Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #17 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to read Genesis 14:13-16:

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.

As we have been discussing, the first portion of the battle (four kings against five) typified the Great Tribulation and in that battle some that remained fled to the mountains. Then there is another “leg” of the battle when Abram heard about it because one had escaped. It reminds us of all the calamities that Job went through and after each of the calamities there was one that had escaped and returned to inform Job of the terrible thing that had just happened. That is the case here with this battle. There came one that escaped and told Abram the Hebrew. Abram was the first man called a “Hebrew” in the Bible. We spent some time discussing that the name “Hebrew” came from the name “Eber” and Abram was of the line of Eber. In all likelihood, when the languages were confounded, the language of Hebrew identified with the line of Eber and, therefore, all the descendants of Eber from that point on became known as Hebrews or those that spoke the Hebrew tongue.

It says in Genesis 14:13:

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.

They were confederate with Abram or in league with Abram, meaning that they were living together in peace and there was support from one another. And Abram now had issue with those that had come and taken his nephew Lot and his goods and these three men (Mamre, Eshcol and Aner) went to battle with Abram. We know that they joined him in battle because it says in the last verse of this chapter (when the king of Sodom is being addressed and Abram told him he wanted nothing of him excepting what he then requested) in Genesis 14:24:

Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

These three men did go with Abram to battle. When we look at their names, it is hard to find any kind of spiritual meaning with Mamre or Aner. On the other hand, we know what the name “Eshcol” means because his name is in view in Deuteronomy 1:23-25:

And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which JEHOVAH our God doth give us.

The valley of Eshcol is the place where the spies entered the land of Canaan and in Genesis 14 Abram was dwelling in the land of Canaan in the plain of Mamre, which is related to Eshcol and his other brother Aner. So, the place where Abram was sojourning would be the place the Israelites would enter not too long after coming out of Egypt and the spies gave their evil report. It was the valley of Eshcol that they searched out and found the good fruit. It says in Numbers 13:21-22:

So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

Regarding Hebron, remember that it said in Genesis 13:18:

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto JEHOVAH.

Hebron would also be in view regarding the plain of Mamre. Then it says in Numbers 13:23-25:

And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

The name “Eshcol” is Strong’s #812 and the word “cluster,” which is found twice in Numbers 13, is Strong’s #811. They have identical spelling, so “Eshcol” means “cluster of grapes.” It is the place the spies searched out and they took of the fruit of the land, a large cluster of grapes, and carried it back to the camp. That was all good and wonderful because it was obviously a fruitful land, but they also included negative things in their report about it being the land of giants and, out of fear, they determined that they could not take the land. God judged them for that and He made Israel wander forty years in the wilderness, a year for each day that they searched the land of Eshcol in the plain of Mamre.

Centuries before that would happen, Abram was dwelling in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, and brother of Eshcol and Aner and these were confederate with Abram. Then it says in Genesis 14:14:

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.

First, we will look at the number of trained servants because we were just talking about Abram and his three friends. Now God is giving us a number in addition to this information. There were 318 trained servants. If you break down the number “318,” it does not break down to the significant numbers we are most familiar with, but when you add Abram and his three friends to this number, it totals “322” and this number does break down to very significant numbers. It is “2 x 7 x 23.” The number “2” has to do with the caretakers of the Word of God; the number “7” has to do with perfection; and the number “23” has to do with judgment, especially the judgment of Great Tribulation. And, again, the battle of four kings against five typified the Great Tribulation, the time when the caretakers of the Word of God were coming under assault and the “two witnesses” were lying dead in the street for the first 2,300 evening mornings of the Great Tribulation. The number “2” is in view during the Great Tribulation and then we see the “perfection” of the judgment, which also relates to completion of whatever is in view and, in this case, it is the completion or perfection of the judgment on the churches. The Great Tribulation lasted 23 years, so the number “23” is also in view. So, again the “322” men breaks down to “2 x 7 x 23.”

They went forth to do battle against Chedorlaomer, Tidal king of nations and the other two kings and it was a battle that these four kings were not expecting. From all indications, they had easily won the battle against the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. But then came Abram and his band of men and it was a very personal army, was it not? As it says, Abram had heard that his brother was taken captive. First, he has a very personal and vested interest in pursuing this enemy host and fighting against them to deliver Lot, his family member, and his goods. We spoke about the “goods” in our last study, which had to do with spoiling the strong man’s house and spoiling his goods. It is also the word “vessels,” which has to do with people. When Abram pursued these kings to rescue his nephew and to set the captives free, it is a figure of God the Father. Abram will later receive the name “Abraham,” father of many nations, and he will be spoken of in the New Testament in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as Lazarus is in “Abraham’s bosom,” and it says in Luke 16:23-24:

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

The rich man is speaking to “Father Abraham,” beseeching him for mercy because Abraham is a picture of God. Just as believers are in the “bosom” of Christ, the beggar Lazarus typified the elect and was in the bosom of Abraham or in the bosom of God.

