For the Sake of 10

 Read Genesis 18

Never offer to split the difference during a negotiation unless you are very good friends with the person on the other end of the negotiation. We are talking about someone who will not take advantage of you or use manipulative methods. Why?

Let’s say you want to sell your horse for $200 but your friend only wants to give you $100.  You say, “Let’s split the difference.”

Your friend says, “So you would be willing to go $150?”

You say, “Yes.”

He says, “If you can go $150, then I guess I could do $110.”

What happened?

Your negotiation went from between $100 and $200 to between $110 and $150.  Your hopes of getting something close to $200 are almost gone.

Negotiations can be difficult and sometimes confusing.  You have to know what’s important to you and try to figure out what’s important to the other guy and what’s just a bogey put there so you give up something of value for something the other person didn’t really value.

There are countless things to look out for in negotiations.

If you are negotiating the price of fuel, half a cent might not seem like much, but what if you are negotiating for millions of gallons of fuel?  That half-cent turns into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sometimes the Free on Board (FOB) part of the negotiation is worth as much as the unit price.  If the price for a big bale of hay is $100 but it is free on board—that is delivered at no extra charge to your location—that might be a big deal if someone has to drive 200 miles to deliver the hay.

There’s a lot to keep up with in a negotiation, with one possible exception. Abraham negotiated with God.

God told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom.  The wickedness in that place and others was so bad that God would punish these wicked people now.  He said that he would give the place a once-over first, but God knew that judgment was coming.

Somehow, Abraham knew that Sodom was wicked.  He didn’t want anything to do with the King of Sodom after Abraham’s army of 318 men had defeated the 4 marauding armies that had invaded the land and taken his nephew captive.

Melchizedek had blessed Abraham but when it came to dealing with the king of Sodom, Abraham didn’t want anything to do with him.

Abraham must have been a little perplexed as to why Lot and his family would live there.  But now God was going to destroy it, so Abraham decided to negotiate with God. Perhaps he was emboldened by the fact that during the Lord’s visit to his household, Sarah decided to argue with God.  Maybe that didn’t have anything to do with it.

Abraham posed the following question.

“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”

Abraham put something a bit more tangible forward.  “What if there are 50 righteous people in the city?  Would you still destroy it?”

Abraham puts a little rationale with his proffer.  “Surely you wouldn’t treat the wicked and the righteous the same, would you?”

God was not a tough negotiator.  “Ok, if there are 50 righteous people, I will spare the whole city.”

You might think that Abraham would be happy, but something prompted him to see if God would reduce that number.  Maybe, he thought God would say no and he might have to see if he would go for 75 or 100.  Maybe Abraham remembered why he didn’t want anything to do with the king of Sodom and thought that 50 righteous people might be hard to find.

In any case, Abraham asks, “Would you go for 45?” Now Abraham is not cocky.  He is very respectful. Essentially, he said, “I have no right to ask this of you, but…”

God replied.  Sure.  I would spare the whole city if there are 45 righteous people in it.

Abraham continued.  “What if it’s only 40?”

God said, “Sure.  I will spare the city if there are 40 righteous people in it.”

You might think that Abraham would count himself lucky, but he continued.  “What if there are only 30?”

“Sure, I can go with 30.”  God’s reply surely had to surprise Abraham, but something prompted Abraham to ask again.

“What about 20?”

God agreed.

Abraham had to be thinking that surely there were 20 righteous people somewhere in the whole city.  I wonder if Abraham might have remembered that God spared only 8 people from the judgment that was the flood.  I can’t say for sure, but something prompted Abraham to ask once more.

“How about 10?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Wow!  For the sake of 10 righteous people, God would spare the entire city.  Abraham had to be happy about that, right?

Why did Abraham care about this wicked city?  He probably didn’t care but his nephew and his family lived there.  Abraham had gone to extreme measures to rescue Lot once before.  He took his army of only 318 men and defeated 4 undefeated armies and got his nephew back, along with many other people and a lot of treasure.

Now Lot had a family and they were at risk.  Abraham surely did not know that God had already put a plan into effect to save Lot and those in his family willing to be saved.

Abraham had been made right with God by his faith and that right standing produced some benefits for Lot and his family.

Did God know that he would not find 10 righteous people in Sodom?  Of course, he did.

I love to return to the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Before they call I will answer;

    while they are still speaking I will hear.

God would answer the wickedness of Sodom with judgment; yet, he would converse with Abraham in the moment. 

Abraham surely thought that negotiating with God was the only way to save his nephew but God had already taken care of that part.

Except for Lot’s wife—and you can start now studying or speculating on why she looked back—God saved Lot’s family.

Negotiating with God is easy.  He already knows what is best even though he will let us run the gauntlet of our own solutions and alternatives and our presentations of our own understanding.

Abraham had a full day.  He had visitors who put a time frame on this promised son.  He knew what to name his son—Isaac.  His wife was in a back-and-forth argument with God. 

Yes, you said it. 

No, I didn’t.

Yes, you did.

And now Abraham had negotiated with God.  He had tried negotiating with him before.  Do you remember?

What if you just blessed my son Ishmael?  Then we wouldn’t have to see if my 90-year-old wife can have a kid—something she has not done for her entire life.

God was not interested in negotiating or bargaining with Abraham over things already promised.

It’s easy to negotiate with God.  Just trust him that he figured out the best outcome long before we had our first thought.  Whether it’s judgment or a promise, God already knows the plans that he has for you.

We just need to trust that they are good plans.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

Combat and the Tithe

 Read Genesis 14

 

For 13 years, the kings of cities in the areas of Sodom and Gomorrah were subject to Kedorlaomer of Elam.  In year 14, they rebelled.

We don’t know the details but typically if you lived subjugated to another king or kingdom, you had to pay some sort of tribute—a tax for being conquered and allowed to live in your own homeland.  We might suspect something similar here. That yoke must have finally seemed too heavy.

Realize that we are not talking war among next-door neighbors here. Kedorlaomer of Elam was from the area of Ur of the Chaldeans.  Do you remember when Abram left this area with his father and the rest of the family?  It was not a day trip.

The rest of the invading armies—marauding armies might be more accurate—were along the route that Abram took to get to the Promised Land.  They came from what we call the fertile crescent.  They defeated cities and pillaged them on their way to defeating the rebels.

If you have to mobilize for war, you just as well profit from it. That seemed to be the case.

The locals gathered to fight the invaders in the Siddim valley. This appears to be the area south of the Dead Sea. The four kings and their armies from the north defeated the five from the south or from part of the area that God had promised to Abram’s descendants.

When you are the winner, you take the spoils.  That’s money, gold, silver, cryptocurrency, as well as people.

This story of the 4 marauding armies defeating the 5 local armies would have just been a footnote in history and likely not found its way into the Bible were it not for the fact that one of those people collected as part of the booty or the spoils was Lot.

Lot had gone his own way but not too far.  He kept his flocks in the vicinity of Sodom but lived in the town itself.  He got snatched up with many of the longtime residents.

Word of his capture got to Abram. Abram had to act quickly as the invaders were headed home with their spoils, including Lot.

This part of the text jumps out at me.  Abram had 318 men who were trained for combat.  This man with great wealth and many flocks also kept a militia.  They were not a standing army but essentially, his personal guard and reserve force. I wonder if it was a one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer sort of deal.

In any case, these were not just a bunch of shepherds with rocks and staffs.  They were trained. We don’t see that in the story but Abram had a trained militia. 

But how do 318 men take on 4 armies that just defeated 5 armies?

Abram divided his forces into 2 groups.  That did the trick.  Really?  We get no explanation of how these few men defeated so many.

This is not the story of Gideon where God wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was with Gideon and his victory as he whittled the number of combatants who would save Israel down to 300.  This is Abram with 318 men and without further explanation.

Did Abram’s men conduct a single envelopment?  Was it a pincer movement? We don’t know, at least at this point. We don’t know but we do know that Abram routed his enemies as they fled from what would be northern Israel to Damascus.

After the battle was complete and Lot and many others were rescued and the spoils of war were gathered, we see God providing an explanation through a person to whom we have never been introduced and don’t hear of again until the New Testament.

Melchizedek, the King of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine for Abram and his warriors.  He also brought something of an explanation.

Abram defeated these 4 armies because he was blessed by God and God himself gave him the victory.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

    Creator of heaven and earth.

And praise be to God Most High,

    who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

 So, perhaps this was a bit more like the story of Gideon, or if we keep to the chronology of the Bible, the story of Gideon was like that of Abram’s victory over the 4 armies.

What do you do after such a victory and a blessing from a priest of the Most High God?  You make a tithe.  You give a tenth of all of the spoils to the Lord.

This is a story where we would have liked more information.

When did Abram form this militia?

Did they have shirts made that said:  THE FEW, THE PROUD?

Who is Melchizedek and why don’t we hear of him again for a long time?

How did Abram know to make a tithe?

There is plenty of information that we don’t have, but what we do have is that God made Abram for a special purpose.  He equipped him despite his blunders.  And when needed, he gave him victory in combat.

We don’t know how Abram knew to make a tithe, but he did.  He essentially defined the tithe for all generations.  It is a tenth of what we receive in our pay, dividends, social security, or in the spoils of war.

God would talk to his people more about the tithe once those descendants of Abram returned from slavery into the land promised to them, but for now, we see Abram returning a tenth of that with which God blessed him.

Abram was blessed by God.  Abram had made mistakes and would make more but he was blessed by God and knew to bless God from his blessings.

On most days, we don’t anticipate being called to duty for combat.  We don’t expect to have our relatives taken away by marauding armies.  We don’t expect to do physical battle.

We expect to tend our flocks—do our jobs, get the kids to school, cook dinner, and do the laundry.  Yes, laundry is eternal.

But sometimes we are called to do more.  If it is God who is calling, then God will equip us.  When he does, let us not forget to give him thanksgiving and praise for those unexpected victories.

Let us give him praise not only in our words but in our offerings. Abram gave a tenth of what he had acquired.  He set the bar for the tithe.  Tithe means tenth. Let us never forget to give cheerfully to the Lord out of all that we receive.

Amen.

Matthew 11 - Part 4

 

Read Matthew 11

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to understand that you do not want to be on the receiving end of a sentence that begins:  Woe unto you…

There’s a big dose of woe unto you coming for the Scribes and Pharisees in chapter 23, but the words of the present chapter are directed at the weary and worn out people who should have repented.  They were for the sheep without a shepherd.

The Hebrew people knew their history, especially places such as Sodom and Gomorrah.  Those people got what they had coming to them, but Jesus compared the cities of the region that had seen his miracles and not repented to these infamous cities.  In fact, he said that if the miracles that he had done in Galilee had been done in Sodom, the people of Sodom would have repented.

Sodom would still be standing.  Lot’s wife might have become a pillar of a godly community instead of a pillar of salt.

Many received Jesus as the Son of God. They understood him to be the Messiah.  They knew he was the greatest man that God had ever sent.

Many would not see and would not repent.  Jesus noted that the evidence would have been convincing enough for evil Sodom, so it should have been more than enough for you who profess to be godly people.

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him, but some loved the world and its ways too much.

I’ll wrap up this short section where I began.  You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to understand that you do not want to be on the receiving end of a sentence that begins:  Woe unto you…

Be thankful that we have not seen, yet we have believed.

Amen.