and the Beanstalk”, this is real history, this is real geography and sometimes the names can be sort of redundant and monotonous to us but that’s why they’re there, to show us that this is a history book and when the Bible comments on history, it’s absolutely accurate in everything it says. So it starts off here with this war, when we run into some invaders, verse 1 (Gen 14:1) for specific kings.

War – Genesis 14:1-12

1. 1. 1. Invaders (Gen. 14:1)
      2. Invaded (Gen. 14:2)
      3. Place (Gen. 14:3)
      4. Reason (Gen. 14:4)
      5. Time (Gen. 14:5a)
      6. Specifics (Gen. 14:5b-6)
      7. Direction (Gen. 14:7)
      8. War (Gen. 14:8-11)
      9. Lot captured (Gen. 14:12)

The first king comes from the land of Shinar. Now, you already know where Shinar is, if you’ve been following along with our Study in Genesis. Shinar, Genesis, 11, verse 2 (Gen 11:2) is where the Tower of Babel once stood.

Shinar is the Hebrew name, the Greeks called that area Mesopotamia. Meso middle, potamia rivers. It’s that area between the rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. Today we would call that area modern day Iraq. It’s where Nimrod began to build his kingdom for the very first time, prior to the global dispersion when God confounded the language. You’ll see a reference to Shinar there in Genesis, 10 and verse 10 (Gen 10:10). The second king is named Ellasar and that was probably a leading tribe in southern Babylonia.

You see a circle there and that’s where this confederation of four kings arose. The third king mentioned is Elam and that would be further east, today we will call that area.. uhm, I think I mis-spoke earlier.. we would call Shinar, modern day Iraq… I think I said Iran, didn’t I? And we would call Elam, modern day Iran. Does that make sense? So it’d be further east, it’s an area called Persia and in the book of Daniel chapter 8 and verse 2 (Dan 8:2), you’ll see Elam connected with Persia. So this is a conglomeration of eastern powers that suddenly invades the land of Israel and Abraham or Abram still, is right in the middle of it and then you see this word Goiim, there verse 1 (Gen 14:1) and that’s just a generic reference to the nations so the map there indicates where Goiim was located. 6:01

Arnold Fruchtenbaum says something very interesting about verse 1, he says:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 261

“Nevertheless, what should be noted here is that for the first time in the biblical text, non-Hebrew names appear. This shows the effect of the judgment of the confusion of languages and tongues. This again shows that Hebrew indeed was the original language before the event of the Tower of Babel.”

Nevertheless, what should be noted here is that for the first time in the biblical text, non-Hebrew names appear. This shows the effect of the judgment of the confusion of the languages and the tongues. This again shows that  indeed Hebrew was the original language before the event of the Tower of Babel… At one time the earth spoke the exact same language and there’s a lot of speculation as to what that language was. I sort of agree with what Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, that that first language was Hebrew. All of the names in Genesis, 5, Genesis, 11, that we’ve read about are Hebrew names and now for the first time, non-Hebrew names show up after the linguistic dispersion.

War – Genesis 14:1-12

1. Invaders (Gen. 14:1)
2. Invaded (Gen. 14:2)
3. Place (Gen. 14:3)
4. Reason (Gen. 14:4)
5. Time (Gen. 14:5a)
6. Specifics (Gen. 14:5b-6)
7. Direction (Gen. 14:7)
8. War (Gen. 14:8-11)
9. Lot captured (Gen. 14:12)

So we move away from the invaders coming from the east to the invaded and you see five nations mentioned there in verse 5 (Gen 14:5) and they made war with the king of Sodom, with the king of Gomorrah, with the king of Admah, with the king of Zeboiim and with the king of Bela, which is a synonym for the king of Zoar. These were the invaded. It’s a group of entities there in an area that we call the circle of the Jordan.

Here is a closer view of where those invaded kings were.

So we have Sodom and you can see where that was likely located, Gomorrah where that was likely located, that would be basically the southern end of the Dead Sea, it’s believed… and Admah and Zeboiim and Zoar and we know that Zoar is very close to Sodom and Gomorrah because when God finally destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, He told Lot to flee and to get out. Where was he supposed to go to? He was supposed to go, Genesis, 19, verse 22 (Gen 19:22) to Zoar. So Zoar is located very near Sodom and Gomorrah.  8:29

So we have the invaders from the east, the invaded in the circle of the Jordan and then we have the place of this conflict.

