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Abraham - Genesis 14
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
After today, we have hit the halfway mark of our Abraham series. And if you have missed any of the conversations thus far, they are all available on the Internets. Check commons.church and you can find all the links there. We do want to also end with communion today. And so we're gonna move through chapter 14 and into the start of chapter 15 in Genesis.
Speaker 1:So there is a lot to cover this morning. I know we've already filled out surveys, and we appreciate that. And so I am gonna skip a more detailed recap like we normally do and trust that you can either remember last week if you were here or catch up on Internet as needed. But very quickly, let me say this. Last week was all about what happens between the lines.
Speaker 1:In chapter 12, we see an Abraham who is fearful and selfish and self involved. And then all of a sudden in chapter 13, we see an Abram who is generous and selfless and confident of God's generosity. And so the question is, what happened between the chapters? In fact, one of the most frustrating things about the Abram story is that he never gets punished for these terrible mistakes he makes in chapter 12. In fact, he ends richer than he started.
Speaker 1:And where is God in that? But perhaps what we see is that God is often at work in our hearts in ways that slip past our attention. We look at someone from the outside, and we say, no. There's there's no way that God is there. There's no way that God is working.
Speaker 1:I just don't see it. Or sometimes I think this, we look at ourselves and we look at our lives and we say, no. I just don't see God. He's not here. At least not in the ways that I've been taught to expect him to show up.
Speaker 1:And yet if we step back and if we take the story as it comes to us, we start to recognize that God is always working between the lines. Not always how we want, not always how we expect, not always as how we might do it ourselves, but God is present and invested and working in a thousand ways to bring us to health and hope and grace and peace if we would but recognize it. And so let me just say this. If your journey hasn't fit the mold you were taught to expect, if your path to Jesus hasn't looked like the one that your friends or your parents or your pastor told you about. That's okay.
Speaker 1:Because there are a thousand ways that God is calling each of us home. And if Jesus is the point to which you are being called, then at Commons, we wanna help celebrate that. We wanna participate in that story with you. Because we believe that what happens between the chapters is somehow happening all the time if only we would slow down to see it. Now today, we wanna move through quite a chunk of this story again.
Speaker 1:And so let's pray, and then we'll dive into our text today. God of our father Abraham, we come again today into this space to worship, into this conversation to learn, into your scriptures to be shaped and transformed by the stories of those who have gone before? Would you remind us this day of the myriad of ways in which you speak speak and guide and encourage and love each one of us. And for those of us who can affirm those words with our intellect today, but we struggle to experience it in our hearts, may we enter enter into worship with a full awareness of your goodness in this moment. May we sense your spirit speaking life and truth between the lines as we read.
Speaker 1:May you send your spirit in whatever way we need to experience you today. Grant us pure hearts that we may see you, humble hearts that we may hear you, hearts of love that we may serve you, and hearts of faith that we may continue to live in you. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen. Alright.
Speaker 1:Now we got a lot of ground to cover today, but we will jump in right where we left off last week. And so this is the start of chapter 14. It says this, at the time when Amra fell with king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Eleazar, Kadolammar, of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goyim, these kings went to war against Berah, king of Sodom, Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, Shemember, king of Zaboim, and king of Bela that is Zoar. Fair to say that this is not exactly the easiest to read or pronounce chapter of Genesis and probably not the most fascinating part of Abraham's story. Okay?
Speaker 1:This is just a list of kings and countries, all of which are long gone with no discernible historical record. In fact, the first half of chapter 14 is kind of an odd one because it breaks from the story of Abram to tell a side story of an international war that breaks out in the area. Now what happens is that Abraham's nephew Lot ends up getting kidnapped and taken hostage. And, basically, this first group of kings goes to war with Sodom and Gomorrah. They win, and so they take everyone, including Lot who lives in the area away with them.
Speaker 1:Abram pulls together a makeshift army, and he chases them down, and he rescues his nephew Lot. Now there's not a lot, pun intended, of significance here to the larger story of Abram other than possibly to remind us that Abraham is very loyal to his family and also to show us that he has grown quite powerful. Lot is captured by the enemy. Abram is able to raise an army and overcome those same forces. In fact, Abram is on his own capable of taking on an alliance of kings.
