The Genesis of the Tithe and Priesthood (Genesis 14:17–24)
Last week we watched Abram march north with 318 trained men and three Amorite allies to rescue his nephew Lot. This Lord’s Day we came to what happened on the way home—something more shocking and significant than the battle itself. Moses has sandwiched this passage: the king of Sodom comes out to meet Abram; the account breaks off abruptly for a far greater king; and only then does it return to Sodom. The bread of the sandwich is Sodom; the meat is Melchizedek. Two kings meet Abram in the King’s Valley on the same afternoon, and the antithesis of Genesis 3:15 has rarely been drawn so plainly: one king who stayed home and shows up only after the victory to make demands, and one king who comes out with bread and wine and a blessing.
Melchizedek arrives with no genealogy, no origin, and no farewell. He is king of Salem—king of peace—, and he is also priest of God Most High, which under the later Levitical system was virtually impossible. Saul lost a dynasty for offering a sacrifice (1 Samuel 13); Uzziah was struck with leprosy for burning incense (2 Chronicles 26). Kings were not priests. Yet here, centuries before Sinai, stands a man who is both. He blesses Abram in the name of El Elyon, God Most High, “Possessor of heaven and earth”—not merely the Creator who made and withdrew, but the Owner who governs and maintains every inch of what He made. That doctrine ought to be the most terrifying truth in the world to those outside of Christ, and the most comforting to those who are in Him. Nations rise and fall at His word; not one drop of rain falls outside His intent.
Abram’s two responses follow from that one truth. Because God owns everything, Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything—the first tithe and the first priest named in Scripture, though almost certainly not the first of either; Adam was already tending and keeping a garden-temple long before. And because God owns everything, Abram will not accept so much as a thread or a sandal strap from the king of Sodom, “lest you should say, I have made Abram rich.” He had already lifted his hand to the Lord. If you take the king’s shilling, you do the king’s bidding—and Abram would not be made rich by Sodom when the Possessor of heaven and earth had already promised to bless him.
But the sermon did not end in the King’s Valley. A thousand years later David sings of a King who is told to sit at the Lord’s right hand and is sworn in as “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4). A thousand years after that, Peter declares at Pentecost that this psalm is about Jesus, and the author of Hebrews spends a whole chapter unfolding it: a priest not by bodily descent but “by the power of an indestructible life,” from the tribe of Judah, made priest with an oath God will not revoke. And the conclusion is Hebrews 7:22—“This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” Better than Moses, better than David, better even than Abraham; for every covenant before could only promise what this one actually purchases. Forgiveness, adoption, reconciliation, fullness of joy, everlasting life—all secured for everyone who will come to Him by faith and bow to Him as both King and Priest.
- The King of Sodom Comes Out (v. 17) — The king, who did not go on the rescue mission, meets Abram halfway home in the King’s Valley — arriving only once the victory is already won.
- Melchizedek, Priest-King of Salem (vv. 18–20a) — Bread and wine for battle-worn men, and a blessing in the name of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth — the victory belongs to the Lord, not to Abram.
- Abram’s Tithe (v. 20b) — A tenth of all the spoils given to a priest he did not appoint, for a practice Scripture had not yet explained — worship offered the way God appoints it, not the way man invents it.
- Abram’s Refusal (vv. 21–24) — Not a thread or a sandal strap from Sodom, though he freely secures the share of the men who went with him. Where our money comes from matters.
- Melchizedek and the Better Covenant (Psalm 110; Hebrews 7) — The king-priest without genealogy points forward to the Son of God, a priest forever, and the guarantor of a covenant that purchases every promise the others could only announce.
Key line to remember: “Every covenant before could only promise what this one purchases.”
Reflection and Preparation
Day 1 — Two Kings in the King’s Valley
Read: Genesis 14:17–20; Hebrews 7:1–10
Adults
- Moses interrupts the account of the king of Sodom to introduce Melchizedek, then returns to Sodom afterward. What is he asking us to notice by arranging the passage this way?
- One king comes out with bread, wine, and a blessing; the other comes out with a demand. How does this scene display the long antithesis between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent?
- Hebrews says “it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.” Abram, the man who holds every promise, is the one being blessed here. What does that tell us about Melchizedek—and about the One he points to?
Children
- Two kings came out to meet Abram after the battle. What did each one bring or ask for?
- Melchizedek was both a king and a priest. Can you think of Someone else in the Bible who is both?
Day 2 — Possessor of Heaven and Earth
Read: Psalm 24; Acts 17:24–28
Adults
- Melchizedek calls God the possessor—the owner—of heaven and earth, not simply the Creator. Why does that particular word change how we hold on to our possessions?
- Paul tells the Athenians that God gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. If that is true, what exactly do any of us have that we did not receive?
- Pastor Mike said God’s ownership of all things ought to be the most terrifying doctrine to those outside of Christ and the most comforting to those inside. Why is that the case?
Children
- Who does the Bible say owns the whole earth and everything in it?
- If everything really belongs to God, how should that change the way we share our things?
Day 3 — A Tenth of Everything
Read: Malachi 3:6–12; 2 Corinthians 9:6–15
Adults
- Abram gives a tenth before we have any written law commanding it. What does it suggest about worship that God’s people seem to have known to give long before Sinai spelled it out?
- The Old Testament tells us exactly how much; the New Testament says that each one is to give “as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.” Which of those two is actually the harder standard to live up to?
- Malachi is the one place God invites His people to put Him to the test. Is your giving a planned act of worship, or whatever happens to be left over?
Children
- What does the word “tithe” mean? How much of his treasure did Abram give away?
- God loves a cheerful giver. What is something you could give away this week with a happy heart?
Day 4 — Not a Thread or a Sandal Strap
Read: Genesis 14:21–24; 1 Timothy 6:6–12
Adults
- Abram had every right to the spoils, yet refused them so that no one could say Sodom had made him rich. Where might accepting something you are entitled to still compromise your witness?
- “If you take the king’s shilling, you do the king’s bidding.” What strings have you seen come attached to money—in institutions, in families, or in your own life?
- Notice that Abram imposes his vow on no one: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share. How do we hold a conviction firmly without binding another believer’s conscience to it?
Children
- Abram would not even take a piece of thread from the king of Sodom. Why do you think he said no?
- Is it always right to take something just because someone offers it to you? Who could you ask before you decide?
Day 5 — A Priest Forever (Preparing for the Lord’s Day)
Read: Psalm 110; Genesis 15:1–6
Adults
- Psalm 110 is the Old Testament passage quoted most often in the New. Why does it matter so much to the apostles that the Messiah is sworn in as a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” and not of Aaron?
- Hebrews says Christ became a priest not by legal requirement of bodily descent but “by the power of an indestructible life.” What comfort is there in having a priest who never dies and never has to be replaced?
- Genesis 15 opens immediately after Abram turns down Sodom’s wealth: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” As you come to worship, what have you let go of that God Himself has promised to be for you?
Children
- A priest is someone who brings people to God. Who is our priest, and how long will He be our priest?
- God told Abram that He Himself would be Abram’s reward. Is God a better gift than the presents we ask for? Why?
Next Lord’s Day Preview
The Cutting of the Abrahamic Covenant — Genesis 15:1–21
Abram has just walked away from a fortune. He has refused Sodom’s goods, given a tenth of everything to a priest-king who appeared out of nowhere, and now he goes home with empty hands and four powerful kings somewhere behind him who may well want a rematch. It is precisely there that “the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” The man who would not be made rich by Sodom is told that God Himself is his portion.
What follows is the most consequential exchange yet in the sixth toledot, the generations of Terah. Abram raises the one thing that makes all the promises feel hollow—he still has no son, and a servant from Damascus stands to inherit everything. God takes him outside, sets the stars before him, and says: so shall your offspring be. And Moses records the sentence Paul will build an entire doctrine of justification upon: “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
Then comes the ceremony. Animals cut in two, the pieces laid opposite one another, a dreadful darkness, a prophecy of four hundred years of affliction—and a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passing alone between the pieces. In the covenant-cutting rituals of the ancient world, both parties walked that bloody aisle, invoking the fate of the slaughtered animals upon themselves if they broke faith. Here only One walks. Come and see who bears the curse of this covenant, and what it cost Him to keep it.
- Come ready to consider why God answers Abram’s empty hands by promising not more spoils, but Himself—“I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
- Come ready to consider what Genesis 15:6 actually says about how a sinner is counted righteous, and why Paul reaches back to this verse rather than to Abram’s obedience.
- Come ready to consider what it means that God alone passed between the pieces—and how the offspring promised under those stars leads us back to the seed of the woman and forward to the cross.
Hymns for Next Lord’s Day
- 18 Thou The God Who Changes Never
- 247 Amazing Grace
- Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns
- May the Grace of Christ, Our Savior
Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns
(Benjamin Beddome)
1 Shout, for the blessed Jesus reigns;
through distant lands his triumphs spread.
And sinners freed from endless pains,
own him their Savior and their Head.
2 He calls his chosen from afar;
they all at Zion’s gates arrive.
Those who were dead in sin before
by sovereign grace are made alive.
3 Oh, may his holy church increase,
his Word and Spirit still prevail,
while angels celebrate his praise
and saints his growing glories hail.
4 Loud hallelujahs to the Lamb
from all below and all above!
In lofty songs exalt his name,
in songs as lasting as his love.
May the Grace of Christ Our Savior
John Newton
May the grace of Christ our Savior
And the Father’s boundless love,
With the holy Spirit’s favor,
Rest upon us from above!
May we walk with Christ our Savior
Worthy of our calling sure
Trusting in His boundless favor
For He has declared us pure.
Thus may we abide in union
With each other, and the Lord;
And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys which earth cannot afford.
Blessings,
Pastor Mike