Genesis 14:17: Two kings come out to meet him, and the map only knows where one of them is going
Read it →Commentary on Genesis 14:17
Abram comes back from the battle, and two kings come out to meet him in the same place. One wants to repay him. The other comes from God to bless him. The order of those two meetings is the whole lesson of the verse.
The second enemy
Abram had already beaten Chedorlaomer and the kings with him. Now the king of Sodom comes, not to fight but to offer favour. Commentators read this as a fresh attack in a different form.
The man of faith is not free from the enemy's attacks. Often, right after a victory, he has to face a fresh temptation. So it was with Abraham. "After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him." There was clearly a deep and cunning design of the enemy in this move. "The king of Sodom" presents a very different thought. It shows a very different side of the enemy's power from "Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him." In the first we have the hiss of the serpent. In the second, the roar of the lion.
God arrives first
The king of Sodom set out to meet Abram, but he was not the first to reach him. Writers see God's care in that sequence.
Abraham returns from defeating the kings in victory. And the king of Sodom comes out to meet him. The Lord knew that would be a critical moment for Abraham, and He knows all about our future path. It is hidden from us, but He has given us His word as a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. So we may see the end, and have light for every step. But God sees the end from the beginning. He knows what will happen to us, and He knows how to prepare us for it. This was a moment of temptation to Abraham, and God gives Melchizedek to meet him first. God knows how to fill in all the blanks.
Commentators ask why Melchizedek did not come sooner.
Why did "the priest of the Most High God" not come to meet Abram earlier? Because this was the very moment when Abram most needed the strength he had to bring. The enemy was about to dangle his glittering bait before the eyes of the man of God. So Melchizedek is on hand to show him the divine realities of the kingdom.
The King's Valley
The verse names the meeting place twice: Shaveh, and the King's Valley. Commentators dwell less on where it stood than on what its name pictures.
Melchizedek's ministry, king of Salem, in the valley of Shaveh — the King's valley — had strengthened Abraham, so that he was able to meet and overcome the alluring favours of the king of Sodom. And it is only as we remain in the King's valley, the low place, that we experience the priestly support of our true Melchizedek, the One who says, "I am gentle and lowly in heart."
What the meeting produced
The king of Sodom sets out here, but his offer comes later. By then, the meeting with Melchizedek has changed Abram.
The king of Sodom had gone out to meet the victorious Abram, as mentioned in verse 17, but he does not really come into the picture until verse 21. Wanting to repay Abram, he offered him all the goods of Sodom that he had recovered. The way Abram declined the offer is very striking. Through Melchizedek's ministry he now knew God in a new way. Now he was in touch with the Possessor of heaven and earth. So the goods of Sodom had no value for him, however attractive they might have seemed to others. What is more, they were all stained with the terrible sins of that city, and they brought defilement with them.
A picture of the age to come
Writers see in this scene a preview of Christ's future reign.
Melchizedek fully foreshadows the millennial glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. See Zechariah 6:9-13. He will receive His own throne and be a priest upon that throne. Significantly he appeared suddenly when Abraham was returning from defeating the allied kings. And then he blessed Abraham and made God known to him as the Most High (the millennial name of God), the possessor of heaven and earth. In the same way the true Melchizedek will one day appear, and after the defeat of the kings will begin His glorious rule.
Summary
- Victory — Abram beat the kings before verse 17. Then came a different danger: the king of Sodom came with favour, not force.
- Timing — God sent Melchizedek to reach Abram first, at the exact moment of need, not earlier.
- Place — The meeting happens in the King's Valley, the low place, where we receive the support of our true Melchizedek.
- Effect — Knowing God as Possessor of heaven and earth drained Sodom's goods of all attraction for Abram.
- Foreshadowing — The same order comes again. Christ defeats the kings, appears as King-Priest with blessing, and begins His glorious rule.
