In the meantime back at the ranch…

We pick back up with the story of Abraham. Excuse me- Abram. The name change hasn’t happened yet.

Just a quick reminder- we’ve been in Job for a while and got in the groove of reading Hebrew poetry. We’re back in Genesis now so let’s put on our Historical Narrative hats.🎩

Historical Narrative is descriptive not prescriptive.

The most common mistake I observe when people discuss the Bible’s historical narratives is assuming that the story is prescriptive- like a prescription from your doctor. “Take two verses with meals and call me if it gets worse.” A prescription is a written directive. When a biblical narrative tells you that David had multiple wives, that’s not a command or even a concession to “go and do thou likewise.” It’s just telling you what happened. Narratives are stories. Look for themes, prophetic picture hints, and facts like names, dates, places. Details are important. We read and interpret poetry differently. Remember yesterday’s post about Leviathan? (Just wait til we get to Song of Songs… ho boy. 😳). The Prophets are approached differently still. We’ll get to them this summer. For now- narrative.

Abram is in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, near the Euphrates River in modern Iraq. Yes. The Father of our faith was an Iraqi. God speaks to him. I for one would love to know what that looked like. Dream? Vision? Voice in his head? The embodied Word of YHWH? However it was. It was clear and convincing. God tells him to move to a land that would be revealed to him. So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly… No. Wait. That was Jed Clampett. But maybe Sarai was perched in a rocking chair on a wagon. Maybe. We don’t know. Although, I’d say that based on everyone’s response to her appearance, she probably looked a lot more like Ellie Mae than Granny. Sarai was a looker. Even at 65!

God gives Abram 2 promises which theologians call “The Abrahamic Covenant.”

• Promise 1: “And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
  ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬
• Promise 2: “And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.” Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭7‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

No timeline. No detailed plan of execution. Interesting promises to a childless couple who have hit the years of senior discount at the local buffet.

There’s a side-quest down to Egypt due to famine where Pharaoh is so taken with the gorgeous Sarai that he adds her to his harem. In Pharaoh’s defense, she and Abram denied they were married and claimed to be siblings- which was a half-truth. She was his half sister. God sends plagues- which I find rather prophetic. Hmm. Plagues on Pharaoh’s house because he has taken the family of Abram as a slave? Where will hear about that later? The plagues make Pharaoh suspicious about the new gal. He gets the truth out of Abram & Sarai and sends them packing. They return to Canaan.

By this time Abram and his nephew Lot have so many cattle, they cannot live together anymore. They separate. Abram gives Lot first pick and he chooses the lush valley near what is now the Dead Sea. It wasn’t so dead then.

“And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.” Genesis‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Why do you reckon that little detail is in there about the Canaanites and Perizzites? Remember who their ancestor is? Hint- it was back at the end of the flood story. It was that rather sordid tale of Ham getting his mother pregnant. Remember how I said that the son from that union- Canaan- would be a problem for the rest of the book? Well here we are. Ancient people would’ve read that line and groaned. Canaanite tribes were not very nice neighbors. Abram seems to be able to avoid them at this point in history. But they’re there. As you read, when an odd detail like that is in the text, let’s not drive by at 80mph and mistake it for background blur.

Lot’s choice turns out to be a problem- as all choices motivated by “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” turn out to be. Lot settles in the infamous Sodom.

> K. Gonna pause here for quick vocabulary lesson. “Infamous” is not a more forceful way to say “famous.” I hear it used like that all the time, even by very intelligent people. We all know that famous means “well known.” Infamous does not mean “really really super well known.” Infamous means “well known for a bad reason.” Its shares the same root as “infamy.” Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are days “that will live in infamy.” Famous for a bad reason. Ok. Good talk. Glad we cleared that up. Let’s save the planet one vocabulary word at a time. 🦸‍♀️

Chapter 14 – War of the Kings

Sounds like a Peter Jackson trilogy, right? And it could be with only the first 6 verses. The background here is kinda like the American War for Independence. The colonies rebelled and King George goes to war. That’s the scenario. Five Kings in the territory now known as southern Israel and Jordan spent twelve years under the thumb of the ancient Persian King Chedorlaomer. (Difficult Bible names practice time. You got this. Ked-or-law-oh-mer. Try Again. Good. Now faster. See? Good job. )

Chedorlaomer joins forces with 3 other kings, the rulers of Shinar (Tower of Babel/Babylon), Ellasar (probably where the modern “stan” countries are: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan…), and Goiim (which is an untranslated Hebrew word that means “nations” and is the word used by modern Jews to refer to Gentiles.)

So these middle eastern kings are headed to face off with Sodom and its allies and on the way they defeat four tribal groups. Seems insignificant enough. Til you dig into what the names of these tribes mean. Buckle up, it’s fixin’ to get weird.