War – Genesis 14:1-12

1. Invaders (Gen. 14:1)
2. Invaded (Gen. 14:2)
3. Place (Gen. 14:3)
4. Reason (Gen. 14:4)
5. Time (Gen. 14:5a)
6. Specifics (Gen. 14:5b-6)
7. Direction (Gen. 14:7)
8. War (Gen. 14:8-11)
9. Lot captured (Gen. 14:12)

Notice if you will verse 3 (Gen 14:3): All these came as allies to the valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea)… So the place of this conflict is going to be the southern end of the Dead Sea and here is the very first time in the Bible that the Dead Sea is referred to as the Sea of Salt. Why do we call it the Dead Sea? Because everything in the sea is… Dead. Why is it dead? Because of its high mineral… high salt content. In fact, when you visit the land of Israel, you can actually float in the Dead Sea because you just kind of get buoyed to the surface because of the salt content and so, here we are, one of our recent trips to Israel, there’s my wife and myself floating along in the Dead Sea and it really works.

I thought I’d be the first person to sink but.. (laughs) I floated along nicely. Of course, as you look at the shore you see guys up there in lifeguard towers and I wonder, what do these guys actually do? (laughs) I mean, you can’t drown. So in my retirement years I have my resume all ready… to be a lifeguard on the Dead Sea (laughs). I can just read the paper all day, it’d be great. There we are, happily floating along on the Dead Sea and when you go to Israel you can do that. I recommend you get there before the Millennial Kingdom starts and the reason being is there’s a prophecy in Ezekiel, 47 about water flowing from the temple into the Dead Sea and the Dead Sea will come to life. So it seems like the salt content is going to be changed. So your opportunity to float in the Dead Sea is of limited time (laughs) and I don’t see anybody when they promote their trips, promoting the trip that way, Hurry! Get there now before the Millennial Kingdom starts (laughs) so you can float in the sea of salt, but here is your first reference to the Dead Sea as this sea of salt. 10:52

So we have invaders, invaded, we have the place of the conflict and why are these eastern nations invading Israel?

War – Genesis 14:1-12

1. Invaders (Gen. 14:1)
2. Invaded (Gen. 14:2)
3. Place (Gen. 14:3)
4. Reason (Gen. 14:4)
5. Time (Gen. 14:5a)
6. Specifics (Gen. 14:5b-6)
7. Direction (Gen. 14:7)
8. War (Gen. 14:8-11)
9. Lot captured (Gen. 14:12)

If you look at verse 4 (Gen 14:4) you have the reason for that. It says: Twelve years they… that’s the nations or the area of the Jordan… served Chedorlaomer… I think it’s how you say that… but the thirteenth year they rebelled… So what you have happening is the nations to the southern end of the Dead Sea were basically in a vassal relationship with the eastern nations and this was sort of common in the ancient Near East where political entities entered into treaties with each other. The fancy name for this is a Suzerain Vassal Treaty, I’ve paid a lot of tuition money to learn these words and I have to use them on somebody so you guys are the guinea pigs. Suzerain superior, Vassal inferior and essentially the Suzerain would tell the Vassal to stay on my good side, here’s what you need to do, but if you rebel against me, here’s what going to happen and so it’s sort of like that idea you know, the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules, if you had the power you could force these vassal countries or people groups into submission and so the east was ruling over these territories or these areas south of the Dead Sea and they did it for twelve years and at some point these areas to the south of the Dead Sea rebelled, they got tired of it. They sought their own independence and so here come these powers from the east to re-subjugate the conquered people and that’s why this whole war broke out. Abram is going to be stuck right in the middle of it, because God is going to show himself as powerful through the life of Abraham and how can God show Himself as powerful through the life of Abraham unless Abraham, who’s at this point it’s just Abram, unless he is in the midst of a conflict or a problem that he can’t solve, and I bring that up because many of you are going through great struggles right now with all kinds of issues. How is God supposed to show himself as powerful and the source of the strength of your life if you don’t have any problems? I mean, it’s only in the midst of a problem that you learn about the strength that only God can provide. It’s a totally different way of looking at problems. You know, you start to walk in this and you start to grow in this since problems break out in your life and you just say, Well Gosh! This is really neat, how’s the Lord going to bail me out of this one? I don’t know how He’s going to do it but I can’t wait to see. We don’t really look at struggles that way. We look at it as, Oh no! Here comes another irritation, but the truth to the matter is the glass is not empty, the glass is half what? Half full and if you don’t have a problem, there can’t be a deliverance and if there’s no divine deliverance, how you are supposed to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 14:24

So that’s the reason for this conflict and then you’re given the time when this happened.

