Graceful War (Genesis 14)

Graceful War

Chedorlaomer was a powerful king with powerful friends. He had waged war and won much.

When a rebellion broke out, of which Sodom was a part of, he crushed the rebellion in the Valley of Siddim.

Lot, the nephew of Abram, was taken too. Before this war Lot and Abram had to separate ways. They had so much property and livestock that their herdsmen started fighting over land. So Abram had given Lot the choice of land. Lot chose the best and richest land without even taking Abram into consideration.

Then he also decided to live in Sodom, a city that was very wicked.

But now he was taken captive by Chedorlaomer:


[Gen 14:11-12 NKJV] 11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.


Abram was brought up to date of the situation:

[Gen 14:13 NKJV] 13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they [were] allies with Abram.


Abram had some allies too. 

Now Abram could’ve reasoned that Lot deserved this and that he brought it upon himself. Didn’t he choose to take that land? Didn’t he choose to live in wicked Sodom? They were separated, what did he have to do with Lot?

Besides, it would probably take much resources and effort to even do something about the situation. What if he tried to free Lot to lose his own life in the process?

But Abram did not hold any grudge against Lot. In fact, he still loved him.


[Gen 14:14-17 NKJV] 14 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained [servants] who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which [is] north of Damascus. 16 So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. 17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that [is], the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who [were] with him.


Abram did not do this for the goods.
It says:


[Gen 14:21-24 NKJV] 21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself." 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 "that I [will take] nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that [is] yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich'-- 24 "except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."


He purely did it to liberate the captives, especially Lot.

Lot did not deserve all this energy and effort from Abram. But Abram did it out of love anyway.

Though we should always be hesitant on the issue of war, we should take a similar spirit as Abram.

Time and effort should be put even in those who do not deserve it. Let us not just hold a grudge against them for some mistakes they have made in the past.

This may feel unfair. But it is exactly what grace is like.

Christ Himself did a similar thing. He went to war against Satan, lost His life in the process, but He did it to free the captives of Satan, us. Did we deserve it? By no means.

Did He do it to gain something out of it? Besides gaining us, not really. 

Abram shows the same principles in his own life. And as children of Abram we should follow in his footsteps.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Blessing in the Curse: When God Curses (Genesis 3)

When God Curses In Genesis 3 the first curses of God are given. God hates sin and it is in His character and nature to punish it. His principle is against evil. But even in these first curses His love can still be seen. With the thorn comes the rose and God can be graceful in His stern justice. First the serpent is given a curse, who does not even get the time to give an answer for what he did unlike Adam and Eve: [Gen 3:14-15 NKJV] 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You [are] cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." Because you have done this . Done what? Deceived humanity and brought it to destruction. In God’s hate for what Satan did He shows His love for humanity. He actually cared about th...
Read more

Curses for the Genders (Genesis 3)

Curses for the Genders When humanity had sinned God cursed the man, woman and the serpent. We will here look at the curses given to the man and woman specifically since these reveal how people often work. They show how the relation between the two sexes often are. This is not the ideal, since it came from a curse. But it is what it is and God Himself had given these curses for a reason. In fact, in the curse for Adam He explicitly says it was for his own good. For the woman it is said: [Gen 3:16 NKJV] 16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire [shall be] for your husband, And he shall rule over you." For this article the last part is especially interesting. The wife would desire the husband. Closely related to this and what may explain which kind of desire this is, is that the husband would rule over the wife. Now this rule has often been abused. But when it is within God’s law it is a...
Read more

Loneliness and Marriage (Genesis 2)

 Loneliness and Marriage On the sixth day God created men. But this did not make it perfect and very good yet. Something was missing. [Gen 2:18 NKJV] 18 And the LORD God said, "[It is] not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." Adam, the first man, was still alone. To put this loneliness into perspective Scripture gives this context: [Gen 2:19-20 NKJV] 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought [them] to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that [was] its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. The animals could not relate to Adam. They could not be His ‘helper’ or sustainer. No one was comparable to him. Not only are animals a different species, they were on a different level too. They did not have his intellige...
Read more