Repeated phrases:
(1) the Most High God v.18, 19, 20, and 22, Creator of heaven and earth v.19, 22
a. Melchizedek was the king and the priest of the Most High God.
b. He blessed Abram with these 2 names of God
c. He praise the Most High God
d. He knew that the Most High God delivered Abram's enemies into his hand
(NET) Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.
Melchizedek praised God as the Most High partly because He is our Creator. Also he observed that Abram's success over the 4 powerful kings was due to the Most High God. He gave him military victory.
Reflection: What will other people call your God? Will they see that your God is the Most High because He gave you joy over anxiety during the pandemic? Will they see that God is the Most High because you can overcome sins in your life? Will they know that your success is due to God?
(2) The concept of allies v.1 (the ally of the 4 kings), v.2-3 (the ally of the 5 kings), v.13, 24 (the ally of Abram with Aner, Eschol, and Mamre).
v.20b Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself
14:23 that I will take nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I who made Abram rich.’
Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth, and when the king of Sodom saw that he asked Abram to give him the people and took the possessions. However, Abram did not want to have any relationship with him and gave him back almost everything. Why Abram had such a vast difference in the way he dealt with Melchizedek and the king of Sodom? Abram received the blessing by Melchizedek v.19 and he gave 1/10 as an offering to him v. 20b. Those were the interaction people would have with the same faith. Abram and Melchizedek shared the same faith and that determines our relationship with others. On the other hand, Abram probably knew that the Sodomites were extremely wicked 13:13 and therefore, he did not want to have any relationship with them.
Reflection: How do we chose our friends? Whom shall we exercise cautions?
(3) Who is Melchizedek?
King of Salem, (NET) Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative. In Psalm 110 the LORD declares that the Davidic king is a royal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.
Priest of the Most High God, (NET) It is his royal priestly status that makes Melchizedek a type of Christ: He was identified with Jerusalem, superior to the ancestor of Israel, and both a king and a priest. Unlike the normal Canaanites, this man served “God Most High”
—one sovereign God, who was the creator of all the universe. Abram had in him a spiritual brother.
Reflection: Is God your Most High? Do you trust that He is sovereign and controls everything?
Audrey
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