Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #18 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.

I will stop reading there. As we have been looking at this true historical account, we have seen that at this point Abram is a type and figure of God and his trained servants are types and figures of the elect. When Abram goes forth with his trained servants that were born in his own house, it is a picture of Christ going forth with “ten thousands of his saints” or a picture of the Lord Jesus and His elect going to battle in the Day of Judgment. We are told in 1Corinthians, chapter 6 that the saints will judge the world with Christ: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?”

We discussed the word “trained” and how it is related to being “trained up,” as a father trains up his own children. These servants were born in Abram’s own house and they would all be circumcised, which points to having their sins “cut off.” So, it is the kingdom of God that has gone to battle to fight the forces of Satan and his kingdom of darkness in the Day of Judgment. Abram and his three friends (Mamre, Eshcol and Aner) and the 318 servants totals 322 and we saw that this number breaks down to “2 x 7 x 23,” all significant numbers. They pursued the four kings unto Dan.

Why does God give us this information about Dan? The name “Dan” is derived from a word that means “judgment.” Dan is Strong’s #1835 and it comes from Strong’s #1777, which is a word that means “judge” or “to execute judgment” or “judgment.” Of course, Dan was one of the sons that would be born to Jacob. He was one of the 12 sons that became one of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is interesting that at this point in history, Abram had not yet been blessed with Isaac and, of course, Jacob had not been born and had his children, so the man that would develop into the tribe of Dan would not be born for well over a hundred years in the future and, yet, there was still a location called “Dan.” I am not sure if it was a territory or land that would be the same land that would be given to the tribe of Dan, but it is possible. Maybe God was just looking ahead to the fact that they would one day inherit that portion of land as their lot. It is possible that this piece of land had the name of “Dan” or “judgment,” but that it is not related to the inheritance that would later be given to the tribe of Dan. I am not sure what the situation was, but we do know that they pursued them unto “Dan” or a location that identifies with judgment because the entire battle portrays Judgment Day, so it is very appropriate that they pursued them unto Dan.

It says in Genesis 14:15:

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.

Abram divided himself against them and, of course, one man cannot divide himself, but it refers to his army of personal trained servants. They divided themselves, perhaps like Gideon divided his army into three groups of 100 each. The 322 men were divided into different groups, but we are not told of the number in each division, but we are only told that Abram divided himself against them. One thing we can see is that it is as if the entire force of the 322 men are being pictured as “one man,” the “one man” being Abram. That is understandable when we understand that the body of Christ is made up of everyone God has saved or all the elect. We are all counted as His body, so if there were 322 saved people divided into three or four groups to go to battle, it would be as if the body of Christ divided. Of course, it is all a figure of speech because it is a spiritual body that is made up of these individuals, but it would allow for this kind of language: “And he divided himself.” We could say that Christ divided himself into groups of individuals that were all “one” in the body of Christ and, yet, they divided in to portions to enter the battle.

Again, it says in Genesis 14:15:

And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night…

We know the Bible tells us that Judgment Day begins in the “night.” The Bible says there are twelve hours in the work day, the day in which the work was to be performed in the vineyard, pointing to the Gospel going out to save people during the “day” of salvation. There is a parable that very directly tells us that there is a “twelve hour” period of the work day, with individuals joining the work force at three-hour intervals until the last hour, from the eleventh hour to the twelfth hour. Then there was a distinction made and those that had been standing idle all the day long finally went to work and worked “one hour,” which closed the day of work. Then the owner of the vineyard came and paid the wages and everyone received the same wage, whether they worked one hour or the entire day, pointing to God paying the reward of eternal salvation to all His people involved in the prolonged day of salvation and the related spiritual work. That “last hour” from the eleventh to the twelfth hour typified the Great Tribulation, which the Bible likens to “one hour.” Then came the end of the Great Tribulation and the time that the wages were to be paid to the workers. It also identified with Judgment Day because Judgment Day started immediately at the end of the Great Tribulation period, which means that upon the conclusion of the twelve-hour work day would come Judgment Day. The work day was defined as 6:00am to 6:00pm and then would come the evening or night time and that would begin the judgment program of God, as He would judge the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.

