Joel's Org THE POWER OF GOD'S NAMES • EL ELYON AND EL SHADDAI • GENESIS 14:8-24; 17:1-5 • NO DATE MAIN POINT El Elyon and El Shaddai, the Most High God and God Almighty, are the names that represent God’s ability to overrule any circumstance.

INTRODUCTION As your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion.

If you could make one impossibility possible, what would it be? Why?

When was a time in your life or in the life of someone close to you that God did the impossible? How has that impacted your faith?

As children we imagined taking flight like Superman. We had daydreams of visiting the far away worlds we read about in books. We dreamed of the impossible, and this is a practice that follows us into adulthood. Although, as adults, dreams may look a little different. Against impossible odds we dream of seeing people rescued from their circumstances, we dream of seeing relationships reconciled, we dream of seeing the world turned around. As Tony Evans teaches, El Elyon and El Shaddai, the Most High God and God Almighty, are names that represent God’s ability to rule and overrule the circumstances of life. His dreams are far greater than our own, and the limitations of what’s possible have no hold on Him.

WATCH THE SESSION 5 VIDEO FEATURING TONY EVANS.

UNDERSTANDING Unpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means about a particular topic.

HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ GENESIS 14:8-24.

When was a time when you, like Lot, were held hostage by difficult circumstances?

According to verse 20, how was it that Abraham defeated multiple kings and their armies with only a few hundred men?

Page 1 of 6 Why did Abraham refuse to make a deal with the king of Sodom? Do you think it may have been tempting to make the deal with the king? Why?

Does this story remind you of a time when you said “no” to something good in order to say “yes” to something better? Explain.

As Tony Evans points out, Abraham only had a few hundred men with which to rescue Lot, but God had the final say over the outcome of the mission. Abraham’s advantage was not in his numbers or the physical prowess of his warriors. Abraham’s edge was El Elyon, the Most High God. God made a promise to bless Abraham and extend his line-age beyond imagining. In verse 21 the king of Sodom appeared to be offering Abraham a hefty nest egg for his offspring, but Abraham made an oath with the Most High God that he would not accept anything from Sodom. God gave victory to Abraham over Lot’s captors and surely God would continue to bless Abraham, ultimately providing him and his descendants with more than could be counted.

HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ GENESIS 17:1-5.

What do you think God meant when He told Abram to be blameless?

What was God’s promise to Abram?

What is the significance of Abram falling on his face before the Lord?

Why do you think God changed Abram’s name to Abraham? Why is this name change symbolic for Abram?

Why was God’s promise to Abraham so extraordinary?

When has there been a seemingly impossible circumstance before you? How did you respond? How did you turn to God in trust during your moment of need?

God’s promise to Abram was going to alter the course of his life and forever change his legacy. El Shaddai, God Almighty, changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.” God put His promise to Abraham on display. El Shaddai practically drew the promise on Abraham’s forehead for all to see. In giving Abraham a new name, God was essentially telling people, “This man will become the father of many nations, or my name isn’t El Shaddai.” Abraham may have been old and his wife barren, but God Almighty had complete power and the final say over all circumstances. As Tony Evans asserts, God Almighty can do things we don’t think he can do in ways we don’t think he can do it.

APPLICATION

Page 2 of 6 Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives.

What current conflict or difficulty in your life do you need God Almighty to inter-cede in?

What mistakes or hardships from your past or present are preventing you from believing that God Almighty will come through? PRAYER Pray that God Almighty will help you dwell less on what is “possible,” and instead dwell on the truth that the Most High God will deliver and sustain his people.

COMMENTARY GENESIS 14:8-24

14:8-12. This invaded land belonged to the country God promised to Abram. All this occurred on low ground that was full of tar pits. The Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on earth (1,300 feet below sea level). One can still see lumps of asphalt floating in the southern end of this body of water. The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah abandoned their cities before invading kings plundered all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food. The account clearly tells us the battle was a rout.

Lot now lived in the city, whereas in 13:12 he had only “pitched his tents near Sodom.” This offers an important key to understanding this chapter. Abram was content to let the inhabitants of the land do what they wished while he lived in peace. But now they had forcibly involved him by taking Lot away along with the captives.

14:13-17. Notice the mention of Abram the Hebrew. The name “Eber” appears in 10:21 where we are told that “Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.” Thus the origin of the Hebrew word for Hebrew, the people also known as “Shemites” or “Semites.” Eber himself briefly appears in 10:24-25 but now takes on new meaning as Abram becomes the first Hebrew, the father of the Jewish nation. The root of Hebrew comes from a word that means “passed over,” translated in the Septuagint as passenger. So the pilgrim theme dominates Abraham’s life.

Abram also called out the 318 trained men born in his household. We have read several times about Abram’s great wealth, but the phrase trained men appears only here in Scripture. Since Abram had never fought a war, we find it interesting that he had trained more than three hundred

Page 3 of 6 of his people as warriors. Not only that, but he had an ambush strategy that allowed him to defeat the northern kings and recover all the goods and captives.

But Abram didn’t do it alone: Mamre the Amorite... Eshcol and Aner... were allied with Abram. This alliance of neighbors receives negative mention later in the Old Testament description of Hebrews fighting Amorites. When the term ‘Amorite’ is used alone, it refers to western Semitic peoples living in Trans-jordanian kingdoms and the hill country of Palestine. These Amorites were a small ethnic group, not the large wave of Amorites who poured into both ancient Sumer and the West.

So Abram came marching back victoriously after defeating Kedorlaomer and his four friends. There to meet him were two kings. The first mentioned is the king of Sodom. At this point we expect the narrative to move immediately to verse 21 where the king of Sodom speaks. But Moses chose to interrupt the story by introducing one of the most mysterious and interesting characters of the Old Testament—Melchizedek.

14:18. Bible scholars can’t agree about this narrative. Some say that Melchizedek was the king of Jerusalem, merely abbreviated as Salem here in Genesis. That site would have been approximately twenty-five miles north of Abram’s home in Hebron (Ps. 76:2). But the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” How unusual to learn that this Canaanite king was also a priest of God Most High. We will explore Melchizedek more thoroughly in “Deeper Discoveries,” but here we recognize this unusual encounter. Its treatment in the New Testament (Heb. 7) does not allow us to link Melchizedek with Adoni-Zedek, the king of Jerusalem mentioned in Joshua 10:1, although their names are similar in meaning, merely a switch from “king of righteousness” to “lord of righteousness.”

Many interpreters believe this was another Christophany, a demonstration of the preincarnate Christ. Anyone reading the Bible carelessly could easily pass over this strategic and spiritual man who demonstrates that God’s work in the world did not rest entirely upon the shoulders of Abram the Hebrew.

14:19-20. It would be easy to see in Melchizedek’s blessing nothing but ancient incantations of a Canaanite king-priest invoking the name of the chief Canaanite deity. But that would ignore the context of the rest of the Bible as well as this chapter. Melchizedek was speaking of Yahweh, Creator of heaven and earth. How interesting that Melchizedek should emphasize that God’s blessing comes from the Creator.

Was the victory the result of Abram’s 318 trained warriors fighting alongside the supportive Amorites? Not a chance. Melchizedek laid it on the line: God Most High... delivered your enemies

Page 4 of 6 into your hand

The brief Melchizedek narrative ends with another astonishing line: Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. In view of the major emphasis in many churches today on “tithing,” I find it puzzling that so many commentaries pass over this statement. Consider Hebrews 7:4, “Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!” And then just a few verses later, “One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor” (Heb. 7:9-10). Later in the text of the Old Testament, we learn that a tenth was the king’s share (1 Sam. 8:15, 17) and it becomes significant in the law of Israel. But the symbolism of Abram’s act here seems to emphasize the importance of the mysterious Melchizedek.

14:21-24. Old Testament scholars call the construction of this passage a chiasm. The text falls into four parts in which Bera (king of Sodom) meets Abram; Melchizedek meets Abram; Melchizedek blesses Abram; Bera offers Abram all the loot. But Abram showed no interest. He was surely basking in the spiritual high of Melchizedek’s blessing, and Bera’s money meant nothing to him.

Notice that Abram did not force his spiritual standards on other people. He seemed perfectly happy to have Bera distribute the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre and to accept sufficient funds to pay his expenses for the battle. He distanced himself in every other way from King Bera lest anybody think that his dependence rested anywhere other than upon God Most High.

GENESIS 17:1-5

17:1-2. Thirteen years passed between the end of chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17. Ishmael was now a teenager, and Abram received a visit from El-Shaddai, the Almighty. This was God’s special name for confrontation with the patriarchs. God asked Abram to continue walking in righteousness and confirmed the covenant of the seed. This chapter raises Abram to a new level of spiritual experience. Apparently his continuing need for confidence and reassurance occasioned this fresh revelation from God.

17:3. God again emphasized to Abram that this promise was my covenant with you. Bible scholars consider this the third covenant of the Old Testament. This covenant took the form of a suzerainty-vassal conditional pledge in which both parties played a role. This was significantly different from the unconditional promise of chapter 15.

Page 5 of 6 17:4-5. The name change from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many”) indicates the sovereign authority of El-Shaddai and an additional pledge that God would fulfill his promise. Every time Abraham and Sarah heard their new names, they would be reminded of God’s promise and encouraged by his faithfulness. In these verses Abraham was quiet before God, who did all the talking.

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