At one point, Lot was camped by the city of Sodom and now we see that he is actually living in the city—and when the rebellion of the five kings goes terribly wrong, Lot and his family get taken as captives and all their stuff gets taken too. Instead of paying a ransom for his safe return, Abram and his allies assemble an army and take back all the people and all the stuff that was taken.
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Hi! I’m Miss Tyler and welcome to another episode of Context for Kids where I teach you guys stuff most adults don’t even know. If this is your first time hearing or if you have missed anything, you can find all the episodes archived at contextforkids.podbean.com, which has them downloadable, or at contextforkids.com, where I have transcripts for readers or on my Context for Kids YouTube channel. (Parents, all Scripture this week comes from the MTV, the Miss Tyler Version, which is the Christian Standard Bible modified a bit to make it easier for kids to understand the content and the context).
Last week in Genesis 14 we covered some covenant archaeology but this week we get to see some action. Abram is going to get told about Lot being kidnapped by the four kings and he’s going to go do something about it. And so, we’re going to be jumping around a bit and I think I am going to tell this story more like a story than like a lesson. So, stay tuned for episode #99 Abram the Hebrew and the Case of the Kidnapped Nephew. But first, I am going to give you some important background information. Let’s take a look at this week’s verses really quick to answer some questions:
The four kings took everything from Sodom and Gomorrah and even all their food and just kept on going to attack other towns. They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his stuff, because he was living in Sodom too, and they kept on going. One of the survivors came and told Abram the Hebrew, who lived near the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre’s brothers were Eshcol and Aner. They were bound by a covenant with Abram, where they had agreed to protect and help each other. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he gathered together his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they chased those four kings down as far as Dan. And Abram and his servants attacked them during the night, beat the snot out of them, and chased them as far as Hobah to the north of Damascus, all the way out of the Land of Canaan. Abram brought back all the stuff that the kings had taken, and also his relative Lot and his stuff, as well as the women and the other people who had all been taken to be slaves. (Gen 14:11-16, MTV)
So, what I wanted to talk about before we begin the story is the word Hebrew because this is the very first time that we see it in the Bible. It isn’t a very common word. We only see it in forty-four verses and about half the time it is talking about the Hebrew language and the other half it means the Hebrew people who descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abram is only called a Hebrew once and we are never even told exactly what it means. A lot of people figure that the word Hebrew comes from Abram’s ancestor Eber but we just don’t know for sure. Some scholars have some other ideas too. It’s just not a very common word in the Bible and the next person who will be called a Hebrew is Joseph when he was a slave in Egypt! That’s close to two hundred years later! And for a very long time, it seems to be a word that outsiders use to describe them. Other scholars believe that Hebrew is from a root meaning to cross over. Like, to cross over a river, like Joshua and the children of Israel would do hundreds of years later. There are other guesses too—we just don’t know everything for sure and that’s okay. I can guarantee you that God isn’t going to ask you what that means, ever. It’s a good thing too because unless you have a time machine and can ask someone, no way to know for sure. But you know what? If you did have a time machine and you went back to ask them, you wouldn’t be able to understand each other anyway!
Which reminds me, as a silly aside. On the internet, people will post a poster with a lot of Bible people and they will ask “If you could go back in time, who would you want to talk to” and I look at them all and say, “Well that would be kinda pointless because I don’t speak ancient Hebrew or Greek and they sure as shootin’ can’t speak English.”