War – Genesis 14:1-12

1. Invaders (Gen. 14:1)
2. Invaded (Gen. 14:2)
3. Place (Gen. 14:3)
4. Reason (Gen. 14:4)
5. Time (Gen. 14:5a)
6. Specifics (Gen. 14:5b-6)
7. Direction (Gen. 14:7)
8. War (Gen. 14:8-11)
9. Lot captured (Gen. 14:12)

It says in verse 5 (Gen 14:5): In the fourteenth year… this king of Elam… and the kings that were with him.. So this battle is occurring one year after the rebellion. The rebellion occurred, I think, on the twelfth year and this invasion happened on the.. what does it say? The… Actually, twelve years they have served, thirteen, on the thirteenth year they rebelled and then on the fourteenth year you have an invasion. So it’s… it’s concrete information that you would expect documented as a history lesson in a military campaign that actually took place and actually transpired and you move into that into the specifics. When these eastern powers came, how exactly did they come? Well, you have a description of that at the end of verse 5 and in verse 6 (Gen 14:5-6): …the kings that were with him… that’s the king of Elam, he apparently is the leader…  came and defeated the Rephaim… and here is some of those names that Ed did a much better job than I could pronouncing but… the Rephaim and then the Zuzim and then the Emim and then it goes on in verse 6 and it describes the Horites, it describes Mount Sier and it describes how this eastern campaign as it sort of came up to the northern tip of Israel and moved down in a north south direction, went all the way down to the Wilderness of Paran, I know you can’t see that well on that map but if you were able to see it, you would see the Wilderness of Paran at the bottom.

So here comes this eastern confederation of four kings and they march right through an area called, that was controlled by the Rephaim and then they march through an area called the Zuzim, the Rephaim, probably the closest thing you could think of would be the modern day Golan Heights in the land of Israel. The Zuzim, would be Jordan, modern day Jordan and then, the Emim which would be an area that was later called Moab and then they kept moving and they went all the way down to Horite territory, an area called Mount Sier and they went as far as the Wilderness of Paran which is at the very bottom of the map and then they.. once they got to the bottom, they changed directions and moved in for the attack against these five people groups, south of the Dead Sea that had violated the Suzerain Vassal Treaty  and that change of direction is described there in verse 7. Says in verse 7 (Gen 14:7): Then they turned back and they came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in… let’s see… Hazazon-tamar…

So here they come and they get to an area called the Negev which is in the basically the southern part of the land of Israel and they basically had been coming north to south, they came east, went up north and then they started to move south and then they kind of did a U turn and they went back up to where the covenant transgressors were.

After getting to the Negev, they turned around at a place called Kadesh Barnea which is going to be a great deal, that piece of geography in Numbers, 13 and 14, later on in Biblical history, and they turned around, they went up through Kadesh Barnea, they conquered the territory of the Amalekites and they conquered the territory of the Amorites, and they kind of did a circular route and they kind of trapped these areas of Sodom, Zoar, they kind of trapped them on both sides. They were flanked by five kings from the southwest, they flanked the five kings rather from the southwest and then from the northeast and so it’s interesting how much detail your Bible gives concerning how this attack happened. Verses 8 through 11 (Gen 14:8-11) is really a description of the war.. uhm… it sort of repetitious so I don’t know if I need to read every single verse here in verses 8 through 11 but as you look at verse 8 (Gen 14:8) you see the invaded kings mentioned one more time.

War – Genesis 14:8-11

1. 1. Invaded (Gen 14:8a)
   2. Place (Gen 14:8b)
   3. Invaders (Gen 14:9)
   4. Summary (Gen 14:10a)
   5. Two kings die (Gen 14:10b)
   6. Three kings flee (Gen 14:10c)
   7. Two kings plundered (Gen 14:11)

The five kings that were under attack through this eastern power.

Those five kings are described in verse 2 (Gen 14:2), they are (1) Sodom; (2) Gomorrah; (3) Admah; (4) Zeboiim and (5) Zoar and it repeats the fact, verse 8 (Gen 14:8) that this valley took place in the Valley of Siddim, the place of the battle, that’s already been described a little bit in verse 3 (Gen 14:3), which is in basically the southern end of the Dead Sea area, and then you go to verse 9 (Gen 14:9) and you get the invaders from the east described all over again. This is good history here because when you document something, the Bible says you want to do it via two to three witnesses and that’s why you have this repetition. So this is history and documentation because the Bible wants us to understand that this actually happened. 20:33