Speaker 1:He's kind of a big deal, especially considering last week, he gave the best land away to Lot. Now one thing that's interesting here though. Do you remember last week? Lot chooses the East near Sodom, and the narrator adds a little note. He says, this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 1:So there's a hint that greed may not be the best metric for Lot to make his choices based on. There's also a precursor to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that we're gonna hit in a couple weeks. Here, we're given the names of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their names are Barah and Bersha. In Hebrew, these are odd because they look like the forms of the Hebrew for in evil, barah, and in wickedness, barasha.
Speaker 1:Very likely, these are not the actual legitimate names of these people. Even if you're the bad guy, you generally don't go around calling yourself king evil. We just had an election here in Canada. You may or may not have realized that. I saw a sign somewhere about it.
Speaker 1:But every time there is an election, there's always that one person somewhere on social media that threatens to move out of the country because they don't like the result. I have yet to see you probably saw at least one person there. I've yet to see anyone ever follow through on it. I don't question their integrity, just their Twitter skills. But this is not good marketing here.
Speaker 1:Right? Hey. You know? I'm thinking of making a move. Things are good in Eleazar, but I don't like the new king.
Speaker 1:I hear it's really nice in Sodom. Who do you guys have in charge over there? Big Wicked, you say. That's his name. Like, that's that's the boss.
Speaker 1:That's what he likes to be called. You know what? Actually, I think I'll stay here. I kinda like this new guy's hair, which is a totally fictional story, story unrelated to anything like Canada. But very likely, in evil and in wickedness are not the actual names of the actual kings and the cities.
Speaker 1:This is the writer foreshadowing the story that we get to in Genesis 18. He's reminding us. He's setting us up. He's putting us in the right posture. And what's interesting about that is that these shows that these stories weren't meant to be read once and then forgotten.
Speaker 1:Because you're supposed to know the Sodom and Gomorrah story even before you get to that story. You're supposed to be immersed in these tales. You're supposed to be rehearsing these stories. You're supposed to be reading and rereading and digging and digesting, thinking, wondering, speculating, and asking new questions just like we did last week. You read them over and over again.
Speaker 1:That's why the writer can foreshadow for it. It's just how Jews read their scriptures. It's part of what it makes it so fascinating for me. Now we've got this international interlude here. Some foreshadowing for a coming story in chapter 18, but in verse 17 is where things pick up for us today.
Speaker 1: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 Sheva, that is the king's Valley. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God most high, and he blessed Abram. Blessed be Abram, God most high, creator of heaven and earth. Be praised to God most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand.
Speaker 1:Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, give me the people and keep the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I with raised hand, I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God most high, creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or a strap of a sandal so that you will never be able to say, I made Abraham rich. This is a weird story. Not the least of reasons is that the New Testament will pick up on this story, and both the writer of Hebrews and Paul will use it in some interesting ways that we will talk about in a moment.
Speaker 1:But the first question we need to ask is this, who is this king of Sodom, and who is this king of Salem? Verse 17, Abraham meets with the king of Sodom. Verse 18, the king of Salem brings out bread and wine. Verse 19, the king of Salem blesses Abraham. Verse 20, Abraham gives him a tenth of everything.
Speaker 1:Verse 21, the king of Sodom says, give me the people, keep the goods. Verse 22, Abraham says, I've sworn an oath not to be indebted to anyone. It almost reads like this. Abraham is having one conversation with a guy from Sodom. All of a sudden, a guy from Salem named Melchizedek jumps in for a second to interrupt.
Speaker 1:After they're done talking, Abram turns back to the king of Sodom and continues the conversation as if nothing happened. And so people have wrestled with this. Is this two different people? If it is, what's the context? How does it work?
Speaker 1:Or is it just two different ways of talking about the same person perhaps? There's been arguments that say Salem and Sodom are very similar. Maybe it's just a spelling mistake. Salem and Sodom are similar. Say that seven times in sequence, and you get the idea.
Speaker 1:It's easy to make a mistake there. In Hebrew, though, they're actually not that similar. So most people don't buy that explanation. There's an argument that says, Salem means peace. It's a form of the Hebrew shalom.
