GENESIS 14

BERESHIS 14

1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the 13th year they rebelled.

When Abraham had resided nearly ten years in the land of Canaan, the whole country was in arms east of the Jordan, and to the north and south of Abram's encampment. A rebellion had broken out against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, who appears to have been the principal potentate of the time.

5 And in the 14th year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

7 And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.

8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

During the war, Sodom was attacked and, taken, and Lot and all his goods carried away with the spoil of the city, for he dwelt there.

At this crisis, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, and comforted him with the assurance, saying, "Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thine exceeding great reward."

13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan.

Abram having heard of this, hastily collected a company of three hundred and eighteen retainers, and started in pursuit of the spoilers, whom he overtook and put to the rout as far as Hobah on the west of Damascus. He recovered all the spoil, and returned south, considerably disturbed in mind, doubtless, on account of the danger of the times.

Elpis Israel 2.2.

With tremendous faith and courage he goes forth with a little band against great odds, and God enables him to rescue Lot and all who had been taken away and the strange and wonderful incident of Melchizedek occurs.

Bro Growcott - Shall a child be born

15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.

Seed of the woman victorious over the rival political and ecclesiastical Babylonian system - seed of the serpent.

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high El.

Scripture Names Doctrinally Applicable to Christ

Melchizedeck, King of righteousness.

"A king shall reign in righteousness."—(Isa. 32:1.)

The Christadelphian, June 1873

àNo one can be sure who Melchizedec was,‭ ‬though there is a great probability that Dr.‭ ‬Thomas's opinion was correct,‭ ‬viz.,‭ ‬that Melchizedec‭ (‬the king of righteousness‭)‬,‭ ‬was but the official name for Shem,‭ ‬who was at that time alive and the oldest man in the world.

The Christadelphian, July 1886

àIt is remarkable and beautiful that Jerusalem first appears in history in a foreshadowing of her end—as the throne of a priestly king of righteousness and peace—Melchizedek. That

was at the time of Abraham.

In Joshua's day, five hundred years later, a sad change had come about. The name still remained—Jerusalem—"City of peace"—its king Adonizedec—"Lord of righteousness," but king and people were hopelessly sunk into depraved wickedness and idolatry.

The meaning of Zion is given by Strong's as "pillar, sign, waymark." The same word is translated "title, waymark and sign" elsewhere. Gesenius gives its meaning as "something bright, shining, sunny and conspicuous." Others as "stronghold, fortress." All these meanings are harmonious and related, and present a picture of a strong and prominent fortress - city set upon a hill, shining conspicuously in the light of the sun—a beacon and a

landmark.

Bro Growcott - The 144 000 on Mount Zion

Hebrew Titles Of Deity

àBut at this stage of our inquiry it behoves us to pause and to look into the signification of certain words brought before us in these and other passages of the sacred writings. This is the more necessary, because the names of God which occur in the Bible are not arbitrary sounds; and one of the chief imperfections of the English authorised translation, or rather version, is the slovenly manner in which all the names by which God has been pleased to make Himself known to His people, have been rendered, after the fashion of the Septuagint, by the two words, "Lord" and "God."

These words do not convey the ideas of the Spirit in its use of terms. Lord is of Saxon origin, and signifies monarch, ruler, governor, something supreme or distinguished. The word to which it answers in the Septuagint and New Testament is kyrios. Under this word Parkhurst says:

"Plutarch informs us, that the name of Cyrus, who in Isaiah 44:28; 45:1, is called koresh, did in Persic signify the Sun." "This name," then continues Parkhurst, "seems an evident corruption of the Hebrew, the sun; and as the sun is manifestly the great ruler in material nature, and the idolators of several nations accordingly worshipped Him under the title of meleck, the King, and Baal, the Ruler, Lord; so from the same word, keres, may, I think, be deduced the Greek kuro, authority, and kurios, lord; and even the word kuro, to exist; for it was a heathen tenet, that the sun was self-existent. Thus, for instance, the Orphic hymn, Eis Helion, 1.3, calls him Autophues, self-born."

But, if this be the radical idea of kyrios it fails to represent the meaning of Ail (Dr. Thomas invariably transliterates "El" as "Ail," thus spelling the word as it is pronounced. - Publishers.).

