Seder 12 Sermon: Help in Challenging Times

 "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar...." begins Genesis 14 in the KJV.  The Hebrew phrase for "and it came to pass in the days of" occurs five times in the Hebrew Scriptures, with this being the first time.  In each case, the phrase introduces a time of trial:  

• Genesis 14:1---kidnapping of Abram's nephew Lot.
• Ruth 1:1---a famine leads Elimelech and Naomi to sojourn in Moab.
• Isa 7:1---Judah faces a combination of foes.
• Jer 1:3---Judah faces destruction of the Temple and exile in Babylon.
• Esther 1:1---Jews in Persia face persecution.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 20, 2024, Kyle Kettering observed that even though life is good, trials surely lie ahead for the people of God.   The Bible offers assurance that in such times, God will be with us.  For example, Isaiah 41:13 states, "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you. ' "  Psalm 37 carries a similar message, with the refrain, "Fret not." 

In the New Testament, Jesus prepares his disciples for times of trial in passages like Luke 21:12-24 and John 14-16, and Paul gives words of encouragement in Romans 8:31-39.    

Seder 12: The Mysterious Melchizedek

At Abram's triumphant return from his victory over the eastern invaders, he was met by Melchizedek, who was both king of Salem and "priest of God Most High."  Melchizedek blessed both Abram and God Most High and provided food and drink for Abram's men.  Abram expressed his thanks to God by giving to Melchizedek a tenth of the wealth that he had brought back (Gen 14:18-20).

It is generally agreed that Salem in Gen 14:18 is another name for Jerusalem.  We see this name used, for example, in Ps 76:2.  Also, there was later a ruler of Jerusalem with the name Adoni-zedek, a name very similar to Melchizedek (Joshua 10).

Despite the similarity of their names, Adoni-zedek did not have the connection with God Most High that Melchizedek had had.  In fact, Adoni-Zedek organized a coalition to oppose Israel's ally Gibeon and was later executed by Joshua. 

Adoni-zedek translates to something like "my lord is Zedek" or "my lord is righteous."  Since Adoni-zedek was a king, his lord may well have been a deity.  Scholars believe that there was a Canaanite deity named Zedek who was considered to be a champion of righteousness.  (For further discussion, check out episodes 166-167 of the Naked Bible Podcast).

Melchizedek translates to "my king is Zedek" or "my king is righteous."  In Melchizedek's case, his king was apparently God Most High, and he may have known God as "the righteous one."

Gen 14:18-20 tells us just enough to arouse our curiosity.  Here was an early Canaanite king of Jerusalem who was also acknowledged by Abram as a priest of the true God.  Josephus (at the end of War 6) would later write that Melchizedek was the founder of Jerusalem and served at a temple there.

Melchizedek is mentioned once more in the Old Testament, in Ps 110:4.  In Psalm 110 David records words spoken by God to someone he refers to as "my lord".  Jesus would later identify David's lord as the promised Messiah (Matt 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44) and used Psalm 110 to explain to the sages of his day that the Messiah was much more than just a human descendant of David.  Hebrews 1:13 cites Ps 110:1 as one of a number of instances in the Psalms in which God is addressing Jesus the Messiah.

In Ps 110:4, the LORD, still addressing David's lord, says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

It is interesting to consider how David might have thought about Ps 110:4.  It may be that after David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he thought of himself as following in the footsteps of Melchizedek.  For example, during the celebration that accompanied the bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David king of Salem  took on a kind of priestly role and "blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins (1 Chron 16:2-3).

The author of the book of Hebrews builds on Ps 110:4 in Heb 5,7 to bring out what it means for the Messiah to be a priest "according to the order of Melchizedek".  He argues that Melchizedek's priesthood didn't depend on Melchizedek's ancestry. Melchizedek was a priest of God because God said that he was.  The Bible says nothing about his ancestry, or about anyone succeeding him in his priesthood.  So Jesus, even though he was from the tribe of Judah rather than the priestly tribe of Levi, could be this type of priest---again, because God proclaimed him to be in Ps 110:4.

Furthermore, the author of Hebrews argues that Melchizedek comes before Levi, so his priesthood is in fact superior to the Levitical priesthood.  This kind of priesthood is therefore appropriate for the Messiah.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 6, 2020, David Waddle reflected further on this subject.

Seder 12: Gen 14---Abram Rescues Lot

In Gen 13:14-18, God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants.  But no one had yet informed the four Mesopotamian rulers who would invade sometime later (Gen 14:1-12).

Those rulers had been requiring the five cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar) to pay them an annual tribute.  When those five towns decided they were tired of paying, their overlords determined to make the trip of several hundred miles and collect the tribute personally.

The invaders came south through what is now Jordan on the road called the King's Highway, subduing all the peoples they passed on the way (and perhaps collecting additional tribute).  Later, in the fortieth year of the Exodus, the Israelites would come north on that road and claim these areas for Israel (Num 21).  Perhaps those Israelites were encouraged by the exploits of Abram recorded in Gen 14. 

After trouncing the cities of the plain in a one-sided battle, the army from Mesopotamia left with a substantial amount of booty, including Abram's nephew Lot.  Taking someone from Abram's family proved to be a crucial error on their part.  When Abram heard what had happened, he set out in pursuit with "his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them" (v 14).

The size of Abram's party is the only such figure given in the chapter, so it is not so easy to put into historical context.  What we know about populations at that time suggests that 318 was a pretty respectable number, showing how much Abram had been blessed.  Abram's army was probably comparable in size to those of the five cities of the plain, so Abram was in some sense a "king" himself.

On the other hand, Gen 14:1-12 emphasizes the strength of the invading force, which was probably substantially larger than Abram's forces.

The 318 is also an unusually precise figure, so there has been some speculation about its significance.  An article published in 1969  (S. Gevirtz, "Abram's 318", Israel Exploration Journal, Vol 19, No. 2, pp 110-113) points out that 318 is the sum of all the prime numbers between seven and seven times seven (7+11+13+17+19+23+29+31+37+41+43+47 = 318).  This is a fun fact but probably not relevant.

One midrash observes that 318 is the total of the numbers associated with the Hebrew letters in the name of Abram's chief servant, Eliezer (Gen 15:2) and suggests that Abram and Eliezer pursued Lot's abductors all by themselves, just the two of them.    There is no hint of this in Gen 14, but the midrash does underline an important truth:  It does not matter how small Abram's army is.  What  matters is that God is with Abram.

Abram and his trained group of 318 caught the Mesopotamians by surprise and recovered what the invaders had seized, including Lot.  When Abram returned victorious, he established himself as a regional power.  Would be now require tribute from the cities of the plain?  No, he decided that he would steer clear of local power politics and make clear that he placed all his trust in the true God to provide for him (vv 21-24).

In his EBC commentary on Genesis, John Sailhamer notes that Abram could be said to have followed the principles for warfare against distant nations later laid out in Deut 20.  He had

• not been afraid of a larger army (Deut 20:1).
• taken only trained men ready for battle (Deut 20:5-9)
• taken spoil from the distant nations (Deut 20:14).
• not taken spoil from peoples in the promised land and stayed separate from them (20:16).

Sailhamer suggests that Abram in some sense had the Torah written on his heart, providing a possible explanation for Gen 26:5.