His Trained men

Genesis 14:1-16

How often have you been in the right place at the wrong time?  Lot and his family and servants were busy living life, when four kings decided they would go to war. Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, and three other kings that hung-out together made a decision to take them on.  One of the four kings that started the fight was named Chedorlaomer, and for twelve years these guys had served him, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.  So he and the others started kicking butt, and the more victories they had the more they desired to capture another king and his people.

The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their three king friends may have been good at math and said five is bigger than four, or they may have just wanted to go to war, I am not sure, but this I know; Lot and his family did not get to vote, but their life was changed by the decision that the five kings made.  There is not anything new about men in power making war on another nation and that act causing great pain and sorrow to others who are just living life.

This battle did not go well for the five kings and king Chedorlaomer and the other three kings took whatever they wanted.  The record is in Genesis 14:11-12, “So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.  They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.”  I’m sure it was a great victory and often after a great victory we relax, let down our guard and begin to look back on the victory and do not remember we are in the enemy’s territory.  How often I’ve been there in my Christian walk, just full of myself, and the next thing I knew, the enemy of my soul has made a counter attack. 

In the middle of the battle one of the soldiers escaped and came to Abram, and shared the bad news of his nephew being taken captive, along with all that he owned.  Often I wonder what I would have done, if I were Abram?  I might have said, that’s what he has coming, he wanted the best land, he wanted to live by those evil people in Sodom, and now he’s reaping what he has sown, but that is not what Abram did.  In the fourteen verses we have this account; “When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.”  I’m not good at math, but I bet four kings had many more men that Abram did, what is he thinking, is Abram being foolish or does Abram have a weapon that is not visible to us.

Abram’s weapon, that could not be seen, was a promise from God, God had said to Abram, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” (Genesis 12:2,3,).  What a lesson for all who have the ability to understand, if God makes a promise it is better than money in the bank.  It is also a foolish man who takes on a man that God has his hand-on.

Abram and 318 men did what looked to be impossible, they defeated these four kings, and brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot and the women and the people. 

The message is that God has made many promises, but a promise is like a gift, if the gift is not opened, the recipient of the gift receives no blessing, and a promise not believed or acted on has the same effect.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice