Genesis Deeper ㊼ Not Even a Thread · Why Did Abram Refuse the Goods the King of Sodom Offered? (Genesis 14:17~24)
This series takes one Bible passage at a time and looks at it a little more closely. The images are free to use in worship, in class, and on social media.
The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 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.” Abram gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.” Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”
Genesis 14:17~24 (World English Bible)
1. On the Way Home, Two Kings Waiting in the Valley
In the last story, Lot had been taken captive, and Abram chased the army that took him all the way to Dan, at the far north of the land. He attacked at night and won. He brought back Lot, Lot’s goods, and the people who had been taken with him (14:14~16). Today’s passage begins on the road home.
When Abram’s company reaches the valley of Shaveh, also called the King’s Valley, two kings come out to meet him. The first is the king of Sodom (14:17). This is the king who had lost the battle not long before and, as he fled, fallen into the tar pits of the valley of Siddim (14:10). All the goods and food of Sodom had been taken, and its people had been carried off. Among the things Abram brought back were the goods and people taken from Sodom.
But before the king of Sodom says a word, the passage brings in someone else: Melchizedek, king of a place called Salem. Melchizedek does not come empty-handed. He brings out bread and wine (14:18). The passage introduces him as ‘priest of God Most High.’ A priest is someone who serves God and asks God to bless people.
Melchizedek blesses Abram: “…Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth…” (14:19). Then he says who gave Abram the victory: “and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand…” (14:20). Abram gives him a tenth, one part out of every ten, of what he has brought back.
Only then does the king of Sodom speak: “…Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.” (14:21). In other words, as long as the people are returned, Abram may keep everything else he recovered. Abram’s answer is short and firm. He begins, “…I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh…” (14:22). Raising a hand to God like this was a way of making a solemn promise before Him, an oath. He will take nothing that belongs to the king of Sodom, ‘not a thread nor a sandal strap’ (14:23). A sandal strap is the thin band of leather that ties a sandal to the foot.
2. Wasn’t It All Right to Accept?
Think of it this way. A neighbor goes through a terrible ordeal, and someone risks danger to bring back that neighbor’s family and belongings. The grateful neighbor says, “All I wanted was my family back. Please keep the belongings for your trouble.” Few people would call it greed to accept. In fact, if the helper refused to the very end, some might wonder whether he was being a little too rigid.
Abram’s situation looks just like that. When someone risks his life to recover goods, there is nothing strange about him keeping them. The king of Sodom did not insist the goods were his, either. He told Abram to take them. Yet Abram refuses down to the last thread.
What makes it more puzzling is the scene right before. From Melchizedek, Abram received bread, wine, and a blessing, and he gave Melchizedek a tenth of what he had gained. In the same valley, Abram received from one king and gave to him, but took nothing at all from the other. So the reader is left asking: why did Abram refuse the goods the king of Sodom offered?
3. A Little Deeper · The One Name Abram Held On To
Here is the answer first. When Abram answered the king of Sodom, he called on God by the very name Melchizedek had just used: ‘God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.’ Then he gave his own reason for refusing. He did not want the king of Sodom to be able to say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
First, look at the order in which the passage tells the story. The king of Sodom has already come out to meet Abram in verse 17. But his words do not come until verse 21. In between, in verses 18~20, stands Melchizedek. So just before Abram heard the king of Sodom’s offer, he heard Melchizedek’s blessing. That blessing said that the one who gave Abram the victory was ‘God Most High.’ It also said that this God is ‘possessor of heaven and earth,’ that is, the owner of heaven and earth.
Next, set Abram’s answer beside Melchizedek’s words.
Melchizedek · “…of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth…” (14:19)
Abram · “…to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth…” (14:22)
The words match almost exactly. The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew. In the Hebrew text, the phrase ‘possessor of heaven and earth’ appears in only these two verses in the whole Bible. Melchizedek said it once, and Abram, having heard it, said it again. There is only one difference. Abram put the name ‘Yahweh’ in front of it. Yahweh is the name of the God who had appeared to Abram and spoken to him. Abram was declaring that Yahweh, the God he served, is the very possessor of heaven and earth that Melchizedek had named.
