00;00;03;19 - 00;00;25;18
Voiceover
You are listening to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. In this study we will break down the Bible from B.C to A.D. chronologically while offering historical context in real-life application for today. This series is brought to you by the Breakthrough Media Network.
00;00;27;16 - 00;00;31;17
Pastor Dave
Hi, my name is Pastor Dave Engman and this is my co-host, Scott Brekke.
00;00;31;18 - 00;00;32;05
Scott
Hi, everybody.
00;00;32;17 - 00;00;45;19
Pastor Dave
And we want to welcome you to the Bible Breakthrough and we want to thank you for joining us today. Ultimately, our goal is to lead you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ.
00;00;47;09 - 00;01;06;00
Scott
Yeah. So the show notes will be linked in this description of this production. And in the last episode we read Genesis 13:1-18, Abraham and Lot Separate. And the scripture we're going to cover today is Genesis 14:1-24, Abraham Rescues Lot and Melchizedek blesses Abram.
00;01;06;18 - 00;01;18;00
Pastor Dave
The questions you should be considering as you listen are, what does this mean? And how can I apply what I'm learning to my life? Before we open the Bible, let's… let's pray.
00;01;18;12 - 00;01;43;22
Scott
Yeah, Lord, I just… I just lift up this time to you, Lord. I pray that your word teaches us that we should be teachers of the Word. And, Lord, that's what we want to do. We want to be able to read your word, talk about it, Lord, and we want to apply it and teach it. So, Lord, I just pray over our audience right now that you would just open their minds to understand, open their ears and open their hearts, Lord, in Jesus name, amen.
00;01;44;02 - 00;01;53;07
Pastor Dave
Amen. All right, so let's open up the Bible. Excuse me, and let's read Genesis 14:1-24.
00;01;53;10 - 00;02;44;18
Scott
All right. And I want to do my best because there's lots of kings and lots of strange names. So Abraham Rescues Lot, Chapter 14… About this time war broke out in the region. King Amraphel of Babylonia, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim fought against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). The second group of kings joined forces in Siddim Valley, that is the valley of the Dead Sea.
00;02;45;01 - 00;03;21;17
Scott
For 12 years they had been subject to King Kedorlaomer, but in the 13th year they rebelled against him. One year later Kedorlaomer and his allies arrived and defeated the Rephaites at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites at Ham, the Emites at Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites at Mount Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness.
00;03;21;26 - 00;03;51;22
Scott
Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (now called Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar. Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea. They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam,
00;03;51;22 - 00;04;23;27
Scott
King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five. Why can't I just say that? Four Kings Against Five! As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains.
00;04;24;18 - 00;04;53;13
Scott
The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. They also captured Lot - Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom - and carried off everything he owned. But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.
00;04;54;00 - 00;05;26;16
Scott
When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
00;05;27;00 - 00;05;58;18
Scott
Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives. Verse 17, Melchizedek blesses Abram. After Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh. And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
00;05;58;26 - 00;06;27;12
Scott
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. The King of Sodom said to Abram, Give back my people who were captured.
00;06;27;21 - 00;06;50;00
Scott
But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.” Abram replied to the King of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the Lord God, Most High, Creator of heaven and earth that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise, you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’
00;06;50;14 - 00;07;15;01
Scott
I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies - Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.” All right, so do you just want to give, like, a, you know, an overall what happened know summary of what you just read?
00;07;15;24 - 00;07;45;21
Pastor Dave
Well, there was a war that broke out. There were five kings against four kings. And… the invaders won the victory. And essentially with that, they took the plunder from war, including Lot and all of his possessions.
00;07;45;27 - 00;07;46;06
Scott
Right.
00;07;47;29 - 00;07;53;27
Pastor Dave
Abram heard about it, chased him down, chased them down and defeated them.
00;07;54;10 - 00;07;54;19
Scott
Right.
00;07;55;29 - 00;08;34;04
Pastor Dave
Getting all of those possessions back, including his nephew Lot. And Melchizedek agreed to meet with and bless Abram. So, I mean, that's as brief a summary as you can get, but that's what we got. And so let's talk about this. Why was this significant? What was it about the scripture we just read that represents something significant? What was God trying to show us here?
00;08;34;11 - 00;09;03;28
Scott
Yeah. All right. Well, I'll start… because… I love that when Abram hears that one of his relatives has been held captive, has been taken. I love that he doesn't wait. He just immediately mobilizes his men and goes back and gets them saying, okay, hey, I heard one of my relatives is being held captive. I heard what happened.
00;09;04;06 - 00;09;27;09
Scott
Now I'm going to go get them back. Then I think what speaks to me in that is… don't we see that with how the enemy, the devil has held people captive today. And what he wants to do is he wants to use… God wants to use his people to go get them back. And what I love about the scripture, he doesn't wait for it.
00;09;27;23 - 00;09;58;05
Scott
He just hears it, and then he goes and does it. He goes, I'm getting my best men, 318 of my trained men who are born into my household. And we're going to go get them back right now. What does it do? Does it! So I love that. But he doesn't just take anybody. He takes his trained men, his ones that who know that he can trust, who are trained in battle, who have grown up in it, who understand what they're about to go do.
