14-5: Abram’s encounter with the King of Sodom foreshadows Yeshua’s wilderness temptation

The king of S’dom said to Avram, “Give me the people, and keep the goods for yourself.”  

But Avram answered the king of S’dom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to Adonai, El ‘Elyon, maker of heaven and earth, 

“I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap of what is yours; you shall not say, ‘It is I who made Abram rich.'”–Genesis 14:21-23

Following Abram’s victory, the king of Sodom comes out and proposes to Abram that he hand over the people he saved in exchange for all the loot.

Abram refuses.

There is a direct parallel between this story and Satan tempting Yeshua in the wilderness.

Notice in both cases that the authority over the loot in King Sodom’s case and the world’s wealth in Satan’s case was never contested.

Notice also in both cases that both King Sodom and the devil really don’t care about the world’s wealth.

They both wanted to purchase people’s souls with worldly wealth.

If Yeshua had given in to Satan’s temptation, he would not have redeemed humanity and thus all the people of the world would have fallen into Satan’s hands.

Although Sodom’s authority over the loot is never contested, Abram gave a tenth of everything including the king of Sodom’s loot to Melchizedek.

So we can see that Melchizedek had even greater authority than the king of Sodom.

This perfectly fits the pattern that although Satan is the god of this world, his power is still limited and under the control of El Elyon.

How Abram responded: “I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap of what is yours“, is something we should all take to heart as believers. 

The lesson to be learned here is that wealth in and of itself is not bad, it’s the source it comes from that makes all the difference.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

Once more, the Adversary took him up to the summit of a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, and said to him, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” “Away with you, Satan!” Yeshua told him, “For the Tanakh says,