Eloahh, Elohim, Shaddai, Yahweh, for all of which it is often, or rather, most frequently, and almost generally used. The word Adon is properly enough rendered by Lord, in the singular; but not the other words, for which it should never be used. Elohim, Shaddai and Adonai, are plural names of Deity, and require terms of the same number to express them.

The common use of God in the English language, is as little justifiable as that of the word Lord. "God" in Saxon, signifies good: a meaning which cannot possibly be extracted from any of the names recited above. God is indeed good, exclusively so, as we are taught by Jesus himself while in the mortal state. In this sense, he refused to appropriate the word good, saying to one who styled himself so,

"Why callest thou me good? No one is good except one, that is God" (Matt. 19:17).

Jesus was free from personal transgression, and therefore in character good; as he did not refer to character, he could only have had reference to nature, or to God as substance. He is good in the sense of being deathless or incorruptibility itself; which, when Jesus refused the term, did not define the nature the Spirit was tabernacling in, and was encumbered with.

"In me, that is, in my flesh," says Paul, "dwells no good thing."

God, then, whether in the sense of moral, or of material goodness, while it is a term expressive of the truth, is not a translation of any of the words before us; and where used in their stead, leaves the mind in the dark concerning the things they were intended to convey.

To Melchizedec and Abram the alone "Good One" was known as Ail Elyon, "Most High Ail," which teaches by implication that there were Ailim of inferior rank, station and power. Melchizedec, King of Jerusalem, was the priest of the Highest Ail, whom he understood and proclaimed to be konai,

"Possessor of the Heavens and Earth."

Phanerosis

Melchisedec titles

àA comparison of the title of Jesus, the Son of God, as high priest of the order of Melchisedec and the titles of the priest who blessed Abraham after his victory over the Elamitish invaders (Gen. xiv.) indicates the relationship of the one to the other.

As to the great worthy of old who officiated in the days of Abraham :

Priest of the Most High God.

First, by interpretation, King of Righteousness.

Then, King of Salem, which is King of Peace.

Without father, without mother. (That is to say, his priesthood is not by genealogy.)

Like unto the Son of God . . . Heb. 7. 1-3.

But however great this man was, Christ Jesus is greater, although the latter appeared upon the scene centuries after the former; for He is the only begotten Son of God and because He alone gave Himself as a sacrifice to deliver His fellows from death. (Heb. x. 12, 14.) See

also the following testimonies :

He is the only begotten SON OF GOD (John 1. 18 ; Heb. 1. 1-5, 7.)

The Righteous ONE (Zech. ix. 9 ; Jer. xxiii. 5-6 ; Acts iii. 14 ; vii. 52 ; xxii. 14 ; 1st John ii. 1 ;

James v. 6).

The Prince of PEACE (Isa. ix. 6).

The Prince of LIFE (Acts iii. 15)

The firstborn of the dead (Rev. 1. 5, R.V.)

Therefore the man as priest of the Most High, who brought forth bread and wine wherewith to bless Abraham, does not take precedence of the One through Whom he himself shall ultimately be blessed. By interpretation Melchisedec was " King of Righteousness

" ; by interpretation he was " King of Peace " ; and by adoption he must become a " Son of God" for Jesus, as we have seen, is the only begotten Son of God.

Again, the fact that the Melchisedec mentioned in Genesis precedes in point of time the appearance of his High Priest presents no difficulty in the way of the pre-eminence of the latter over the former; for just as the Father's intention to bestow a favour is spoken of

as though that favour has already been given while yet centuries must elapse before the promise could be fulfilled (see Rom. iv. 17; Heb. xi. 9-12, 13, 39, 40), so the titles of the Melchisedec priest in Genesis are prospectively bestowed upon him.

In due time the High Priest was manifested, and in due time all members of the order will be united in Jesus Christ. Thus that great worthy of old who met Abraham with bread and

wine after his return from smiting the Elamitish invaders (Gen. xiv.) is a member of that other fold whose constituents are to be united with those who followed the Good Shepherd in the days of His ministration to Israel. (John x. 16.)

The Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy 5.2.3.

