HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 13-16.-.Abram's expeditwn a sermon for the New Testament Church. I. Tru: LITTLE ARMY· emblematic of the handful of Christ's disciples at the first, a,nd of the cornparati.~ feebleness of the Church still; yet "God's strength is ever made perfect in wea1."tleas," and so "the weakness of God becomes stronger than men." II. THE TRUSTY CONFEDERATES; regarding the Amorite chieftains ns possessors of the true faith, suggestive of the united purpose and action by which the ~hurch of Christ in all its parts should be governed, and of the weakness that spnngs from divided counsels. III. THE RAPID MARCH; a picture of the holy celerity and earnest zeal with which the Church should set about her enterprise of conquering the world for Christ; n reminder of how much may be lost by delay. IV. THE SKILFL'L TACTICS; proclaiming the enme doctrine as Christ-that hie people ,hould be wise as serpents ; revealing the necessity f?r the Church makin_g use of the most brilliant abilities she can command on all her different fields of action. V. THE SPLENDID VICTORY; a foreshadowing of the final triumph which awaits the Church, and of the blessing which, through its imtrumentality, will cnntnally descend 11pon the world.-\\'. en. XIV. 17-24.J THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 20!!
EXPOSITION. , Ver. 17.--'-And the king of Sodom-Bera, near Scythopolis, where the rnins of life!• 01 his successor (vido ver. 10)-went out to chisedeck's palace were said to exist (,Jerome), m:eet him (i. e. Abram) e.fterhia retum from ancl near to which John baptized (Bochart). the slaughter (perhaps too forcible an expres- Brought forth bre&d and wine. As a re- sion for mere defeat) of Chedorlaomer, and the freshment to the patriarch anrl his solrlien kings that were with him (the entire clause (Josephus, Calvin, Clarke, Roscnmuller) from " after" is parenthetical), at the valley which, however, was the less necessary sinco of Shaveh, A valley about two stadia. north tbe spoils of the conquerecl foe were in pos- of J)rusalem (Josephus, 'Ant,,' viii. 10), session of Abram anrl his men (Kalisch); supposed to be the valley of the Upper hence mainly as a. symbol, not of his trans- Kedron, where Absalom's pillar was after- ference of the soil of Canaan to the patrin rch, wards erected (2 Sa.m. xviii. 10); which may bread and wine being the chief pro•.lnction, be cortect if the Salem afterwards mentioned of the ground (Lightfoot), or of his gratiturle was Jerusalem (vide infra) ; but if it wa.s to Abram, who had recovered for the land not, then the exact site of Shaveh must be peace, freedom, and prosperity (Delitzsch), or left undetermined. Which is the - king's of the institution of the Supper by the Lor,l dale. Or valley (emek) ; so styled because Jesus Christ (Bush); but of the priestly bene- suitable for kingly sports or military exer- diction which followed and of the spiritual cises (Onkelos); because·of its beauty (Poole); refreshment which it conferred upon the son! because Melchisedeck had his camp and palace of Abram (Kalisch, JIIurphy). The Romish there (:Malvenda); or most likely because of idea, that the act of Melchisedeck was sacri- the· interview between him and Abram which ficial, is precluded by the statement that ho there occurr6d (Keil, Lange), with which brought forth the bread and wine before the agrees the rendering rli 1rtoiov rwv /3ac11Xiwv people, and not before God. And he was the (LXX.). priest. Cohen; one who unclertakes an- Ver. 18. -And Melohisedeck. " King of other's cause, hence one who acts as mediator righteousness" (Heb. vii. 2) ; an indication between Goel and man, though the primary tl1~t the Canaa11-itish language was Shemitic, signification of the root is doubtful and dis- having bee!). probably. adopted from the puted. The necessity for this office has its original Shemite inhabitants of the country. ground in the sinfulness of man, which dis- Not a titular designation, like Augustus, qualifies him for direct intercourse with a. Pharaoh, or Malek-ol-adel (rez ju~tus) of the holy Being (cf. Kurtz, 'Sacrificial Worship, Mohammedan kings (Cajetan), but_ the name eh. i. b.). The occnITence of this term, hcra of a person; neither an angel (Origen), nor mentioned for the first time, implies tho the· Holy Ghost (Hieracas), nor some great existence of a regularly-constituted form of Divine power (the 1,lelchisedecians), all of worship by means of priests am! sacrifices. which interpretations are baseless conjectures; Hen co the l\1osaic cultus afterwards instituted nor Christ (Ambrose), which is contl'ary to may only have been a resuscitation and far- Heb. vi 20 ; nor Shem (Targums, Lyra, Wil- ther development of what had existed from let, Luther, Ainsworth), which Heb. vii. 3 the beginning. Of the most high God. sufficiently negatives; but most probably a Literally, El-Elion, a proper name for tha Canaanitish prince by whom the true faith Supromo Deity (occurring only here, in tha was retained amid the gloom of surrounding narrative of Abram's interview with tha heathenism (Josephus, Irenreus, .Eusebius, kings); of which the first term, El, from tho Calvin, A Lapide, Delitzsch, Keil, Rosen- same root as Elohim (eh. i. I, q. v. ), signifies miiller, Candlish, Bush), though it ha.s been the Strong One, and is seldom applied to God suggested that "tl1e enlightenment of the without some qualifying attribute or cogno-: king of Salem was but a ray of the sun of men, ns El-Shnddai, or El, the God of Israel,· Abram's faith" (Kalisch), an opinion diffi- and the second, 'Elion (occurring frequently cult to harmonise with Heb. vii. 4. King of afterwards, as in Num. xxiv. 16; Deut. =xii. Salem = "king of peace" (Heb. vii. 1). 18 ; Ps. vii. 18; ix. 2), describes God as 1ha The capital of 111clcbisedeck was either J eru- High, the Highest, the Exalted, the Supreme, sil1em, of which the ancient name was Snlem, nncl is sometimes used in conjunction with as in Ps. lxxvi. 2 (Josephus, Onkelos, Abon Jehovah (Ps. vii. 18), and with Elohim (Ps. lt~zra, Kimchi, Knobel,. Delitzsch, Keil, !vii. 3), while sometimes it stands nlone (Ps. Kalisch, Murphy, Bush); or .a city on the xxi. S). Most probably the designation hera other sido J ordnn en 1·oute from Damascus to describes the nnme unclcr which the Supreme Sodom (Ewald) ; or, though less likel:r, as Deity wns worshipped by Melchisedeck and be)ng too remote from So<lom and the kmg's the king of Sodom, whom Abram recognises <lale, Snlem in the triue of Ephraim, n city as followrrs of the trnc Goll hy il1cutifying, GEN 8SIS, I' 210 THE DOOK OF GENESIS.