We have A Lot to Talk About
Since our concern is Fallen Flesh, we have one other person in the drama of Abraham's to discuss: Lot.
Ge 11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Ge 12:4 ¶ So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram [was] seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Ge 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
Lot seems to be like a son to Abraham and Sarai. Or, perhaps, Lot wanted to be their son.
We note that the family had wealth and that the wealth increased during their association. Perhaps Lot noticed Abraham's abilities with money or the way goods came to him, even in a bad situation like Egypt. He certainly noticed that his own wealth increases as he walked beside his uncle.
Perhaps he was the child they hadn't had, one who is able and their own blood since we will later find out Abraham and Sarah are related.
Ge 13:1 And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.
2 Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
3 And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;
4 To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.
5 And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;
6 So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.
7 And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
9 Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.
10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.
11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.
12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
14 And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.
16 And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.
17 Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.
18 And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
(BBE)
A Schism The family church of Abraham is divided. Lot sees the good land and says he'll go that way and Abraham lets him and only then does God speak to Abraham.
Something was wrong with the association and God allowed the personal conflicts to separate them.
Something was wrong with Lot.
Recall how Jesus waits until Judas left to offer communion.
God reaffirms his covenant now, just now AFTER Lot has left. While Lot was with him, Abraham had the "wrong" son and Lot may well have stayed to gain the land Abraham now knows he will inherit. God had another destiny for Lot.
We see so many schisms today since there are so many churches and so much wrong teaching floods the television and internet. People, like Lot, get seduced by the allure of a nice looking doctrine which says to them that they can have anything they want, that God must be behind those successful people simply because they are successful, the same mistake make centuries later by the Jews during Jesus' time on Earth.
And Lot showed his lack of judgement looking only at the cover of the book, the water and beauty of the plains, not 13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
And he got kidnapped for the effort:
Ge 14:1 Now in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,
2 They made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (which is Zoar).
3 All these came together in the valley of Siddim (which is the Salt Sea).
4 For twelve years they were under the rule of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they put off his control.
5 And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were on his side, overcame the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-paran, which is near the waste land.
7 Then they came back to En-mishpat (which is Kadesh), making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
8 And the king of Sodom with the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is Zoar), went out, and put their forces in position in the valley of Siddim,
9 Against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar: four kings against the five.
10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of holes of sticky earth; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to flight and came to their end there, but the rest got away to the mountain.
11 And the four kings took all the goods and food from Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way.
12 And in addition they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, and all his goods.
13 And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.
14 And Abram, hearing that his brother's son had been made a prisoner, took a band of his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, sons of his house, and went after them as far as Dan.
15 And separating his forces by night, he overcame them, putting them to flight and going after them as far as Hobah, which is on the north side of Damascus.
16 And he got back all the goods, and Lot, his brother's son, with his goods and the women and the people.
17 And when he was coming back after putting to flight Chedorlaomer and the other kings, he had a meeting with the king of Sodom in the valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.
18 And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,
19 And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:
20 And let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken.
21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the prisoners and take the goods for yourself.
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:
24 Give me nothing but the food which the fighting-men who went with me have had; but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.
(BBE)
things to note:
Abe goes to save his nephew and his people. We read almost as an aside that there were women with them. We see also that the women were looked on as goods. Perhaps they were not just Lot's women but all the women of the towns to be held for ransom as may have been intended for Lot since his uncle was well-known by this time to have money. Or maybe the women would be kept as whores and concubines.
Notice Lot had not fought in the war, was merely camped outside the city but being in friendship with the evil men was cause enough for him to be taken. The kings at war didn't and still don't care who you are or your intent. If you are somehow in the scope of the battlefield, you are fair game.
In the opinion from that time, Lot being taken with the women is an insult to him.
Moses tells us that Abe went with his "trained men". He has seen the area around him and knows the various kings are not to be trusted and he already has a personal army with him to protect his goods and keep his family safe. Anyone who works for him has been trained to fight. For those rich enough it is a very good idea to protect what God has given them but please note, Abe has made sacrifice on altars in various areas. He has associated with a king he feared which now explains his band of trained men. But Abe uses the army not to attack anyone for his own profit, but to act in protection of his nephew, his surrogate son.
And Abe takes nothing for himself after the conquest so that the new king of Sodom cannot be seen as an ally so Abe will owe him nothing.
In the midst is the arrival of the king of Salem who greets the battered army of Abe with bread and wine and a blessing. And he receives a tenth from Abe. This is called an appearance of Christ, a preincarnation of the Final Flesh.
Salem has been taken as a shortening of Jerusalem which was used in Stephen King's Salem's Lot. That book and movie were about an infestation of vampires which eventually took over the small town Salem's Lot but also the story of a man who lost his love to the vampires because she paused to got back and who in the current events of the book has fled the city and is fighting the evil.
Which was King retelling the Sodom story.
Which opens the gate for our next posts
Since our concern is Fallen Flesh, we have one other person in the drama of Abraham's to discuss: Lot.
Ge 11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Ge 12:4 ¶ So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram [was] seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Ge 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
We note that the family had wealth and that the wealth increased during their association. Perhaps Lot noticed Abraham's abilities with money or the way goods came to him, even in a bad situation like Egypt. He certainly noticed that his own wealth increases as he walked beside his uncle.
Perhaps he was the child they hadn't had, one who is able and their own blood since we will later find out Abraham and Sarah are related.
Ge 13:1 And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.
2 Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
3 And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;
4 To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.
5 And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;
6 So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.
7 And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
9 Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.
10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.
11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.
12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
14 And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.
16 And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.
17 Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.
18 And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
(BBE)
A Schism The family church of Abraham is divided. Lot sees the good land and says he'll go that way and Abraham lets him and only then does God speak to Abraham.
Something was wrong with the association and God allowed the personal conflicts to separate them.
Something was wrong with Lot.
Recall how Jesus waits until Judas left to offer communion.
God reaffirms his covenant now, just now AFTER Lot has left. While Lot was with him, Abraham had the "wrong" son and Lot may well have stayed to gain the land Abraham now knows he will inherit. God had another destiny for Lot.
We see so many schisms today since there are so many churches and so much wrong teaching floods the television and internet. People, like Lot, get seduced by the allure of a nice looking doctrine which says to them that they can have anything they want, that God must be behind those successful people simply because they are successful, the same mistake make centuries later by the Jews during Jesus' time on Earth.
And Lot showed his lack of judgement looking only at the cover of the book, the water and beauty of the plains, not 13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
And he got kidnapped for the effort:
Ge 14:1 Now in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,
2 They made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (which is Zoar).
3 All these came together in the valley of Siddim (which is the Salt Sea).
4 For twelve years they were under the rule of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they put off his control.
5 And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were on his side, overcame the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-paran, which is near the waste land.
7 Then they came back to En-mishpat (which is Kadesh), making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
8 And the king of Sodom with the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is Zoar), went out, and put their forces in position in the valley of Siddim,
9 Against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar: four kings against the five.
10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of holes of sticky earth; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to flight and came to their end there, but the rest got away to the mountain.
11 And the four kings took all the goods and food from Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way.
12 And in addition they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, and all his goods.
13 And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.
14 And Abram, hearing that his brother's son had been made a prisoner, took a band of his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, sons of his house, and went after them as far as Dan.
15 And separating his forces by night, he overcame them, putting them to flight and going after them as far as Hobah, which is on the north side of Damascus.
16 And he got back all the goods, and Lot, his brother's son, with his goods and the women and the people.
17 And when he was coming back after putting to flight Chedorlaomer and the other kings, he had a meeting with the king of Sodom in the valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.
18 And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,
19 And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:
20 And let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken.
21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the prisoners and take the goods for yourself.
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:
24 Give me nothing but the food which the fighting-men who went with me have had; but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.
(BBE)
things to note:
Abe goes to save his nephew and his people. We read almost as an aside that there were women with them. We see also that the women were looked on as goods. Perhaps they were not just Lot's women but all the women of the towns to be held for ransom as may have been intended for Lot since his uncle was well-known by this time to have money. Or maybe the women would be kept as whores and concubines.
Notice Lot had not fought in the war, was merely camped outside the city but being in friendship with the evil men was cause enough for him to be taken. The kings at war didn't and still don't care who you are or your intent. If you are somehow in the scope of the battlefield, you are fair game.
In the opinion from that time, Lot being taken with the women is an insult to him.
Moses tells us that Abe went with his "trained men". He has seen the area around him and knows the various kings are not to be trusted and he already has a personal army with him to protect his goods and keep his family safe. Anyone who works for him has been trained to fight. For those rich enough it is a very good idea to protect what God has given them but please note, Abe has made sacrifice on altars in various areas. He has associated with a king he feared which now explains his band of trained men. But Abe uses the army not to attack anyone for his own profit, but to act in protection of his nephew, his surrogate son.
And Abe takes nothing for himself after the conquest so that the new king of Sodom cannot be seen as an ally so Abe will owe him nothing.
In the midst is the arrival of the king of Salem who greets the battered army of Abe with bread and wine and a blessing. And he receives a tenth from Abe. This is called an appearance of Christ, a preincarnation of the Final Flesh.
Salem has been taken as a shortening of Jerusalem which was used in Stephen King's Salem's Lot. That book and movie were about an infestation of vampires which eventually took over the small town Salem's Lot but also the story of a man who lost his love to the vampires because she paused to got back and who in the current events of the book has fled the city and is fighting the evil.
Which was King retelling the Sodom story.
Which opens the gate for our next posts
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