Sunday School - Genesis - After the Flood 10

[0:00] Roger, would you ask God to bless our time this morning, please? 14 of Genesis. We had a little break, so a reminder here.

[0:18] So, Abram and Lot, their herdsmen were quarreling. Why? I think I heard it.

[0:33] What did you say, Steve? There wasn't enough room for everybody. They had amassed large herds, and if you have herds, you have to have pasture, don't you?

[0:49] So, they were quarreling. And so, Abram tells Lot, make a choice. Where'd Lot go? The plains of the Jordan, because it was well watered and fertile.

[1:05] And he headed toward Sodom. And Abram took off, and God said, hey, take a walk about.

[1:17] I'm going to show you a little bit of the land that I'm going to give your descendants. Okay, so, chapter 14. Let's look at those first seven verses there for a moment.

[1:31] Chapter 14, verses 1 through 7. Take a quick read of that, if you would. Now, there's going to be a quiz on all those names, by the way.

[1:42] Because I don't know how to pronounce them. Those first four verses set the stage for this part of the history.

[2:11] They set it in a historical context, and they set a stage that's going to play out here in verses 5 through 7.

[2:26] Verses 5 through 7, you see, they tell about the commencement and the early maneuverings.

[2:36] So, let's look at that. There are five kings involved in an alliance. And his name, Chedorlaomer, is kind of the chief.

[3:00] Basically, the plains tribes down here, these people, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and Zor, they had already been conquered.

[3:15] Now, at this time, we're not talking about warfare like we think of warfare, either for the purpose or for the way it's conducted.

[3:29] When it says that they conquered, they're talking about they went in, beat them up, and said, I'll tell you what, if you pay me, if you give me your lunch money, I won't beat you up tomorrow.

[3:43] That's basically what's going on with these. See, when it says they served Chero, that guy? Cherry?

[3:57] When they served him, what that means is they paid him a tribute. They gave money toward it. That's going to happen to Israel later on regularly, isn't it?

[4:11] Through the judges, we see that. And then it's going to happen to some other countries in the days of King David and Solomon. They're going to exact tribute from others.

[4:24] That's kind of what is going on. So, that's the stage that's set. So, these five cohorts up in the north, they're going to move against these people because for 12 years, what happened?

[4:44] What was going on? 12 years, they'd been under, well, under his rule, but they'd been paying tribute.

[4:56] Yeah, they'd been subject. They'd been paying tribute. And they decided after 12 years, enough's enough. Now, they rebelled.

[5:09] They didn't send the tribute. So, now these five are going to swing down and make war on them. And so, verses 5 through 7 tell about the commencement of the campaign and the early movement.

[5:24] So, he swings down through the mountains there. He knocks off all these people on the way. Basically, he's just fighting his way through. And they come down into the south and they're going to swing north back toward home.

[5:39] And now, we've got the stage set for the battle of, or battles that are ensuing here. 8 through 12.

[5:49] So, look at verses 8 through 12 now. When they say kings, they're not talking about huge kingdoms right now.

[6:05] Not for the most part. That will be coming in later days when they get big. But right now, these are cities.

[6:16] That's the wrong thing.

[6:46] I'll trade you. This should get interesting. So, there are four kings, Sodom and Gomorrah and Zohar and I forget, and one they call the, who was the other one?

[7:16] Sodom and Gomorrah and Zeboim. Okay. Zeboim and Zohar.

[7:28] So, those four array and battle against, I'm pretty hot. Those four array and battle array against the five that are attacking, right?

[7:45] Do we see that? Okay. So, what happens then? They chased out.

[8:02] Who won this fight? What? The visitors or the home team?

[8:15] The visitors won the fight. What was the result in that? Okay.

[8:28] The result was they plundered, which is, that was typical of the warfare.

[8:39] They seized whatever they could seize and carry. And they took it away. Along with Lot and his household, plus many of the women and children and personages that hadn't been killed or wounded.

[9:00] They took with them. They're going to make them what? Right. They're going to become servants. They're going to become slaves to the winners.

[9:14] So, what happened to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, they were kicked out.

[9:28] Well, we usually say they fell into the tar pits in the plains. Well, that may have been miring, but when it says, when you hear they fell in a battle, what does it mean?

[9:42] Yeah, they weren't just left there saying, ah, sorry about your luck. So, because you notice the next phrase says, the survivors.

[9:57] The survivors fled. Right? Right? So, now, Lot and his household and all his goods and possessions are going along with these five back up north.

[10:13] All right. So, now we're at verse 13. Look at those, at least the next three or four verses there.

[10:24] 13 through 16. 13. Where's Abram? Excuse me.

[10:41] He's at the plain of Mamre. Who's Mamre? We don't really know, but yeah.

[10:56] Okay. Maybe I should say, what is he? What is he? He's an Amorite. Now, what else do you see there?

[11:09] He's the brother of whom? Eskel? And the brother of Aner?

[11:20] And these were allies or confederate with Abram.

[11:30] So, these are Abram's friends. They have made, literally, when it says they were confederate, they are covenanted. They made an agreement.

[11:41] They're in alliance. They're in alliance. You can kind of tell you need some sort of protection in these kinds of territories, don't you?

[11:53] And in these days. They were in alliance. Remember, though, these are Amorites. So, things weren't always as they will be later, are they?

[12:07] The Amorites are descendants of whom? Let's go back a few chapters, remember. Canaan.

[12:19] They're descendants of Canaan. Now, when Canaan's father despised his father Noah and told his brothers about Noah's nakedness in the tent, Noah cursed whom?

[12:53] Yeah, it was Noah's grandson by the name of Canaan. So, now we're in the country, the land that is named after that man, Canaan.

[13:13] And the Amorites are descendants of Canaan. But right now, they are allies, or at least these three are allies with Abram.

[13:28] Okay. And all we're doing is really looking at detail to help me grasp a picture of what's going on. And so, later on, when I read these, I say, wait a minute.

[13:43] What happened to that alliance? And, in fact, before long, God's going to say something that's kind of, that's going to refer to the Amorites.

[13:58] Yes? No.

[14:13] That's, later on, in fact, God told them specifically, don't you ever go back to Egypt for alliance.

[14:23] Your help is me, not Egypt. Since you brought that up, I wonder, I wonder how many times I wind up going to Egypt for my thinking rather than to God.

[14:42] You know, when we're raised, that's, we just came through a family conference. Conference. That's one of the many reasons it is so important for the family foundation, isn't it?

[14:59] Because as they grow, that which surrounds them is often what they go back to to think about or to get counsel.

[15:11] And God told Israel, don't you go back to Egypt for counsel or for succor. You stay with me.

[15:21] Now, we're jumping way ahead in history. But, that's a good point. And it's a good point for me to learn, or a good principle for me to learn. I shouldn't go to the world for my counsel.

[15:39] I should go to the word of God, right? Should I or shouldn't I? By the same token, the church, I mean, we're all wounded people in some fashion, are we not?

[16:00] We all have scars. Some wounds are worse than others. But the church should not be sending her wounded to the enemy for healing.

[16:16] Let's remember that in the church. There are things that can be helped. If your problem is physical, you can go to a doctor who's not a Christian.

[16:27] If your problem is spiritual and mental, you don't go to a worldly person for help. You go to God and the church.

[16:38] And the church should be nurturing that. So, that was unintended, free of charge. No, no.

[16:49] That's quite alright, because it's something for me to remember. Okay, so, these guys are allied. What happens now?

[17:02] What happens now? These three are allied with Abram. He's dwelling by the oaks in the plain of Mamre.

[17:17] Okay, a refugee comes. Verse 13, right? A refugee gets there. What does he say? He tells them the news.

[17:32] This is what happened. So, what does Abraham do about that? He gathers his...

