Glad you could return for
another slice of Daily Bread. We’ve been finding out about the
events that happened to Abram in the last few segments, and this time the
story concerns his nephew Lot.
You may remember that Abram and Lot separated because all that they owned
was growing too fast for the land to support, and Lot chose to settle in the
plain of Jordan. In particular, he pitched his tent in the direction
of Sodom. Now Sodom had a terrible reputation of being a community of
extremely wicked people.
As if that wasn’t bad enough for Lot to deal with while trying to follow
God’s plan, you have in the meantime, a war brewing. You see, five of
the several kings of Canaan, served a king named Chedorlaomer for twelve
years. Well, they were getting a little tired of it. So in the
thirteenth year, they rebelled. Then in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer buddied up with three of his king pals and they went to battle. Five kings waged their war in the salt sea, which was full of slime pits at the time. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
tried to escape but were defeated there, and those that were left ran to the mountain.
So, the kings from Canaan lost and the winners took all the valuables from Sodom
and Gomorrah and all their food, and went their merry way. Oh, one
more thing, they took slaves ... One of which was Lot, and all he owned,
too.
Now, one guy, who escaped came and told Abram what happened. When
Abram heard this, he gathered three of his allies and 318 of his workers and
instructed them all of a rescue plan. They defeated the four kings and their
armies and brought back all the valuables, as well as Lot and his
belongings, and the women and the people too.
Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and priest of the most high God, met
Abram on his way home and blessed him then blessed God who delivered Abram’s
enemies into his hand. So Abram gave Melchizedek tithes, or one tenth,
of all they brought back.
Now this is an interesting thing to consider. Because of this action,
people think of tithing as giving the church one tenth of what we earn in
our “jobs.” But have you ever thought that we are to give one tenth of
everything we DO? Not just monetarily speaking. How about for
example, if you work for worldly things for forty hours per week, could you
spend four hours per week serving God in some way? You listen to the
radio for an average of three hours a day. Would tithing be listening
to Spiritual music for a couple of hours a week? Abram had the right
idea. Listen to what he says when he’s given the opportunity to keep
the loot from his victory.
When they got back to Sodom, the
king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people, and take everything else
for yourself as a reward for what you have done. But Abram said to
him, I promised the Lord who owns Heaven and Earth that I wouldn’t take a
thread, even down to a shoe buckle so then you’ll never have good reason to
say you made Abram rich. And he added, I only want what the share of the
allies and those who went with me want, let them take their portion.
ABRAHAM AND LOT BIBLE STORY SUMMARY
ABRAHAM AND LOT IN THE BIBLE CONCLUSION
Lot could probably explain to you better than anybody: Sometimes you
end up in a bad place without meaning to and it’s a blessing when God steps
in to rescue you from certain danger. This won’t be the last time Lot
finds himself in that situation, as you’ll find out down the road. Don’t
miss it.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY