Gary......with all due respect to you, I must say that this as is most cases with people who have an agenda, an example of forcing the Bible to say what we want it to say NOT what it actually says.
Your comment was.............
"The way that is worded indicates that the king of Sodom was claiming that the people and the goods belonged to him, but he offered the goods to Abram. It would normally have been the custom that the victor owns the spoils, but normally the spoils would have belonged to the enemy. In this case, Abram was RECOVERING goods belonging to the King of Sodom."
Really, is that what the Bible really says Gary???? BUT that is NOT what the Scriptures do in fact say is it Gary???
As you have correctly stated and I agree with you.....READ THE BIBLE! Lets do that shall we.
Genesis 14:14
"And when 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."
Verse 13 tells us that Abram had some allies. These allies and their men went also. The allies are referred to the same way that the kings are referred to in verse 11 and earlier. The Bible tells us that 'four kings seized all the goods ...' It wasn't just 4 guys on horseback with robes and crowns. It is talking about their armies. The same is true of the 3 people named in verse 13. There were those three and their armies or the men in their households. This is supported in verse 24. Abram's allies went with him into battle against the 4 kings and Abram wanted to make certain that they got the reward they were due.
Verse 16.....
"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 do not know of anyone who reads this who can say that Abram brough Lots' goods and there for he did not tithe on what he did not own.......except you. They brought back from the cities they attacked the spoils'goods of the war.
Clearly the Scriptures say that Abram and his friends brought back all the goods AND Lot AND his goods as well.
That is what it says Gary NOT was is indicated at all.
Abram's gift is an excellent example of what Paul wrote about in the New Testament.
2 Cor 9:6-7
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give , not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. "
Abram decided on his own how much he wanted to give. YOU should decide for yourself how much you want to give.
According to the Code of Hammurabi of that day, Abram had a perfect right to the spoils of war and he did. He could have given more than 10% but didn't and we can give more than 10% if we so choose to do so.
Gary, therefore reading the Bible we see that Melchizedek blessed Abram in verse 19 as he recognized that Abram's victory was because God had '..delivered your enemies into your hand.' Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth or tithe of everything he got from the 4 kings. The word 'everything' is explained further in the book in Hebrews.
Heb 7:4
" Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!" ( NIV)
Abram gave him a tenth of everything he plundered back from the 4 kings that had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and had taken all the people and Abram's nephew Lot. The tenth or tithe was a portion of what Abram had at the time.
Now that is what the Bible says Gary.........NOT what I want it to say my friend.
