Total Genesis

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:3a . . I will bless those who bless you, and curse him that curses you;

The promise above doesn't apply to all of Abram's posterity. We can be sure that's
true because the convent that Abram's posterity agreed upon under oath with God
per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy specifies a number of curses
upon them for non compliance. (The curses are on public display at Ex 34:6-7, Lev
26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26 & Deut 28:1-69) God dare not curse Abram himself for any
reason, any at all, because then He would have to level a curse right back at
Himself.

Abraham is exempt from the curses catalogued in the covenant primarily because
he wasn't included in it, viz: that covenant wasn't his agreement with God, rather,
it's his posterity's agreement. (Deut 5:2-3 & Gal 3:17)

● Gen 12:3b . . And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

The Hebrew word translated "in you" is a bit ambiguous. It can also mean "through
you" and/or "by means of you".

Abram eventually found out that the above prediction concerned a great grandson
of his.

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." (John
8:56-57)

The "blessing" in focus is no doubt the one below.

"And now The Lord says-- He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to
bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in
the eyes of The Lord, and my God shall be my strength) --Indeed He says: It is too
small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles,
that you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isa 49:5-6)

● Gen 12:4a . . Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him,

Abram didn't go forth exactly when God told him to, but he finally did; and that's
what counts. Jonah didn't go forth when he was told to go either, but God prepared
a large fish to persuade him to stop fooling around and get a move on; and he
finally complied.

● Gen 12:4b . . and Lot went with him.

That was an err on Abram's part. He was told to leave his native land and to leave
his father's house. He wasn't supposed to take any relatives along with him: and
Lot wasn't a child; he was a grown man capable of operating a ranch on his own so
it's not like Abram would have abandoned Lot an orphan.

● Gen 12:4c . . Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

That hardly seems like a sensible age to reinvent one's self and begin a new life;
but Abram was relatively young yet in his own day, and still had 100 years of life
left to go. (Gen 25:9)
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:5 . . Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the
wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran;
and they set out for the land of Canaan; and they arrived there.

I'm pretty sure Sarai anticipated this move. Abram had probably been talking about
it ever since God appeared to him in Ur so I seriously doubt it disrupted her life like
a bolt out of the blue.

From Haran (Haraan Turkey) it's well over 400 miles south to the West Bank in
Palestine. You can imagine the difficulty of making such a trip what with no
automobiles, no trains, no buses, no taxi cabs, no airplanes, no paved-surface
highways, and no graded roads. It was all trails and dirt paths; and all on foot, or
on the back of an animal, or in a cart pulled by an animal.

People traveled like that for millennia before powered conveyances were invented
and became widespread. Practically all modern means of travel were invented in
the 20th century AD.

In only just the last 120 years or so of Man's existence has there been airplanes
and horseless carriages. Man went from the Wright Brothers to the moon in just
sixty-six years.

The previous thousands of years before Karl Benz's production of gasoline-powered
motorwagens; people were very slow moving, and travel was arduous,
inconvenient, and totally earth-bound. In those days, a pioneer's greatest obstacle
to migration was distance.

It's significant that Abram wasn't required to dispose of his worldly goods in order
to follow God. Abram later became an exceedingly rich man and God never once
asked him to give it all away to charity.

Riches are bad only if they have such a hold upon a person that they must
compromise their integrity to hang on to it. For that person, it's better to be poor.
But it would be wrong to impose poverty upon everyone because not everyone is
consumed with grasping, avarice, and greed.

● Gen 12:6 . . Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree
of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

The Canaanites were Canaan's descendants-- Noah's bad-apple grandson.

The Canaanites probably didn't have complete control of the land at this time,
merely a presence, same as Abram. But they were definitely in progress of getting
control. By the time Joshua invaded, roughly four hundred years later, Canaan's
clan was pretty well rooted in Palestine.

Abram's welfare wasn't improved by coming out west to Canaan. His home town Ur
was a modern city with decent accommodations. But out on the frontier, it was
rugged. Palestine in that day was no Utopia. It was more like the conditions which
faced our own early day American pioneers and settlers. There were communities
scattered here and there, but for the most part, it was wild, wooly, and untamed.

Abram, now paying attention to God, is going where he's told and moving in all the
right directions. The next two moves are preceded by altars; upon which, we can
safely assume, were offered the traditional Noah-style burnt offering. Altar sites
were hot-spots; viz: locations for making wireless contact with God; sort of like
what the Temple at Jerusalem became in later years.

● Gen 12:7a . .The Lord appeared to Abram

Exactly how or in what form God appeared to Abram isn't said. God's appearances
aren't always visual. Sometimes an appearance is merely an audible voice; or a
dream, an angel, a burning bush, a breeze, a column of smoke, or even an eerie
glow.

● Gen 12:7b . . and said: I will assign this land to your heirs.

This is the very first instance of a Divine promise made to Abram regarding
ownership of Palestine; and it probably bounced right off his skull like a sonar ping.
But later on, God will repeat that promise again and again until it finally sinks in.
Repetition is, after all, a proven learning aid.
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[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:7c-8 . . And he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with
Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to the Lord and
invoked the Lord by name.

Eusebius Onomasticon, placed Bethel twelve Roman miles north from Jerusalem, on
the road to Neapolis. The site today is represented by the modern town of Beitin, a
village which stands on a knoll east of the road to Nablus; roughly 2½ miles
northeast of Ramallah El-Bira.

Ai hasn't really been pinpointed yet but is identified either with the modern Haiyan,
just south of the village Deir Dibwan or with a mound, El-Tell, to the north.

This is only the second time in Scripture where it's said human beings called upon
God by a name. The first was Gen 4:26. What name might Abram have used to
invoke God? The name Jehovah (a.k.a. Yahweh) was well known by this time, and
Abram addressed God by it on numerous occasions. (e.g. Gen 13:4, 14:22, 15:8,
21:33, and 24:3)

God's demeanor towards Abram was sometimes that of an officer in wartime who
doesn't tell his troops in advance the location of their next bivouac. Instead he
orders them to march in a certain direction, only later telling them when to stop
and set up camp. So Abram went in the direction he was commanded to go; not
really knowing his destination or the why. For the time being, Abram didn't need to
know the why-- he only needed to know which way.

Free now from the harmful influence of his dad's pagan idolatry, Abram revived the
religion of his sacred ancestors and began calling upon God the same way they did;
and he got his travel orders that way too. Each time he worshipped at the altars,
God told him what to do, where to go next; and sometimes even shared some
personal data along with His big plans for Abram's future.

Abram was doing pretty much what Adam did in the garden; meeting with God in
the cool of the day; so to speak. Only Abram did it differently because he was a
sinful being, whereas, in the beginning, Adam wasn't; so he didn't need an altar, at
first.
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[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:9 . .Then Abram journeyed by stages toward the Negev.

The Negev's region is located today in the southern district of Judah; generally
considered as beginning south of Dhahiriya; which is right in between Hevron and
Be'ér Sheva; and as stretching south in a series of rolling hills until the actual
wilderness begins, a distance of perhaps 70 miles.

To the east, the Negev is bounded by the Dead Sea and the Arabah, and to the
west the boundaries are generally Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It's a land of
scanty springs and sparse rainfall. The character of its soil is a transition from the
fertility of Canaan to the wilderness of the desert-- essentially a pastoral land,
where grazing is plentiful in the early months and where camels and goats can
survive, even through the long summer drought.

Today, as through most periods of history, the Negev is a land for the nomad rather
than the settled inhabitant, although abundant ruins in many spots testify to better
physical conditions at some periods. The east and west directions of the valleys, the
general dryness, and the character of the inhabitants, have always made it a more
or less isolated region without thoroughfare.

The great routes passed along the coast to the west or up the Arabah to the east.
Against all who would lead an army up from the south, this southern frontier of
Judah presented a tough obstacle in the old days. The Negev is slated for a make
over when the Jews return to their homeland.

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and
blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout
for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of The Lord, the excellency of our God." (Isa 35:1-2)

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning
sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where
jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow." (Isa 35:6-7)

Lebanon's glory of old was timber; especially cedars (1Kng 4:33). Sharon was
known for its flowers (Song 2:1) and Carmel for its orchards (Isa 33:9). How God
will get timber, flowers, and orchards to flourish in the Negev should be interesting.

NOTE: The modern State of Israel has managed to make a percentage of its
badlands productive by means of bore holes, diversion, desalinized water, recycled
effluent, and drip irrigation. But those are desperate measures rather than
miraculous providence. Israel has accomplished amazing things via technology, but
their technology is no more supernatural than the science and industry that took
men to the moon and back.

Technology is not the ideal solution to Israel's lack of adequate rain and arable soil.
And I just don't think hydroponic gardening is God's idea of the best way to grow
food. I'm pretty sure He prefers food grown in dirt rather than liquid, and the use of
natural fertilizers rather than chemicals, and prefers His people nourish themselves
with organic foods instead of GMO.
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[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:10 . .There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to
sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Famines back then were usually the result of things like low humidity, lack of rain,
and/or plagues of insects and plant diseases. Egypt had the advantage of a massive
river system from which to draw water for a variety of uses, including irrigation.

Abram fully intended to return to Canaan just as soon as the famine ended. The
move to Egypt was a temporary expedient, rather than the result of irrational
panic. Famine might seem to some as an excuse for Abram to return to Haran. But
Abram wasn't retreating. His destiny did not lie in Haran. It lay in Palestine--
period! --no going back.

I've heard more than one commentator say that Abram was out of God's will when
he left Canaan and moved to Egypt. It is really impossible to know that for sure.
Compare Gen 46:2-4 where God instructed Jacob to migrate to Egypt during a
severe famine.

So, I'm inclined to give Abram the benefit of the doubt. Back at Shechem, Abram
began the practice of erecting altars and calling on grandpa Noah's god. Each time
he moved, he built a new altar. And each time he did that, God gave him new
travel orders. Since the text doesn't suggest otherwise; it should be okay to
assume Abram went down to Egypt under the very same divine guidance as the
other places he moved to.

● Gen 12:11 . . As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: I know
what a beautiful woman you are.

Abram was about nine years older than Sarai; so she was over 66 years-old when
this event occurred because according to Gen 12:4, Abram was seventy-five when
they left Haran. Sarai was amazing. Even at 66+ years she drew admiring glances.

Abram's acknowledgement of Sarai's beauty appears to have been somewhat out of
the ordinary; but that's no surprise. After a number of years of marriage, it isn't
uncommon for men to take their wives for granted; and to stop taking notice of
them after a while.

● Gen 12:12 . . If the Egyptians see you, and think "She is his wife" they will kill me
and let you live.

Egypt had an active presence up in and around Canaan prior to Abram's day and
perhaps the conduct of their frontier consulates was somewhat less than honorable
at times. So of course the people of Canaan would quite naturally assume all
Egyptians were pigs just like many people today assume that all Muslims are
vicious because of the Muslim hijackers who flew airplanes into the World Trade
Center.

● Gen 12:13 . . I beseech you; say that you are my sister, that it may go well with
me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.

Abram didn't have to entreat Sarai to go along with his scheme. According to Gen
18:12 and 1Pet 3:6, she regarded her husband's authority above her own.

This scene is useful for exemplifying the gracious nature of this amazing man of
God. Though he was a king in his own home, Abram wasn't an imperious despot
like Kim Jong Un and/or Robert Mugabe who care little for either the feelings or the
welfare of their citizens.

Abram was shrewd. He was not only concerned about saving his skin, but also
about taking advantage of his being Sarai's kin; and actually that part of it did work
out pretty well. However, I would have to scold him on this point because his
conduct reveals a lack of confidence in God's promises back in Gen 12:2-3 and Gen
12:7.

He has to be kept alive to engender heirs so God can make good on His promise to
give them the land of Canaan. No one could kill Abram at this point; not even a
Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Not even The Almighty God Himself could kill Abram at this
point because it was too late for that.

God passed His word back at Shechem that he would make of Abram a great nation
and He can't go back on it without seriously compromising His own integrity. Some
people might be inclined to call that a character weakness; but to those of us
relying upon God to honor His word, His integrity is the very basis of our
confidence. God's promises-- especially His unconditional promises --are not only
human-proof; but God-proof too.
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[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:14 . .When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful
the woman was.

When men talk about a woman's beauty, they're not talking about the sterling
character of a woman like Ruth; no, they're talking about the physical attributes of
a woman like Queen Vashti in the book of Esther. (Est 1:10-11 cf. Gen 6:1-2)

How did the Egyptians see Sarai was a looker? Well, the dress code for women in
her day was nothing like the totally unflattering burqas that Islam imposes upon
women in our day.

Depicted in a wall painting in the tomb of an Egyptian nobleman named Khnum
hotpe, at Beni-Hasen on the Nile river, dating from about 1900 BC, is a Semitic
troupe passing customs to enter Egypt. The women are wearing form-fitting, highly
colored, sleeveless wrap-around dresses whose hems stop at mid calf. Their
décolletage swoops from the left shoulder to just under the opposite armpit, leaving
that side's shoulder completely bare.

Their hair-- fastened by a thin white ribbon around the forehead and covered with
neither a shawl, nor a scarf, nor a hijab --falls loosely over bosoms and shoulders,
and there are stylish little curls just in front of the ears. Adorning their feet are dark
brown, half-length boots. In attire like that, a woman filled out in all the right
places would be very easy to notice.

● Gen 12:15a . . Pharaoh's courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh,

Webster's has a couple of definitions for "courtiers". They are people in attendance
at a royal court; and they are also people who practice flattery. Apparently
Pharaoh's toadies kept their eyes out for appealing women to add to their
sovereign's harem; and thus gain for themselves his favor and approval.

Their sighting of Sarai wasn't just happenstance. Entry into Egypt in those days was
tightly controlled and the only way in was past specified check points. At one time
in Egypt's past, there existed a long chain of forts, watchtowers, and strong points
designed to watch over immigration and possible invasions by the Sand People from
the east. The "wall" stretched north and south across the desert approximately
along the same path as today's Suez Canal. Each check point was manned by
armed soldiers accompanied by officials of the Egyptian government; sort of like
the customs agents and border patrols of the modern world today.

● Gen 12:15b . . and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's palace.

Not good. A woman in the harems of that day would never have a home of her own
nor freedom to travel. Never would she be allowed to pursue romance nor to
associate with her friends and relatives ever again.

● Gen 12:16 . . And because of her, it went well with Abram; he acquired sheep,
oxen, jack donkeys, male and female slaves, jenny donkeys, and camels.

Life is much better when you're connected. Because of Sarai, Abram was a bit of a
celebrity and thus treated very well.

So Abram is getting rich. After all, his sister is in the White House. You think
anyone is going to cheat him or make him pay full price for goods and services? No
way. If anything, people were more than willing to give him lots of expensive gifts
and deep discounts, hoping to remain in Pharaoh's good graces by doing so.

But what's going on in Pharaoh's boudoir at night? There is just no way Abram
could block that out of his mind. If only he had believed God's promise, Sarai's
honor wouldn't be in such immediate danger of compromise. Abram could have
swaggered into Egypt totally fearless of Pharaoh and his country; and kept his wife
within her own camp, safe and snug among her own people.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 12:17 . . But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty
plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

Our hero didn't tell the Egyptians about his adventures with The Lord. All he could
think about was how to survive and stay alive. ¡Error! If he had instead been a
faithful witness for God, rather than looking out for his own skin, I think things
would have gone much better for Abram and Sarai down there in Egypt.

But now they will be forcibly deported; in shame and disgrace. So, instead of being
a positive influence for their god, they became a very bad one. The Lord's people
are supposed to believe in their god, and reflect that confidence amidst others; and
at the very least they ought to be honest. And God's people should never be
reluctant to tell others about their religion even if those others appear to be pagan
heathens.

● Gen 12:18-20 . . Pharaoh sent for Abram and said: What is this you have done to
me! Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say "She is my
sister" so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!
And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, and they sent him off with his wife and all
that he possessed.

One can scarcely blame Mr. Pharaoh for blowing his top. Nobody likes to be duped,
especially monarchs.

Just exactly how Pharaoh found out that Sarai was Abram's wife is not said.
Probably the very same way King Abimelech discovered the truth about her in a
similar incident. (Gen 20:1-7)

From a totally humanistic point of view, it would appear that God is terribly unfair. I
mean, after all, Pharaoh and Abimelech couldn't possibly have known that Sarai
was married, especially when both she and her husband were telling people
otherwise. But these incidents are valuable to reveal that sin is just a wee bit more
complicated than Man's inadequate little sense of right, wrong, and fairness is able
to fully comprehend.

Well anyway; as the texts says: Abram acquired female slaves during this brief
stopover in Egypt; and quite possibly one of their names was-- you guessed it --Ms.
Hagar: the mother of Ishmael, the father of the Arab world; from whence ultimately
came Muhammad and the religion of Islam. Just goes to show that chaos theory
may not be 100% right, but it isn't 100% wrong either.

● Gen 13:1-2 . . From Egypt, Abram went up into the Negeb, with his wife and all
that he possessed, together with Lot. Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and
gold.

The word translated "rich" basically means to be heavy, i.e. in either a bad sense
(burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable);
causatively, to make weighty (in the same two senses); viz: which is why, I guess,
we call the rich "loaded"

So the rich are not only wealthy, but weighted down with baggage too. It was a
piece of cake for Abram to pull up stakes and move around wherever God wanted
before he got so wealthy. Now it will be an undertaking especially without power
tools and mechanized conveyances.

NOTE: Though it's not stated, I think it's probably pretty safe to assume that Lot
enjoyed the very same privileged status in Egypt that his uncle Abram did due to
their mutual relationship to Sarai; so that Lot came up out of Egypt a very
prosperous cattle baron.

● Gen 13:3-6 . . And he proceeded by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to
the place where his tent had been formerly, between Bethel and Ai, the site of the
altar that he had built there at first; and there Abram invoked the Lord by name.

. . . Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the
land could not support them staying together; for their possessions were so great
that they could not remain together.

Pasture can support only so many head of cattle per acre, and the land was just
recently recovering from a famine. Lot's drovers were squabbling with Abram's over
available grass; and probably the available water too. If those men had barbed wire
in that day, I'm sure they would have strung it. Then the shootin' would've really
started up!
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 13:7 . . And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle
and those of Lot's cattle. The Canaanites and Perizzites were then dwelling in the
land.

How do you suppose that squabbling looked to the pagans? When God's people
can't get along, outsiders become disgusted with them and they sure won't be
influenced for God in a good way when there's fighting amongst themselves like
that.

Years ago, when I was a young welder just starting out on my own, I rented a small
room in a daylight basement from a man who was the senior pastor of a medium
sized church in the Portland Oregon area. He and his wife radiated the luster of
polished spirituality whenever I spoke with them out in the yard, but in my location
under the floor of the house, I could overhear their bitter quarrels upstairs behind
closed doors. Was I favorably inclined to attend their church? No.

● Gen 13:8-9a . . Abram said to Lot: Let there be no strife between you and me,
between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before
you?

Palestine was still pretty much a wild frontier in the 20th century BC. Actually very
little of it was private property. And what with no Bureau of Land Management, the
region out west from Ur was pretty much up for grabs to anyone who had the
moxie to take it. Abram and Lot remind me very much of early day American
pioneers and cattle barons.

● Gen 13:9b . . Let us separate.

It wasn't an easy thing for Abram to be firm with his kin, and it was a weakness in
his spiritual life from day-one. He and Sarai were supposed to leave their kin and
come to Canaan alone. He wasn't supposed to take along a nephew; not even his
dad. But Abram just couldn't leave Lot behind. So now he and Lot are separating
with bad blood between them. And Lot's future would become very uncertain in that
pagan country away from his uncle Abram's patronage.

● Gen 13:9c . . if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.

Even though there was some bad blood now between Abram and Lot, the old boy
remained a gracious man. Being the senior of the two, Abram could have claimed
first dibs on the land. But he waived the privileges of rank, and gave his nephew
the choice. But, in point of fact, Abram made Lot a promise that he could in no way
guarantee to honor; because it was God who ultimately dictated where Abram was
to dwell in the land.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 13:10 . . Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was the whole
plain of the Jordan, all of it-- this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah --all the way to Zoar, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.

The Jordan Valley slopes southward like a ramp from an altitude of roughly 685 feet
below sea level at the Sea of Galilee to an elevation of 1,384 feet below sea level at
the Dead Sea. Water was Lot's primary interest and there was plenty of it down
there in that valley 4,000 years ago. Along with overflow from the Sea of Galilee,
was an abundance of wadis and streams draining into the Jordan Valley from the
highlands.

In its heyday, the Jordan poured about 1.3 billion cubic feet of water per year into
the Dead Sea. Today-- due to dams, diversions, and pumping --only about 2 or 3
percent of those ancient billions reach the sea. In the last century alone, the Sea's
level declined 80 feet in just the sixty years between 1939 and 1999.

Eighty feet may not seem like much depth, but when it's considered that the
surface area of the Dead Sea is roughly 235 square miles; we're looking at
something like 3.56 cubic miles of water. If all that water were to be packed into a
single cube, it's sides would be 1.527 miles in length, i.e. 8,062 feet. There are
currently no man-made structures on earth that tall.

In Abram's day, the Jordan Valley in the region between the Dead Sea and the Sea
of Galilee was well watered, fertile, and very appealing to a cattle baron like Lot. It
had some pretty good jungles too: home to lots of fierce lions at one time.

NOTE: The Israel of today is just a dried up husk of its former environmental glory.
For example: Israel's lions, now extinct, once inhabited forests (Jer 5:6) mountain
caves (Nahum 2:12) and the Jordan Valley (Jer 49:19). Israel's bears (2Kgs 2:24)
were eradicated in the early 20th century. The closest kin to the bears that once
roamed wild there are the Syrian brown bears kept in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.

What the world sees today in Palestine little resembles the land of milk and honey
into which Joshua brought Moses' people some 3,500 years ago; and there's their
own breaches of the covenant to thank for it.

"Even all nations shall say: Wherefore hath The Lord done thus unto this land? What
meaneth the heat of this great anger?

. . .Then men shall say: Because they have forsaken the covenant of The Lord God
of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods
whom they knew not, and whom He had not given unto them: and the anger of The
Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in
this book" (Deut 29:24-27)

A menu of the curses is on public display at Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26, and Deut
28:1-69.

● Gen 13:11a . . So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and Lot
journeyed eastward.

Today a descent down to Jericho from Bethel (modern Beitin) would be close to a
4,000 foot drop in elevation. Whooee! That'll sure make your ears pop!

● Gen 13:11b . .Thus they parted from each other;

To me, it would have made better horse sense in a foreign land to consolidate their
holdings-- sort of an Abraham & Lot Inc. --instead of maintaining two separate
independent enterprises. But I guess Lot had ambitions and wanted to be his own
man.

Either Lot had more mettle than uncle Abram; or was just downright reckless
because he had the moxie to go off on his own into a totally strange region with
absolutely no assurance that God would travel with him.

Explorers like Columbus, Cortez, Balboa, and Magellan had that kind of nerve; they
were strong, arrogant, and confident. But I don't think Abram ever was like that. I
seriously doubt he would have left Haran at all had not God called him to it. I
believe it was only the assurance of divine patronage that gave Abram the courage
to travel far from home in that day.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

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● Gen 13:12a . . Abram remained in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the
cities of the Plain,

Cities in that day didn't in any way resemble the huge sprawling metropolises of the
present. We would no doubt regard them as little more than fortified hamlets.
Some of the cities of the plain were Sodom, Admah, Zeboiim, Gomorrah, and Bela;
which is Zoar. Jericho was in existence then too and no doubt a major population
center in those parts.

● Gen 13:12b . . pitching his tents near Sodom.

Logistically that was a pretty sensible arrangement. By living amongst those cities,
Lot had a ready market for his livestock; and a source of goods and services he
could use out on the ranch. There was something special about Sodom that
magnetized him though because he eventually moved his family into town.

I think Mrs. Lot may have had a little something to do with that. Not too many
women enjoy rough-country living out in the middle of nowhere. Most prefer being
near the conveniences of neighbors, shopping, and services.

● Gen 13:13 . . Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked sinners against
The Lord.

The precise location of ancient Sodom is uncertain. Some feel it was sited at the
south end of the Dead Sea; but it's difficult to know for sure. According to Gen
14:1-3, the communities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar were
situated in an area of the Jordan Valley the Bible labels "the vale of Siddim; which
is the salt sea". Meaning of course that it was the salt sea when somebody wrote
that section but wasn't always inundated in the ancient past.

The Hebrew word for Siddim means flats; viz: a flood plain; for example river
valleys; which are of course subject to seasonal flooding. Personally, if it were me;
I would have emplaced my community at the north end of the vale rather than
south since the north end was the better location for a ready supply of fresh water
from the Jordan River for homes and farming.

The author's choice of words is curious. The flatlanders weren't just sinners; they
were "very wicked" sinners; and not just very wicked sinners, but very wicked
sinners "against" The Lord; which suggests outright insolence, impudence, and
defiance; viz: standing up to God and asserting one's independence.

FAQ: Were the people of the vale aware that God disapproved their conduct? And if
so; how?

REPLY: According to Rom 2:14-15, God instilled within mankind a natural
understanding of certain matters pertaining to good and evil. In other words; the
Sodomites were aware within their own conscience that their conduct was
unbecoming without a preacher having to come along and tell them. (cf. Gen 3:22)

● Gen 13:14-15 . . And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him:
Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the
east and west, for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever.

Oh the irony of it! If Lot went off only to the Jordan Valley to stake a claim for his
own progeny, then he didn't go far enough away because from Abram's vantage he
could see eastward clear across the Jordan valley and over into Moab (the
Hashemite kingdom of Jordan) and far past the five cities of the Plain. So Abram,
and his progeny, were promised eternal ownership of not only the highlands of
Canaan, but in addition, also the whole Jordan Valley where Lot moved-- and
beyond.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 13:16 . . I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one
can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted.

I just hope Abram remembers what God said the next time he feels inclined to fib in
order to save his skin. Will he never catch on that he cannot die until God makes
good on the promises regarding his progeny?

Abram's biological progeny descend not only from Isaac, but also from Ishmael and
the other boys too. But his progeny shouldn't be construed to be exactly equal to
the number of bits of dust that make up the earth's soil. The expression is a
common Old Testament idiom for very large quantities, e.g. Gen 41:49, Josh 11:4,
Judg 7:12, 1Sam 13:5, 2Sam 17:11, 1Kgs 4:29, Job 29:18, Ps 78:27; et al.

The meaning is that they would simply become too numerous to count. Later God
will liken the number of Abram's offspring to the sand at the beach. Same thing
there too-- not the precise number of grains, but a number so great that any
attempt to count them would be futile; and the stars too, e.g. Gen 15:5.

Abram lived somewhere in the neighborhood of the 20th century BC; roughly five
hundred years after completion of the Pyramid of Khafre at Giza. So Abram lived
about 4,000 years ago. Millions and millions of Abram's kin have lived and died
since then. And it's not over yet, not by a long sea mile.

NOTE: Not only were civilizations in Egypt great at this time, but elsewhere too; for
example the ancient city of Harappa that was once located in the Indus River Valley
of northwest India: a site now located in Pakistan. Harappa was a fairly large city of
something like 23,500 people; and still in its heyday during the time of Abram. And
the Maya, famous for their apocalyptic calendar; were blooming in and around what
is now the Yucatán Peninsula. By the time of Abram, people had really spread out
from the tower of Babel; and world development was happening by leaps and
bounds.

In Messiah's future millennial kingdom, Abram's people will multiply exceedingly
because they will all enjoy very long life spans and engender large families. The
Bible says that a man of 100 years age in Israel will be regarded as a mere child in
that era. (Isa 65:20)

Abram's offspring truly cannot be tallied; not now or ever. Only The Almighty could
ever get the number right because all the souls belonging to Abram, among both
the dead and the living, have become so numerous.

● Gen 13:17 . . Up, walk about the land, through its length and its breadth, for I
give it to you.

It's notable that God said: I give it to you. The land was Abram's possession right
then and there and no one can ever take it away from him. Not even Almighty God
can take it away from Abram now because once The Lord gives His word, He is
bound to it like a ball and chain (Rom 11:28-29). That should be a comfort to
Moses' people, throughout all the ages, that once God gives His word on something,
He has to make good on it.

"May your steadfast love reach me, O Lord, your deliverance, as you have
promised. I shall have an answer for those who taunt me, for I have put my trust in
your word." (Ps 119:41-42)

Although Abram lacked sovereign control over his real estate at the time, it was his
possession nevertheless.

NOTE: God gave Abram a real hope: i.e. something wonderful to expect as opposed
to wishful thinking and/or crossing his fingers. (Heb 11:10)
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 13:18a . . And Abram moved his tent, and came to dwell at the terebinths of
Mamre, which are in Hebron;

Hebron (Hevron) itself is today a city of over 70,000 people located about 20 miles
south of Jerusalem at an elevation of 3,050 feet above sea level. Hebron is sacred
in Jewish history; but a very dangerous place to live today what with all the
Palestinian troubles going on in Israel.

The Hebrew word for "terebinths" basically means an oak, or other strong tree.
Oaks, especially the very old large ones, were important meeting places. Near
where I live in Oregon, there's a site called Five Oaks, named after the five oak
trees that once thrived there. In pre white man days, local Native Americans met at
those trees for pow-wows.

Mamre, an Amorite named up ahead in Gen 14:24, was one of Abram's allies. The
oaks of Mamre were apparently named after him; who some believe was a local
sheik or a chieftain.

In Abram's day; Canaan was thinly populated. It was in fact a land of no law and no
order. The inhabitants lived in a state of constant readiness. The widely scattered
townships were veritable islands in the middle of nowhere; and vulnerable to daring
attacks by the desert nomads. Suddenly, and when least expected, those predatory
nomads sprang upon unwary people with indiscriminate butchery, carrying off cattle
and crops. It was probably for that very reason that Abram was allied with Mamre.

● Gen 13:18b . . and he built an altar there to The Lord.

Abram's altars testify to the fact that his worship wasn't restricted to a special
location. Later; Israel's covenanted law would do that very thing; but Abram wasn't
under its jurisdiction so he was at liberty to sacrifice wherever it pleased him. This
is an important Bible axiom; viz: law cannot be broken where it doesn't exist. (Rom
4:15, Rom 5:13, Gal 3:17)

NOTE: It was in the interests of trade that Egypt, in 3,000 BC, was the first great
power to stretch out its tentacles towards Canaan. A hard diorite tablet, listing the
details of a ship's cargo of timber for Pharaoh Snefru, is stored in the museum at
Palermo. Its date is 2,700 BC. Dense woods covered the slopes of Lebanon then.
The excellent wood from its cedars and meru (a kind of conifer) were just what the
Pharaohs needed for their elaborate building schemes.

Five hundred years prior to Abram's day, there was already a flourishing import and
export trade on the Canaanite coast. Egypt exchanged gold and spices from Nubia,
copper and turquoise from the mines at Sinai, and linen and ivory for silver from
Taurus, leather goods from Byblos, and painted vases from Crete. In the great
Phoenician dye works, well to do Egyptians had their robes dyed purple. For their
society women, they bought lapis-lazuli blue-- eyelids dyed blue were all the rage
-and stibium, a cosmetic which was highly prized by the ladies for touching up their
eyelashes.

The coastal communities of Canaan presented a picture of cosmopolitan life which
was busy, prosperous, and even luxurious; but just a few miles inland lay a world
of glaring contrast. Bedouin attacks, insurrections, and feuds between towns were
common.

A much more profitable enterprise than pillaging villages in malicious and barbaric
fashion, was to hold them hostage; kind of like the plight of the villagers in the
movie: The Magnificent Seven. To avoid being murdered and ravaged, the villagers
gave the lion's share of their Gross National Product to the bullies. It was just that
sort of scenario that resulted in the capture of the cities of the Plain while Lot was
living down there among them.

ASIDE: Though I would not care to live in Abram's day minus our many modern
conveniences; I can't help but envy some of his advantages. There was no light
pollution, no air pollution, no water pollution, no soil pollution, and no aquifer
pollution. All water everywhere was safe to drink without special filtration.

Abram's foods were locally raised and mostly fresh; none were processed, frozen,
refrigerated, or imported. All livestock was grass-fed outdoors on open pasture
lands, and all his fruits and vegetables, all of them, were 100% heirloom.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:1 . . Now, when King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King
Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of nations.

Shinar was the whole of Babylonia; Ellasar was the leading tribe in its southern
part; and Elam was the original kingdom of Persia.

The Hebrew word for "nations" is gowy (go'-ee) a word wielded by some Jews as a
racial epithet to indicate non-Jewish peoples, i.e. Gentiles. But gowy isn't really all
that specific. The people of Israel are called gowy at Gen 18:18, and Jacob, the
father of the twelve tribes, is called a gowy at Gen 25:23. Gowy really just simply
indicates a massing; e.g. a herd of animals and/or a horde of locusts; which when
extended, indicates a particular people; e.g. Iroquois, Maya, Inuit, Chinese, Pacific
Islanders, Japanese, and/or Arabs, et al.

Mr. Tidal was probably the chief of a large confederacy consisting of mongrel, multi
racial people; possibly a tribal area in northeastern Babylonia. America is a perfect
example of Tidal's confederacy because it's a melting pot of assimilation,
intermarriage, and diverse races, cultures, languages, and nationalities. The only
true Americans in America are its indigenous peoples. Everybody else is either an
immigrant or the posterity of an immigrant.

At one time, Amraphel was thought to be Hammurabi; the great king of Babylon.
But it's now widely agreed that Hammurabi didn't arrive on the scene until many
years later. The other kings remain a mystery too, having not yet been
archaeologically identified.

● Gen 14:2 . . made war on King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King
Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar,

None of these men were "kings" in the fashion that we today think of royalty. They
were more like mayors, sheiks, or chieftains. And they didn't actually have
extensive realms; nor very much jurisdiction beyond the very community each one
dominated.

Canaanite cities weren't really serious municipalities; but rather more like fortified
hamlets-- much like the strategic villages in Viet Nam; except that just about all
Canaanite towns were enclosed within stone walls made of rough boulders about six
feet in diameter. Archaeologists call this type of wall a Cyclops wall. The boulder
walls were usually combined with an escarpment and reinforced with earthen
revetments.

Canaanite towns doubled as forts; places of refuge in time of danger, whether from
sudden attack by nomadic bands or from civil wars among the Canaanites
themselves. Towering perimeter walls invariably enclosed small areas, not much
bigger than Ste. Peter's Square in Rome. Each of these town-forts had a water
supply, but weren't really suitable for housing large populations in permanent
homes.

Inside the walls lived only the chieftain, the aristocracy, wealthy merchants, and
even sometimes Egyptian representatives. The rest of the inhabitants of the
township-- the ranchers and farmers, the vassals and the servants and the serfs--
lived outside the walls; often in tents or simple mud hogans or wattle huts.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived in tents; viz: pavilions.

In Tell el-Hesi, probably Eglon, the town proper was just over an acre. In Tell es
Safi, formerly Gath, it was twelve acres. In Tell el-Zakariyah, formerly Megiddo, the
same amount. Gezer, on the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa, occupied just over
twenty acres. Even in the more built up area of Jericho, the inner fortified wall, the
Acropolis proper, enclosed a space of little more than five acres; yet Jericho was an
important city and one of the strongest fortresses in the country.

So the five cities of the Plain were nothing to brag about-- well, maybe in their day
they might have been notable enough amongst their contemporaries.

● Gen 14:3 . . all the latter joined forces at the Valley of Siddim, now the Salt Sea.

In its early geological history; the valley was home to the Sedom Lagoon. Back
then, water from the Red Sea was able to ebb in and out of the lagoon because the
region hasn't always been land-locked like it is today. At one time the Jordan River
had an easy outlet to the gulf of Aqaba. But over time, tectonic forces altered the
region; preventing drainage into the gulf and trapping water in a huge basin from
which they cannot now escape.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:4a . .Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,

Apparently El Ched was the instigator behind the extortion scheme holding Sodom
and its neighbors economically hostage. The other kings who came along with him
to Canaan were just reinforcements to back his play. You have to wonder how The
Ched ever found the Valley of Siddim in the first place and what in the world
motivated him to travel so far from home.

Ched's home turf, Elam, is a well-known tract, partly mountainous, whose western
boundary, starting on the northeast side of the Persian Gulf, practically followed the
course of the lower Tigris. It was bounded on the north by Media, on the east by
Persia and on the west by Babylonia. The Assyro-Babylonians called the tract
Elamtu, expressed ideographically by the Sumerian characters for Nimma or
Numma, which seems to have been its name in that language. As Numma, or Elam,
apparently mean height, or the like, these names were probably applied to it on
account of its mountainous nature.

Another name by which it was known in early times was Ashshan-- or Anshan --or
Anzan, (Anzhan) --one of its ancient cities. The great capital of the tract, however,
was Susa (Shushan), whence its Greek name of Susiana, interchanging with
Elymais, from the semitic Elam. Shushan is famous for its stories of Esther and
Nehemiah.

The modern-day city of Ahvaz Iran is a pretty good locator for the region of Elam. If
you have a map handy you can readily see just how far The Ched traveled to reach
the Jordan Valley. Even if he came straight over by helicopter, it's at least 780
miles.

It's amazing the distances that conquerors traveled on foot and the backs of
animals in ancient times. Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps, with
elephants no less, to attack northern Italy. (The Alps have so eroded since then
that Hannibal would have difficulty following the same track today.) But even just
getting to the far sides of those mountain ranges from Carthage was itself an
arduous journey sans mechanical conveyances. It's no surprise then that the
Second Punic War lasted nigh unto seventeen years.

In the past; it took armies a long time just to get to the battlefields before they
even did any fighting. Invaders from China thought nothing of skirting the
Himalayas and entering India via the Khyber Pass in order to conduct campaigns in
the Ganges River Valley. I really have to wonder sometimes how commanders kept
their armies from becoming discouraged by all that travel and by all that time away
from home.

That situation actually befell Alexander the Great. After eight years and 17,000
miles, his weary army refused to campaign anymore in India and mutinied at the
Hyphasis River (today's Beas). Abandoning his ambition to conquer lands and
peoples more distant to the east of Greece than any man before him, including his
father Philip, the young commander had no choice but to turn back.

● Gen 14:4b . . and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

El Ched wouldn't get wind of that right away of course. There was no email, no
radio, no sat-com, no land line, no snail mail, no cells, nor television, nor telegraph,
nor aircraft, nor motorized conveyances in that day so it would take some time for
an overland caravan to return and tell him how the federation of five towns in the
Valley refused to cough up their payments.

Meanwhile the local sheiks had some time to prepare themselves for attack while
The Ched organized an expeditionary force.

● Gen 14:5-7 . . In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with
him came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the
Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El
paran, which is by the wilderness.

. . . On their way back they came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and subdued all
the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

Ched took no chances that any nearby clans would come to the aid of the Valley
people. So before launching his attack against the Siddim folks, he first subdued
everyone in the region roundabout who might be sympathetic to their cause. Only
then did Ched turned his full attention to the five communities in the Plain. And woe
and behold, Abram's nephew Lot was right smack in the middle of it all.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:8-9 . .Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah,
the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, went forth and engaged
them in battle in the Valley of Siddim: King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of
Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar-- four kings against
those five.

That was probably a wise move. If each town had remained behind its own walls,
defending against El Ched individually on its own, he could have conquered them
very easily one at a time. By combining their forces, and meeting him in the open,
they stood a much better chance. But valley dwellers were no match for a seasoned
expeditionary force. The men from Babylonia were battle-honed veterans.

● Gen 14:10 . .The Valley of Siddim was full of slime pits. The kings of Sodom and
Gomorrah fled and fell into them while the rest fled to a mountain.

The Hebrew word translated "slime pits" is everywhere but maybe three places
translated "well" as in water wells and/or cisterns. Some Bibles translate it
"bitumen pit" but bitumen and slime are interpretations rather than translations.
The pits apparently were natural features in the valley; viz: random sink
holes.

NOTE: The level of the Dead Sea dropped a record five feet in 2012; and in the
years between 1939 and 1999 it dropped eighty feet. The Sea's shrinkage has been
a major problem for decades, with its shoreline retreating as much as a mile in
some spots. The process destabilizes the ground surrounding it, causing massive
sink holes that have actually devoured whole villages.

The Hebrew word for "fell" is very ambiguous and could just as easily be translated
"got down". Compare Gen 17:3 where Abraham fell on his face. In other words: the
chieftains of Sodom and Gomorrah jumped down into some of those naturally
occurring pits like Army fox holes for cover and concealment.

● Gen 14:11-12 . . The invaders seized all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and
all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram's
brother, and his possessions, and departed; for he had settled in Sodom.

Talk about riches to rags! Lot went from a prosperous cattle baron to a slave in
sixty minutes (so to speak).

The word for "provisions" means: food. Victuals were an important spoil of war in
those days when supply lines were totally nonexistent. There were no heavy-drops
from cargo planes, nor helicopters to ferry in MRE's, medicine, FNG's, ammo,
potable water, and things of that nature. When El Ched's army needed re-supply,
they had to take it from their vanquished-- ergo: they were highly motivated;
because if they wanted to eat, then they had to fight; and they had to win.

● Gen 14:13a . . A refugee brought the news to Abram

It was a trek from Sodom to Abram's camp. He was way up in Mamre; and a goodly
portion of it uphill-- very uphill. At any rate, news of Sodom's overthrow meant that
Lot was captured; or maybe even dead. One way or the other, Abram had to find
out if his nephew was still alive-- kind of like John Wayne looking for his two nieces
in The Searchers.

● Gen 14:13b . . the Hebrew,

This is very first appearance of the word "Hebrew", which is 'Ibriy (ib-ree') and
means: an Eberite; viz: a descendant of Eber. It can also mean "the other side"
which implies that Abram may have been known as one who came from the other
side of the Euphrates river-- sort of like Mexican, Central, and South American
immigrants who cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas. But more likely he
was called Eberite because of his family's lineage. Eber was first mentioned back in
Gen 10:21.

NOTE: Hebrews weren't Jews in Abram's day; no they were Gentiles. It was
Abram's eventual progeny who became Jews-- specifically people genetically and/or
religiously associated with Judah: Jacob's fourth son: patriarch of the Messianic
tribe (Gen 49:8-12, Heb 7:14).

The word for "Jew" is yehuwdiy (yeh-hoo-dee') which means Judah-ite; and doesn't
appear in the Bible until 2Kgs 16:6; many, many years after the Exodus.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:13c . . who was dwelling at the terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, kinsman
of Eshkol and Aner, these being Abram's allies.

Abram had become a shrewd sheik. The best way to survive on the frontier is to
team up-- especially with someone that all the others know and fear. That way
most everyone will leave you alone because they don't want to deal with your
friends. The terebinths (oaks) belonged to Mamre, a well known Amorite in that
region. His kin, Eshkol and Aner, were Abram's friends too.

That tactic pays off in many of America's penal systems too. First thing a new
inmate has to do is join a gang or otherwise he'll be prey for all of them.

● Gen 14:14a . .When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he
mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and
eighteen,

The Hebrew word translated "retainers" basically means initiated; i.e. practiced.
This is the one and only place in the entire Old Testament where that word is
located so it's difficult to know precisely what Genesis means by it; but seeing as
how the retainers' origin is mentioned, it possibly refers to their unusual degree of
loyalty and dependability.

Abram was their sheik by birth, rather than by conscription. So these particular
men weren't mercenaries; but rather more like his very own sons. They were men
of deep gratitude for their master's providence; and every one of them, to a man,
were loyal and more than willing to risk their lives for him.

Though Abram was by nature a man of peace, he was prepared to fight in the event
it became necessary. In the wild untamed land of Palestine 4,000+ years ago, men
without mettle didn't survive very long. And even today, it's still true that a strong
man armed, keeps his goods. (cf. Luke 11:21)

● Gen 14:14b . . and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

At this early date, there was neither a region, nor a town, in Canaan colonized and
named after Jacob's son Dan. There wasn't even one in Moses' day. It wasn't until
Joshua 19:40-48 that Dan's tribe received their portion of Canaan. So Dan's name
could very well be a later editorial insertion.

It's unthinkable that Abram would leave his camp and his wife, and all the women
and children unprotected while he and his warriors traveled miles from home. So
it's reasonable to expect that some of his Amorite allies remained behind to
reinforce Abram's camp while he was out of town.

● Gen 14:15a . . At night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated
them;

Very commendable for a former city slicker. Abram, no doubt coached by Mamre,
employed excellent Bedouin guerrilla tactics against a well-armed, seasoned foe of
superior numbers. After his scouts located The Ched's caravan, Abram dogged him,
waiting for an opportunity to attack in circumstances to his advantage. When the
time came, he did it under cover of darkness, rather than in daylight; and came at
them from more than one direction, which would help to create confusion, chaos,3
and panic amidst Ched's army.

El Ched's men were probably laid back, stuffed full of stolen food and sleepy with
booze; and proud of themselves for their victories; totally unsuspecting anyone
remaining in Canaan would have the moxie to take them on. Having no flares, nor
Claymores, nor barbed wire, mines, nor flashlights, night vision capability, nor
motion detectors, or early warning systems of any kind; Ched's forces were easily
surprised and routed.

● Gen 14:15b . . and he pursued them as far as Hobah,

Unfortunately this is the only place in the entire Old Testament where Hobah is
mentioned; and archaeologists have had no luck so far in discovering its exact
location.

● Gen 14:15c . .which is north of Damascus.

Many, many years later, in 1918, the Hejaz Arab Army led by T.E. Laurence
(Laurence of Arabia) would fight the Turks in this very region and drive them out of
Damascus.

Ol' Abram sure didn't want those guys to forget Canaan none too soon. It wasn't
enough to beat them at Dan; no, he ran them all the way out of the country. The
survivors of the invading army no doubt straggled back to their homelands as best
they could, amazed at this sudden, unexpected humiliating end to what had been
up till then a mighty wave of victory and conquest.

No mention of this battle has ever yet been found on any of the Babylonian or
Elamite inscriptions-- which is understandable. Ancient kings were accustomed to
boast only about their victories since defeat usually left them dead or in slavery.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:16 . . He brought back all the possessions; he also brought back his
kinsman Lot and his possessions, and the women and the rest of the people.

If Abram had left the Federation's people in enemy hands and rescued only his
nephew, no one would have faulted him for it. They were, after all, total strangers
and had nothing in common with either Abram or Abram's religion; being "very
wicked sinners against the Lord." But that would have been a terribly ignoble show
of charity; not to mention downright politically stupid in a land where you needed
all the friends you could get.

It's easy to imagine the tremendous amount of respect this campaign won for
Abram in the eyes of all the Canaanites. He was a great sheik in that land, no doubt
about it now. Abram beat a Babylonian army.

That was an impressive accomplishment; and a testimony to his cunning, his
dependability, and to his courage under fire. Everyone in Canaan knew now that
Abram wasn't a man to be trifled with. He's a perfect example of the old proverb:
Walk softly, and carry a big stick. Abram was no bully, yet didn't allow others to
bully him. Now if only he would stop being dishonest about his association with
Sarai.

NOTE: US President Theodore Roosevelt is famous for his comment about walking
softly, but the way he went about obtaining the Panama Canal zone was not what I
would call "soft".

● Gen 14:17 . .When he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings with
him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, which is the
Valley of the King.

The location of the Shaveh Valley is a total mystery; this being the only place in the
entire Old Testament where it's mentioned. "Shaveh" is a transliteration of Shaveh
(shaw-vay') which means: plane or level or equal.

Some feel that the Shaveh Valley was some sort of neutral zone, like a Geneva
Switzerland; where rival sheiks could meet and talk turkey without fear of reprisal
or assassination. The Valley of the King is thought to be a special location where
kingships were publicly bestowed upon individuals-- which, if true, would imply that
Abram may have been offered an opportunity to rule a portion of Canaan.

It's not unusual for victorious military commanders to be politically popular. General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the USA's 34th president, was one of those; and so was the
great Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. (had the British not reneged on their
commitment to support Tecumseh's hard-won coalition of eastern tribes, the United
States east of the Mississippi river might be half its size today)

● Gen 14:18a . . And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine;

Melchizedek's name in Hebrew basically means king of right or possibly just simply
righteous king; in contrast to the wickedness which was the stock in trade of Bera,
king of Sodom.

Some make a big deal out of the bread and wine; relating it to the elements of the
Christian communion service, a.k.a. the Lord's Supper. However, Jesus' bread was
unleavened keeping with the law of the Passover whereas Mel's bread was
nondescript, and in point of fact the Hebrew word speaks of all manner of
sustenance rather only bakery products; for example the feast that Joseph ordered
prepared for his brothers (Gen 43:25-31). It wasn't a basket of Focaccia al
rosmarino; rather, an entire banquet.

There's really nothing especially symbolic about the wine either; it was a common
dinner beverage introduced to the post Flood world by none other than grampa
Noah. (Gen 9:20-21)

Mel's catering service probably brought enough food and drink for Abram's entire
detachment. They certainly deserved to be feted for their efforts, not just the old
boy himself. Mel's feast was a celebration; no doubt instigated by Mel, but
participated in by the whole region as a gesture of deep gratitude to Abram and his
men for ridding Canaan of that awful Ched person. In other words: I think that
what we're looking at here is a fiesta.

Mel was not only a political figure in that region; but a religious figure as well.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Gen 14:18b . . he was a priest of God Most High.

"Most High" is a brand new superlative for God at this point in Genesis. The Hebrew
word basically means the Supreme and/or the Very Highest.

We might have thought that Abram's camp comprised the only God-fearing people
in all of Canaan. But surprise of surprises. There was another man in the land who
was a God-fearing sheik just like Abram. But Mel went one better.

This man was not just a sheik, but also a priest; in point of fact, a high priest. (Heb
5:10) which really ought to be emphasized because in the Bible, high priesthoods
are a one-man show rather than staffed by a cadre or a panel, and the man isn't
replaced till he's either dead or incapacitated; plus: Melchizedek's position is a
selective service rather than a career track. (Ps 110:4, Heb 5:4-6)

The high priest is a mediator between God and Man; and in that capacity, has the
authority and the wherewithal to effect a reconciliation between the two whenever
there's a breakdown in diplomatic relations. Priests also have a knowledge of God;
which they have a sacred duty to dispense to their constituents. (Mal 2:7)

The Bible is completely silent about Mel's origin. It doesn't list his genealogy; no,
not even so much as his mother and father; which is very unusual because Aaronic
high priests have to prove their lineage before being permitted to take office. So in
reality, a priest like Mel doesn't have to be related to Aaron, nor does he even have
to be Jewish; nor any other particular ethnic for that matter because none of that is
specified. In point of fact, on the pages of scripture, Melchizedek was a Gentile.

● Gen 14:19-20a . . He blessed him, saying: Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered
your foes into your hand.

At this point in time, Abram's relationship with the supreme being was very
satisfactory. God had nothing critical for Mel to say of Abram; and Mel verified that
God was the reason behind Abram's success in battle.

There are Christians who, allegedly for conscience sake, are totally against all war
and violence. They fail to appreciate that peace, liberty, and human rights are
preserved in an evil world only by force of arms. (cf. Luke 11:21)

Conscientious objectors-- while refusing to put themselves in harm's way standing
guard over their family and their country, and to lend a hand in keeping the world a
relatively safe, stable place to live, sacrificing their own lives and futures if need be
--don't seem to mind taking advantage of the abundance of benefits purchased by
the blood of others whom they despise as losers, baby killers, and war mongers.

● Gen 14:20b . . And [Abram] gave him a tenth of everything.

A tithe would be owed Mel only if he was useful to Abram as a priest; viz: a source
of spiritual counseling and/or a mediator between himself and God; and I'm pretty
confident he was.

NOTE: Mel's authority held sway in that region quite a few years prior to the
covenant that Moses' people agreed upon with God per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. (a.k.a. Moses' law) That was quite an advantage for Mel's
constituents, i.e. Abraham was at liberty to follow God another way because he
wasn't covenanted with God to comply with Moses' law. (Deut 5:2-4)

In a nutshell; Abraham was in no danger of being cursed for failure to comply with
Moses' law; which includes, but isn't limited to, the Ten Commandments; and that's
because none of the curses listed in Moses' law are retroactive. (Gal 3:17, cf. Rom
4:15 & Rom 5:13)
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

~
● Gen 14:21 . .Then the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and
take the possessions for yourself.

Sheik Bera was very grateful to Abram, and asked only for the return of his fellow
citizens; but not for the return of their stolen goods. Abram was more than
welcome to keep it all as his reward for rescuing the people of the Plain. Although
Bera and his citizens were very wicked, this is one time I have to give him some
credit for showing excellent propriety.

But Abram refused. There was just no way he was going to get rich by exploiting
his own neighbors' misfortunes. Although he had a perfect right, within the customs
of that day, to all the spoils of war, (a tenth of which he already gave to
Melchizedek) he waived it in favor of looking out for Sheik Bera's best interests. I
tell you, this man Abram was incredibly gracious; and his manner of life, on the
whole, made his religion, and his god, look pretty good.

NOTE: So; what did Mr. Melchizedek do with Abram's tithes? Well; first off of
course: tithes provide an income for the priest and his household so that he doesn't
have to take time off from his duties for farming and/or commerce to support
himself. Secondly: Old Testament priests, and/or their assistants, maintained a
warehouse of goods designated for distribution where the seriously poor of the land
could come for relief.

● Gen 14:22-23 . .But Abram said to the king of Sodom: I swear to the Lord God
Most High, Creator of heaven and earth; I will not take so much as a thread or a
sandal strap of what is yours; you shall not say: It is I who made Abram rich

When you get down to it; a person's reputation is all that really matters in life;
because it's really the only thing we take with us when we pass on. Abram didn't
want to be known as someone who got rich through the misfortunes of others. And
that is exactly what would have happened had he agreed to Bera's suggestion. You
can imagine what that would have done to his influence for God in that region; and
how it would have ruined Abram's own self respect. It would be awful indeed if
people round about gossiped that Abram's only motive for rescuing his nephew was
for profit.

Abram didn't need Bera's stuff anyway. What the heck; he had plenty back home
already. Why be greedy? I mean: how much does it really take to satisfy? Does a
man really have to own every skyscraper, every square foot of real estate, every
drop of water, every cow, pig, and chicken, every inch of agricultural land, every
fruit and vegetable seed sold around the world, every watt of electricity, every
telephone system, every share of stock in a blue chip company, every software
program, every car dealership, every oil well, every refinery, every electric
generating plant, every natural gas supplier, a monopoly on insecticide and weed
killer, every utility, and every hotel and apartment building before he feels he has
enough?

When will Walmart's corporate managers finally say "Let's stop expanding. We have
enough market share". They never will because the greed and predatory nature of
big-box super stores knows no bounds.

As I watched a NetFlix documentary about corn production; the producers visited a
chemical plant that makes high fructose corn syrup. The manager of the plant was
asked how much market share his product had. After answering, he was then asked
how much market share he would like to have; and he answered "all of it"

The Supreme Almighty God, who had so blessed Abram thus far, would surely
continue to do so. Abram had far more personal honor and self respect than the
predatory ENRON traders who took advantage of forest fires in California some
years ago to raise that State's electric rates.

● Gen 14:24 . . For me, nothing but what my servants have used up; as for the
share of the men who went with me-- Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre --let them take
their share.

Abram's only request was replacement of his own provisions that his troops
consumed during the mission. He didn't permit them to take a share of the spoils;
and since they were his slaves; they had no say in it. But his Amorite allies spoke
for themselves. If they wanted anything, it was their own decisions about it and
Abram didn't interfere. I mean, after all; the cities of the plain owed the Amorite
guys at least a little something as compensation for saving their bacon.
_

 

[Olde Tymer]

~
● Gen 15:1a . . Some time later, the word of The Lord came to Abram in a vision.

This is the very first record of a vision in the Bible. The Hebrew word is machazeh
(makh-az-eh') and it appears in only four places in the entire Old Testament; which
is pretty amazing considering the volume of prophecy the Old Testament contains.

Visions aren't always visible scenes; sometimes they're only vocal. (cf. 1Sam 3:2
15)

● Gen 15:1b . . Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you;

The vision informed Abram that The Lord intended to protect him; which was a
good thing because quite possibly Abram at this time was feeling a bit anxious that
a counterattack might be organized up in Shinar and return to Canaan for revenge
with a much larger force than the one recently defeated.

● Gen 15:1c . .Your reward shall be very great.

In other words; his reward would be much greater than the one he just recently
forfeited. In those days, it was winner takes all; but Abram had not exercised that
option.

Below is an ancient take on the event.

T. Thereupon was the word of The Lord with Abram in a vision, saying: Fear not;
for if these men should gather together in legions and come against thee, My Word
will be thy shield: and also if these fall before thee in this world, the reward of thy
good works shall be kept, and be prepared before Me in the world to come, great
exceedingly. (Targum Jonathan)

● Gen 15:2. . But Abram said: O Lord God, what can You give me, seeing that I
shall die childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? Abram
said further: Since You have granted me no offspring, my steward will be my heir.

When a man without children died in that day, common law stipulated that his chief
steward got it all and had a legal right to pass it all on to his own son. Abram had
no real estate, but if he did, then Eliezer would get that too in the event Abram died
with no heir. Sarai? Well, she'd probably stay on as Eliezer's concubine.

● Gen 15:4-5 . .The word of The Lord came to him in reply: That one shall not be
your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir. He took him outside and
said: Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And
He added: So shall your offspring be.

In Abram's day, prior to the invention of optics, the only stars that people could see
with their own eyes were those in our home galaxy; the Milky Way; which consists
of an estimated 100-400 billion stars. But many of those estimated billions of stars
appear to the naked eye not as stars but as glowing clouds; viz: they cannot be
individually distinguished by the naked eye so those didn't matter to Abram when it
came to actually tallying the heavens.

The entire global sky contains roughly five or six thousand stars visible to the naked
eye. However, we can't see all those stars at once; only the ones when the sky is
dark. So then; in Abram's day, he could see at most three thousand discernible
stars from dark till dawn. God had said "if you are able to count them". Well; even
at only three thousand, the task would be difficult.

NOTE: The term "stars" may have been an ancient idiom for large numbers of just
about anything. Compare Heb 12:1 where "cloud" is a term for the same purpose.

Anyway . . it finally sank in that God's promise was for real and that's when one of
the most significant events in history took place.
_