Melchizedek and His Zion: The Rescue of Lot and the Meeting with Melchizedek
Chapter 6, part 1 of The Blessings of Abraham: Becoming a Zion People
By E. Douglas Clark
For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these … priesthoods … and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the … seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God. (Doctrine and Covenants 84:33-34)
Offering Peace and Mercy to Mankind
Escorted out of Pharaoh’s kingdom with highest honors, Abraham went, says Genesis, “up out of Egypt” (13:1). The words indicate, according to the Zohar, not only his travel route but also that through his experience in Egypt he had “ascended spiritually.” [1]
He had also been blessed in temporal matters, returning to the Promised Land “very rich,” says Genesis, “in livestock, in silver, and in gold” (NRSV Gen. 13:2). Apparently, some of his followers chose to remain behind in Egypt “on account of the prosperity of the land.” [2] But upon Abraham the blessing of prosperity rested as a divine gift.
He “prospered exceedingly,” explained Joseph Smith, “because he and his family obeyed the counsel of the Lord.” [3] His coming out of Egypt prefigured the experience of his descendants when the Israelites came out of Egypt “with great wealth” [4] and when the Lord Himself came out of Egypt as a boy (Matt. 2:19-21; Hosea 11:1).
But wealth was not what Abraham sought, and while the pharaohs were busy amassing their royal fortunes and building impressive monuments to themselves that still awe travelers today, Abraham would continue to build Zion. “His object,” says Nibley, was “not to conquer or impress, but to bless all with whom he [came] into contact, ultimately shedding the blessing that God gave to him on the whole human race.” [5]
According to Ephrem the Syrian, God brought Abraham “once again to the land of the Canaanites who were sitting and dwelling in darkness. He shone over them like a light.” [6] The statement reminds us of the Isaiah passage about the Savior: “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16; see also John 1:4-5).
The journey northward was broken up by a series of frequent stops, due to the magnitude of the baggage and possessions they had. [7] When they finally arrived at their former campsite near Bethel where he had built an altar, he rebuilt it and, as he relates in the Genesis Apocryphon, “I … laid on it a sacrifice, and an offering to the Most High God. And there I called on the name of the Lord of worlds and praised the Name of God and blessed God, and I gave thanks before God for all the riches and favours which He had bestowed upon me. For He had dealt kindly towards me and had led me back in peace into this land.” [8] The Crime of Ingratitude
Abraham’s constant gratitude for his blessings stands in sharp contrast to the tendency of most mortals.
“The crime of ingratitude,” noted President Joseph Fielding Smith, “is one of the most prevalent and . . . one of the greatest with which mankind is afflicted. The more the Lord blesses us the less we love him.” [9]
But the peace was soon interrupted when a quarrel broke out between Abraham’s shepherds and those of Lot. “The patriarch had been a father to him – a friend kinder than many fathers,” notes W. F. P. Noble. [10] Even so, according to Ephrem, Abraham “did not consider himself a head or master” over Lot, but rather “a brother and … friend,” [11] and, in the words of President Spencer W. Kimball, “he sought peace among his brethren.” [12] Said Abraham, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren” (Gen. 13:8).
As told by Ephrem, Abraham’s “humility and meekness” won the day as he “speedily eliminated” the contention. “He called Lot in love, and made him an heir like himself.” [13] Although God had given the land to Abraham, he in turn gave to Lot the first choice of the land, evoking the admiration of many commentators. “See Abraham’s magnanimity!” [14] “See the extraordinary degree of his humility; see the height of his wisdom.” [15]
By his “self-denying and peace-loving” conduct, [16] he averted contention with a loved one. “Virtue humbles itself, whereas wickedness becomes arrogant.” [17]
style=’font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial’>Nineteenth-century cleric Ashton Oxendon observed that the incident demonstrates “how little Abraham was influenced by worldly motives. He was rich, but he cared little for his riches.” [18] According to W. F. P. Noble,
The uncle generously bestows on the nephew a share of his own property; more than that, as if he was the younger and also the weaker of the two – as if the land of Canaan had been promised to the other rather than to him – as if he had been the party who had received rather than conferred favors – in determining their respective positions, Abraham leaves the choice to Lot … What self-denial, self-control, self-sacrifice …! What liberal and magnanimous generosity his! What a model of a Christian this man! … He seeks not his own. [19]
The language echoes the words of two of Abraham’s descendants, Paul and Moroni, who both said of charity – or the pure love of Christ – that it “seeketh not her own” (1 Cor. 13:5; Moro. 7:45). And still another cleric of the nineteenth century, Henry Blunt, marveled:
Abram … proceeds with almost un[paralleled] tenderness and humility to address his younger and far less amiable kinsman, “Is not the whole of the land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right, then I will go to the left.” What forbearance, what generosity, what true nobility of mind was here!