[17:46] Now, what does it say about these people? Oh, well, they're trained. What else? Right.

[17:58] Abraham's a fairly wealthy man, because how many people is he taking with him just in his retinue? 318, and these are men at arms.

[18:10] This isn't all of his servants. This is a pretty good-sized business that he's running, isn't it? And these are...

[18:21] So, he takes 300-plus men with him, and then whoever the others take. So, he's going to pursue them, isn't he?

[18:35] What happens? Okay, they went as far as Dan. Now, Dan is, at this point, called Laish, as far as we know, because in Judges, they changed the name to Dan when the tribe of Dan takes over this area.

[19:02] So, they changed the name then. But, remember that Moses is describing this geographically to a people who need to know where it is.

[19:16] If you read a history of Ohio and you talk about the coming of the settlers encroaching into the Indian territories, they might say, and they went as far as Piqua.

[19:37] Now, Piqua wasn't Piqua at that time. It was, although the name's derived from the Indian term Piqua way.

[19:50] So, that's described so that I know about where it is, right? That's what Moses is doing here for them.

[20:03] So, they pursue him as far as Dan and then what? Does he watch them or does he fight them?

[20:20] He fought them. Okay. So, they, they, he smote them, is the literal translation, and pursued them which is almost as far as Damascus.

[20:44] This is, this isn't just me driving to Springfield. These people are on foot or on camel or on horse. And, they go, they go as far as almost to Damascus.

[21:02] And, what, what's the result of this? everything was recovered. Everything was recovered.

[21:16] And, now, they're heading back home. All right? Now, we're at verse 17.

[21:29] Chapter 14, verse 17. Look at those next verses, 17 through 20 at the least. How does this play out?

[21:53] Let's get an overview first, and then let's start digging. Let's dig. Let's dig. Let's dig. Let's dig. Let's dig. Let's dig. here's the victors.

[22:05] They're coming back. They're bringing all the stock. They're bringing all the goods. Bringing all the booty back. What happens? Now, wait a minute.

[22:17] The king of Sodom, what happened to him? Yeah, this is probably a different guy. This is probably a new king.

[22:29] because the old guy probably was killed. Yeah, he was, well, and he and the king of Gomorrah were stuck in the tar.

[22:42] They got bogged down in the tar pits, and it says they fell there. It doesn't actually say they fell into the tar pit.

[22:56] It says that the valley was full of tar pits, and there they fell. That's what it actually says. Well, the kings did.

[23:06] It does say the kings did. It does say, if you go back earlier in the chapter. So, now, so the king of Sodom comes out to see him.

[23:25] What happens? let's continue the play out. Let's continue the play out. Another figure comes into play here now that we haven't seen before.

[23:47] Who's he? He's the king of Salem. Salem will become known as Jerusalem later.

[24:02] So, this is the king of Salem. There's another interesting thing there that you see about Melchizedek. By the way, this is the first time the word priest is used in scripture.

[24:17] scripture. Now, there were priests before, but this is the first time it's used. We know there were priests before because Abraham worshipped, in Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham worshipped what?

[24:33] Idols. The ziggurats? There were priests that officiated there. So, there were priests, probably pagan as well as godly.

[24:45] there are some who would say that Job functioned as a priest to his family because of what he did with the sacrifices and the prayers for his family.

[25:00] But there's no official priesthood because there's no nation of Israel. And without the nation of Israel, there is no exodus.

[25:11] And without the exodus, there is no Sinai. And without Sinai, there is no law. Which established the priesthood and the function of the tabernacle, right?

[25:25] So, this is predating that. But we do know that Mechizedek is not only a priest, but he's a specific type of priest.

[25:36] He's a priest of the God Most High. He's a priest of the true God. Okay. So, he is a king priest of the city of well, what will be later called Jerusalem.

[25:57] Yes. God is a God Most High is more than God of all mankind.

[26:23] He is God, period. God is the one and only true God. He is later on, God's going to describe Himself more fully.

