The Victor Never Claimed Ownership
by Ronald W Robey
(written June 15, 2019)
Genesis 14:16-23 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought
again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the
people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from
the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at
the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. And Melchizedek king of
Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most
high God. And he blessed him, and said, 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 gave him
tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the
persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of
Sodom, I have lift 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 shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest
thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
Genesis 14:16-23
appears to be more about a meeting between Abram and Bera in which
Melchizedek interjected himself, than a meeting between Abram and
Melchizedek.
The text begins with Bera going out to meet with
Abram. Then, we see Melchizedek serving refreshments; blessing Abram;
being blessed by Abram; and receiving the tenth of the goods that Abram
had recovered…all this happening in the presence of Bera, the owner of
the goods.
From the biblical text, it appears that Melchizedek,
though said to have been the Priest of the Most High God, humbled
himself before Abram and Bera. He served bread and wine during Abram’s
meeting with Bera.
When Abram gave ten percent of the goods he
recovered in battle to Melchizedek, Bera did not tell Abram that he had
no right to give away ten percent of the goods to Melchizedek. He
simply told Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.”
It is as if Bera was acknowledging that Abram had the right as
the victor in battle to give a tenth of the spoils of war to whichever
king or deity Abram chose to give the tenth to, and Bera had the say-so
of what was to be done with the remaining ninety percent of the goods.
If the goods were the property of Abram, as many people purport them to
be, then Bera’s statement, “Give me the persons, and take the goods to
thyself” would have been an unjust demand.
Notice in the biblical
text, Abram did not reply, “This is my property now. I won it in
battle.” No, Abram answered, “I have lift 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 shoelatchet, and that I will not take any
thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:”
The fact that Bera said, “Give me the persons, and keep the goods to
thyself” proves that Bera was not being demanding. Rather, it shows his
authority as owner of the goods to give a portion, (or all) of the
goods away at his discretion.
Abram laid no claim to the goods he
had recovered. He knew that they belonged to the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah. So, why did Abram tithe from property that did not belong to
him? Ancient history answers that question…
Giving a tenth of
the spoils of war recovered in battle to kings and deities had been
practiced for centuries prior to Abram giving tithes of war spoils to
Melchizedek. The ancient Babylonians would often give tithes of war
spoils to their kings and gods as early as 2200 BC. (see “The Struggle
of the Nations” by Professor Gaston Maspero, ©1896, Oxford) That’s 285
years prior to Abram tithing to Melchizedek.
Since the giving of a tenth of war spoils had been a custom of the land, Abram would have been familiar with it.
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