PART III 2 Genesis 14: War with the Eastern Kings

http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/sower/gen/gen12.htm

Genesis 14: War with the Eastern Kings

 

 

There was a battle, and it came about in this way. There were a group of five cities in the plain of Jordan, where Lot had made his home: Sodom and Gomorrah and three more. They had been paying money each year to a king who lived far away, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. Now our map will help us. Can you find Elam? The king of Elam came with three other kings who were his neighbors, to conquer again the cities which would not pay, and make them pay the tribute. The dotted line helps us to follow their journey. It is in part the same as the journey that Abram took from Ur to the land of Canaan. The eastern kings conquered other peoples on their way, who were living in the country east of Jordan, from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea. These were giant people, with names hard to read and to remember. Then they conquered the Horites, or cave-dwellers, who lived in the mountains which afterward belonged to Edom. There were caves in these mountains and narrow clefts between the rocks, and in later days elaborate temple fronts were cut out in the cliffs in the rock city, Petra. Then the kings from the east went out to the westward into the open pasture country (Are you following the dotted line?), then turning back they came to Kadesh, at the south of the land of Canaan, which we learn more about by and by, when the children of Israel come from Egypt. The Amalekites might be met almost anywhere in this southern country, for they were wandering people. Amorites means the highlanders, people of the hills. The eastern kings now came to Hazezontamar, the one lovely spring on the west shore of the Dead Sea, which was otherwise a desert region,^, and so up to the plain of Jordan and the five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah and the rest, which it was their special object to reach and conquer. The "slime-pits" were springs of bitumen, like the asphalt of street pavements. There are such springs in the neighborhood now, which throw up lumps of jet, which float on the Dead Sea. The eastern kings conquered in the battle, and taking captives and goods they started northward to Damascus on their way home. And how about Lot, who was living near Sodom? He was taken and his family and goods. The king of Sodom and some others fled to the mountains.

Now word was brought to Abram, living under the trees at Hebron. He gathered a little army of his own men and his neighbors, and went after the eastern kings. Read verses 13-16 and follow the line dotted on the map. So Lot and his family were rescued and brought home. And a beautiful thing happened on the way, the meeting with Melchizedek, king of Salem, in the king's dale, which from old times was a name for the Kidron Valley at Jerusalem. Melchizedek seems like the wise men who came to worship the Baby Lord. He gave Abram bread and wine, which were sacred in the old days, as they are with us in the Holy Supper, and gave him a blessing. And Abram gave Melchizedek as a gift to the Lord tithes, a tenth, of all.

So we think of Lot again living in the plain of Jordan, and Abram in his tent under the trees at Hebron.

Junior

We must have the map before us for this lesson. Show me the eastern country from which Abram came. There were four kings in this eastern country, and Chedorlaomer was the chief. His rule reached to the Mediterranean from Elam east of the lower Tigris; Ellasar was probably near by; Shinar was the district of Babylon, and "nations" mean probably the tribes of northern Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Cities in the west, which had served the king of Elam for twelve years, rebelled and refused to pay tribute. After two years, the king of Elam came with others from the East. He must move as Abram did, northward along the Euphrates to go around the desert. Near Carchemish he would cross the river and march southward by Damascus, and down on the eastern side of the Jordan. The first people who tried to stop his march were the Rephaim in the high pasture country east of the Sea of Galilee. (Josh. 12:4) Further south the Zuzim stood in his way, probably the same as the giant Zamzummim, where afterward the Ammonites lived. (Deut. 2:20) And further on were the Emim, a people also accounted as giants, in what afterward became the home of Moab. (Deut. 2:10, 11) The conquering army marched down through the country east of Jordan and came into the mountain gorge which leads from the Dead Sea southward. At the side of this gorge is Mount Seir where the Horites the "cave-dwellers" lived. Afterward the strongholds of the people of Edom were in these mountains. Still later the beautiful buildings of Petra were carved out in the cliffs as we see them in pictures. The cave-dwellers were overcome. Then the kings turned westward through the open pasture land of Paran, and again turning they reached Kadesh where, by and by, the Israelites camped when they came from Egypt, while their spies explored the country. (Num. 13:26) Here the Eastern kings scattered the Amalekites and then turned northward, this time through the wilderness west of the Dead Sea. This barren country falls steeply down to the Dead Sea, which lies thirteen hundred feet below the ocean level. Half way along the western shore there is a spot of green watered by the "spring of the kid," Engedi. Here was Hazezon Tamar, "groves of palms," whose mountaineers the Amorites were overcome by the conquering army. Next Chedorlaomer was met, probably in the plain at the head of the Dead Sea, by the kings of five cities, among them the king of Sodom with Lot. The "slime-pits" were holes where were springs of bitumen, like the asphalt used in paving. (Gen. 11:3) There are still such springs under the water of the Dead Sea, and lumps of black bitumen are found floating on the surface. The kings of the plain were overcome in the fight, and the victors started on their journey home, marching northward to Laish, afterward called Dan, under Mount Hermon.

Word was brought to Abram of what had happened and how Lot was carried away. Where was Abram living? By the terebinths at Hebron. He armed his tribe, three hundred and eighteen men of his own household, and hurrying northward with his little army and other men of Hebron he overtook the kings camping under Mount Hermon. He chased them to Hobah "on the left hand," that is on the north, of Damascus, and brought back Lot and all that the kings were carrying away. The king of Sodom came out to meet Abram in "the king's dale," which is probably the Kidron Valley under Jerusalem. Melchizedek also met Abram there. He was the king of Salem, no doubt the same town which was afterward called Jerusalem. Melchizedek was "the priest of the most high God." He seems like a relic of the good people of long ago who had lived in this land and worshiped the Lord. He blessed Abram, and Abram gave him tithes (tenths) of what he had taken, which was a grateful confession that the Lord had given him success.

This is our first story of warfare, the first warfare which has come into the story of Abram. We ask ourselves what warfare there is for us in Christian life, and what warfare there was for the Lord. The warfare is with things that are evil and largely in our own selves. "A man's foes shall be they of his own household," in his own heart and mind. And did the Lord have battles to fight with evils? He did, and much more severe than the battles which any of us must fight, and much more severe than we should suppose from the little that the Gospels tell us of His temptations and His nights of prayer. The truth is that even as a Child He met and overcame evil spirits, who were giants in their pride and strength. Get someone to read you the last ten lines of A. 1690, which tell how severe and how continual the Lord's temptations were. And the Lord fought all His battles from love for us, that He might help us to conquer in our battles. If we do our part and trust His help, we cannot fail. In the story, Abram and his neighbors must give help from the hills to make victory perfect. We, too, must look to the hills for help, to the Lord and heaven.