Oh, this would be a good place to mention that the “im” ending in Hebrew is plural. You pronounce it like eem in seem not im as in him. K? Seraph, singular. Seraphim, (serapheem) plural. Cherub, singular. (It’s pronounced kheroov – the b is soft, but basically the word sounds kinda like that phony chocolate: carob. No connection to caribou that I know of.) Cheruv. singular. Cherubim, (kheruveem), plural. Got it? Good.

You feel smarter now don’t cha? 🤓🏆

Ok- weird tribes…

Rephaim – This is a clan of giants. That’s literally what the name means. It’s a good time to review Genesis 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 14 is the “and also after that” part. More to come.

Zuzim – plural of ziyz (zzzz) which is translated elsewhere as “wild beast.” If your tribe is called “wild beasts”, that’s a problem. These may have been animal-human hybrids like in this account: “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.” 1 Chronicles‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬ ‭KJV‬‬ (and yes, fully aware of all the other views on this text.)

Emim – The name means terrors. Plural. Not one terror. Many. Good heavens.

But my absolute favorite…

Horites – “cave-dweller” or “troglodyte.” Y’all. These are cavemen. CAVE. MEN. In. The. Bible. 😳

We need to stop imagining the ancient world of the Bible as basically like ours except that everyone dressed like Arabs. They thought differently. They ate differently. They practiced magic and sorcery openly. Priests communed with spirit-entities. And apparently some of the shenanigans from Genesis 6 continued, albeit on a much smaller scale, and without the assistance of fallen angels, who, according to Jude, were locked up for those shenanigans.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭KJV‬‬

By the way- notice the connection to Sodom & Gomorrah? Both the rebel angels and the residents of the doomed cities participated in similar sin: “going after strange flesh.” That’s King James for sexual union with an incompatible being.

Lot, the nephew of Abram lives in Sodom. Sodom is one of the rebel colonies. Chedorlaomer and the eastern kings arrive after killing giants, wild beast men, and troglodytes. Um, I think they’re a pretty tough bunch. The kings of Sodom & Gomorrah make a show of going out to battle but quickly retreat and leave their citizens to be captured and deported. But…

“When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. Then he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭14‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

K, let’s get our heads around this for a sec. How rich would you have to be to maintain your own private militia of 318 warriors? Abram trails them north for more than 215 miles and recovers… everything. Impressive. He defeats a 4-king confederacy that had just beat a bunch of wild giants and cave men. With 318 guys. They must’ve been like the Navy Seals or the Green Berets. Or, maybe they were like Gideon’s 300 guys who defeated the entire Assyrian Army because God was their General. However it was, let’s update our imagination about Abram. He is rather like a Sheik. He’s not a lone guy with a tent in the desert like we remember from Sunday school. His encampment had to be VAST.

As they return, one of the Bible’s most enigmatic figures makes his one appearance.

“And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.” Genesis‬ ‭14‬:‭18‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

You may already know that “Salem” would later be known as Jeru-Salem. Who is this Melchizedek and how does he know to do priest stuff in Jerusalem? I’ll share what I know. (Much of this content comes from the research of Dr. Ken Johnson).

Melchizedek is likely a title, not a name. Remember when we talked about Melek back in Job? We said it meant messenger but could be used for king or priest. Zedek means “righteousness.” Here’s what raises eyebrows:

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ (emphasis mine)

Say what?

Who was that masked man?

Do your own homework on this but my understanding is that the Melchizedekian priesthood (which is like saying the Messenger of Righteousness Priesthood) began in Eden with Adam. Its unique characteristic is that it combines the roles of king, priest, and prophet. Only one person fills this office at any time. The role was passed down through the 10 antediluvian (preflood) fathers that we went over in Genesis 5. After the flood, Noah named Shem as his successor. Shem was still alive at the time of the Battle of 9 Armies. He was the oldest person on earth. No one alive can remember a time when Shem wasn’t there. But his parents are gone. Lifespans dramatically shortened after the flood. Generations have come and gone but Shem has those preflood genes of Grandpa Methuselah. He’s like the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going. That may be what the Hebrews passage means.

The Melchizedekian Priesthood is sidelined when Jacob splits up the roles between Judah for the kingship and Levi for the priesthood and doesn’t designate a tribe to be the prophet. Those three roles remain separate until Jesus reunites them as the final King-Priest-Prophet of Righteousness.

But whoever this figure was, he brings Communion. That’s right. Bread and wine. The Eucharist. The Lord’s Supper. This is roughly 2000 years before the Christian Church. Why? Of all the possible things… Why not meat and gourds? Why not berries and nuts? Why not fish and oil? Fish & chips? Peanut butter and jelly?! This is not coincidence! In the middle of giants, Sodomites, cavemen, and looting armies, there’s a guy in pre-Jerusalem who is God’s priest-king-prophet and he has bread and wine.

🥖🍷

No matter how bleak; no matter how surrounded by evil, the saints have an eternal Priest-King-Prophet in the heavenly Jerusalem who visits with us over a refreshing fellowship meal of bread and wine. And He pronounces a blessing over us.

And from this moment forward, Abram will indeed be very blessed.