Abraham: When He Rescued His Nephew, Lot Series

Abram gave tithes, or 10 per cent, of “all”, to Melchizedek. Of note, this is one of the few times, if not the only time, Abram gave tithes of anything during his lifetime. This was a very special occasion, when God gave Abram and his men victory over a much larger force and Abram was probably glad to honor God for all He had done for Abram. This tithe, also, was completely voluntary: there was no law or commandment to give a tithe at this time, such as what was commanded later in the Law of Moses.

Surprisingly, the king of Sodom came to Abram and said, “Keep all the goods for yourself but let me have the people (the captives, perhaps?)”. Why he said this is not certain, but Abram’s reply was absolutely certain: “NO!” His actual words were “I have lift (ed) up mine hand to the LORD, the most high God (note how Abram recognized the LORD as also “The Most High God” at this time, maybe even sooner) . . .that I will not take a thread or a shoelatchet (a piece of a shoe to fasten it over a person’s foot), lest you say I have made Abram rich” Abram seems to have learned from his journey to Egypt that even though he had received many things, the Pharaoh would always have the right and ability to say something like “look what I did for Abram! He got rich because I did it for him!” No, Abram wasn’t about to let anyone say that “I made Abram rich” ever again, no matter who it was.

Conclusion: Lot made a very bad decision by choosing to move close to Sodom, a wicked city even then/ He was captured, along with an unknown number of others, and was on his way to an unknown fate. Someone escaped the line of captives and got word to Abram, who promptly armed some of his men. They went to the far north of Canaan and rescued Lot, plus other captives, and took them back to their homes. When Abram heard about the problem, he did something about it, and best of all, gave thanks to God along with tithes of all.

When we come against something similar, or any kind of problem, may we be quick to hear and ready to act, even as Abram, when we know what to do. When victory comes, may we also be prompt in giving thanks to the LORD God, the One Who gave us all that we need!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).