Speaker 1:Maybe what's happening here is that the writer is saying, Abraham meets with the king of Sodom who is a king at peace, Salem with Abraham. That kind of works, except that we're told that the king of peace's name is Melchizedek, which actually means king of righteousness. So, yes, his name is king of peace, king of righteousness. Righteousness. It's a pretty good title if you ask me.
Speaker 1:But since we just read a couple of verses ago that the king of Sodom's name is Melek Barah or king evil, seems odd the writer would now call him king righteousness. Righteousness. So it looks, at least as it appears, that these are indeed two distinct people Abraham is having a conversation with. Gets even more complicated though. Because in Psalm one ten, described as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
Speaker 1:And then, in the New Testament, Hebrews chapter seven, the writer picks up on the story. He writes, Melchizedek was a king of Salem and priest of God most high. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. So far so good. He's just recounting the story.
Speaker 1:First, the name Melchizedek means king of righteousness. We talked about that. And also, of Salem means king of peace. We've already established that. But then he says this, without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life resembling the son of God, he remains a priest forever.
Speaker 1:Woah. Hebrews just jumped from three verses in Genesis to claiming this guy Melchizedek appeared appeared in history out of thin air without a mother or a father or a birth or a death. This is fairly large leap to make. And so you will get people claiming that Melchizedek must be God in a theophany, God showing up in the Old Testament. Some people will even say, king of righteousness, king of peace, maybe this is Jesus showing up before the incarnation.
Speaker 1:This is Jesus in the Old Testament. And if that's what Hebrews was saying, that would be a pretty big jump. Fortunately, a little New Testament context here can help us out. Has anyone here ever tried to read through the book of Hebrews? Okay.
Speaker 1:If you have, you know how difficult Hebrews is. It's very beautiful, beautiful poetry. But he jumps, he makes strange arguments. It's hard to follow at times. Here's something that can help because you should read Hebrews.
Speaker 1:But when you read it, think about this. The writer is making this argument over and over again. Some things are better than other things. That's his argument. What he wants to say is this, that God has been revealing himself throughout history to us.
Speaker 1:And he has sent messengers, angels, prophets, priests, but now he has sent us a son. And you know what's better than a messenger? A son. You know what's better than an angel? A son.
Speaker 1:You know what's better than a prophet or a priest or a king? A son from God is better than all of these things. That's the point of Hebrews. And so most of the book of Hebrews is all about the writer showing us example after example of how one thing is better than another thing. When he gets to Melchizedek, he wants to make the point that some priests are better than other priests.
Speaker 1:How do most priests get their job? They are priests because their dads were priests. And so they got the job because of their lineage and their family and their genealogy. That's how you get to become a priest in in Hebrew. Do you know what's better than a priest who gets his job from his dad?
Speaker 1:A priest who is named a priest directly by God simply because he worships God purely. That's what's going on in Hebrews. Melchizedek is not a unicorn. He's an example of how a priest named directly by God would be better than a priest who had a genealogy that gave him his position. Just the same way that a son from God is better than a sacrifice by somebody else.
Speaker 1:That a priest and king forever from God would be better than anyone we could elect or choose for ourselves. This is the point. Hebrews, Jesus is the best. K. Now who thought we'd do a little NT theology this weekend?
Speaker 1:Mark it down, bonus points, boom, put it in your journal, save it for later. But we still have some stuff to figure out here in Genesis. So even once we get our heads around who Melchizedek is, he's not the king of Sodom. He's the king of Salem, different people. And we get his function in the New Testament out of the way.
Speaker 1:Hebrews is making a point of the superiority of Jesus. We still have to wrestle with what he says here. This is verse nineteen and twenty, chapter 14. Blessed be Abram by God most high, creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand.
Speaker 1:Now a verse later, later, Abram will respond to the king of Sodom saying, I have sworn an oath to the lord god most high. Now in English, that all sounds very uneventful. Right? This is all things that people in the bible tend to say. In Hebrew, there are some fascinating things going on in this passage, particularly in this phrase, god most high.
Speaker 1:In Hebrew, it's pronounced Now, El is the word God. And you get all kinds of variations on this. Generally, the Hebrews would say Elohim. That is the plural of El. That is a way of showing ultimate respect.
