The Sacrament and the Tithe

[Servant Boy]

Genesis14:14-16,18-24 When Abram heard that his relative had been
taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three
hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided
his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated
them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He
brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot
with his possessions, and also the women, and the people... And
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a
priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of
God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most
High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a
tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me
and take the goods for yourself.” Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I
have sworn to the LORD God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is
yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ “I will take
nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men
who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

I'm wondering what took me so many years to study the Bible a little
more intently as I am doing now and I regret the time I lost and the
many opportunities lost with it to share God's riches with those I am
blessed to fellowship with. However, when I do consider Abram and the
age at which God was using him so powerfully, I do believe that it is
never too late and God continues to be in control of our lives and His
will for us :)

Here is the tale of a bitter-sweet victory for Abram and the people of
Soddom as they first lost many and were restored few along with their
possessions. Abram achieves victory over the 5 kings with only his
300+ men whereas the 4 kings and their troops from Sodom and Gomorrah
were no match to these same 5 kings.

Obviously God's hand is visible in Abram's victory and what a fitting
response that this victory was marked by honoring God through the
feast that followed.

The question that hung in my mind was why Melchizedek brought out
bread and wine to celebrate and why did Abram refuse the gifts
offered?

It was customary to offer bread and wine to the victors as it was food
that was refreshing. However, here the bread and wine was more than
just refreshments because it was served to Abram and his valiant
warriors by Melchizedek, the priest of God!

Much later in Exodus 25:29-30, the bread of Presence was placed on the
table in the tabernacle, and then Jesus in John 6:48-59 talks about
how one would live forever if they ate of the body and blood of the
Son of Man, Jesus Christ himself. Is it not astounding how
consistently the word of God speaks the same language from beginning
to the end and how we can trust God completely in it?

Interestingly, we also see the first mention of tithe here when Abram
offered a tenth of all he brought back to Melchizedek as a
acknowledgment of the absolute and exclusive supremacy of the God,
whom Melkizedec worshipped, and of the authority and validity of the
priesthood which he exercised.

Then the King of Sodom offers Abram the rest of all the goods
according to custom but Abram refuses to accept because He does not
want to be indebted to any man but God. What a wonderful response that
was but we also need to remember that Sodomites were notorious for
their wickedness and therefore accepting this gift would mix the
spiritual and the carnal.

In all of this, we can clearly see that God is faithful to those who
call on His name and we learn from Abram's response how we must honor
God above all else.

In His Loving Service,
ServantBoy

Isaiah 41:10 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look
about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will
help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'