Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #16 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to read Genesis 14:11-16:

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

I will stop reading there. As we have been discussing, this battle has to do with the battle at the end of the church age, the battle that Satan won. Satan is typified, as it were, by Chedorlaomer and the other three kings and they took all the goods and victuals of Sodom and Gomorrah and went their way. The “goods” would relate to Satan overcoming the corporate churches and congregations, as typified by Sodom and Gomorrah. All the people and all the “cattle” that were in the possession of the corporate church were taken captive by Satan. We see the same picture when the king of Babylon came against Judah and Jerusalem and he took the city and the people captive. He took the livestock, the gold, the silver, the brass and all the precious metals. In an historical parable, this pictures Satan taking the bountiful things that had been found within the corporate church. He took all the people, most importantly, into his kingdom or into captivity.

As we mentioned last time, Abram was not concerned at first because it was not his battle until Chedorlaomer and the kings with him also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his goods. Notice how God spelled that out. Would it not have been sufficient for God to have said that they took all the goods and victuals of Sodom and Gomorrah? Why would the Lord mention Lot’s “goods” as a separate thing from the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah? It is because God is letting it be known that (righteous) Lot is typifying the elect, so even the “goods” of the elect have significance and are important to God. So, Abram went to battle for the sake of Lot and his goods. He did not go to battle to rescue the people and goods of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. The rescue of these other people was just a side result of Abraham’s concern for his relative Lot. Notice it says in Genesis 14:16:

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods…

Again, there is a distinction. Yes, it was fine that the goods of Sodom were returned, but the real focus is on Lot and his goods. So, Abram would do battle for Lot.

What are these “goods” and “victuals,” as it says in Genesis 14:11-12:

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

The Hebrew word translated as “departed” is the same word translated as “went their way” at the end of verse 11. The Hebrew word translated as “goods” is Strong’s #7399. We came across this word in Genesis 13:5-6:

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

It was his flocks and herds and tents, and so forth. These are the “goods.” In Genesis 15 we find the same word in a passage where the Lord is speaking to Abram regarding his “seed.” It says in Genesis 15:13-14:

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

When we read in the Book of Exodus about the deliverance of the Jews from the land of Egypt after the 400-year period of affliction, we find that they came out with much cattle and gold and silver spoil of the Egyptians. This would have been their substance or goods.

Referring to Jacob, it says in Genesis 31:18:

And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

Jacob gathered all this substance or goods in Haran before returning.

So, we understand that substance or goods can be cattle or valuables of one kind or another, but what does it spiritually represent? I think there is an answer to that question in the New Testament in what Christ said in Matthew 12:29:

Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

The Lord is referring to what will happen at the cross. When He would go to the cross, Satan (the strong man) would be bound for the figurative thousand years of the church age and while Satan was bound the Gospel would spread across the nations of the world and God would save the firstfruits. There would be more people saved during the church age than had been saved in the time of the Old Testament because God bound Satan (the strong man) and then He spoiled his goods, which can only mean that as the Gospel went forth into the kingdom of Satan and delivered captives and set the prisoners free. It freed God’s elect that were predestined to salvation and as a result of that salvation they were translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. It “spoiled” the strong man’s house or it “spoiled” his goods. It had to do with taking what had previously belonged to him – the souls of men are the “goods.”

We can know for sure about this Greek word because it is also the world translated as “vessel” in Romans 9:21-23:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

The words “vessel” and “vessels” are from the same word as the word translated as “goods.” The elect are the vessels of mercy or the “goods” of mercy. They are not all the goods because there are also vessels that are fitted to destruction and that word translated as “vessels” is also the same Greek word. There are good figs or evil figs or there are vessels unto mercy or vessels fitted for destruction. There can be goods that point to the true believers and goods that can be professed believers that are not truly saved. That is why there is a distinction in Genesis 14:11:

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

Again, Abram would not have been concerned. God would not have been concerned because it is the “goods” or “vessels” of the corporate body comprised of professed Christians; that is, when Satan took over the corporate church and took his seat as the man of sin to rule in the congregations the great majority of individuals that were impacted were “tares.” They were never chosen by God and they were not “vessels of mercy.” If Satan had simply taken over a church comprised only of “tares,” God would not have been involved in issuing the command to His people to come out, but there were more than just tare within. There was the “wheat” within the churches or “vessels of mercy” within the corporate church, just as in this battle it was more than just Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. The “little” city of Zoar was involved. And the (righteous) Lot was taken, as well as his goods. We could understand, in that sense, that Lot was a type of Christ and Lot’s goods would refer to the elect and to restore Lot’s good, Abram had to fight the enemy that had taken the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the victuals of the cities of the plain, but the latter was not his purpose – it was not what he was fighting for, but he was fighting for Lot, his brother’s son, and for Lot’s goods.