Speaker 1:Doesn't mean they're talking about many gods, showing respect to the one God. But the Jews also called their God El Ahad, that's the God, the one. El Ahmet, God of truth. Sometimes El Sadek, you can hear that in Melchizedek, that is God of righteousness. Perhaps you've heard this one, El Shaddai.
Speaker 1:Amy Grant loved that one. Literally, god of breasts or god the breasted one. That's what that means. The meaning is the god who provides, and now your grandma is scandalized every time she hears that song by Amy Grant, but that's what it means. The thing is, El Elyon is very uncommon in the Hebrew scriptures.
Speaker 1:It does show up one other time in Psalm 78. God is also referred to as Elyon, most high in a couple places, Numbers, few times in Psalms, and several times in Daniel. But this phrase, El Elyon, only one other time. Thing is, El Elyon was also the name of the high god in the Canaanite pantheon of gods. And remember, Abram is in Canaan right now.
Speaker 1:Notice here what Abram adds when he speaks again. He says, I have sworn an oath to the lord god most high. And that lord there in capital letters, that is the personal name for the Hebrew god, Yahweh. Abraham says, Yahweh El Elyon. So what's going on here?
Speaker 1:Is Abraham claiming that his god, Yahweh, and the Canaanite god, El Elyon, are one and the same? Short answer, no. There is no shortage of animosity between the god Yahweh and the Canaanite gods. In fact, in Deuteronomy 20, Yahweh says that the Canaanite gods and their practices are detestable. So El Elion and Canaan and Yahweh are not interchangeable.
Speaker 1:We could probably argue that perhaps because El Elyon is used one other time later in the scriptures, that's who Melchizedek is talking about. But that really seems to ignore his Canaanite heritage in the story. So we're left with a dilemma here. Abraham knows his god is not the Canaanite god, and yet he also sees something in Melchizedek that he recognizes as beautiful and true. The key for me comes in this extended phrase that Melchizedek uses.
Speaker 1:He says, god most high, creator of heaven and earth. You see, in these ancient proto Semitic cultures, the gods were local. If you lived in a certain valley, you worshiped the god of that valley. And if for some reason you moved out of the valley, you didn't like the new prime minister, and you moved to the mountains, you would worship the god of the mountains. This was just the way of the world at the time.
Speaker 1:Each city, each country, each king, each geological feature had its own god. Now sometimes there was hierarchy between the gods, and they would fight and compete with each other to take the top spot, the one that El Elyon occupied in Canaan. But in fact, we have something that we've uncovered called the Enuma Elish, which is the Babylonian creation myth. And it's remarkable similar in a lot of ways to the story that we have in Genesis one. Except that in the Babylonian version, the gods don't speak the world into existence.
Speaker 1:They go to war with each other. And the hero, Marduk, uses the slain body of the water god, Tiamat, to push back the water and separate the dry land in the sky. It's language that's very similar to what we hear in Genesis, except Genesis doesn't have a battle going on. In fact, in the humans are made from a mixture of dust and not breath like Genesis, but dust and the blood that drips from the gods as they're injured while they fight each other. In the Genesis story, there's no battle.
Speaker 1:God's not at war with anyone or anything. God simply speaks. He breathes into dust. So in the religions of the day, the world and humanity was a by product of a battle between local gods. That's all we were.
Speaker 1:In Genesis, the world and humanity are the good creative work of the cosmic god who created everything. Heavens and the earth, everything you see. This is why in Canaanite mythology, El Elyon is associated with theogony. That's our fancy way of talking about the pantheon and the origin of the gods. He's not associated with cosmogony, which is our fancy way of talking about the creation of the universe.
Speaker 1:El Elyon is powerful, but he is still just a part of creation even in Canaanite mythology. When Melchizedek says, El Elyon, the creator of heaven and earth. Abraham hears a name from the Canaanite pantheon, but he recognizes in Melchizedek a faith that goes way beyond Canaanite religion. Faith that's reaching out past context to the one true God. Faith that is in a very real way, consciously rejecting the polytheism of the Canaanite religion.
Speaker 1:There's not many gods. There is one true God who created everything Melchizedek says. And so Abraham hears this and he says, yes. I know that god. His name is Yahweh.