[26:38] He's going to say, what is the earth and all the fullness thereof? To whom does it belong? the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.

[27:02] So, in that sense, now, when I use God's people, I normally am talking about the church now, am I not? God. But in this sense, God Most High, everyone belongs to God.

[27:27] God is God, nobody usurps His throne. In fact, we see how it plays out. He allows Satan to operate against him, but in the end, it's going to take one angel to chain Satan, right?

[27:50] Because God is God. And there is no other. Those are His words. So, when He says, God Most High, other people recognize important potentates, and they may worship demons, but there's only one God.

[28:19] And that's God Most High. That's who Melchizedek serves. So, we'll get back to Melchizedek in a bit.

[28:30] So, we're going to get the overview first, so I don't get lost looking at the leaves yet. So, what happens with this?

[28:42] What's Melchizedek do? He blesses Abraham. Remember that because you know a scripture verse that talks about that, that comes much later in the church age.

[28:58] What else? okay, he blesses God, he blesses Abraham. He gives him what?

[29:13] Well, no, no, no. Melchizedek brings out bread and wine, right? Now, who's that for? It's for the troops.

[29:27] It's for his people. Melchizedek is bringing food. And he blesses Abraham.

[29:42] And he blesses Abraham. Right. Probably.

[29:56] Bread sustenance. Now, it could be just bread. But sometimes it's used generically for the whole meal.

[30:09] He's bringing food and drink for the people. Now, who does the blessing here? Because we're going to read that later on.

[30:20] God does the blessing. Okay, I'll give you that. But who pronounces the blessing? Melchizedek.

[30:34] That's important. That will be important because Paul's going to allude to this, remember? It's coming to you, isn't it? It already has come to you.

[30:46] So, he said, by the way, this kind of harks back to what we were talking about, God Most High.

[30:59] Melchizedek's actual words, what were they? Blessed be. keep going. That creator, that is, that is actually, the word is possessor of heaven and earth.

[31:29] Who possesses heaven and earth? God Most High. It's his. By virtue of creation, if no other reason, right?

[31:43] I mean, when there was nothing, there was God. When there were no other, when there were no angelic beings, there was God.

[31:58] Yeah, we better know that, hadn't we, church? When, when there was nothing else, there was, when was there not God?

[32:13] Never. Now, my head doesn't get it, because I think in terms of time, don't I? I think in terms of time, I think in terms of space, but God is not confined by time, nor space.

[32:30] He is confined by nothing that He created. That's why the angels continually cry, holy, completely set apart, right?

[32:45] He is completely set apart. It doesn't mean He doesn't interact. It doesn't make Him static. static. It just means He's not confined at all.

[32:59] That's why He can say, God will be true, though every man a liar. That is, by the way, a dangerous thing for me to stand up and say, well, I don't believe that.

[33:23] Because there is a sense in which the Lord God says, it really doesn't matter whether you believe it. It will not change God.

[33:39] What I believe about Him does not change Him at all. What I believe about Him changes me, makes a huge difference to me, but it does not affect God.

[33:59] God does not shake in His boots no matter who rebels, as it were. He is not going to be taken from His throne. And I find that a great comfort, because when the Lord God says, you are justified in my son Jesus Christ, then in Romans 8, we can truly say, who then will take us from the love of God?

[34:31] Will all this distress that I see going on in the country separate me from God? Nothing. I find that a wonderful comfort.

[34:44] And it's going to be expressed more often here. So, Melchizedek blesses Abram, offers the food, and then, well, let's start digging into that.

[35:16] Yeah, God delivered your enemies into your hands. Right. Now, what's Abram do? He gives a tithe.

[35:27] Now, did he go to a Baptist church? No, that was a common thing. Tithe means literally what?

[35:40] A tenth. He gave a ten percent. He gave ten percent. So, that, I can't resist it, I'm going to have to say it.

[35:55] Ten percent is a legitimate tie to the superior. Well, it's a legitimate tie to the superior.