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high El, possessor of heaven and earth:

20 And blessed be the most high El, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

The beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babylon - Gen 10: 10

'in the land of Shinar'

àThat's the first time the word 'kingdom' is mentioned in the bible. It's the engrandisment of the system of the serpent power and now it's being established, a rival system of truth; a rival system of religion, a rival system of politics and government, a rival king and a rival priest, they were all here in Babylon, lead and championed by Nimrod.

Two rival systems that were going to be established in the earth. If Babylon was going to be the first of those two, the second was going to be Israel! Genesis 14 - the battle of Chedorloamer coming with his confederates against Abraham.

'And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar'

...that's the seed of the serpent power coming against Abraham.

'Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; he was the priest of the most high God'.

So Melchizedek was a king and priest, as Nimrod was in Babylon.. the seed of the woman power in Salem, and the seed of the serpent power in Shinar in Babylon! In fact, Melchizedek goes on to say verse 19,

'he blessed Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.'

... this was the king of Salem rejoicing over the king of Shinar.

Verse 20

'And he gave him (Melchizedek) tithes of all the spoils of victory',

so Melchizedek shared in Abram's victory over the king of Shinar. The seed of the woman experienced a moment of triumph over the enemies, not just of Abram, but of the truth. Recorded in these two passages is the beginning of a great rivalry which will come down through time - a rivalry between Babylon and Israel to the time of the end when

Revelation 18 verse 21,

'A mighty angel [will take] up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all'.

By way of contrast holy Jerusalem, descends out of heaven from God. The one city is cast down with great violence that it might be never seen again, the other descends out of heaven from God to be perpetuated forever.

This is the whole controversy of the bible, brethren &sisters. The story of the two seeds, but rendered down now to two crucial names, BABYLON VS ISRAEL in terms of the nations, or BABYLON VS JERUSALEM in terms of the cities.

My notes from 'The foundation of the world' by Bro Roger Lewis

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto Yahweh, the most high El, the possessor of heaven and earth,

àIn Gen. 14:22, Abram is made, by transcribers, to call the "Most High Ail" by the name Yahweh; though we are expressly told in Exodus 6:3, that Abraham did not know Him by that name. He knew Ail, and he knew Shad-dai; but with any superior or divine being of the name "Yahweh," he had no acquaintance.

The name has no doubt been substituted for Adon, Lord or Ruler, which the Most High is by virtue of His being the owner or sole proprietor of the heavens and the earth. The use of the word Yahweh is evidence that Genesis was compiled at least 430 years after the events of Chapter 15.

Abram, the Hebrew, spoke the language of Moses. This is evident from the narrative, and the name applied to altars and to God by his immediate family. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all called upon the Possessor of the Heavens and Earth, by the word Ail-Shaddai, which in Gen. 17:1, He bestowed upon Himself, saying ani-ail-Shaddai-

"walk before Me, and be thou perfect";

and in verse 3 it says, "and Elohim talked with him": and Ail told him through Elohim that He would be to him lai-lohim, "for Elohim and to his seed after him" (verse 8).

As often as this word ail passed before his mind, the idea of POWER, might, strength, would stand out in bold relief. "It always," says Gesenius,

"presented to the Hebrews the idea of strength and power."

Nebuchadnezzar is styled in Ezek. 31:11, Ail Goyim, the Mighty One of Nations; and in Isaiah 9:5, Messiah is termed Ail Givbor, the Mighty Warrior.

Shaddai is plural, and comes from the root shadad, to be strong or powerful. Shaddai signifies mighty or powerful ones. Several appeared to Abraham, and three of them at one time condescended to partake of his hospitality. Their power is tremendous when they choose to exert it upon the wicked, as in the instance of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, cities of the Plain; but towards "the Heirs of Salvation" they are ministering spirits, beneficient and good (Heb. 1:14; 13:1).

But, by what were these Shaddai so powerful that they could stand by cities and send them into the abyss profound? Was it by their own power, or by the power of another? By the power of another certainly; even by His power who is higher than they; and who, being Possessor of the Earth hath alone the right to lay its cities in heaps, and sweep it with terror and distress.

And because this is the fact, therefore, the Possessor of the Heavens and the Earth announced himself to Abram, Isaac and Jacob, as Ail-Shaddai, or THE STRENGTH of the POWERFUL ONES, whose might he had witnessed in the destruction of the Plain.

Phanerosis - Hebrew titles of the Deity

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.