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through it. Just as Abraham's realization of his inheritance hinged upon separation from
Lot, so the realization of our hope and inheritance hinges upon our "acknowledging" the
truth as we see it.
The principle of separation is taken one stage further in Gen. xiv., and leads us to
Abraham's "second blessing". Lot had become involved in the quarrels of the nations
and, when Sodom was taken by the confederate kings, Lot and all his possessions were
taken captive also. It is suggestive that when news of this calamity is taken to Abraham,
he is called "the Hebrew". The word indicates "one who passes over", and so stands for
the principle of separation that is in view here. To Abraham, the separated one, the news
is brought; and under God he, with his small company of 318 trained servants, rescues
Lot and all his possessions, together with all that had been taken from Sodom. Now
comes the crisis towards which the events and experiences of chapters xiii. and xiv.
have been leading. In verse 17, the king of Sodom goes out to meet Abraham. In
verse 21, recognizing the valour and worth of Abraham's action, he asks that the persons
who had been thus delivered should be given back to Sodom, but that all that Abraham
had rescued should be his own as a reward. On the surface, nothing could appear more
generous, or more reasonable, and that, between the meeting of Abraham with the King
of Sodom, and the account of the king's offer, come verses 18-20. This parenthesis is the
turning-point of the story. Another king meets Abraham, Melchisedek, king of Salem,
priest of the Most High God. He brings forth bread and wine and blesses Abraham,
saying:--
"Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed
be the Most High God, Which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he
(Abram) gave him (Melchisedek) tithes of all" (Gen. xiv. 19, 20. See Heb. vii. 1-4).
It was this meeting with Melchisedek and his blessing, that caused Abraham to reply
to the king of Sodom as he did:--
"And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the
Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even
to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I
have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion
of the men which went with me, Aner, Eschol, and Mamre; let them take their portion"
(Gen. xiv. 22-24).
Let us observe, not only the faith of Abraham, but also his reasonableness. The young
men had eaten food. He has no foolish scruples over that. He has no reason to become
extreme in order to show that his faith is real. Again, notice his reasonableness with
regard to Aner, Eschol and Mamre. These men had rendered valuable service, and it
would have caused them to blaspheme the name of the God of Abraham, had he insisted
that what was right for himself, "the Hebrew", the separated one, must also be right for
those not in such relationship with the world. We feel sure that believers who attempt to
legislate for the world, and how it shall spend its time and opportunities, are more like
Lot, who sat in the gate of Sodom and so ineffectively vexed his righteous soul from day
to day (II Pet. ii. 7, 8), than Abraham, who, though he himself refused to take the smallest
fraction from Sodom, did not impose his faith upon others.