[36:09] Later on, when Joseph is in Egypt and the famines are going to start, what does Joseph do during the famine?

[36:23] what's he do? He stores up all the food, but then what's he do with all that food?

[36:36] He starts selling it. What's he, they don't have any money, who's he selling it to? Egyptians, what are they buying it with? Their land.

[36:47] And he says, I'll give you seed and you give me 20%.

[36:57] And so they became the slaves of the Pharaoh. You can study up on that. So, when you think about your tax liability, think about that.

[37:12] So, I couldn't resist it. I had to go there. Yeah. So, we know who went to meet him. We know what happened.

[37:24] Yes, Steve. Yes. Yes. ma'am.

[37:44] Yes. and we got from that to today's system. Okay, this is a singular event in this case, but it doesn't mean that it is a unique event because giving of a 10% was apparently a common or not an uncommon practice at least.

[38:10] And later on, though, later on in the Law of Moses, God is going to require of Israel tithes, but they aren't going to stop at just an overall 10%.

[38:26] They're going to be tithe after tithe after tithe. And most of those tithes are going to go to the support of whom? The priests, the Levites.

[38:40] Who are not going to be given land, right? The Levites are not going to be given, the tribe of Levi will not be given a stake of land.

[38:53] So the other tribes are supposed to support them. Paul will talk about that to the Corinthians about why you support your leaders in the church, your pastors.

[39:08] Well, Well, we do know for sure that in Hebrews, it says specifically why his sacrifice wasn't.

[39:49] Because he didn't offer it in faith. But there's nothing there. By the way, there was nothing, even though Noah gave a burnt offering when he left the ark, there's nothing there that said this was a sin offering, not for Cain and Abel.

[40:06] So I have to infer pretty heavily to get to a sin offering kind of idea. Because we do know without the shedding of blood in Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

[40:21] Okay, we get that. But there's nothing in Genesis that revealed that it was for a sin offering that they brought.

[40:31] And it didn't even tell us that God required them to bring an offering. It just says it was a voluntary thing. And not all the offerings of Israel that are required are going to be blood offerings.

[40:47] There are going to be grain offerings, and wine and strong liquor offerings, and there's going to be all manner of offerings. Some of them are going to have to be completely destroyed, that is, burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.

[41:03] Some of it will have to be given to the priests to be divvied up. Some of it they're going to sit down and eat on the spot. That's for another study.

[41:17] The offering system, there are 630 laws approximately. I haven't. I've tried to read them all, but I sure don't remember them all.

[41:29] I'm thankful I'm under grace. Since we brought it up, the calendars just passed Yom Kippur, right?

[41:45] Was that, is it Yom Kippur? What's the Day of Atonement? Is that Yom Kippur? Okay, the Day of Atonement.

[41:56] By the way, the Day of Atonement was the only fast that was required of Israel. All the others were feast days. Day of Atonement's a fast day.

[42:09] What did they remember? Their sin. The Day of Atonement was to remember their sin. The first sacrifice the priest had to make was for what?

[42:23] Himself. And for his sins and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. They had to make sacrifice for the sins that they didn't even know they did.

[42:43] That's why God is, when he showed his grace in what Christ did on the cross, it is amazing.

[42:56] It is amazing. Because I can transgress and not even intend to.

[43:07] So when the next time I say, well, God knows my heart, I need to shiver a little bit and say, yes, indeed, Roger, he does know your heart.

[43:18] Far better than you do. Aren't you glad I did something about that? Aren't you glad? Are you?

[43:30] Is it not wonderful that we have justification in Christ? Because here we see playing out what it would be like without it, don't we?

[43:45] So, anyway, so Melchizedek blesses Abram, blesses God, Abram pays him a tenth. Now, you've been stirred.

[44:00] Melchizedek's mentioned in scriptures again. Oh, wait a minute. And we're, oh, I'm glad you looked at that. But we're not going to do there today.

[44:12] Have a wonderful day. Have a wonderful day.