Anyway, one more thing. Clever readers will notice something interesting about Abram’s chasing of the four kings because the story says that he chased them as far as Dan. What is Dan? A better question is “who is Dan?” Dan is someone who isn’t alive yet. Dan is one of the many great-grandsons of Abram. So why was this land named after someone who wasn’t alive yet? It wasn’t. In fact, it also wouldn’t have that name in the time of Moses. It wasn’t until the time of Joshua and Caleb, in the book of Judges, that it would have been called Dan. Is this a problem? Is it a mistake in the Bible? What the heck? Actually, it’s quite simple because of how the Bible was put together. The land of the tribe of Dan wasn’t always called that—the Canaanites called it Laish. But remember that the people of the Bible repeated their stories generation after generation and had very little written down because ancient people believed that memorizing stories and telling them was more accurate than writing them down. It probably wasn’t until the time of King David that things started to seriously get written down because it wasn’t until his time that there was any place to store the stories and carrying them around would take so many people and they would get destroyed pretty quickly. And so, by the time this got written down, the land that they knew Abram visited was called Dan and everyone knew where that was. And so, in the Bible, instead of using a name that would have everyone scratching their head and wondering where it was hundreds of years ago, they called it by the name everyone knew. And that’s just smart and makes good sense. Good thing too or we would be clueless about where it was if there wasn’t a description later in the Bible about what land belonged to the tribe of Dan.
Okay? Got it? Let’s start this story!
The four kings had gotten their revenge against the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim and Bela—plus they had looted the small towns and villages all the way there and back. Their fighting men cheered and high-fived and fist-bumped each other. It had been a long journey but it had been worth it and now they would go back to their families with a ton of loot. They were carrying so much food from the bigger cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that they would be eating like kings all the way back to their homes in Elam and Shinar. And they had captured all the people who would fetch an excellent price on the slave market. More than one of the soldiers was loudly laughing about how happy his wife would be when he brought home slaves to do the hard work for her. And on top of that, others to sell to the rich men and women of the cities they would pass through on the way home! Their sacks were heavy and filled with the peoples’ earrings and nose rings and jewelry, along with everything of value from the houses they had looted after the battle. It was a successful and prosperous campaign and tonight they would feast on fatted calves and wine. And among their captives was a man named Lot and his entire household. Almost.
Lot was living inside the walled city of Sodom, and his shepherds saw the soldiers coming from the south, from Gomorrah. They warned Lot and Lot sent one of his household servants to where he knew his uncle Abram was living. “Take this food and wine and stay in hiding,” Lot warned him, “in one of the empty asphalt pits. If the men of our city can overcome these soldiers, come right back but if the city is taken we will surely be captured and taken as prisoners. Go to my uncle Abram, who is living among the Amorites near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite and his brothers Eschol and Aner. He is always there this time of year with his flocks. Remind him of our kinship bond and he will come after us. Otherwise, all of us will be taken into captivity.”
Lot’s servant, and we will call him Eliphaz just for fun, watched until he could see there was no hope and that he could escape unseen. He had to go quickly, because the journey was about thirty miles but he was the fastest man in Lot’s entire household. Still, it took him ten hours before he made it to the tents of Abram and he was exhausted by the time he arrived at the border of the lands of Mamre. The camp sentries found him first and when they heard his message, they hurried him to the tent of Abram, who was just settling down for the night. But when Abram heard the commotion outside the camp, he rushed to see what the problem was. He was shocked when he recognized young Eliphaz, who had been born into Lot’s household—Sarai had even helped the midwives when his mother gave birth to him, back in Haran before they had left to follow God into the Land of Canaan. “I know this young man!” Abram told them, “Let me hear what news he has for me. He wouldn’t have come all this way alone lightly and he is a trustworthy young man.”
Eliphaz came close to Abram and prostrated himself in respect, placing his hands and face upon the ground. Abram asked him to get back up and then Eliphaz told the terrible story, “Soldiers…they came all at once…they took the city of Sodom…my master said they would take everyone and everything…he pleads with you on the bonds of kinship…come to his rescue or all will be lost.” Abram ordered food and wine be brought for the boy and ordered others to call Mamre, Aner, and Eschol to him immediately. “Tell them,” Abram said, “that I call upon our mutual oaths to aid my kinsman.” For when he had first come to live in this land, he had made a covenant of friendship, of equals, with the three brothers who ruled over this area. They could see that Abram was favored by the gods (or so they assumed) and they approached him with a proposition—to swear an oath to be there for one another in case of attack. Abram had no family living nearby and once Lot stopped traveling with them, he knew that he was more in danger of being attacked by bandits or soldiers from cities that they passed by. It also meant that he had nothing to fear from Mamre and his brothers. It meant that this was a safe place to live and the first sort of security he had experienced since leaving Haran and his large extended family who still lived there.
