Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of…
Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight – How short-term advantage led to long-term captivity
And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains. Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. – Genesis 14:8-12
We are still considering the personality of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. If there is any indication that all we had earlier shared about him was true, particularly his immaturity as well as lack of wisdom and foresight, that was validated in the scenario that played out in our reference passage today.
Lot thought he was being smart by choosing the prime land for himself and leaving his uncle, Abraham, with the not-so-attractive second best. He could have allowed his uncle to choose first, but he took that privilege onto himself. He impetuously chose where he wanted to settle, leaving Abraham to contend with the seemingly lesser option.
However, the incidents that ensued afterwards only revealed how unwise he was, as what he considered a land of peace and abundance was only a troubled land. Despite the lush green that he saw, which made him decide to settle in that part of town, the settlement was only a time bomb waiting for the right time to blow off, and blow off it did not long after Lot settled there. A more grounded person would have known better.
For Lot, however, he only went to camp with trouble because not long after settling, a long-brewing war broke out among the kings in that region, and even though he was not part of the skirmish, Lot and all his assets were taken captive by the rampaging kings.
No doubt, when he was choosing that place to stay, he must have thought that he had hit a jackpot. But that turned out to be a calamity. He must have thought he would become abundant and prosperous in his new location, but he only became a captive instead. All because he lacked foresight. We should not be like him.
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the…
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe – How worship, obedience, and honouring God with substance began
So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. – Genesis 14:16-20
Our exploration of biblical figures continues today with a focus on Abraham, the first man to tithe in the Bible and arguably recorded history.
We had earlier considered how devout Abraham was in his disposition to God and how he alone built several altars of worship to God at different turns in his evolution as a person. He was indeed a man of the altar. And as we can see from today’s passage, he was not just a man of the altar alone; he also worshipped God with his resources, as evidenced in his setting aside ten per cent from the spoil he took from war and giving that portion to Melchizedek, a priest of God.
What Abraham did was remarkable because in his days, paganism was the order of the day. People freely worshipped idols and other tokens. However, it did not take Abraham much time to recognize that Melchizedek was a priest of God. He did not just note this fact alone; he also backed his reverence with action by giving the priest of God ten per cent of the spoils he and his men gained from war.
Just like maintaining an altar of fellowship, giving is another form of worship. Abraham demonstrated what a true believer he was by doing what no one before him had done: He gave a tenth of his gains to God. By doing so, he also started a rite of paying tithes that has endured for thousands of years.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Considerable Goodwill Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen…
Men in the Bible: A Man of Considerable Goodwill – How leadership trust made obedience possible for an entire household
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. – Genesis 17:24-27
Our meditation today shall center on the character of Abraham. He was a man of great and considerable goodwill. Why was this so?
When God told Abraham to circumcise himself and all males in his household as a sign of the covenant with Abraham and his descendants, Abraham was already 99 years old at this time. Imagine the kind of pain he must have endured for days, if not weeks, after cutting his foreskin. His whole body must have been shaking in pain, seeing that there were no pain relievers and anesthesia in those days.
As if that was not bad enough, God also asked Abraham to circumcise all the male members of his household as well. Imagine how easy it was for Abraham to inform his 13-year-old son, Ishmael, and the other male adults and youths in his house about what he was going to do to them. Circumstance them all by cutting off the foreskin of their penises. Even the most loyal of the men in his household must have been alarmed at the announcement.
On a good day, such an announcement was enough for all the males in the house to conspire to kill their master for what he was about to do to them, or, less extreme, they might have run away from the house and town to go settle down somewhere else.
However, interestingly, we did not find any account of such an occurrence. From the young Ishmael to all the male servants, everyone calmly waited their turn to be administered the painful cutting of circumcision. There was no complaint, no cursing, no revolt. Everyone cooperated and calmly endured the pain.
Let’s bear in mind that the circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his children. There was no talk of the slaves and servants being partakers. So what might Abraham have told his staff to make them cooperate? That no one rebelled and rallied the others to resist the inhuman treatment Abraham was about to subject them all to.
If there is anything, this shows that Abraham had a considerable goodwill with his staff and members of his household, such that no one refuted him or rejected his overtures for them to be circumcised, but they all bore the pain with grace. If he did not enjoy goodwill in their eyes, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for him to get them all to participate.
The esteem with which they all regarded him helped to make the exercise bearable and the experience less stressful for everyone, Abraham more than anyone, as he would be grappling with his own pain whilst trying to rally them for their own circumcision.
Men in the Bible: Methuselah – A Man of Opposites Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two…
Men in the Bible: Methuselah: A Man of Opposites — Longevity without legacy in the shadow of Enoch
Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. – Genesis 5:25-27
The man in the Bible we shall be spotlighting today is Methuselah, the son of Enoch.
Methuselah was the typical antithetical man because he was sired by Enoch, who did not live long, considering the average length of years in his days. Enoch lived only 365 years in an era when the average life expectancy was 907.5 years. However, his son, Methuselah, on the other hand, went on to live for 969 years!
Methuselah’s longevity was the first antithesis about him, as he almost tripled his father’s total age. Therefore, if paternal factors were any consideration in the length of years of children, Methuselah defied those odds by going on to live significantly longer than his own father. There was his first antithesis.
