Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 046. Rescue

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 046. Rescue


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II



The Rescue



And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.- Gen_14:12.



And Abram brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.- Gen_14:16.



“Then Abraham removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the ‘oak grove' of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.” Here we have the third and chief resting-place of the wandering patriarch. This is the nearest approach to a home that the wanderings of Abraham present. Underneath the tree his tent was pitched when he sat in the heat of the Eastern noon. Thither came the mysterious visitants. In their entertainment is presented every characteristic of genuine Arab hospitality, which has given to Abraham the name of “The Father of Guests.” But there is another spot in Hebron which gives a yet more permanent and domestic character to its connexion with Abraham's life. When Darius pursued the Scythians into their wilderness, they told him that the only place which they could appoint for a meeting was by the tombs of their fathers. The ancestral burial-place is the one fixed element in the unstable life of a nomadic race; and this was what Hebron furnished to the patriarchs. For the cave of Machpelah lay opposite the terebinths of Mamre and both belonged to Hebron itself, which in ancient times extended farther than now, and was indeed no hill-city properly so called, but stretched at least to the Rumeidimount.



1. When Lot made choice of the well-watered plain, it does not seem to have occurred to him that it would be a likely place to excite the envy of kings and men of war. Like his mother and ours, he saw that the sight was pleasant to the eyes, and for that reason he put forth his hand and took all he could get. He soon found, however, that there were other people in the world besides himself, and that he could not keep the prize a secret. He would not leave it for Abraham's enjoyment, and now we shall see if he can keep it for his own. Kings were plentiful in that neighbourhood; some nine of them seemed to be within easy distance of each other; and those nine kings divided themselves into fighting parties, four against five, and the four conquered the five, driving the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah into the slime-pits and causing the others to flee to the mountains. Then, conquerorlike, they took everything they could lay their hands upon, and amongst the rest they “took Lot and his goods.”



This experience of Lot introduces us to an entirely new scene in the life of Abraham. The peaceful history of ch. 13, which made us acquainted with his pacific disposition, is now followed by the history of a war, the first met with in Holy Scripture. This first is a war of conquest, waged for the subjugation of foreign nations and States; the world-empire, which subsequently made Israel also the aim of its conquering power, is here already in course of development. So far as we have already become acquainted with Abraham, he has shown himself obedient, thankful, unselfish, submitting to Divine guidance, and, when he has offended by acting independently, penitently returning to his former attitude. We here see his faith, in virtue of which he obtains the victory over self, gathering itself up in God and breaking forth in an act of love that overcomes the world. The leader of flocks appears as a leader of war, aiding kings against kings, in a greatness surpassing them all; for the three dignities, the prophetic, priestly and royal, which are separated in the times of the law, are still united in the patriarchs.1 [Note: F. Delitzsch, A New Commentary on Genesis, 394.]



2. Much has been written concerning this interesting chapter of the Bible. The earlier critics were of opinion that it was impossible that the power of the Elamites should have extended so far at such an early epoch. But there can now be no doubt that the Elamites and Babylonians were quite powerful enough, at the time of Abraham, to make an expedition of the magnitude described in Gen_14:1-24. Sargon of Agadé held sway over this district, and he reigned, according to Nabonidus's indications, more than 1500 years earlier. His son, when he came to the throne, added Elam to his dominions as well. That the position should, at a considerably later period, be reversed, is easily conceivable, and it was to all appearance the Elamites who held sway in a part of Babylonia, of which country many of the states undoubtedly acknowledged Elamite overlordship, though with exceeding unwillingness.