Abram could soon hear the shouts of the various camps, calling upon all available fighting aged men to assemble for battle. Abram had so many animals to tend that he was able to gather 318 men, all of whom were born and raised in his household and could be trusted with his life. By the time Mamre, Eschol, and Aner had gathered up their men, the moon was full and bright in the night sky. Having sent out the women and children as shepherds to watch the flocks and guard the camp, and some of the older ones to watch the children left behind in the tents, the assembled men set off to rescue Abram’s nephew. Based on what Eliphaz had told them, they knew the four kings were heading north and likely back to their homeland. Unlike Abram and his allies (allies are the people who are on your side), the four kings had to go very slow—while Abram took only what they absolutely needed. They knew how wars like this worked and they knew that the four kings would have stolen everything they could find and that they would be traveling with wounded men, along with women and children whom they would sell in the slave markets as well as the flocks and herds of animals outside the cities. That meant they would be traveling much more slowly. Abram figured that they might be able to catch up with them in a week and maybe in just a few days depending on which way they traveled and how far they had gotten. After all, the kings weren’t on the run—they would have assumed that no one was coming after them. They had just taken down five cities with no problem and the people of the Land of Canaan would have been very scared.
So, they left the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and traveled north past the city of Salem, which was called Yeru Shalem or Uru Shalem in ancient writings from Egypt and elsewhere. The great priest-king Melchizedek lived there but they had no time to stop or to ask for help. They continued traveling north, and it took a march of 170 miles before they finally found the kings at the very northern end of the land of Canaan, thirty miles from the Sea of Galilee, to Mt Hermon near the big city of Laish, which would someday be called Dan, probably to stop and sell slaves. It was night when Abram and his allies finally came upon the camp of the four kings. It wasn’t hard to find them once they began passing the small villages where the people had avoided capture as the army had passed—or maybe they had been left alone because they had too much to deal with already! Hiding an army along with five cities worth of captives and loot was no easy task. After Abram and his men had rested and eaten and regained their strength, they attacked the camp of the four kings by night—and the kings and their armies ran for the north as fast as they could while Abram chased them all the way north to Hobah, over a hundred miles away, before turning back to lead the survivors back home along with everything that belonged to them.
Now, there are things we don’t know. Were the men riding camels and donkeys? Were they traveling on foot, which means walking? How long did it take for all of this to happen? Even though this is only like a short paragraph in the Bible, this was something that took a lot of work, and they would have all been gone from home a very long time. The journey was obviously very long and difficult—how did they do it? I guess we can be curious but finding out those things is not the point of the story or we would have been told. Remember that the Bible isn’t a modern history book with a lot of facts and figures that are important to people now. Instead, the Bible is a story about God and how He deals with His people.
But wait a minute!!! Where was God? We haven’t seen anything about him for the last two weeks! Where is He? Well, He was definitely with Abram because an army that can take out five rich cities is going to be dangerous. I want you all to remember an important promise that God made to Abram way back in the beginning of their relationship. He told Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you badly, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed because of you.” (Gen 12:3) That means that God promised to do good things for everyone who did good things for Abram, and that there would be bad consequences for anyone who hurt Abram. Not because everything that Abram does is good and right but because God chose Abram for a very special job. God is going to make a special nation in the world, and from that nation will come the Messiah, Jesus, the Savior of the entire world. That means that Abram gets protected, and so will Isaac and Jacob and the people of Israel because without them, Jesus won’t be born.