In this part of our historical parable in Genesis 14, as Abram is gathering together his force of trained servants born in his own house, it is a picture of God the Father going to battle against Satan and the kingdom of darkness when God fought them at the end of the Great Tribulation period. God did not fight against them during the Great Tribulation. He lifted his hand of restraint against sin and He loosed Satan and turned the churches over to Satan for its destruction. God did not fight the battle to protect the corporate church; it was not the proper time.

But at the end of the 23-year Great Tribulation on May 21, 2011, the judgment transitioned from judgment on the churches to judgment on the world and it was the proper time for the Lord Jesus Christ to come against Satan and his armies. In Revelation, chapter 19 Christ is seated upon a white horse and the armies in heaven are clothed in white and come with Him to battle against the beast and the false prophet and his army. It is a picture of the battle of Judgment Day and it is the spiritual meaning of what is happening when Abram gathered together his trained servants to battle.

The word “trained” is Strong’s #2593 and it is only found here. It is from Strong’s #2596 and it is the Hebrew word translated as “train up” in Proverbs 22:6:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This is what Abram had done with his servants. He treated them well and was like a father to them. He has raised them up. Not only did he train them, but they were born in his own house. Abraham was probably in his 80s at this point. He entered the land of Canaan when he was 75, so he has been in the land for a few years. Some of these servants would have been in his household back in Haran or, perhaps, even further back than that when Abram was still in Ur of the Chaldees. He had always cared for them and he had always had a concern for them. He had shown them how to work and how to serve him in a good way and they were faithful servants that were willing to go to battle and die for their master. Of course, we can quickly see how all this fits in with what happened when God obtained a people for Himself. Just like these servants were not related by blood to Abram, neither are the people of God. We are adopted into the family of God. Yes, we are “sons,” but we are also servants. We are bond servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We desire to do His will. He is our Lord and Master and God has trained us up. Yes, it is a good thing if parents raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and train them up in the things of God, but even if parents train up their own children, it is God who trained the parents to train them and it is God that trains up His people to go in the way He would have them to go. As Abram had trained his servants, God has trained His people.

These servants were also said to have been born in his own house and, of course, this would relate to the house of God. It says in the Book of Hebrews that Christ is a Son over His own house, “whose house are we.” The house of God belongs to God, whether it be the physical structure in the days of Solomon or Zerubbabel or whether it be the spiritual house built up a holy priesthood to do service to God and built up through God’s salvation program. Every time God saved someone, He added them to the house and they became “living stones” in His house. Anyone that has become born again has been born in God’s house. The same word “born” is found in Genesis 17:12-13:

And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

It also says in Genesis 17:23:

And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

Of course, the difference between a servant that was bought at age 20, for instance, and a servant born in the house is that there would have been a male and female servant that would have produced children born in Abram’s house and there would have been no need to purchase these children that were born in the household. That is what is in view.

Notice that God said that every man child born in the house must be circumcised and circumcision points to the “cutting off” of sin. It is the same sign as baptism in the New Testament, the washing away of sin. God had not yet given the Law of circumcision, but these were the same servants that Abraham would later circumcise in obedience to the commandment of God. They would have the sign of circumcision just as any Jew because they are also a picture or type of God’s people. They are pictures of God’s elect. They are trained servants born in his own house. We see that Abram, his three friends and his 318 trained servants (322 in total) go forth in battle against Chedorlaomer, the other kings and their armies. Again, we have the picture of Revelation 19 and I want to read it because I referred to it earlier. It says in Revelation 19:13-14:

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Christ and His people are going forth to battle.

Or, we see in 1Corinthians 6:2-3:

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?

This would refer to fallen angels, such as Satan and the demons. That is what is in view when Abram goes forth with his trained servants to the battle. There is warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Once again, it is the final battle, the battle of Judgment Day and God’s elect participate in the battle. We have discussed this previously. First, we participate through the fact that God has saved everyone that was named in the Lamb’s Book of Life and it is through that action of having saved the entire company of the elect that God was able to shut the door to heaven and bring about Judgment Day. Secondly, we participate in the judgment process as God revealed His coming and Judgment Day on the pages of the Bible, opening up the understanding of His elect people to that information and we share what we have learned with others. This is our participation in the judgment process. As God reveals it to the believers, we share it with others. That is participating in the battle of Judgment Day that we read about in Genesis 14 and Revelation 19 and what God meant when He said, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?”