00;09;58;07 - 00;10;25;22
Scott
You know, they take it seriously. So I think it just speaks to me as, you know, God's got this this army of people even today that he's chosen as to go get back those who have been captive by the enemy. So that's how that part speaks to me. And I love that because I feel like it's… it’s like we're part of that, you know? We're part of God's army going getting back the lost, which was taken by the enemy.
00;10;25;23 - 00;10;36;03
Scott
So that's what speaks to me. That's what jumps out to me.
00;10;36;03 - 00;10;44;16
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, Lot became obsessed with the things of the world.
00;10;44;29 - 00;10;45;09
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;10;45;21 - 00;11;12;03
Pastor Dave
He chased after them and he acquired them. And so what we see here is… he became the subject of other people’s desire. In other words, when war broke out, the victors are like, take note of this guy. He has a lot of stuff. And of course, we want it! You know?
00;11;12;07 - 00;11;21;15
Pastor Dave
So Lot put himself in a position to a certain extent, chasing after the things of the world. And he put himself in a place where others would desire to get what he had.
00;11;23;04 - 00;11;48;13
Pastor Dave
Right. So, what I also found generally interesting about this, and I didn't realize this, but back in this particular time frame, cities that were in the region actually had kings. And so when you hear about five kings going to battle against four kings, it's really…
00;11;48;13 - 00;11;49;03
Scott
A whole city.
00;11;49;06 - 00;12;17;15
Pastor Dave
Yeah, it's five cities, essentially going against four cities. And so, we can learn that in this instance… we can learn that that Abram had portrayed two important characteristics. Number one, Abraham was… excuse me… excuse me again!
00;12;17;15 - 00;12;21;00
Scott
(Laughter) You good? He'll get it… he'll get it back!
00;12;22;11 - 00;12;44;06
Pastor Dave
Abraham displayed, in one of his characteristics, the courage that it would take to go do what he was about to go do. And two, we can see that he had taken the time to prepare those 318 men. In other words, they were already trained. They were already ready. And they were already under his command.
00;12;44;11 - 00;12;44;20
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;12;44;27 - 00;12;54;19
Pastor Dave
And so courage was required on Abraham's part because, you know, he could have went in, didn't really probably realize at the time exactly what he was up against.
00;12;55;02 - 00;12;55;09
Scott
Yep.
00;12;55;24 - 00;13;08;09
Pastor Dave
Would 318 men be enough? Or would it not be enough? And if it wasn't, it could basically doom his empire, at that time, which wasn’t obviously very big yet.
00;13;08;27 - 00;13;10;01
Scott
Yup.
00;13;10;14 - 00;13;37;06
Pastor Dave
Right? So he had to have courage to face this powerful foe, not knowing everything. But because he was the kind of leader that prepared his men well, he went into that battle with confidence. He went into it with confidence and was victorious and as a result, was able to rescue his nephew.
00;13;37;07 - 00;13;39;03
Scott
Right.
00;13;43;05 - 00;13;43;26
Pastor Dave
(Long pause) What else do you got?
00;13;44;04 - 00;14;06;18
Scott
What do you think it means? I mean, this is the first time this has been mentioned, but in verse 13, it just signifies, as Abraham being the Hebrew. What is… what does that mean? I mean, he just... I mean, why is it… why do they… why until now just notices him as “the Hebrew.” Why does it mention that? Why doesn’t it just say Abram?
00;14;06;23 - 00;14;12;28
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, the Hebrew race started with Abram.
00;14;13;13 - 00;14;14;25
Scott
Okay.
00;14;16;12 - 00;14;28;01
Pastor Dave
It was Abraham and his family… that we can trace back to the beginning of the Hebrew race.
00;14;29;21 - 00;14;34;16
Scott
So he's the start of the Hebrew… of the Hebrew race, huh?
00;14;36;27 - 00;14;38;17
Pastor Dave
Right. What do you know about Melchizedek?
00;14;40;06 - 00;15;08;05
Scott
Well, that he was a priest of the Most High God and any obviously he blessed… I love his blessing because he doesn't only just say blesses Abram. Right? But it's more like, all right, I'm a bless you, but also blessed be God, who's… who he recognizes in verse 20, blessed be God Most High, who's defeated your enemies for you.
00;15;08;21 - 00;15;36;16
Scott
So yes, Abram went out with his men, but also it was God letting that take place. So, yeah, he was a priest of… priest of God. And interesting enough, he brings some bread and some wine and blesses them with that. (pause) yeah, other than that… what do you… what do you got? What do you got on him?
00;15;37;08 - 00;15;43;09
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, he was listed as the first priest slash king of… in the scripture.
00;15;43;16 - 00;15;43;24
Scott
Okay.
00;15;45;01 - 00;16;06;20
Pastor Dave
Apparently, he was good at encouraging others to serve God wholehearted. And his character reflected his love for God. One of the key lessons that we can learn from Melchizedek’s life is that… live for God and you're likely to be at the right place at the right time.
00;16;07;04 - 00;16;07;10
Scott
Yeah.
