Genesis

THE crowning hour of success is a good test of character. "If sweet are the uses of adversity, equally valuable in other directions are the uses of prosperity." How a man behaves at the moment of victory often affords a supreme revelation of character and spiritual power. We shall see this in the case of Abraham as we study his interview with the two kings.

Gratitude alone would suffice to prompt the king of Sodom to go out to meet Abraham after his return from the slaughter of the kings who had caused such havoc to Sodom and Gomorrah. The meeting was the natural and fitting recognition of the great services rendered.

The other king (of Salem) who met the victorious patriarch was a very different personage, and in his capacity as priest of the Most High God brought forth bread and wine to greet the conqueror of the enemies of his country. It was another new experience to Abraham to be met by two kings and to be acknowledged by them before all their retinue as the savior of their country.

Who is this personage suddenly entering patriarchal history? He seems to have been one of the faithful few; one of those who still retained the purity of their allegiance to the one true God. He was a link with the past age of Shem, and amidst the surrounding departure from God still witnessed to the reality of the Divine presence and its claim upon men. The title of God is very noteworthy, God Most High (Hebrew, El Ely on). This title is very rare in the Old Testament, though it is found no less than four times in the verses now before us. The idea underlying it is that of God as the Supreme Being who is above all local deities. We have its New Testament equivalent in the Highest (Luk 1:32; Luk 1:35), and the Most High God (Act 16:17). Melchizedek was "a priest of God Most High" and the root idea of priesthood is access into God’s presence and the representation of man to God (Heb 5:1). His typical character will come before us at a later stage.

We are told very distinctly that Melchizedek blessed Abraham and prayed the blessing of God Most High upon him, at the same time blessing God for the deliverance of Abraham. This solitary figure of the king thus standing between God and Abraham is very striking, and shows that true religion was still possible and actual outside the Abrahamic relation to God. The twofold blessing of Abraham and of God is also to be noted. When God blesses us it is a blessing in deed, a benefaction. When man blesses God it can of necessity only be a blessing in word, a benediction. Here we have both.

Abraham’s attitude of immediate willingness to receive blessing is a striking testimony to his consciousness of the spiritual position and power of Melchizedek. This Divine blessing was received before his spiritual testing in the interview with the king of Sodom, and doubtless played its part in preparing him.

Abraham further acknowledged the position of the king of Salem by giving him tithes of all that he possessed. This reference to tithing is exceedingly interesting as suggesting the pre-Mosaic observance of this acknowledgment of God’s claim on our gifts.

If the principle of tithing was thus previous to the Mosaic economy there seems no reason to deny its essential fitness to-day in the economy of grace; the tenth being regarded as God’s absolute right before any question arises about free-will offerings and other spontaneous gifts of the redeemed and grateful life.

It was natural and inevitable that the king of Sodom should forthwith acknowledge his indebtedness to Abraham. The patriarch was now a great man in the eyes of the king, and it was the monarch’s obvious duty to show his gratitude and appreciation of Abraham’s great services. He proposed to Abraham the retention of the goods rescued from the Eastern kings, and that the men and women of Sodom should be handed over to their rightful sovereign. This was a natural and customary method of dividing the spoil after a victory, and from the point of view of existing usage it was as natural for the king to make the proposal as it would have been simply natural for Abraham to accept it. But Abraham had other than natural principles to guide him.

He would not take anything, even the smallest gift. He had not entered upon the expedition for his own advantage, and consequently there was now no question about the spoil.

It would seem from the words, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, that Abraham had anticipated the possibility of this or some similar proposal and had provided beforehand for it. Having thus faced the matter quietly before God, he was able to decide at once as to his course of action. It is always of great spiritual value, whenever the opportunity is afforded us, to face probable contingencies beforehand, and decide in the sight of God what we shall do if and when the event takes place.

Lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich. His position in the sight of God was such that he could not endure the thought of being in any way dependent upon the king of Sodom. It is often found that when men rise in the world there are others who are only too ready to boast of the way in which they have helped these men in their upward progress. Very often this boasting is as natural as it is allowable, but it has its limits in any case, and sometimes it is very easily exaggerated. In Abraham’s case help from the king of Sodom would have been help from a quarter to which he did not desire to be indebted. The worldliness of his nephew Lot had already shown the spiritual dangers of intimacy with Sodom.

The only qualification that Abraham makes is with reference to the Canaanitish young men who had assisted him in the victory, and who naturally would not be guided by the principles that actuated him. On their behalf he is willing to receive some of the spoil. Spirituality is thus able to discern and distinguish between circumstances when we are called upon to act for self and on behalf of others.

1. The contrast of Abraham’s attitude to the two kings.

How very remarkable is this difference! To the king of Salem the acknowledgment of dependence; to the king of Sodom the assertion of independence. To the king of Salem the admission of inferiority; to the king of Sodom the attitude of equality. To the king of Salem the spirit of humility; to the king of Sodom the attitude of dignity. How striking and really wonderful is this perfect balance of qualities!

2. The explanation of this striking attitude.

Again we have to penetrate below the surface to discover the secret of Abraham’s wonderful bearing. The explanation, of course, is faith and as we study the subject somewhat more closely we find a fourfold action and activity of Abraham’s trust in God.