Speaker 1:Now, what does any of this have to do with us today in Calgary in year 2015? Well, in my experience, there is sometimes a sense within certain expressions of Christianity that if all of our language isn't explicitly Christian, if all of our practices aren't properly orthodox by somebody's standard, that if somehow some of our thoughts might stray outside the the bounds of doctrinal purity even for a moment. There is a sense sometimes that we have become untouchable, unlovable, unwelcoming community. There's a sense sometimes in certain expressions of Christianity that if you identify with a different tradition of Christianity than I do, Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, anabaptist, Baptist covenant. Well, then you aren't welcome at the table together until you can agree on everything.
Speaker 1:Everyone should separate into their corners. There's a sense sometimes in certain expressions of Christianity that if you don't use the term Christian, if you are unsure of your faith, agnostic, agnostic, atheist, Muslim, Jewish, then God can't possibly be working in your life. No. Is that my way of saying that religion doesn't matter and all roads lead to God? Not even close.
Speaker 1:The only way anyone ever comes to God is through the Christ. All history built to the moment where God was fully revealed, all history flows on from the the moment where God was fully revealed. So religion is deeply important because it's religion that invites us to know and understand, to participate in the rituals and the patterns that shape our faith and move us towards Christ. But it's not religion that invites us to the table. It is the work of the one true God who comes to us in the person of Jesus, who looks past our misconceptions misconceptions and sometimes our language and who invites us to know him.
Speaker 1:That's what brings us to the table with God. The king of Salem brought bread and wine and a heart that was oriented to the one true God. And the scriptures tell us that God knew him as a priest and Abraham knew him as a friend. Perhaps, Perhaps at some point in your journey, you have been tripped up and stumbled over the language of religion, and you missed the very simple invitation invitation to to come come and and and sit sit and to eat with Jesus. Would you hear in the story of Abraham this day?
Speaker 1:The heart of the god who comes to us through expressions of faith and religion, but who comes in the grace that transcends our language, that transcends our perspective in order to connect deeply with our souls. In the very next passage in Genesis, God promises to give Abram a child and a family and generations of descendants. It says, God took him outside and said, look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can. Then he said to him, so shall be your offspring. And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him his righteousness.
Speaker 1:Now Paul picks up on this in the New Testament. He quotes this passage in Galatians chapter three in order to show how religion and law and rules eventually gives way to belief him and faith and probably even better in this context, trust in God. In English, sometimes when we say belief, we mean believing in a certain set of ideas. Both the Hebrew word Aman, here, and the Greek, Pistuo, when Paul quotes it, both have a primary definition of trust. So here's the invitation today.
Speaker 1:Do you trust Jesus? Maybe you are still wrestling with the language of your faith. Perhaps you are still struggling to nail down all your theology and exactly exactly what you think. Perhaps there's still a lot of work that needs to be done inside of you. Things you need to repent, you need to be forgiven, you need to be healed from.
Speaker 1:But the question is, do you trust Jesus to do good for you, to forgive you, and to heal you, and to invite you to his table? Because if you do, then we invite you to our table today. Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If those who hear my voice open the door, I will come in and eat with them and they with me. So taste and see that the Lord is good.
Speaker 1:Blessed are all who find refuge in God. This morning, we invite you to come and eat together at the table. Even if you are still working out your faith, because all of us are still working out our faith. But if you find yourself in the place where you are beginning to trust God, to do good for you, to invite you, to heal you, then we invite to come forward. Let's pray one final time.
Speaker 1:God, thank you for the grace that invites us to your table. Even when we're unsure how to speak of you. Even when we're unsure of how to reach out to you. That we know that by your spirit, you are continually inviting us forward. We thank you that when we come to your table, we don't have to approach you as the unknown God.
Speaker 1:But instead, we can name you as the God Yahweh who sends us Jesus. Perfect revelation of who you are in history. Thank you. That as you bring that grace and peace into our lives, that we have the opportunity to extend that to those we come into contact with through our conversations, our transactions, our life in general. Would you, by your spirit, empower us to extend the same grace and peace and invitation you give to us to those we encounter.
Speaker 1:In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen.