Dt. 20: This Means War!

Deuteronomy 20:1 "When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you."

An army greater than yours. Israel has already been said to be the smallest of nations (Dt. 7:7), so every army out there was going to be greater than theirs. And yet it was going to be Israel God would use to wipe out nations greater then theirs. Even with that promise of God going with them, it was still going to be war. God didn't promise Israel that they wouldn't lose men, so there were going to be casualties. In fact, the time they went to war and came back with no casualties was rare enough to merit mention. Doesn't seem like it was commonplace to go to war and come back at 100%.

War is scary, panicky, and makes you want to pee your pants. People will die. In fact, God gave these four ways out of service. One, if a person had built a new house and hadn't dedicated it, the second, if they had a new vineyard and hadn't yet enjoyed it. Three, if they were pledged to a woman and hadn't yet married her. Four, if a person was afraid or fainthearted, they were allowed to leave so they wouldn't spread disheartening among their comrades. A new house, a new vineyard, a new bride, and fear. The recipe for not having to fight in war.

There were two different ways Israel was to take cities based on God's will for them. The first way was if they were just going to attack a city. They had to first make an offer of peace, and enslave the inhabitants of the city if they accepted it. If the city refused, Israel had to swordify all the men, and then plunder the women and children and property.

The cities given by God as an inheritance however, were a completely different story. Israel did not have to make any offer of peace. They were to completely overrun these cities. The usual suspects are mentioned here: The Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites were always mentioned at the forefront of who Israel should crush. Everyone had to be slain, old ladies, little kids...you name it. This was to protect Israel from caving into Idolatry. If Israel were stronger in their own faith in their God, perhaps they wouldn't have had to wipe out entire nations. Seems severe, but at the same time, it was God's world, for His chosen people.
Interesting that God told the Israelites not to wipe out the fruit trees, as they could eat the fruit. In fact, Deuteronomy 20:19 ends with this: "Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them?" These fruit trees were held to a higher regard than the people who planted them to begin with. That's amazing. It's a continuation of what I'm discovering about the planet's connection to man, and being special to God.

Ge. 14: This...IS...ABRAAAAAAMM!!

In Chapter 14, there is war. The lowdown of it is that King Chedorlaomer of Elam was ruling over these five other cities as well: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela. He had probably been collecting (read: confiscating) some sort of a tribute from these towns for 12 years. By year 13, they had enough, and rebelled. Chederlaomer and his buddies from Shinar, Ellasar, and Goiim rolled their boys into the valley to put down the rebellion.

As I was reading this, I thought...now, this is a change of pace. What does this war have to to with Abram, who as shown in the previous chapter was a man of peace? I'unno. I guess I'll have to keep reading.

Anyway, they battle it out, and Lot, who had moved to Sodom, was in the middle of the whole deal. His possessions were stolen, he was kidnapped, and it was a bad deal all around. The KJV says that the valley was full of slimepits, which I find very weird and scary, and a bunch of guys from both sides fell in. Anyway, someone escaped the slaughter and came and told Abram about Lot. Well, Abram did not take too kindly to this news. He armed his trained men (318 according to verse 14.) Where have I heard this number before?

Anyway, Abram goes in like "Yippee-Kai-Ay" and gets rowdy on everyone, using guerrilla tactics, and kicks hiney all the way to Dan. He frees Lot, gets his possessions back, and everything is hunky again. Bera (king of Sodom) benefits from Abram's actions, and he calls his allies together in the valley of Shaveh to bring honor to him. Melchizadek (king of Salem...Jerusalem?) comes out though, first, and brings bread and wine. Mel is described as the "priest of the most high God."

I think this is the first time in the Bible we see the priesthood. I wonder when that began?

Well, if Abram had any thoughts of allowing himself to be glorified by what was taking place (which I assume that he did not) Melchizadek brought it back around onto God. He blessed Abram, who belonged to The Most High God, the creator and possessor of heaven and earth. He praised God for delivering the enemy into Abram's hand, and generally just making everything work out according to plan. Abram was promised that he would become a great nation, after all.

Bera probably saw this happening, and thought, "Well, this is all fine and good, praise god, yadda yadda...give me back my people, and you can have all these riches and possessions."

Abram said, "You aren't going to be able to tell people my riches came from you. They have come from God. I won't even take a shoelace from you. Beat it, Bera." He allows those who helped him in battle take the share.

Abram was the original Leonidas here in Chapter 14. He took a bunch of shepherds (presumably) and fought what I assume is a powerful force. Powerful enough to keep five cities under wraps and bully them to the point of rebellion. How did he do that?

Questions for God?
When was the priesthood established?
Who is this Melchizadek fellow?