Although, in their present literary form, these stories seem to be late, it does not necessarily follow that they do not embody very old traditions. Chedorlaomer is clearly an Elamite name (Kudur-Lagamar). Amraphel may well be the later form of the name of the famous Babylonian king Hammurabi who ultimately delivered his nation from the Elamite yoke. Ellasar is perhaps the Hebrew form of Larsa, one of the important towns of southern Babylonia. Goiim may be a variant for Gutium, an ancient state lying between Babylonia and Media. The fact that the Elamites ruled Babylonia prior to 2200 b.c. and that these Eastern powers at times extended their authority to the Mediterranean is established by the testimony of the Babylonian inscriptions. The evidence, therefore, is reasonably conclusive that the story of the four kings embodies genuine historical data. The record was most probably kept in Babylonia, where the cuneiform system of writing was in use from an early period. The names of the Palestinian cities might have been preserved by Canaanitish tradition-possibly in written records. Likewise the references to Melchizedek, although probably introduced later into the present story, may rest upon a historical basis. The site of Solomon's temple was probably an ancient Canaanitish sacred place. El Elyon (God Most High) was worshipped by the Phœnicians, and therefore by the Canaanites as well as the Hebrews. Priest-kings appear in earliest Semitic history. The name Melchizedek is strikingly similar to Adonizedek, a later king of Jerusalem, mentioned in Jos_10:1-43. Melchizedek's words are in the form of an ancient oracle, which probably represents the original nucleus of the tradition. It must be remembered, however, that all of the identifications suggested above are only possibilities, not certainties. Until they are further proved or disproved by the testimony of the monuments, it is exceedingly hazardous to base important conclusions upon them.1 [Note: C. F. Kent, Narratives of the Beginnings of Hebrew History, 85.]



3. The final struggle was in the vale of Siddim. In that “Valley of the Fields” was fought the first battle of Palestine. Two of the five kings were slain in the conflict, and the routed army fled up the steep passes of the enclosing hills. The victors carried off their spoil and captives, and retreated up the long valley of the Jordan on their homeward march.



Abraham was sitting in his tent door, under the great oak of Mamre, when a fugitive from the vale of Siddim brought the tidings of his nephew's captivity. This was no time for rending of garments and fruitless lamentations. Arming his own servants-three hundred and eighteen-and sending a hasty summons to Mamre, and his brothers Eshcol and Aner, to join him, he set off in hot pursuit. Passing Bethlehem and Salem, he swept over the mountains, and along the plains of Sychar and Esdraelon, and at the close of the fourth day (Josephus says he attacked them on the fifth night) he was probably climbing the hills of Naphtali. From these bold headlands he could see with perfect distinctness the enemy carousing in careless security around the fountain of Leddan. Having made the necessary dispositions for the attack, he waits for the veil of darkness; then, like an avalanche from the mountains, he bursts upon the sleeping host. The panic is immediate and universal, the confusion inextricable, the rout wild and ruinous. No one knows friend from foe. They trample down and slay each other, are swamped in miry canals, and entangled and torn to pieces in the thorny jungles of Banaisy. Terror lends wings to the fugitives. They climb Castle Hill, rush along the vale of Yafury, and descending to the great plain by Beit Jenn, cease not their frantic flight until they reach Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. Abraham returns victorious to Laish, which is Dan; the captives are released, and the goods collected. None have perished; nothing is lost. In triumph, and with devout thanksgiving, he who through faith waxed valiant in battle marches back by Jerusalem to his tent on the plain of Mamre.1 [Note: W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 214.]



Abraham was striking his iron within five minutes of the tidings from the valley. He met his difficulties, first by quick counsel, then by getting his folk to stand shoulder to shoulder, and then by the swiftest action, taken on the instant and pursued without a pause until the deed was done. This is what delights us in the story. The spirit of human help was in Abraham, and the hand did with flying ardour what the spirit called for. For want of this speed enterprises of great pith and moment fail. For want of this sudden fire of deed, after resolute counsel has been taken, how often have we lost the good we might have done in life; how often have we failed to help men, to deliver the captives of wrong, to rescue the spoil from the cheater, to restore peace to the family or to our society, to establish our cause for the sake of man, to win the crown of saving men! We go on taking counsel till the hour is past; we delay acting till action is of no use; or we take no counsel, and, having no wise plan, break down in action; or we act alone, not having previously made trusty and faithful comrades, not having previously gained them by proving that we want nothing for ourselves. Unsupported then, having no plan, we linger in our tent, and when we do resolve to act, it is too late. The kings of the East have reached their own country; the captives are slaves; the spoil is not rescued. The opportunity is lost.1 [Note: S. A. Brooke.]



“When the costly hall of the Young Men's Christian Association took fire in 1867,” wrote the Rev. Mr. Macrae, “the secretary and other officials, as soon as they found the building was doomed, ran about the merchants in the city for subscriptions. ‘Our hall is burning, sir; the engines are at work, but there is no hope. We shall want a new one. Let us have money enough to begin at once!' Thousands upon thousands of dollars were subscribed without a moment's hesitation, and it is said that before the fire was out money enough had been raised to build a new hall in a style of even greater magnificence than the first. This is only a specimen of the lightning Christianity of Chicago.”2 [Note: The Life of D. L. Moody, 107.]