Verse 9 (Gen 14:9) is a description of the four invading kings from the east once more, we have them described in verse 1 (Gen 14:1). So there is (1) Elam, and you can see where Elam is, that’s probably the ringleader; (2) The Goiim; (3) Shinar; (4) Ellasar and then you come to verse 10 and you get sort of a summary of the battle. Look at verse 10 (Gen 14:10) it says: Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits… Well that’s a strange thing to talk about. The reason it says it was full of pits and all of these kinds of things, is it has to do with the riches of that area; these riches made it the source of building materials. That’s why these five groups that are under attack, that broke the covenant settled in that area, and then you look at the second half of verse 10 and basically you see a summary of the battle, back to verse 10 (Gen 14:10) it says: …now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country… So this battle starts in five groups that are under attack by these four nations from the east and what you see there in verse 10 is a description of two of the five being killed. So the king of Sodom was killed, the king of Gomorrah was killed, they fled and then they were defeated and that leaves just three of the five and what happened to the remaining three of the five? They fled to the mountain and then, as you move from there to the dead of the two kings and the three kings fleeing, you see a plundering that takes place and that’s described there in verse 11 (Gen 14:11). It says: Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed… So departed means these kings from the east took the dead two kings that they had defeated and they plundered them, meaning they took their money, they took their wealth and their intention was to just go back east where they came from so they thought they had solved the problem and in the process they took someone with them, a man named who? A man named Lot and this is where the story starts to concern Abram because now his nephew has been captured by this eastern confederation. 23:37

Look if you will at verse 12 (Gen 14:12), it says: They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions, for he was living in Sodom… It’s kind of interesting here that we learn for the first time that Lot was victimized because he was living in Sodom. You might remember Genesis, 13, verse 13 (Gen 13:13) when Abram and Lot split, Lot just pitched his tent towards Sodom. Now he’s actually living in Sodom and this is a problem for a man that want to walk with God because the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah is very, very wicked and this is the nature of sin, this is the downward spiral of sin. Sin starts in the mind, in that muscle between the ears, called the brain or the mind, one of the most powerful tools that God has given you as His image bearer, He’s given you the mind or the intellect and the course of your life is largely determined by what you’re allowing into your mind. The truth to the matter is we all have bad thoughts but the saying goes something like this: You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head but you can certainly prevent them from building a nest in your hair. All of us have carnal thoughts, wicked thoughts, corrupt thoughts. The issue is what are we doing with those thoughts and a lot of times we allow the thoughts to sort of linger around cause we like it when you think about it. Linger around a little bit more than they should and the Bible says, be very careful about that because what you’re meditating on will determine the course of your life later. That’s why there’s so much in the Bible about meditating on His Word, both, day and night, to dwell on these things. Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 (Php 4:8): Whatever is excellent, etc… because private thoughts left unchecked will eventually lead to public actions. A lot of people that move in the direction of sin could have prevented that whole destructive process by simply disciplining the mind which the Bible commands us over and over to do. Lot did not discipline his mind, he pitched his tent towards Sodom and here we learn a chapter later that he was actually living in Sodom as the saying goes, you know, sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny, and we’re warned over and over again about this. Be careful what you’re allowing into the arena of the mind because that will largely dictate the course of one’s life. Proverbs, I think it’s 23, verse 7 (Prov 23:7) says: As a man thinks, so he is… and that can be good or bad. Think about godly things and reap godly consequences. Think about ungodly things and over the course of time we will reap ungodly consequences. So Lot is actually in the wrong place at the wrong time and he’s swept away by this eastern confederation and the whole thing could have been avoided back in chapter 13, if he had not simply pitched his tent towards this wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah and so this starts a crisis for Abram and for Lot that only God can come through and deliver for and concerning, and of course you look at verse 12 (Gen 14:12) and it says: They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and took his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom… Of course, Lot is the nephew of Abram, they took Lot as a slave. They took him as a captive of war and they took with him, it says there in verse 12, even Lot’s possessions. Now, these were the possessions that caused the conflict between Abram and Lot in the prior chapter and even those possessions are taken and they departed and they thought they were just going back to their own lands but God here via Abraham launches a rescue operation that he shouldn’t have won. I mean these powers that came from the east were massive. Abram was a powerful man but his power paled in comparison to this eastern confederacy that just swept away his nephew and so we start reading about this rescue operation in verses 13 through 16 (Gen 14:13-16).

Rescue – Genesis 14:13-16

1. 1. 1. Abram’s notification (Gen. 14:13)
      2. Abram’s arms (Gen. 14:14)
      3. Abram’s attack (Gen. 14:15)
      4. Abram’s rescue (Gen. 14:16)

I mean, you can’t have a rescue operation without a conflict right? Just like in your life, God can’t show up and demonstrate Himself as the powerful God that He is unless He first puts you in a war or a battle or a conflict and this is what we see happening here. 29:32