Finally, look at the reason Abram gave in his own words: “…lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’” (14:23). Put simply, he meant, ‘so that you can never say later, “I am the one who made Abram rich.”’ What Abram wanted to avoid was not so much the goods themselves as the words they would leave behind.
This is how the opening question is answered. What Abram received from Melchizedek was bread, wine, and a blessing given in God’s name. What the king of Sodom held out was wealth with the king of Sodom’s name attached to it. Having just heard who owns heaven and earth, Abram did not let his life carry a label that read ‘thanks to the king of Sodom.’
4. Word Study · God Most High · Possessor · A Tenth · I Have Made Rich
Let’s look at four Hebrew words from today’s passage.
① God Most High · El Elyon (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן). ‘El’ means God, and ‘Elyon’ means ‘highest.’ In the whole Hebrew Bible, these two words appear side by side in five places, and four of them are in today’s passage (14:18 · 14:19 · 14:20 · 14:22). The fifth is Psalm 78:35, which the World English Bible translates ‘the Most High God.’ The passage uses the name once in introducing Melchizedek (verse 18). Melchizedek uses it twice in his blessing (verses 19~20), and Abram picks it up once more (verse 22). This short scene is full of this one name.
② Possessor · Qoneh (קֹנֵה). This is the ‘possessor’ in ‘possessor of heaven and earth.’ The base form is qanah (קָנָה), and later in Genesis it mostly means ‘to buy.’ Abraham (the new name God later gave Abram) bought a field from the Hittites to bury Sarah. Each time Genesis mentions that field again, this verb is used (25:10 · 49:30 · 50:13). The World English Bible translates it there as ‘purchased’ and ‘bought.’ A field that has been paid for belongs to the one who bought it. So ‘qoneh’ means ‘the one who owns,’ that is, the owner. Some readers think the word can also carry the sense of ‘maker.’ Either way, it says that heaven and earth belong to Him. When Abram used this name before the king of Sodom, he was saying to whom the goods piled in front of them ultimately belonged.
③ A tenth · Ma’aser (מַעֲשֵׂר). It comes from the word for ‘ten’ and means ‘one out of ten.’ Genesis 14:20 is the first place this word appears in the Bible. The passage only records that Abram gave a tenth of all to Melchizedek. It does not say why. But the order is clear. Melchizedek first brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram in God’s name, and after that Abram gave. This tenth was given before the king of Sodom ever made his offer, right where Abram had just heard a blessing spoken in God’s name.
④ I have made rich · He’esharti (הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי). This is the verb ‘to become rich’ turned into ‘to make rich.’ The ending ‘ti’ means ‘I,’ so together it means ‘I have made rich.’ These are not words the king of Sodom actually said. Abram was pointing out ahead of time that the king might say this someday. Abram was already rich. Earlier, Genesis says, “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” (13:2). In English the same word ‘rich’ appears in both verses, but the Hebrew of 13:2 uses a different word that literally means ‘heavy.’ Abram could have had even more, but he refused because of the words that wealth would leave behind.
5. One More Thing · The First Words of Two Kings
The two kings who came out into the same valley differ from their very first word. In the Hebrew text, Melchizedek’s blessing begins with baruch (בָּרוּךְ), ‘blessed be.’ The king of Sodom’s words begin with ten (תֶּן), ‘give,’ followed right away by ‘me.’ The World English Bible keeps this order: ‘Blessed be Abram…’ and ‘Give me the people…’
The passage also tells us different things about what the two men brought. Melchizedek brought out bread and wine. The passage does not say that the king of Sodom brought anything. And the number of times God is named in their words is different, too. In Melchizedek’s short blessing, ‘God Most High’ is named twice. In the king of Sodom’s words, God is not named even once.
Seen side by side, Abram’s choice becomes clearer. To the one who gave first and asked God to bless him, Abram gave in return. From the king who began with ‘Give me,’ Abram would not take even a thread.
One more detail is worth noticing. Abram refused his own share. But he did not count what the young men had already eaten among the things to be returned. He also set aside a share for Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, who went with him (14:24). He did not demand that the people beside him hold to the same line he was keeping for himself.
6. For Us Today
This passage leaves us with one thing. Abram swore by the name ‘God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,’ and took not even a thread from the king of Sodom. He did not want anyone to be able to say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
The passage does not say that receiving is wrong in itself. On the same day, Abram received bread, wine, and a blessing from Melchizedek. He also made sure the people with him got their share. There was only one thing Abram refused: wealth that, once accepted, would put someone else’s name on his life.