00;16;08;02 - 00;16;21;04
Pastor Dave
And it really shows us how important it is to examine our heart, to whom or what is your greatest loyalty? To whom, or what is your greatest loyalty?
00;16;21;11 - 00;16;21;18
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;16;22;14 - 00;16;27;02
Pastor Dave
By examining your heart, you can see the reflection, if you will, in the mirror.
00;16;27;02 - 00;16;28;18
Scott
Yep!
00;16;29;06 - 00;16;31;24
Pastor Dave
And if you can honestly answer God, well, you are living for God!
00;16;32;23 - 00;16;59;14
Pastor Dave
One of the things about Melchizedek is, is that he's pretty mysterious. We don't know much about him. And this is one of the areas where we read about him, and then basically we don't read much else about him. But it was a… at this time it was considered to be a victory for Abram to be able to have the meeting he had with Melchizedek.
00;16;59;14 - 00;17;39;09
Pastor Dave
And the fact that Melchizedek blessed him was the reward for that meeting. It was a victory, if you will. And then I think, too, I think people in that era, during that time knew Melchizedek being the priest, the first priest and King. That carried significant… that was significant to the people. And so when Melchizedek blesses Abram, after Abraham went and rescued his son and was victorious, it almost set the stage.
00;17;39;16 - 00;18;02;20
Scott
And the people took note of that. Yeah. Yeah. Because before that, I mean, this is… this is the first time it's mentioned that a king… he was a king and a priest. Because generally those are separated. Right? You would have the king and then you'd have the priest of God. Right. So, yeah, that's significant to me. What about in the end of verse 20, it says that Abram gave Melchizedek a 10th of all his goods.
00;18;02;27 - 00;18;13;01
Scott
Is this where we get the whole… the, you know, give a 10th of your tithing? This the first time it's mentioned. But is this where people go? Like, hey… we need to give back a tenth?
00;18;13;27 - 00;18;15;26
Pastor Dave
Well, it's one of the places you can go to.
00;18;16;10 - 00;18;16;19
Scott
Yeah.
00;18;16;28 - 00;18;17;28
Pastor Dave
As an example.
00;18;18;07 - 00;18;31;29
Scott
Yeah, so what do you think? Do you think we should give a 10th of all that, all of our income back to the Lord, according to this Scripture? Or we just give out of the abundance of what God leads us to do?
00;18;32;10 - 00;18;53;24
Pastor Dave
Well, I certainly believe in generosity. And, you know, we can see throughout Old Testament scripture the importance that God placed on the idea that we would give the first fruits back to the Lord. I mean, we haven't gotten to the place in Scripture yet where the 12 tribes are created through Jacob...
00;18;54;16 - 00;19;03;14
Pastor Dave
But it is laying out the idea that that’s coming when you read this.
00;19;03;18 - 00;19;04;17
Scott
Yeah.
00;19;05;10 - 00;19;08;22
Pastor Dave
I mean, why would he give 10%? Well, it was a reflection of his heart.
00;19;08;28 - 00;19;10;02
Scott
Yeah.
00;19;10;14 - 00;19;56;09
Pastor Dave
Right? God… God with Abram was always attracted to the sincerity of Abram's heart and the fact that God didn't necessarily tell him to do it, but he did it would reveal his desire to please God. In this case, he was pleasing a man, but he was blessing that man, and he was grateful for the blessing he received from that man. And so that came out of his heart. You know, so as it pertains to giving, look, we have to recognize, as Abram probably would here… you know, we don't own anything. It's all God's if we believe that, that's an important part…
00;19;56;13 - 00;20;23;27
Pastor Dave
Do you believe that God created everything for his purpose and that we're a part of this creation and therefore we own nothing? God owns everything, and God is giving us an opportunity through our… through… I'll just call it through the spirit of generosity, giving us the opportunity to reveal the sincerity of our heart. I think that's a big deal.
00;20;23;28 - 00;20;25;02
Scott
Yeah. Mm hmm.
00;20;25;05 - 00;20;31;00
Pastor Dave
And, yeah, I think you should be willing to give! God, as we learn throughout the rest of this Bible, you know?
00;20;31;21 - 00;20;32;03
Scott
Yeah!
00;20;32;20 - 00;20;53;05
Pastor Dave
That God will use people to be an instrument here on the earth to accomplish his purpose. And you can do that through… the generosity of giving your resources, giving your money to where God's directing you to do that… where it's going to be of the most value to the Kingdom.
00;20;53;05 - 00;20;55;15
Scott
Right!
00;21;00;11 - 00;21;25;25
Scott
(Long pause) So… I don't know… the last part for me would just be talking about the deal with this king, the king of Sodom. In verse 21 says, The King of Sodom said to Abram, “Give back my people.” So he wants the people back that were captured, but he wants... but he tells Abram, You can keep for yourself all the goods that you've required.
00;21;25;25 - 00;22;05;25
Scott
But Abram's like, No, no, no, I'm not going to do any of that! Because I just don't want I don't want… I want God to give all! Is that we're leaning towards here, that we want the Lord to get all the credit? We don't want... I think He says 23… that “I will not take such a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you otherwise you would say that I made Abram rich.” Giving the King of Sodom credit. Or it's just like where God is the one and he just doesn't want the King of Sodom to get credit for it.
00;22;06;06 - 00;22;23;20
Pastor Dave
Think about the implications. And Abram reveals some of those implications. So if somebody can hold something over you, there's a propensity for that to happen.
00;22;23;21 - 00;22;24;06
Scott
Yeah. Yeah.
00;22;24;09 - 00;22;39;07
Pastor Dave
And Abrams, like, look, I don't want you holding anything in me, all right? That's not the way this is going to go here. You know, at least from my perspective, that's one area. And it is a… actually, it's a great application area, too, if you think about it.
00;22;40;03 - 00;22;44;26
Scott
Mm-hmm.
00;22;44;26 - 00;23;00;06
Pastor Dave
I mean, when we are obedient to the Lord and the Lord alone, we will not subjugate ourselves to others, we’ll subjugate ourselves to the Lord. So if we… if anybody's going to hold something over us, let it be the Lord! Right?
00;23;00;22 - 00;23;03;06
Scott
Yeah!
00;23;03;16 - 00;23;21;29
Pastor Dave
And, you know don't borrow money, for example, because now you're subjugating yourself to a lender who will charge you interest. And if you don't pay, will start to create implications that might not be so favorable. Might not be so… it might be painful, let's put it that way.
00;23;23;11 - 00;23;23;18
Scott
(Laughter) That could be, yeah!
00;23;23;18 - 00;23;27;03
Pastor Dave
But I like that because, you know, Abram could have taken all of that!
00;23;27;03 - 00;23;29;18
Scott
He could have!
00;23;29;18 - 00;23;31;18
Pastor Dave
And if he was like his nephew, Lot, he would have!
00;23;31;29 - 00;23;32;11
Scott
You're right.
00;23;32;16 - 00;23;57;11
Pastor Dave
But what did we learn here? His nephew, Lot is the one who got sacked, if you will, and plundered. Right? And kidnaped and imprisoned. And Abram is saying, “No, that isn't happening to me! I'm not… the things of the world aren't that important!” What's important to me is the Lord, and the people, the Lord has put in my life. And my nephew is a part of my family, and doggone it, I'm going to get him!
00;23;57;11 - 00;24;04;23
Scott
(Laughter) I like it! Yup!.
00;24;05;10 - 00;24;18;28
Pastor Dave
That was… I think that was good! (pause) Thank you, because I, I think that we were able to see some things that were important. And as always, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit regarding application.
00;24;19;03 - 00;24;19;11
Scott
Yeah.
00;24;20;07 - 00;24;39;05
Pastor Dave
It's about obedience. It's about being obedient. And that's the key that will unlock the door to transformation. And as we always say, what good is knowledge, Scott, if we don't apply it? So how about you, our listening audience? Have you seen something here that you could apply to your life?
00;24;39;05 - 00;24;40;05
Scott
Yeah.
00;24;41;01 - 00;24;45;12
Pastor Dave
I want to encourage you to continue to dive into the Scripture and ask God to reveal it to you.
00;24;45;12 - 00;24;45;20
Scott
Mm-hmm.
00;24;46;19 - 00;24;57;26
Pastor Dave
Ultimately, that's what we've come to learn, that when we go to the Scripture, we read it, we are filled with some knowledge, and from that, God reveals application.
00;24;58;05 - 00;24;58;09
Scott
Yeah!
00;24;58;19 - 00;24;59;26
Pastor Dave
That makes our life go a little bit better.
00;24;59;26 - 00;25;01;25
Scott
Yeah! This is a fun one!
00;25;01;27 - 00;25;03;06
Pastor Dave
Yeah, I thought so too.
00;25;04;06 - 00;25;26;27
Scott
That was great! So, again, stay with us as we continue this journey through reading through the Bible chronologically, I'm just blessed to be part of it. Thank our audience. Those who are watching, listening, we're glad that you were able to join us today, continue to seek out in the word of what you can apply, that's always my encouragement to everybody as...
00;25;27;11 - 00;25;38;13
Scott
Yes, we're reading through the word, but man, if we just don't apply it, what good is that? So continue to seek that out as the Lord speaks to you and continues to teach you. So what are we going to talk about next?
00;25;38;25 - 00;26;00;19
Pastor Dave
Well, I'll get to that in a second. I want to thank our listening audience. I also want to thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure doing this with you. We look forward to our next meeting together, in era two as we read the story of the Lord's Covenant promise to Abram in our ongoing study of the greatest story ever told in the second era of God's chosen family.
00;26;00;20 - 00;26;05;22
Scott
(Pause) Thank you and God bless!
00;26;06;14 - 00;26;10;24
Scott
God bless.
00;26;10;24 - 00;26;47;22
Voiceover
Thank you for tuning in to the Bible breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and will join us again for more of the Bible. From B.C. to A.D., we are a volunteer driven ministry and rely on you to help us get the word out to the world. Please like this podcast on Facebook, share it to your page and continue to listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. This has been a broadcast of the Breakthrough Media Network.