So, with this operation of rescue, we have a notification coming to Abram verse 13 (Gen 14:13), we have a description of Abram’s arms verse 14 (Gen 14:14), Abram’s attack verse 15 (Gen 14:15) and Abram’s rescue of Lot, verse 16 (Gen 14:16). Notice if you will how Abram gets notified concerning what just happened. See, thus far in the story, all we’re told is what happened, we’re not told how Abram sojourning in Canaan discovered what just transpired. So, notice if you will verse 13 (Gen 14:13) which is the notification that Abram received, it says: Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew… You should underline the Hebrew. Why should you underline the Hebrew? Because that’s the first use of the word Hebrew in the entire Bible. It’s the first usage. It’s used about thirty three times in the Old Testament. It’s a technical word meaning every time the word is used, Old Testament, New Testament, it always means the same thing. It means a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ultimately the Hebrew race, ultimately the Jewish race. Why does it have to tell me here, verse 13 that Abram was a Hebrew? Because that’s the point of Abram’s life. God is raising up, through this man Abram, a special nation and through that nation will come: (A) The Scripture; (B) The Savior and (c) The coming Kingdom and that’s what’s being depicted here, that’s what’s being described here and that’s why that word Hebrew is thrown in here, but going back to verse 13 (Gen 14:13) it says: And then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol and brother of Aner; and these allies were with Abram… So, here is Abram minding his own business, near Hebron, near the oaks of Memre and a refugee.

Now, who would this refugee be? Probably, an escapee, someone that escaped the grip of this eastern power that just killed the two kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, somebody escaped with their life, somebody with knowledge of what had just happened to Lot, escaped with their life and they find Abram sojourning there in Mamre and they explained to Abram what just took place. Now, you’ll notice that Abram has a confederation here. He’s got three people in his confederation. They are Mamre, Eshcol and Aner. So that shows us that Abram was no small-fry, that his power apparently had grown. His power obviously was not as strong as this eastern confederation but he was powerful enough in the land of Canaan where he could actually enter into treaties with other people and the treaty probably said: If I go to war, you guys have to come with me. Abram was in a position to broker that and so this confederation is mentioned there in verse 13 (Gen 14:13). This is this rag tag force, that’s about to accomplish something militarily which, the only thing I could analogize it to is an upset. It’s like when the number one team in the nation gets defeated in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I mean, a team that has no business beating anybody upsets one of the top ten. I mean, we just call that an upset, that should have never happened and what you’re about to see here is an upset and the reason this is an upset from the human perspective is because God is involved in it. If God is involved in it and God is giving you the strength, you know what you’re going to see in your life? You’re going to see a lot of upsets. You’re going to see a lot of victories and wins, that from the human perspective you really shouldn’t win and yet this is what’s happening here. 34:29

So we have Abram’s wealth and manpower, we have the other parties that have to join him in battle and then we have a statement here of Abram’s arms.

Rescue – Genesis 14:13-16

1. Abram’s notification (Gen. 14:13)
2. Abram’s arms (Gen. 14:14)
3. Abram’s attack (Gen. 14:15)
4. Abram’s rescue (Gen. 14:16)

Abram was armed. There’s a mindset today and it disturbs me every time I hear it and it comes from typically social justice pastors and they want to give you the impression that if you are a person that respects the second amendment and you respect your personal right to keep and bear arms, then somehow you’re not Christian, somehow you’re not loving, somehow you’re not biblical, somehow you’re not trusting the Lord and I’m here to tell you that such teachings, not only are nonsense, but they don’t even accord with the Bible. I mean, Jesus was very clear when He sent out His disciples. He said: Do you have a sword? This is I think around Luke, 22, I don’t know, right and there: Do you have a sword? No. Well, sell your cloak and get a sword and he was not sending out His disciples the way Muslims send out warriors to coerce people into conversion, that isn’t Christianity. The sword was obviously an instrument of self-defense. I mean, that’s sweet loving Jesus saying that to His disciples as He is sending them out. There is nothing more New Testament, there is nothing more biblical than having arms, not for the purpose of coercing people but defending yourself. God forbid, should you be victimized by an attack, and then I sing about having an arm, it is a great equalizer, because someone my size coming against a young person, a young girl, a young woman, who’s five feet tall… suddenly, if she’s armed, the two of us are equal, aren’t we? And that’s the wonderful thing about our second amendment and the right to keep and bear arms. In fact, let me give you this quote here by Granville Sharp, you’ll say: Well, who is Granville Sharp? Any Greek student knows who Granville Sharp was, because Granville Sharp invented a law or discovered a law of Greek grammar called the “Granville Sharp Rule” and so it’s a rule that says when you have two nouns joined by a conjunction and the definite article is in front of the first noun then, the two nouns are equal, Granville Sharp Rule. He was a Greek scholar, most Greek students know that. What they don’t know is the man was a political activist, who fought alongside William Wilberforce. Have you heard that name? To abolish the slave trade and Granville Sharp says this:

Granville Sharp

“No Englishman can be truly loyal who opposed the principles of English law whereby the people are required to have arms of defence in peace, for mutual as well as private defence…The laws of England always required the people to be armed, and not only armed, but to be expert in arms.”

