Who Gets the Credit

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

WHO GETS THE CREDIT

Gen 14

14:1 At this time Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim 2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea). 4 For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar. 8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar — four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. 11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. 13 One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. 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. 21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself." 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.' 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me — to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share."

NIV

How do we make any sense out of this except the hearts of men like to war? We see this desire to gain more power and possessions that belong to others, more control of land and people. There are way too many kings in this narrative, some who make allies, and war against others who make allies. However, the bottom line here is that Lot got taken up in the taking of land and people, and Abram heard of the trouble his nephew Lot had gotten into. Interestingly, much time must have passed on in that Abram had over three hundred trained fighting men that had been born into his household. It is almost that Abram had become a country of his own. If there were three hundred and eighteen trained fighting men in his household, how many more untrained men would there have been, plus how many had wives and children, plus the others that would have been in the household, that number could be as large as a small city. So Abram takes up the cause of his nephew and he and his fighting men rout all those kings and take back Lot in the process. However, look at the righteousness of Abram as he is unlike any other. He wants none of the spoils of war, except the tenth of it he gives to the priest of God Most High, Melchizedek, who was also the king of Salem, or king of Peace, who had no beginning and no end as we know from Hebrews chapter seven. We wonder, by what is recorded that Abram said about not wanting someone to believe he made Abram rich if that was not a bit prideful. It is right to act in righteous defense of family, as Abram did for Lot, but it is not right to walk pridefully because of one’s great act of righteousness. Have we not learned to walk humbly before our Lord and before men? Have we not learned that boastfulness is wrong? Although it is better to give than to receive, it appears Abram was willing to give that tenth to Melchizedek and give everything else to the king of Sodom. However, we still detect that prideful speech of Abram. Let us remember, that even in our good deeds, our motivation should not be to receive praise from men or boast of our deeds, which gives way to pride. We must always be cognizant that all we are, all we do, and all we have is totally due to the hand of God, and not of our own efforts. The question is always; who gets the credit?