Voiceover
You are listening to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. In this study we will break down the Bible from B.C to A.D. chronologically while offering historical context in real-life application for today. This series is brought to you by the Breakthrough Media Network.
00;00;27;16 - 00;00;31;17
Pastor Dave
Hi, my name is Pastor Dave Engman and this is my co-host, Scott Brekke.
00;00;31;18 - 00;00;32;05
Scott
Hi, everybody.
00;00;32;17 - 00;00;45;19
Pastor Dave
And we want to welcome you to the Bible Breakthrough and we want to thank you for joining us today. Ultimately, our goal is to lead you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ.
00;00;47;09 - 00;01;06;00
Scott
Yeah. So the show notes will be linked in this description of this production. And in the last episode we read Genesis 13:1-18, Abraham and Lot Separate. And the scripture we're going to cover today is Genesis 14:1-24, Abraham Rescues Lot and Melchizedek blesses Abram.
00;01;06;18 - 00;01;18;00
Pastor Dave
The questions you should be considering as you listen are, what does this mean? And how can I apply what I'm learning to my life? Before we open the Bible, let's… let's pray.
00;01;18;12 - 00;01;43;22
Scott
Yeah, Lord, I just… I just lift up this time to you, Lord. I pray that your word teaches us that we should be teachers of the Word. And, Lord, that's what we want to do. We want to be able to read your word, talk about it, Lord, and we want to apply it and teach it. So, Lord, I just pray over our audience right now that you would just open their minds to understand, open their ears and open their hearts, Lord, in Jesus name, amen.
00;01;44;02 - 00;01;53;07
Pastor Dave
Amen. All right, so let's open up the Bible. Excuse me, and let's read Genesis 14:1-24.
00;01;53;10 - 00;02;44;18
Scott
All right. And I want to do my best because there's lots of kings and lots of strange names. So Abraham Rescues Lot, Chapter 14… About this time war broke out in the region. King Amraphel of Babylonia, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim fought against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). The second group of kings joined forces in Siddim Valley, that is the valley of the Dead Sea.
00;02;45;01 - 00;03;21;17
Scott
For 12 years they had been subject to King Kedorlaomer, but in the 13th year they rebelled against him. One year later Kedorlaomer and his allies arrived and defeated the Rephaites at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites at Ham, the Emites at Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites at Mount Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness.
00;03;21;26 - 00;03;51;22
Scott
Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (now called Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar. Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea. They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam,
00;03;51;22 - 00;04;23;27
Scott
King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five. Why can't I just say that? Four Kings Against Five! As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains.
00;04;24;18 - 00;04;53;13
Scott
The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. They also captured Lot - Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom - and carried off everything he owned. But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.
00;04;54;00 - 00;05;26;16
Scott
When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
00;05;27;00 - 00;05;58;18
Scott
Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives. Verse 17, Melchizedek blesses Abram. After Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh. And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
00;05;58;26 - 00;06;27;12
Scott
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. The King of Sodom said to Abram, Give back my people who were captured.
00;06;27;21 - 00;06;50;00
Scott
But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.” Abram replied to the King of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the Lord God, Most High, Creator of heaven and earth that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise, you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’
00;06;50;14 - 00;07;15;01
Scott
I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies - Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.” All right, so do you just want to give, like, a, you know, an overall what happened know summary of what you just read?
00;07;15;24 - 00;07;45;21
Pastor Dave
Well, there was a war that broke out. There were five kings against four kings. And… the invaders won the victory. And essentially with that, they took the plunder from war, including Lot and all of his possessions.
00;07;45;27 - 00;07;46;06
Scott
Right.
00;07;47;29 - 00;07;53;27
Pastor Dave
Abram heard about it, chased him down, chased them down and defeated them.
00;07;54;10 - 00;07;54;19
Scott
Right.
00;07;55;29 - 00;08;34;04
Pastor Dave
Getting all of those possessions back, including his nephew Lot. And Melchizedek agreed to meet with and bless Abram. So, I mean, that's as brief a summary as you can get, but that's what we got. And so let's talk about this. Why was this significant? What was it about the scripture we just read that represents something significant? What was God trying to show us here?
00;08;34;11 - 00;09;03;28
Scott
Yeah. All right. Well, I'll start… because… I love that when Abram hears that one of his relatives has been held captive, has been taken. I love that he doesn't wait. He just immediately mobilizes his men and goes back and gets them saying, okay, hey, I heard one of my relatives is being held captive. I heard what happened.
00;09;04;06 - 00;09;27;09
Scott
Now I'm going to go get them back. Then I think what speaks to me in that is… don't we see that with how the enemy, the devil has held people captive today. And what he wants to do is he wants to use… God wants to use his people to go get them back. And what I love about the scripture, he doesn't wait for it.
00;09;27;23 - 00;09;58;05
Scott
He just hears it, and then he goes and does it. He goes, I'm getting my best men, 318 of my trained men who are born into my household. And we're going to go get them back right now. What does it do? Does it! So I love that. But he doesn't just take anybody. He takes his trained men, his ones that who know that he can trust, who are trained in battle, who have grown up in it, who understand what they're about to go do.