Les Adams, The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen’s Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (NY: Skyhorse, 2013), 63.

No Englishman can be truly loyal who opposed the principles of English law whereby the people are required to have arms of defense in peace, for mutual as well as private defence…The laws of England always required the people to be armed, not only armed, but to be an expert in arms… You want to do your duty before God and before your country? According to Granville Sharp, that not only you need to be armed, you need to be an expert using arms. 38:16

Now, you’re not going to hear this from John Piper, I can guarantee you that much or any other social justice pastor and I’m telling you Abraham, Abram was armed. You see that there in verse 14 (Gen 14:14), it describes it. It says: When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men… You mean he in his own household had trained people for such a time as this? That’s what the Bible says… When Abram heard that the relative had been taken… That’s Lot… he led out his trained men born in his house… and look at this… Three hundred and eighteen, and he went after this eastern coalition that had captured Lot and he went as far as Dan, trained men born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them. Now, Abram’s house, I think it was larger than this, because this is only a description of males of fighting age and what you’re starting to see developing here is God’s promise in Genesis, 13, verse 16 (Gen 13:16) that your descendants will be as the dust of the earth. So Abram had a big household and this is just a small group within the household, but three hundred and eighteen of them were ready to fight and they went after this eastern coalition from where they were, basically south of the Dead Sea, all the way up north to Dan, and Dan, of course, is to the north of the nation and then what you see in verse 15 is Abram’s attack.

Rescue – Genesis 14:13-16

1. Abram’s notification (Gen. 14:13)
2. Abram’s arms (Gen. 14:14)
3. Abram’s attack (Gen. 14:15)
4. Abram’s rescue (Gen. 14:16)

Look at what happens there, Genesis, 14, verse 15 (Gen 14:15): He divided… interesting how the battle strategy is given here… He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus… So Abram and three hundred and eighteen of these trained men from his own household, born in his household one… on one side. It was a divide and conquer strategy and then this confederation that he had with the three that we mentioned earlier. Shall I re-read those? To go back in my notes, Aner was one of them; Eshcol was one of them; Memre was one of them, verse… uhm… Memre, Eshcol, Aner, verse 13 (Gen. 14:13). So, Abram and his three hundred and eighteen men went on one side and then this tiny rag tag confederation of people that they already had a covenant with, meaning if I fight, you got to come with me. They went on the other side… and they did it at night. Now, everything I know about warfare in this time period, they didn’t fight their battles at night. Why did Abram go at night? Because he wanted the element of surprise. He did an atypical battle plan. Probably because he knew he was outnumbered. I mean, if we don’t do this at night and if we don’t do it by surprise, we’re going to be defeated by this eastern coalition. In other words, Abram used his brain. It’s very interesting in this whole chapter, which is a record of one of the greatest victories of Abram, God doesn’t even speak. God, in the book of Genesis is going to speak to Abram seven times. God as far as I can tell doesn’t even speak in this whole chapter. So Abram is left to his own devices to pull this off. See, so many times are waiting for a liver quiver or a voice from God or I’m in the shower and I want to see the light come into the shower in a certain way or I want to see a vision or I want to hear an audible voice and how am I going to get out of this one and God says: Use your brain! I died for your sins, I didn’t die for your brain, use the intellect that you have. I mean, obviously we ask the Lord for guidance, but so many people in Christianity will not make a move to do anything, cause they’re petrified unless they get some kind of sign from God. Abram didn’t, as far as I can tell, need any sign of God. I mean, the sign was the crisis. They had just swiped his nephew and he was prepared for such a time as this and he used that night time divide and conquer strategy, and so there they went, and here comes the attack and if you look at verse 15 (Gen 13:15) it says: He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants… look at this, there’s not even a lot of information, it just says, he defeated them. Well, how… How did it happen? Bible doesn’t say. It just says Abram won. Abram got into the final sixty four in the NCAA Tournament and he just knocked off the number one team in the nation, that’s an upset. How can you pull off an upset like that? Because God was with him. God gave him a covenant and as you start to step out in faith in things that you feel God wants you to do, don’t be shocked if you start winning some things, because it’s not you winning, it’s the Lord doing it through you and He’s got to put you in the problem to show you that you can win when you have him on your side, amen? So he smote them, the text says, from both sides. All it says is he defeated them and he pursued them. Uhm, this is a seventy five year old man, folks. He pursued them all the way up to Damascus, Hobah which was up north. 45:03

