14:17,18
Having defeated his enemies and rescued Lot we now come to what is perhaps the most important section of this chapter. Abraham was met by two people, the king of Sodom, and Melchizedek king of Salem. Melchizedek is something of an enigmatic figure, he is mentioned in Psalm 110 and, most significantly, in Hebrews 5, 6 and 7. In Hebrews he is seen as somehow prefiguring Christ. We are told here that Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High, and he came out with bread and wine. There are obvious allusions to the bread and wine of holy communion here.
14:19,20
Melchizedek then blesses Abram, declaring him to be blessed by God Most High. He also declares that God is “possessor (or creator) of heaven and earth”. Then he declares that God is blessed, and that He was the one who delivered Abram’s enemies into his hands. It is notable that Abram is blessed by God. God is simply blessed, no one bestowed the blessing on Him. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. Hebrews sees this as significant as it represented Levi paying tithes to Melchizedek (Heb 7:9,10). It does also show that tithing came in before the Law.
It is significant that God is the possessor (or creator) of heaven and earth. The only grounds that Abram had for believing the promises of God was that God was the creator of all things.
14:21-24
The king of Sodom now comes into the picture. The king seeks to make a deal with Abram. Abram refuses. He has made his allegiance to the Lord, and is depending purely upon Him for his success. So he refuses the offer, but does allow his allies to take their share.
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