00;09;58;07 - 00;10;25;22
Scott
You know, they take it seriously. So I think it just speaks to me as, you know, God's got this this army of people even today that he's chosen as to go get back those who have been captive by the enemy. So that's how that part speaks to me. And I love that because I feel like it's… it’s like we're part of that, you know? We're part of God's army going getting back the lost, which was taken by the enemy.
00;10;25;23 - 00;10;36;03
Scott
So that's what speaks to me. That's what jumps out to me.
00;10;36;03 - 00;10;44;16
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, Lot became obsessed with the things of the world.
00;10;44;29 - 00;10;45;09
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;10;45;21 - 00;11;12;03
Pastor Dave
He chased after them and he acquired them. And so what we see here is… he became the subject of other people’s desire. In other words, when war broke out, the victors are like, take note of this guy. He has a lot of stuff. And of course, we want it! You know?
00;11;12;07 - 00;11;21;15
Pastor Dave
So Lot put himself in a position to a certain extent, chasing after the things of the world. And he put himself in a place where others would desire to get what he had.
00;11;23;04 - 00;11;48;13
Pastor Dave
Right. So, what I also found generally interesting about this, and I didn't realize this, but back in this particular time frame, cities that were in the region actually had kings. And so when you hear about five kings going to battle against four kings, it's really…
00;11;48;13 - 00;11;49;03
Scott
A whole city.
00;11;49;06 - 00;12;17;15
Pastor Dave
Yeah, it's five cities, essentially going against four cities. And so, we can learn that in this instance… we can learn that that Abram had portrayed two important characteristics. Number one, Abraham was… excuse me… excuse me again!
00;12;17;15 - 00;12;21;00
Scott
(Laughter) You good? He'll get it… he'll get it back!
00;12;22;11 - 00;12;44;06
Pastor Dave
Abraham displayed, in one of his characteristics, the courage that it would take to go do what he was about to go do. And two, we can see that he had taken the time to prepare those 318 men. In other words, they were already trained. They were already ready. And they were already under his command.
00;12;44;11 - 00;12;44;20
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;12;44;27 - 00;12;54;19
Pastor Dave
And so courage was required on Abraham's part because, you know, he could have went in, didn't really probably realize at the time exactly what he was up against.
00;12;55;02 - 00;12;55;09
Scott
Yep.
00;12;55;24 - 00;13;08;09
Pastor Dave
Would 318 men be enough? Or would it not be enough? And if it wasn't, it could basically doom his empire, at that time, which wasn’t obviously very big yet.
00;13;08;27 - 00;13;10;01
Scott
Yup.
00;13;10;14 - 00;13;37;06
Pastor Dave
Right? So he had to have courage to face this powerful foe, not knowing everything. But because he was the kind of leader that prepared his men well, he went into that battle with confidence. He went into it with confidence and was victorious and as a result, was able to rescue his nephew.
00;13;37;07 - 00;13;39;03
Scott
Right.
00;13;43;05 - 00;13;43;26
Pastor Dave
(Long pause) What else do you got?
00;13;44;04 - 00;14;06;18
Scott
What do you think it means? I mean, this is the first time this has been mentioned, but in verse 13, it just signifies, as Abraham being the Hebrew. What is… what does that mean? I mean, he just... I mean, why is it… why do they… why until now just notices him as “the Hebrew.” Why does it mention that? Why doesn’t it just say Abram?
00;14;06;23 - 00;14;12;28
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, the Hebrew race started with Abram.
00;14;13;13 - 00;14;14;25
Scott
Okay.
00;14;16;12 - 00;14;28;01
Pastor Dave
It was Abraham and his family… that we can trace back to the beginning of the Hebrew race.
00;14;29;21 - 00;14;34;16
Scott
So he's the start of the Hebrew… of the Hebrew race, huh?
00;14;36;27 - 00;14;38;17
Pastor Dave
Right. What do you know about Melchizedek?
00;14;40;06 - 00;15;08;05
Scott
Well, that he was a priest of the Most High God and any obviously he blessed… I love his blessing because he doesn't only just say blesses Abram. Right? But it's more like, all right, I'm a bless you, but also blessed be God, who's… who he recognizes in verse 20, blessed be God Most High, who's defeated your enemies for you.
00;15;08;21 - 00;15;36;16
Scott
So yes, Abram went out with his men, but also it was God letting that take place. So, yeah, he was a priest of… priest of God. And interesting enough, he brings some bread and some wine and blesses them with that. (pause) yeah, other than that… what do you… what do you got? What do you got on him?
00;15;37;08 - 00;15;43;09
Pastor Dave
Well, you know, he was listed as the first priest slash king of… in the scripture.
00;15;43;16 - 00;15;43;24
Scott
Okay.
00;15;45;01 - 00;16;06;20
Pastor Dave
Apparently, he was good at encouraging others to serve God wholehearted. And his character reflected his love for God. One of the key lessons that we can learn from Melchizedek’s life is that… live for God and you're likely to be at the right place at the right time.
00;16;07;04 - 00;16;07;10
Scott
Yeah.
00;16;08;02 - 00;16;21;04
Pastor Dave
And it really shows us how important it is to examine our heart, to whom or what is your greatest loyalty? To whom, or what is your greatest loyalty?
00;16;21;11 - 00;16;21;18
Scott
Mm hmm.
00;16;22;14 - 00;16;27;02
Pastor Dave
By examining your heart, you can see the reflection, if you will, in the mirror.
00;16;27;02 - 00;16;28;18
Scott
Yep!
00;16;29;06 - 00;16;31;24
Pastor Dave
And if you can honestly answer God, well, you are living for God!
00;16;32;23 - 00;16;59;14
Pastor Dave
One of the things about Melchizedek is, is that he's pretty mysterious. We don't know much about him. And this is one of the areas where we read about him, and then basically we don't read much else about him. But it was a… at this time it was considered to be a victory for Abram to be able to have the meeting he had with Melchizedek.
00;16;59;14 - 00;17;39;09
Pastor Dave
And the fact that Melchizedek blessed him was the reward for that meeting. It was a victory, if you will. And then I think, too, I think people in that era, during that time knew Melchizedek being the priest, the first priest and King. That carried significant… that was significant to the people. And so when Melchizedek blesses Abram, after Abraham went and rescued his son and was victorious, it almost set the stage.
00;17;39;16 - 00;18;02;20
Scott
And the people took note of that. Yeah. Yeah. Because before that, I mean, this is… this is the first time it's mentioned that a king… he was a king and a priest. Because generally those are separated. Right? You would have the king and then you'd have the priest of God. Right. So, yeah, that's significant to me. What about in the end of verse 20, it says that Abram gave Melchizedek a 10th of all his goods.
00;18;02;27 - 00;18;13;01
Scott
Is this where we get the whole… the, you know, give a 10th of your tithing? This the first time it's mentioned. But is this where people go? Like, hey… we need to give back a tenth?
00;18;13;27 - 00;18;15;26
Pastor Dave
Well, it's one of the places you can go to.
00;18;16;10 - 00;18;16;19
Scott
Yeah.
00;18;16;28 - 00;18;17;28
Pastor Dave
As an example.
00;18;18;07 - 00;18;31;29
Scott
Yeah, so what do you think? Do you think we should give a 10th of all that, all of our income back to the Lord, according to this Scripture? Or we just give out of the abundance of what God leads us to do?
00;18;32;10 - 00;18;53;24
Pastor Dave
Well, I certainly believe in generosity. And, you know, we can see throughout Old Testament scripture the importance that God placed on the idea that we would give the first fruits back to the Lord. I mean, we haven't gotten to the place in Scripture yet where the 12 tribes are created through Jacob...
00;18;54;16 - 00;19;03;14
Pastor Dave
But it is laying out the idea that that’s coming when you read this.
00;19;03;18 - 00;19;04;17
Scott
Yeah.
00;19;05;10 - 00;19;08;22
Pastor Dave
I mean, why would he give 10%? Well, it was a reflection of his heart.
00;19;08;28 - 00;19;10;02
Scott
Yeah.
00;19;10;14 - 00;19;56;09
Pastor Dave
Right? God… God with Abram was always attracted to the sincerity of Abram's heart and the fact that God didn't necessarily tell him to do it, but he did it would reveal his desire to please God. In this case, he was pleasing a man, but he was blessing that man, and he was grateful for the blessing he received from that man. And so that came out of his heart. You know, so as it pertains to giving, look, we have to recognize, as Abram probably would here… you know, we don't own anything. It's all God's if we believe that, that's an important part…
00;19;56;13 - 00;20;23;27
Pastor Dave
Do you believe that God created everything for his purpose and that we're a part of this creation and therefore we own nothing? God owns everything, and God is giving us an opportunity through our… through… I'll just call it through the spirit of generosity, giving us the opportunity to reveal the sincerity of our heart. I think that's a big deal.
00;20;23;28 - 00;20;25;02
Scott
Yeah. Mm hmm.
00;20;25;05 - 00;20;31;00
Pastor Dave
And, yeah, I think you should be willing to give! God, as we learn throughout the rest of this Bible, you know?
00;20;31;21 - 00;20;32;03
Scott
Yeah!
00;20;32;20 - 00;20;53;05
Pastor Dave
That God will use people to be an instrument here on the earth to accomplish his purpose. And you can do that through… the generosity of giving your resources, giving your money to where God's directing you to do that… where it's going to be of the most value to the Kingdom.
00;20;53;05 - 00;20;55;15
Scott
Right!
00;21;00;11 - 00;21;25;25
Scott
(Long pause) So… I don't know… the last part for me would just be talking about the deal with this king, the king of Sodom. In verse 21 says, The King of Sodom said to Abram, “Give back my people.” So he wants the people back that were captured, but he wants... but he tells Abram, You can keep for yourself all the goods that you've required.
00;21;25;25 - 00;22;05;25
Scott
But Abram's like, No, no, no, I'm not going to do any of that! Because I just don't want I don't want… I want God to give all! Is that we're leaning towards here, that we want the Lord to get all the credit? We don't want... I think He says 23… that “I will not take such a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you otherwise you would say that I made Abram rich.” Giving the King of Sodom credit. Or it's just like where God is the one and he just doesn't want the King of Sodom to get credit for it.