I had a youth pastor years ago that said something that has helped me through so many problems and emergencies of life. It’s just a simple thing he said and maybe you could tuck this away in your mind somewhere and use it, but he said this: One plus God is a majority. All God needs is one guy and if one is backed by God then that one becomes a majority. See, that’s a different  way of looking at your problems in the business world, in your employment situation, it’s a different way of looking at your mortgage payment, it’s a different way of looking at financial limitations, it’s a completely different way of looking at normal and natural relational conflict that comes into our lives, sometimes this particular time of the year because we’re around family and the nice thing about baseball is you can make a trade. You can’t do that with family (laughs) You can’t say, well, trade this guy for that. No, you are stuck with family, amen? And so family can kind of get us a little bit uneasy and you just have to remember that, look, you’re in the majority because one plus God is a majority and it’s amazing the things that you can do via God’s strength. Paul the Apostle in the book of Philippians chapter 4, verse 13 (Phil 4:13) says: I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Now, contextually that’s dealing with contentment, I understand that, but Paul broadens it and he says, I can do all things, not on my own power but through Him who gives me strength. We are studying on Wednesday evenings the book of Zechariah and I have no idea if the people that come to that study are getting anything out of it but I’ll tell you one thing, I’m getting a lot out of it, particularly chapter 4. Particularly chapter 4, verse 6 (Zech 4:6) where God says to Zerubbabel, who was trying to rebuild the Jewish temple amongst a lot of push back. God says to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord. As J. Vernon McGee says, his translation or paraphrase says: It’s not by brain and it’s not by brawn but it’s by my spirit. If God brought you to it, He will take you through it. He would give you the resources that you need to get through anything you’re facing because one plus God is a majority, and the problem with us is we are so intimidated by our circumstances, we become grasshoppers in our own eyes because we don’t analyze them through the right lens. If you’re just comparing your own finite abilities to whatever problem you’re facing in life, yeah, you’re going to be very anxiety ridden, but you start looking at those things through the lens of God who is all powerful, life problems aren’t problems at all for God. 48:56

2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7 (2 Tim 1:7) says: For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline… Anytime you fall into fear, anytime we fall into fear, you know that’s not from God because God has not given us a spirit of timidity. Going through your life anxiety ridden, sweaty palms, nervous about everything, that’s not of God. God has not given us a spirit of timidity and this is the type of thing that Abram is stepping out in here and he does an upset. I mean, this is like the upset of the century here, and Lot himself gets rescued.

Rescue – Genesis 14:13-16

1. Abram’s notification (Gen. 14:13)
2. Abram’s arms (Gen. 14:14)
3. Abram’s attack (Gen. 14:15)
4. Abram’s rescue (Gen. 14:16)

Look at this, verse 16 (Gen 14:16). He says in verse 16: He brought back… look at this… not some of the goods but all the goods… wow, that’s quite a win there… and brought back his relative Lot… that would be his nephew… with his possessions and also the women and the people. So Abram comes back (1) with goods, the spoils of war; (2) he comes back with Lot, who would have been consigned a life of slavery had Abram not intervened; (3) he comes back with possessions, so Lot keeps his wealth because Lot was just as wealthy as was Abram, and that’s what caused a dissention amongst the flocks as you remember back in chapter 13, and Abram comes back with women and people, prisoners of war have been liberated here. I’m telling you folks, this guy in chapter 14 is so different than how we found him in chapter 12. You recall what happened in chapter 12, how he went into Egypt because of course, God can’t provide for me in the midst of a famine, then he weaves this tall-tale to tell to Pharaoh, and God works in his life and delivers him from that situation and the thing I love about Abram is he learns his lesson. 51:33

So many times we go through a problem and we learn absolutely nothing from it and God says, Ok, let’s send you into it again, let’s see if you learn a second time and God will do that. I’m speaking now from personal experience. God will keep sending you into the same circumstances over and over and over again until the lesson you’re supposed to learn from it has been learnt. Abram to me looks like a pretty quick study, because he steps out in faith here and achieves something that he should never have won in human terms and he’s obviously very different than what he was in chapter 12. I’m not the man I should be and I’m not always the man I’m supposed to be but thank God I’m not the man I used to be. I hope as we go into 2022 that we’re not exactly the same church and exactly the same people that we were in the prior year. The whole point of this walk of faith that God has us on is growth, maturity, development. You know, a child sucking their thumb at a very early age is cute. It’s not so cute anymore when they’re sixteen and God loves us too much to see us not grow up and so he’ll keep the pressure on until we learn the lesson that we’re supposed to learn and then God at that point will have other plans to move us onto the next level, or a higher level. This is a very different person. 53:26

I’m reminded of what the Spirit of God did for David. It says in 1st Samuel, 16, verse 13 (1 Sam 16:13): Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the spirit of the Lord came mightily on David from that day forward. See, when David started to tap into the strength of God and the resources of God, he was different. Abram here is different. One other quick point of application, I found this absolutely fascinating, from Arnold Fruchtenbaum.