Offers like that come into our lives, too. When money is tight, someone readily offers to lend us a large sum, but he is the kind of person who never stops bringing up every favor he has done. Someone offers to get us a job, but we sense that once we accept, it will be hard to say no to anything they ask. On a day when things go well, we hear, ‘You know this is all thanks to me,’ and feel we have no choice but to nod along. At times like that, a quiet thought comes to mind: ‘If I take this, whose favor will I be living on from now on?’
Abram stood in a place like that, too. The recovered goods were piled in front of him, and the king of Sodom told him to take it all. No one would have blamed him for accepting. But just before, Abram had heard from Melchizedek who had given him the victory and who owns heaven and earth. The passage records that Abram answered by calling on that very name and lifting up his hand.
Of course, most of the help we receive is something to be grateful for, and there is no reason to turn all of it down. And there are days when we are in no position to refuse and have to accept. Even on those days, there is one thing Abram did that we can do as well. We can keep clearly in mind where everything we enjoy ultimately comes from. We may accept help, but we do not have to let someone else take the owner’s place in our lives.
If there is an offer you are unsure about these days, it might help to pause before answering. You could write down one line, whatever comes to mind: if I accept this, will I end up living ‘thanks to’ someone, and whose name would that be? If you also write beside that line, ‘Heaven and earth belong to God,’ you may be able to choose a little more calmly what to accept and what to decline.
“God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, help us remember that everything we have comes from You. When we receive good things, keep us mindful of where they came from, and give us the courage to quietly decline what we should not take. Help us make generous room for the share of those who work alongside us. May this day, too, be a day of receiving blessing in Your name. Amen.”
🕊 How to Use This in Ministry
Opening Question
Ask, “Suppose a friend gave you a present and then went around telling everyone, ‘Everything that kid has, I gave them.’ Would you accept that present?” Listen to the children’s answers (yes, no, I’d think about it). Then say, “In today’s Bible story, two kings offer Abram something. Abram accepts from one king, but from the other he won’t take even one thread. Let’s find out why,” and move into the passage.
Activity
Show today’s pictures ‘Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine’ and ‘The king of Sodom went out to meet him’ side by side, and read verses 17~24 together. Divide the board (or a large sheet of paper, if there is no board) in half. Write ‘Melchizedek’ on the left and ‘King of Sodom’ on the right. Under both columns, make three rows: ‘What he brought,’ ‘What he said,’ and ‘How many times is “God Most High” in his words?’ Have the children fill them in from the passage. Have them look for Melchizedek’s words only in verses 19~20, and the king of Sodom’s words only in verse 21. (Melchizedek column: bread and wine · words of blessing · twice / King of Sodom column: not recorded · ‘Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself’ · none) When the table is full, have one child read verse 19 and another read verse 22 aloud, and ask, “Can you find the words that are the same in both verses?” When the children find ‘God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,’ affirm it and say, “Abram answered the king of Sodom using the very name of God he had just heard from Melchizedek.” Finally, show the picture ‘Not a thread nor a sandal strap’ and read verse 23 together. Have the children find the reason Abram gave in his own words (so that the king could not say, ‘I have made Abram rich’).
Application
Hand each child a small card. On the front, have them write one good thing they received recently (a gift, a compliment, some help). On the back, have them write ‘Who gave me this?’ and then write the name of the person who gave it, with ‘God’ beside it. Wrap up by saying, “When Abram answered the king of Sodom, the first thing he did was call on the name of God, the owner of heaven and earth. Let’s put the name of the person we’re thankful for and the name of God together on what we’ve received,” and let each child take the card home.
🖼️ Today’s Four Images · Press and hold or right-click to save
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine |
The king of Sodom went out to meet him |
I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh |
Not a thread nor a sandal strap |
📄 Image license CC0 (public domain) · Free to use, modify, and redistribute without attribution.
🤖 These images were created with AI (Grok).
📖 Genesis Deeper ㊷ He Built an Altar There · Abram builds an altar and calls on the name of Yahweh
Origin Bible · Mission Zedero
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✍️ This article was written with the help of AI and reviewed by a person.
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