The Priest and Covenant of Abraham

Lesson 10

In Genesis 14 Lot is taken captive, along with the people of Sodom, and Abraham took the armed men of his own household to rescue Lot and his family.

The king of Sodom offered to take his people back and let Abram keep the plunder from battle. Abraham refused saying, “I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, that I’ll take nothing from you,

Not so much as a thread or a shoestring, I’m not going to have you go around saying, ‘I made Abraham rich.’

This chapter also introduces Melchizedek, king of Salem, later to be called Jerusalem.

According to Dake, 700 years before Rome was founded the Jebusites conquered Salem and called it Jebus. Jerusalem is a combination of the 2 names Salem and Jebus. Jerusalem means, “habitation of peace.”

Chapter 14 introduces us to praise and the tithe;Abram tithed to Melchizedek. 17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley.

Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him: ( think about the Lord’s Supper)  Blessed be Abram by The High God,       Creator of Heaven and Earth.    And blessed be The High God,       who handed your enemies over to you.

   Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

Albrecht Bouts

Tithing was practiced 430 years before the law of Moses. Gen 14:20, Gen. 28:22, Hebrews 7:1-11

20-22 Jacob vowed a vow: "If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I'm setting out, … And everything you give me, I'll return a tenth to you."

 Heb. 7:4-7You realize just how great Melchizedek is when you see that Father Abraham gave him a tenth of the captured treasure.

According to Dake, verse 20 is the first praise to God recorded in the Pentateuch. “ and blessed be the most high God which has delivered thine enemies into thy hands.

In Genesis chapter 15 God shows us the beginnings of His plan to save His creation through one human family.

Gen 15 1 After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"

In essence Abraham says to God, “Big deal that I am bless. I have no one to leave the blessing to. I have no child! God sees that Abram needed a visual – a vision.

Habakkuk 2:2 If people can't see what God is doing,    they stumble all over themselves;But when they attend to what he reveals,    they are most blessed. Message

NIV  18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;        but blessed is he who keeps the law. KJV 18Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

 Habakkuk 2-3And then God answered: "Write this.    Write what you see.Write it out in big block letters    so that it can be read on the run.This vision-message is a witness    pointing to what's coming.

It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!    And it doesn't lie.If it seems slow in coming, wait.    It's on its way. It will come right on time.

God showed Abram the stars.Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"  6 And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God." Gen 15:5

God cut a covenant with Abraham. The word covenant means “to cut.”Our Western culture’s closest ceremony to this is marriage.The first account, stated clearly of animal sacrifice came in Gen, 9 when Noah sacrificed after the flood.

In Gen 15:9 God gave Abram a list of animals to bring for a ceremony. Abram complies and cuts each animal, except the birds in half. He seems to place them in a trail with enough room to walk between the parts.

God got Abram’s full attention by causing him to fall into a great and horrible darkness. Abram had to be fully focused on God. Again, God wanted his full attention.

Abram complies and cuts each animal, except the birds, in half. He then places them end to end.

A flaming torch signified Devine Presence. It was a custom to light a torch when making a covenant in the East. The fire was a symbol of the destruction that would befall anyone who broke the covenant agreement.

God can never and will never break his covenant with his people. He sent Jesus to be the final flesh and blood sacrifice for the removal of our sin. Jesus’s birth and death fulfilled our ability to stand with Father Abraham in righteousness.