Genesis 14:18-24
Abram and Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1, 2)
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.
21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— 24 except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
The king of Salem who is also the king of righteousness (Melchizedek) and king of peace (Salem) as verified in Hebrews 7:1-2, this king met Abram after battle and blessed him. This high priest of God Most High was of unknown origin and yet was the servant of the LORD and knew Abram. This priest was a picture of Christ as seen hidden in veiled language here, but more fully explained by the writer of Hebrews as the type of a High Priest without beginning or end as the divine Son of God is and was and always will be. He even is described there as made like the Son of God, without beginning or end and was an eternal priest, a perfect picture and type of God’s Son to come as our eternal High Priest, forever interceding (Hebrews 7:24-25, 26) for us! We see also how Abraham gave a tenth part of all he had from God’s blessing in the battle of the kings to this high priest as a foretaste of us giving our tithes to the Lord High Priest in the heavens, Jesus Christ the righteous. We also owe him homage, honor, and service with all we have because it is all given by Him in His victory over the world to deliver us for our enemies into His grace and worship. A mere tenth is only a token beginning of all we have. Before Abram gave a tithe to this high priest of righteousness and peace, he heard this blessing pronounced on him and on God for His grace to him. This earthly priest had blessed Abram first by extolling him and as a servant of the Most High God who owns the world and delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand. When this king of peace then asked only for the people Abram brought back (he rescued his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people as Genesis 14:16 tells us), Abram offered everything (“from a thread to a sandal strap”) along with everyone to him instead. He swore to the LORD, the Highest and only God, knowing everything and everyone belonged to God, he swore to offer all to the high priest just as we who are rescued from sin’s penalty of death in Christ the heavenly High Priest should offer all we have and know to Him as it is all His anyway. This includes family and fortune alike. The only thing not offered back was what his men had already eaten for sustaining them and that promised to those who came with him into the fray. We can see then that God allows for our daily bread to keep us when asking us to offer all to Him; the Lord owns us all yet provides for our needs as well. We are not expected to give at the expense of the wellbeing of others, therefore. The question left to us is who do we serve and worship with all we have (2 Corinthians 9:7-8) as expected of us? We are to faithfully give tithes to the Prince of Peace and meet urgent needs (Titus 3:14) as well.
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