Bible Reading #198 - Abram Knew Battle

Abram Knew Battle

Genesis 14

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 14) "When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he armed his 318 trained men, born in his own household, and pursued the four kings all the way to Dan." (v. 16) "He brought back everything they had, including women and soldiers. He also brought back his relative Lot and his possessions."

My Thoughts

If Abram looked anything
like Gandalf, then it's more
cool than funny!

Abram, who became Abraham later on, knew battle, did he? That sounds a bit strange, doesn't it? There was no mention of Abram fighting previously in the Bible, and I'm pretty sure he was quite old! God called Abram when he was old, almost 90 I believe. Actually, it sounds quite funny, and old man in battle! Can you imagine?

Not only did Abram know how to fight, he had trained men born in his own household, three hundred eighteen of them. The Bible doesn't say that Abram armed them and sent them after Lot, it says that he (Abram) pursued the four kings and sent them after Lot. That means that Abram actually knew how to fight and did so at quite an old age.

God was with Abram, and we know this already. Without God on his side, I doubt Abram would have been able to defeat the mighty kings and rescue his nephew. He knew how to fight, though it seems not so he could attack and conquer, but more to defend himself. The Bible mentions a lot about wars and fighting, which involves actual death, and a lot of this comes from God's people. The Israelites destroyed the people living in the land God promised them.

Why would God be okay with fighting and war? The answer is that, well, He really isn't. God did not want a lot of things to happen, but since He gave us freedom of choice, we often choose to disobey. Sometimes it is necessary to fight. When it comes to you either being killed or defending yourself, God doesn't want you just let yourself die. There is nothing wrong with defending yourself. Abram knew how to fight so he could defend himself if he was attacked.

Yes, when the Israelites fought nations, they killed them. They completely destroyed Ai. Part of it was to protect themselves, the other part was that God wanted them to do this for a couple reasons. One, those nations were not going to accept Him. Two, if they had been left alone, sooner or later, they would come to attack Israel and they would never grow into the large nation God had promised.

So to conclude, war and fights are not good. I mentioned this in the previous post as well, only in a different context. It is good to defend yourself. It would be better for a good person to defend himself and in the process, let a wicked person die than for a good person to do nothing and let the wicked kill him and possibly others.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!