What about the four kings? Well, when they kidnapped Abram’s nephew Lot, they were treating Abram very badly and that’s because your family group, which we can also call your kinship group, was the most important thing in the ancient world. If your family got sold into slavery, you had to try and buy them back if you could. If your family was part of a war then you had to help them out. If your family was kidnapped, you had to do something about it. If you didn’t, then people would call you a dishonorable skunk. Even if your family member was foolish and caused their own problems. And this isn’t the last time that Abram is going to have to try to rescue Lot. Lot has friends in low places now that he is living in Sodom and that’s going to keep getting him into trouble. But family is family and Abram had to go and help him out. But we need to notice that there is nothing written about Abram ever talking to him again afterward. It is quite likely that Abram didn’t approve or appreciate Lot living in such a wicked city when he could instead be traveling around with his flocks and herds. And we might even wonder if Lot’s kidnapping is a consequence of him taking the best of the land for himself instead of giving some to Abram. He didn’t bless Abram when he did that. And the four kings, even though they had a powerful army, Abram and Mamre and his brothers and a bunch of shepherds kicked their butts to the curb. That’s embarrassing. I mean, according to the Bible this is the one and only time that Abram ever fights with anyone! God blessed Abram and his allies and cursed the four kings and their armies—just like he promised. So, God absolutely was there and doing exactly what He promised to do. Pretty cool, eh?
Have you ever wondered if Abram was scared? After all, he and his people were going after professional fighters who had already killed a lot of people who knew what they were doing—like actual city guards who would have to thump unruly citizens. There was just no way that he was going to survive a battle like that unless God was on his side—which is why the Bible will often make a point of telling us how few people are fighting, to make us know for sure that it was a miracle they won. Which reminds me of a teaching that Jesus did once about being careful what we get involved with!
“Now huge Jewish crowds were traveling with Jesus. So, he turned and said to them, “If anyone wants to come with me and doesn’t love me more than his whole family—that’s right, and even their own life—they can’t be my disciple. Whoever isn’t willing to go through the same things that happen to me can’t be my disciple either. I mean, who would want to build a tower unless they sat down and figured out if they had enough money to do it? How embarrassing would it be if they just barely got started and had to stop? People would make fun of them because they got in over their head! Or what king, if he was going to war against another king, wouldn’t sit down and decide if he and his ten thousand soldiers have a chance of beating the king who is coming after him with twice as many soldiers? If he knows they’re gonna lose, then he can send his servants to the other king and ask for peace. And it’s the same way with me, if you aren’t willing to lose everything you have, you can’t be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-33)
You know, I could tell you stories all day about people I know who got all excited and wanted to be in ministry—and it is a good thing to want—but they just didn’t last long because God wasn’t really asking them to do that. And they got tired, or they got into trouble, or they found out how hard it is sometimes, or their family didn’t approve and they gave up and went back to what they were doing before. And what they were doing before was perfectly good, and we need people doing all sorts of jobs. Not everyone is called to be a pastor or a priest or a teacher or an evangelist or a missionary. We need people growing food and driving trucks and doing all sorts of things. And when those people do a good and honest job, they are serving God too. My husband is very smart and he knows how to make things work and to design stuff that makes things work better. I couldn’t ever do that. My mind is totally different than his. But because of what he does, when you eat mashed potatoes there is a good chance that he had something to do with it. People need to eat, right?
And I have seen teenagers who are very smart and very talented pushed into being ministers for God and getting up in front of churches, but I have also watched them burn out and stop believing in God because they weren’t ready and the grownups around them should have protected them better. They had all the time in the world to serve God, but like the man who couldn’t finish the tower, they weren’t ready to start yet. The apostle Paul wasn’t ready to follow Jesus until a long time after he rose from the dead. In fact, Paul was hurting people because God hadn’t changed him into the type of person who could be His disciple yet. And you know what? Abram had to learn things too, before God gave him a son. Abram wasn’t ready to be the kind of leader he needed to be or to be the right kind of father until he was 100 years old. Abram had to learn how to trust God enough to do what was right and not take shortcuts. Sometimes, when he should have counted the cost, he just went ahead and did things that weren’t a good idea and he had to start again. We will see that starting to happen in chapter sixteen. You see, everyone needs to be very careful about what they get involved with. As for Abram, he knew that he could go after the four kings and their fighting men because God had promised to be good to the people who were good to him and to curse the people who weren’t. That meant that Abram and his friends and everyone on their side was going to win, and that no matter how strong those other guys were, they were going to lose.
I love you. I am praying for you. And I want you to always make sure that you look before you leap—which means, think very carefully about whether what you are doing is a good idea or not.