Responding

DEVOTION

GENESIS

RESPONDING

Gen 14:17-20

17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

NIV

There has been much written about this man Melchizedek without any doubt all that has been written is pure conjecture. We do have some more information about him in the letter to the Hebrews. As we cannot find any record of his genealogy in the scripture and the writer of Hebrews bear truth to that as well saying that he had no father nor mother but was a priest of God most high forever.

Heb 7:1-3

7:1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

NIV

Other portions declare that Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. But all this is not about how this man was a type of Christ in that Abram was blessed by him, he offered Abram communion, so to speak, at least that is what some would proclaim, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything. All this happened before the law was given to Moses about the tribe of Levi being the priests of Israel and their brothers, the other tribes of Israel were to bring a tenth of everything to them. So is this a lesson about taking communion with bread and wine, as established by our Lord at the last supper? It seems this is what this king of Salem, or Jerusalem did in his blessing of Abram. Is this another parallel that we should be making? But what is our lesson? Our lesson is in the blessing given to Abram. Melchizedek speaks these words:

"Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand."

Yes, he blessed Abram or rather stated that Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. Melchizedek did not actually bless Abram, but God did. He also praised and blessed God Most High. The reason Melchizedek blessed or kneel down to God, praise God, as the Hebrew word here denotes, is because God delivered the enemies into the hands of Abram. What we were told in the previous section was that Abram took 318 trained men and routed the armies of the kings who had captured Lot. We were not told that Abram consulted God about what he was going to do or asked God to be with them, to protect them, to go before them, to help them in the battle to rescue Lot. Yet, here we are told that is precisely what happened, God delivered them into the hands of Abram. Are we then to conclude Abram did ask God, but we are not privy to that conversation? Should we conclude that God was watching out for Abram because he was God and he had established a covenant with Abram, made him a promise and therefore God was going to make sure he was victorious, with or without Abram asking? That is a fact whether it is stated or not. Once God makes a promise, he keeps it. Once God establishes a covenant with people and the people accept that covenant, which is the key here, God keeps his hand upon their life. When God made his covenant with Noah, he did just as God said. When God established his covenant with Abram, he left his family, his country and his father’s household and took off for lands unknown following God. Yes, a few detours, but all together Abram became Abraham, God making the final covenant with him putting his middle name, JHHW, into Abram’s name. It is somewhat weird that we have heard unbelievers using the term Jesus H Christ as a swear word. How do they know about the H? But the point we need to see is that God has established a covenant with us through Jesus. We need to accept that covenant, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But once we do that God will also deliver our enemies into our hands. It is not that we should be at war with other people, taking all their possessions and people as Abram did. But we are at war with him who would destroy our souls.

Eph 6:10-13

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

NIV

God will give us the victory as he gave Abram the victory. We cannot do this battle on our own strength or power for if we do we will surely not win. But God has made a covenant with us and he will ensure we not only survive, but we will win this battle. He has provided us with his armor, not armor built with human hands, but armor built by God. Because he ensures our victory, should we not also give him the praise, honor and glory bringing him a tenth of everything? It was not part of the law when Abram did so. Now that the law has been completed in Jesus Christ, and we are no longer under the law, does that mean we no longer have to bring a tenth? If it was done before the law, should it not be done after the law? This is an ongoing discussion among many scholars and theologians. It was a natural response of Abram.  He was not told by Melchizedek that he needed to offer this tenth. Although in most churches today we are told it is the mandatory requirement for membership. Pastors preach about tithing in order either make us see we should, or provide the needed expenses of the church. But the point should be that it is a natural response to God delivering our enemy into our hands. It should be a natural response for God giving us the victory over death, the other enemy of our soul. He has given us eternal life. If for no other reason, which in all reality there is no other reason, we should bring our tenth to the Lord. In most cases that would be church, but that may not be the only place we can bring this tenth. But this is a covenant between God and us, therefor we stay within this covenant. God has delivered us, set us free, and redeemed us. He has paid the price. How do we respond?