So, we find that this battle came after the first battle of the four kings against five that typified the Great Tribulation. The second battle in which Abram (a picture of God) finally got involved to rescue Lot and his goods, we find that he went with his servants by night and smote them. Abram defeated the four kings or four beasts, representing the forces of Satan. He defeated the mighty rule of Satan and Satan had appeared to be undefeatable since his loosing; he had overcome the camp of the saints, the churches and congregations. He was winning all over the earth among the nations as God lifted His hand of restraint and the world pursued sin and iniquity like never before in all of history. By doing so, they did service to sin and to Satan, the father of lies, who was the one that fostered sin and rebellion against God and His Word. Whenever men go deeper in to sin, we could say they are uplifting and exalting Satan all the more and he was continually winning throughout the 23 years. But, finally, at the close the Great Tribulation, God arose with His own trained servants or with the ten thousands of His saints and He went to the battle by night and smote His enemies.

That is what happened, historically, to picture the glorious spiritual victory that occurred on May 21, 2011, which was the end of the Great Tribulation and the end of the figurative twelve-hour work day. It was “even” or spiritual night time, the beginning of Judgment Day.

So, it goes on to say, in Genesis 14:15:

… he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

The word “Hobah” appears to be related to a word that is translated as “Hobab” and I am not exactly sure about this, but based on some of the comments in Strong’s Concordance and because of its spelling, it appears to be related to “Hobab,” which identifies with hiding oneself or being hidden. I do not understand what that would mean in either the historical context or in the spiritual meaning of this passage. But we do not have to depend on that word because we are told it was “on the left hand of Damascus.” So, we can look up the word “Damascus” and, perhaps, learn what God is trying to tell us, by God’s grace, about the spiritual meaning. When we look up the word “Damascus,” we are helped in the New Testament in the Epistle of Galatians. The Apostle Paul was moved by God to write in Galatians 1:15-17:

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Again, it says in verse 15 that “when it pleased God…to reveal his Son in me,” and that would be when God saved him and then he said in verse 17, “I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus,” which can only mean that he was in Damascus and then went to Arabia and returned back to Damascus. The Bible informs us of Saul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus and we are told in Acts, chapter 9 that Saul became saved. It says in Acts 9:8-20:

And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Very clearly, God says that Saul (who became the Apostle Paul) was filled with the Holy Spirit and his physical blindness was removed and his sight was restored, which points to the fact that he was given spiritual sight to “see” the Messiah and to “see” that the Lord Jesus Christ was who He said He was and Saul’s salvation took place in Damascus. We read in Galatians 1:16 that the Apostle Paul said, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” He began to straightway preach Jesus Christ and then it says in Galatians 1:17: “but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.”

Now we can see the spiritual significance of what is being said (in our verse) because Damascus identifies with salvation. For Saul, it was the place he became saved and from Damascus he went to Arabia. If we go to Galatians, chapter 4, we are told in Galatians 4:24-25:

Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Mount Sinai is the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments in Exodus 31:18: “…upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” It was in Arabia, so it is tied to mount Sinai, the place of the giving of the Law of God. It represents the Law of God. So, we can understand that when Paul says he went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus, on a spiritual level he is saying that he became saved in Damascus and from there he went to Arabia or to the Law of God. And from the Law of God, he returned to Damascus or back to his salvation. The way we can understand this is when an individual becomes saved, they are saved completely by the work and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the grace of God. Saul of Tarsus had done nothing and, in fact, he was intent on doing evil as he was going forth to carry out his evil desire to hail men and women of the way and throw them in to prison, but God intervened. It was by the unmerited favor of God or the grace of God and it was nothing that Saul of Tarsus had done – he had done everything contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ and had been hostile to Him. It was completely by God’s sovereign grace and His determinate counsel and program of election that Saul became the Apostle Paul in Damascus.

Again, this is a picture of anyone that became saved because we are all saved in the way that Paul was saved – by the grace of God and by faith not of ourselves. A person would become saved and that identifies with Damascus. And when someone becomes saved, where are we immediately directed to go? Where does the person with the new resurrected soul go? What is their direction? They go to the Bible. They go “to Sinai in Arabia,” or the Word of God, the Scriptures. The Scriptures then direct us back to “Damascus,” or salvation by grace and the unmerited favor of God. We are led to give God all the glory in the matter of salvation. We start off in Damascus where we became saved by the grace of God and we go to the Bible and the Law of God, which directs us right back to salvation by grace.

This is what is in view with the reference to Damascus. It is a place that identifies with salvation and, yet, after Abram smote them and pursued them unto Hobah, it is said to be on the “left hand of Damascus.” If Damascus identifies with salvation (and it does), this place of Hobah is on the left hand of Damascus. We could say it is over against or on the left hand of that place. What does that spiritually represent? We will have to wait until our next Bible study when we look at why God tells us that Hobah was on the left side of Damascus.