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 266

“However, although they were rescued by Abram, representing the true God, they experienced the grace of God and the knowledge of the true God through Abram and Melchizedek. Nevertheless, these freed citizens of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim all failed to respond spiritually and turn away from their sins. Although they were rescued at this point, all of these people died in Genesis 19 when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.”

He writes this: However, although they were rescued by Abram, representing the true God, they experienced the grace of God and the knowledge of the true God through Abram and Melchizedek… I’m speaking here about Lot. Lot just got a massive dose of grace. He was going to spend his whole life as a slave and he just got liberated from that and you would think Lot would have a totally different life, wouldn’t you? A totally godly life, a totally different outlook on life, a totally different set of priorities, wouldn’t you think that? But he doesn’t. His life, despite receiving a massive dose of grace, just continues to unravel into the pathetic state you find it in, in Genesis, 19. Fruchtenbaum says: Nevertheless, these freed citizens of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim all failed to respond spiritually and turn from their sins. Although they were rescued at this point, all of these people died in Genesis, 19, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed… (Close quote) That’s a chilling quote when you think about it, that it’s completely possible for a person to receive a work of grace, I’m not talking about salvation here, which can never be forfeited, but something God does for a person where he brings into their life unmerited favor and they just receive it and they go back and they are the exact same person they were before they received this intervention. We think that somehow the grace of God wakes everybody up, apparently it doesn’t. That of course is a very logical transition into the Gospel because there are people here in the building, there are people listening to my voice that have received grace upon grace upon grace. They are living in a free country, they have the ability to worship and serve as they want. They are not living in Saudi Arabia or Iran or Iraq, where you can be stoned to death simply for attending a Christian church. They’re hearing the Bible being taught, they are hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ being announced and yet there are people that will hear it and it will have no impact on them at all. They’ll become just like Lot. 57:19

This is a warning to us that if God has given you grace, you’d better take advantage of it. If God has sent out the life preserver, you’d better take advantage of it because that life preserver may not be there forever. This is why the Bible says: Today is the day of salvation… The idea that you can sort of postpone it, presume that there’s going to be other opportunities is a presupposition and a presumption that may not be true. I’m not here to talk about how God pulls out the carpet from people. God is very, very gracious but at the same time it is a foolish, foolish mistake to presume and to presuppose on the grace of God and the grace of God I’m speaking of here is salvation which is a free gift that you receive simply by trusting in what Jesus has done for you and you hear that over and over again and never trusting Christ and say, Well, that’s nice, next week I’ll come to the same church, I’ll listen to the same pastor give another sermon from the same book and he’ll just say the same thing, Well, our memorial service yesterday prove that wasn’t true. Here’s a young lady born in 1985 that suddenly dies. Now fortunately in her case, she was a believer but people die constantly. They die all of the time and the Bible is telling us, if you’re hearing grace and you’ve never responded to it then you’d better take advantage of it now. Don’t presume on tomorrow, don’t presuppose on tomorrow, don’t say well tomorrow is going to be just like today. Things can change that fast (clicks his fingers). You know, you look at the world in the year 2019 and what our world was like and how everything changed in 2020. If things can change that quickly in our world, they can change that quickly with anything and so don’t be a lot like Lot and fail to take advantage of grace. Don’t be like these inhabitants of Sodom who fail to take advantage of God’s grace when it’s available, and God’s grace is epitomized in the Gospel; the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus’ final words on the cross were: It is what? It is finished. In other words, everything to be done has been done, but God is not going to give it to people that don’t respond. God requires a response. The Bible is very clear, there’s one condition and that condition is to believe it, meaning to trust in it and so I hope people, even as I’m speaking, are trusting in Christ alone for salvation. If there’s something that you need more explanation on, I’m available after the service to talk and next week assuming we’re not too turkey logged we’ll look at verses 17 through 24 (Gen 14:17-34) as the chapter sort of ends with Abram’s interaction with two kings, one of them named Melchizedek. 1:01

Shall we pray? Father, we are grateful for your truth, grateful for your word, grateful for the history that it gives us, grateful for our walk with you. Help us to walk with you this week. Help us to have an attitude of gratitude as we move into thanksgiving and help us to allow that attitude of gratitude to flow over to others that do not know you. Give us opportunities, we pray, even amongst family members to be involved in spiritual conversations whereby people can be led to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, amen.