Another intriguing thing about Methuselah was that, despite his long life, he seemed to have achieved so little. The major feat the Bible records about him was that “he had sons and daughters.” Surely, there is more to life than having sons and daughters.
Even though the average length of life in his days was more than 900 years, Methuselah had an advantage over all his forbears and his contemporaries in that he had more days, more weeks, more months and more years than everyone else to do whatever he chose to do or become whatever he wanted to become. Therefore, just stopping at having sons and daughters sounds like a poor utilization of his numerical advantage and a pathetic summation of his lifetime.
Someone said, “the beauty of a life is not in its length, but its contribution.” As far as Methuselah goes, that was not the kind of epitaph that would be written on his tomb, as his main contribution to the world was the addition of sons and daughters. While that is not bad in itself, it was a gross underutilization of his longevity and a poor management of the resources of time and whatever else he had at his disposal.
Another, paradoxical note about Methuselah is that, while he had a father who must have been an example of right living and piety to everyone in Enoch, there was no indication that Methuselah himself followed the footsteps of his father. Nothing was said about his lifestyle, actions, choices, decisions and other distinguishing aspects of a man’s life.
The only thing of note written about him was that he lived long and had children. He did not delight the heart of God like his father. There was also no indication that he continued the legacy of intimacy that his father had with God. The chain of intimacy with the divine appeared to end with him and was neither upheld by him nor passed on to his children. That is not a recommended way to be a parent. If we learn anything from Methuselah, it will be how not to live.
Men in the Bible: Cain and the First Misery Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! You have banished me from the land…
Men in the Bible: Cain and the First Misery
Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!” – Genesis 4:13-14 (New Living Translation)
We are still studying the man, Cain. Today, we will explore him from another unpleasant angle of being the first man in recorded history to be plagued with misery.
While this may not be such a big deal in itself, since we are all probably familiar with the story, the essence of today’s note is to help us to appreciate some of the consequences that our actions, good or bad, may attract, even when we do not really think about them. This was probably the case with Cain too, as he might not have guessed what the repercussions of killing his brother might be. After all, there was no precedence for him to learn from, which could have helped him reign in his violent impulse.
There is an African saying, “someone who does what no one else has done before will certainly experience an effect no one else has experienced.” This was the case with Cain as he soon found out when God decided to punish him for his offence. If Adam and Eve had seen the worst hand of God as the punishment for their own disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit, Cain had it much worse than his parents with this weighty pronouncement of God:
And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” – Genesis 4:10-12
While Adam had the ground cursed for his sake, in the case of Cain he was outrightly cursed from the earth with the implication that he would be forever unproductive, as the earth would not yield its goods to him. This is a terrible sentence indeed, as it meant that Cain was condemned to a life of unfruitfulness. There is no work, no business, no trade, no endeavor that he would do that would give him a satisfactory yield.
Moreover, Cain was also condemned to a life of fugitive and vagabond. The Oxford Dictionary defines a fugitive as “a person who has escaped from a place or is in hiding, especially to avoid arrest or persecution,” and a vagabond as “a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job.” These are no desirable statuses for anyone. However, they were the lot of Cain as the divine sentence for the heinous crime he committed in taking the life of his innocent brother.
He was condemned to running from place to place with no settled abode to call his own. He would run from humans, animals. elements, and everything else. Even when those were not really chasing him, his guilty consciousness would not allow him to think so, as he would only see threats to his life and safety around everyone and everything he was around. What a miserable way to live indeed.
Sin has consequences that are usually unfavorable.
Another lesson we can learn from God is His disposition to a balancing act. He is not a God of extremes. Even though some who profess to follow Him go to extremes in His name or make extreme claims on His behalf, extreme is not a label that one can pin on God. He balances the acts.
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments
Another lesson we can learn from the personality of God is that sentiments do not move Him. Therefore, He cannot be deceived into making a wrong judgment or call, as humans tend to do.
Understanding God: He is A Creator
He is a Creator. This is not to be interpreted loosely, particularly in the light of our contemporary use of the word. God is the ultimate Creator, as He created all things, even the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).
Understanding God: God of the Beginning
There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God. He is not just the beginning but is the origin of all things.
Women in the Bible: A Paragon of Beauty
What made Sarah’s beauty so compelling that kings and nations took notice? Explore the deeper layers of grace, favour, and mystery surrounding one of Scripture’s most unforgettable women — and discover why her story still provokes wonder today.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Ambition and Adventure
Terah may not have reached Canaan, but his courage to start a life-changing journey laid the foundation for Abraham’s destiny. Discover how ambition and bold steps mark a life of significance.
Men in the Bible: An Impetuous and Impudent Man
A revealing glimpse into a man whose choices exposed deeper issues of character, showing how hastiness and entitlement can quietly shape a destiny, and why his story still speaks to us today.
Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight
Sometimes what looks like a smart choice can hide the seed of a mistake. This reflection from Scripture invites us to think again about how foresight — or the lack of it — shapes a man’s story.
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe
Before laws, temples, or traditions, one man honoured God with his substance. Abraham’s tithe was not commanded, demanded, or enforced. It flowed from reverence.
Fathers in the Bible: A Destiny-Shaping Father
What makes a man a truly aware father? Discover how one man’s prophetic foresight shaped his son’s destiny and changed generations forever.
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