00;22;06;06 - 00;22;23;20
Pastor Dave
Think about the implications. And Abram reveals some of those implications. So if somebody can hold something over you, there's a propensity for that to happen.
00;22;23;21 - 00;22;24;06
Scott
Yeah. Yeah.
00;22;24;09 - 00;22;39;07
Pastor Dave
And Abrams, like, look, I don't want you holding anything in me, all right? That's not the way this is going to go here. You know, at least from my perspective, that's one area. And it is a… actually, it's a great application area, too, if you think about it.
00;22;40;03 - 00;22;44;26
Scott
Mm-hmm.
00;22;44;26 - 00;23;00;06
Pastor Dave
I mean, when we are obedient to the Lord and the Lord alone, we will not subjugate ourselves to others, we’ll subjugate ourselves to the Lord. So if we… if anybody's going to hold something over us, let it be the Lord! Right?
00;23;00;22 - 00;23;03;06
Scott
Yeah!
00;23;03;16 - 00;23;21;29
Pastor Dave
And, you know don't borrow money, for example, because now you're subjugating yourself to a lender who will charge you interest. And if you don't pay, will start to create implications that might not be so favorable. Might not be so… it might be painful, let's put it that way.
00;23;23;11 - 00;23;23;18
Scott
(Laughter) That could be, yeah!
00;23;23;18 - 00;23;27;03
Pastor Dave
But I like that because, you know, Abram could have taken all of that!
00;23;27;03 - 00;23;29;18
Scott
He could have!
00;23;29;18 - 00;23;31;18
Pastor Dave
And if he was like his nephew, Lot, he would have!
00;23;31;29 - 00;23;32;11
Scott
You're right.
00;23;32;16 - 00;23;57;11
Pastor Dave
But what did we learn here? His nephew, Lot is the one who got sacked, if you will, and plundered. Right? And kidnaped and imprisoned. And Abram is saying, “No, that isn't happening to me! I'm not… the things of the world aren't that important!” What's important to me is the Lord, and the people, the Lord has put in my life. And my nephew is a part of my family, and doggone it, I'm going to get him!
00;23;57;11 - 00;24;04;23
Scott
(Laughter) I like it! Yup!.
00;24;05;10 - 00;24;18;28
Pastor Dave
That was… I think that was good! (pause) Thank you, because I, I think that we were able to see some things that were important. And as always, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit regarding application.
00;24;19;03 - 00;24;19;11
Scott
Yeah.
00;24;20;07 - 00;24;39;05
Pastor Dave
It's about obedience. It's about being obedient. And that's the key that will unlock the door to transformation. And as we always say, what good is knowledge, Scott, if we don't apply it? So how about you, our listening audience? Have you seen something here that you could apply to your life?
00;24;39;05 - 00;24;40;05
Scott
Yeah.
00;24;41;01 - 00;24;45;12
Pastor Dave
I want to encourage you to continue to dive into the Scripture and ask God to reveal it to you.
00;24;45;12 - 00;24;45;20
Scott
Mm-hmm.
00;24;46;19 - 00;24;57;26
Pastor Dave
Ultimately, that's what we've come to learn, that when we go to the Scripture, we read it, we are filled with some knowledge, and from that, God reveals application.
00;24;58;05 - 00;24;58;09
Scott
Yeah!
00;24;58;19 - 00;24;59;26
Pastor Dave
That makes our life go a little bit better.
00;24;59;26 - 00;25;01;25
Scott
Yeah! This is a fun one!
00;25;01;27 - 00;25;03;06
Pastor Dave
Yeah, I thought so too.
00;25;04;06 - 00;25;26;27
Scott
That was great! So, again, stay with us as we continue this journey through reading through the Bible chronologically, I'm just blessed to be part of it. Thank our audience. Those who are watching, listening, we're glad that you were able to join us today, continue to seek out in the word of what you can apply, that's always my encouragement to everybody as...
00;25;27;11 - 00;25;38;13
Scott
Yes, we're reading through the word, but man, if we just don't apply it, what good is that? So continue to seek that out as the Lord speaks to you and continues to teach you. So what are we going to talk about next?
00;25;38;25 - 00;26;00;19
Pastor Dave
Well, I'll get to that in a second. I want to thank our listening audience. I also want to thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure doing this with you. We look forward to our next meeting together, in era two as we read the story of the Lord's Covenant promise to Abram in our ongoing study of the greatest story ever told in the second era of God's chosen family.
00;26;00;20 - 00;26;05;22
Scott
(Pause) Thank you and God bless!
00;26;06;14 - 00;26;10;24
Scott
God bless.
00;26;10;24 - 00;26;47;22
Voiceover
Thank you for tuning in to the Bible breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and will join us again for more of the Bible. From B.C. to A.D., we are a volunteer driven ministry and rely on you to help us get the word out to the world. Please like this podcast on Facebook, share it to your page and continue to listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. This has been a broadcast of the Breakthrough Media Network.