What about “victuals”? It is a Hebrew word that is Strong’s #400 and we find it in Genesis 14:11:

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals…

Basically, this word means “food.” It is the same word we see when Joseph is interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, in Genesis 41:35-36:

And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.

Here, the “food” is stored up against the time of famine and the food points to the Word of God that He would open when He took the seals off the Bible at the beginning of the famine of Great Tribulation to nourish His people; He would feed them with spiritual food coming forth from the Bible throughout the Great Tribulation period and into the Day of Judgment (in which we presently live). The “victuals” are food. It is also translated as “meat” in Psalm 104:27:

These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

God has a program of “times and seasons” and He opens up information in the proper season. In the New Testament, He opened information about the Gentiles being fellow heirs of God’s salvation program; that information had not been previously known. It was “meat” in due season. At the time of the Great Tribulation, an abundance of spiritual “meat” was revealed because the seals had been taken from the Bible and it was the time for spiritual things that had been sealed to the time of the end to be dispersed and God revealed this information to the understanding of His people. It was “meat” in due season and the Bible likens “meat” to doctrine. In a discussion of doctrine, it says in Hebrews 13:9:

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

It is a discussion of doctrine and grace and then God mentions “meats” in that context because “meat” has to do with doctrine. We read of it earlier in the Book of Hebrews where it refers to the “meat” of the Word, as compared to the “milk” of the Word. The “meat” is that which is more in depth or the deeper spiritual meaning. Strong meat is the sound truth of the Bible and not just basic information that is granted early on to the child of God.

When this battle takes place and Chedorlaomer and Tidal king of nations and Arioch king of Ellasar and Amraphel king of Shinar are victorious, they took all the “goods” or all the souls of people within the churches and congregations; and they took all their “victuals” or food, their spiritual meat. We can see how this would work out because Satan now had control over the corporate church. Remember, no one could “buy or sell” without his approval. This was what we were told about the “image of the beast” in Revelation 13:15-17:

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The term “buy or sell” has to do with the distribution of the Gospel. You had to be under the power of Satan and be his emissary in order to receive the approval from the ruler of the churches at that time; Satan was the one that was seated in the temple showing himself that he was God. If anyone attempted to teach anything that was unapproved by Satan (the beast), the denomination would not permit it or the elders and pastor would not permit it or the congregation itself would not permit it. That person would be driven out. For instance, someone attempting to teach the end of the church age would be driven out. Someone attempting to teach a sound Bible truth would be driven out because it required approval of the one that had taken the churches captive and had been victorious over them.

That is the situation in this historical parable. They took the “goods,” but they also took the “victuals.” In other words, Satan and his forces took over the pulpits where the Bible was located and they took over the preaching from the Word and God and, therefore, they took over the spiritual “meat” that was to be distributed to the members of the congregation. They had the “victuals” under their power and authority and they would teach as they pleased from their own ideas and their own gospels that they had developed and that had been approved by the beast, the evil one, and not approved by God or the Word of God, the Bible. This was why the “two witnesses” were lying dead in the street for the first 2,300 evening mornings and there was no salvation taking place during the entire 23 years within the churches during the Great Tribulation period. For as long as the elect (as typified by Lot and his goods) were initially within the corporate church during this awful time after God had given up the churches into the hands of the enemy, their “goods” were taken as well. However, interestingly, we do not read of Lot’s “victuals” being taken. Since Lot dwelt in Sodom, he would have been subject to the victuals or meat of Sodom and Gomorrah, just as anyone within the churches would have been subject to the teachings of the church while it was under the power of Satan. God does not make a point of that, but it is only the “goods” of Lot that is the focus and it was only Lot and his goods that were returned out of captivity.