Abram … does not … claim, as he might have done, from the expressed promise of the Almighty, the whole for himself: he does not, as all must allow he would have been fully justified in doing, even claim for himself the priority of choice; he waives every right … in favour of one far younger and less deserving, humbly contenting himself with the portion which Lot should leave him. Well did our Lord declare, “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” [20]
And if, as Nibley points out, Abraham “seemed to be generous to the point of lacking common sense,” [21] it was only because of his uncommon insight into life. By Abraham’s action, said Philo, “he considered that he would thereby get peace, the greatest of gains.” [22]
It was the peace of Zion that Abraham sought, that same unity of heart and mind that once existed in Enoch’s Zion (Moses 7:18). On this principle would Abraham’s Zion be built, and on this same principle is the latter-day Zion to be built. Abraham’s treatment of Lot teaches us, notes President Kimball, that “once we have found peace within ourselves, we must share it by being long-suffering, gentle, and meek and by having the pure love of Christ for all we meet.” [23]
Lot chose the luscious land near Sodom and went his way, knowing that he would still be within Abraham’s protective sphere. For Abraham had told him, according to Jewish tradition, that he would remain close enough to come to his aid if necessary. [24]
The years of daily association with his uncle Abraham had wrought a profound effect on Lot. “Everyone who walks with the righteous acquires some of their good ways and deeds,” says Rabbi Eliezer, as happened with Lot, “who walked with our father Abraham, and learned of his good deeds and ways.” Hence when Lot came to Sodom, he followed Abraham’s example of magnanimously offering hospitality and preaching the gospel. [25]
Indeed, Lot was one of the Lord’s messengers, says the Qur’an, sent to preach to the cities of the plain. [26] One early Islamic source expressly mentions that Abraham “sent Lot as a prophet to the cities” of the plain. [27]
But the people of Sodom refused to listen, for they were “arrogant because of the bounty the Holy One had bestowed upon them,” [28] and as “wealthy men of prosperity” they “did not trust in … their Creator, but … in the multitude of their wealth” [29] – the same indictment the prophet Nephi would make of his people (see Hel. 6-8), whose errors were a remarkable repeat of the sins of Sodom, and brought a similar fate (see 3 Ne. 9:3).
The Sodomites had grown proud, inhospitable, morally perverse, cruel, and corrupt in every way. Even their laws and judges were corrupt. [30] “Overweeningly proud of their numbers and extent of their wealth,” they “showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the Divinity.” [31] “They were savage and very sinful,” [32] notorious not only for their inhospitality [33] but also for their notorious vices (NRSV 3 Maccabees 2:5), cruelty, and murder. [34] They “distorted every fundamental rule by which relationship is made possible and sustained.” [35] In sum, “the Sodomites represent … the negation of the value most characteristic of Abraham: chesed, or kindness.” [36]
When Lot warned them plainly about their abominations, they taunted: “If you are telling us the truth bring down on us the punishment of God.” [37] In the ensuing years, when Lot would visit Abraham, Lot “complained to him of the iniquity of the people. But Abraham urged him to patience,” [38] and practiced it himself. “The neighbors of Abraham were cruel, covetous, and licentious … but Abraham never ceased to be on friendly terms with them. He ever manifested toward them an amicable disposition, treated them with … noticeable courtesy and did them signal favors.” [39] They that are well need no physician, the Savior would say as he likewise ministered among sinners (Matt. 9:12).
Lot‘s parting had been hard for Abraham, who loved him. “It grieved me,” says Abraham in the Genesis Apocryphon, “that my nephew Lot had departed from me.” [40] In the midst of that grief, God came to comfort His friend Abraham, appearing to him in a vision at night and directing him to climb the highest mountain in the region, Ramat Hazor, and “raise your eyes and look to the East, to the West, to the South and to the North. Look at all this land, which I am giving you and your descendants for ever.” [41]
It is a remarkable reality that God’s greatest land grant to Abraham came as a reward for Abraham’s magnanimity with the land God had already given him.
The Zohar adds that as Abraham surveyed the land of promise, God actually “raised him high above the land of Israel and made him see how it is bound up with the four cardinal points.” [42] As Abraham gazed at the earth, he heard God promise that “all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered” (Gen. 13:15-16).
Blessed for Generosity
God’s promise was not only sure but literal, “not mere rhetoric,” insists a rabbinic text. [43] Another such text explains that this blessing came “because God saw how Abraham loved the commandments.” [44] Which commandments? There was none that Abraham did not keep, but the one he had just kept with unusual valor was the one in force since the beginning, the commandment to “love one another,” as God had told Enoch (Moses 7:33).
Abraham’s experience of being lifted above the earth repeated that of Enoch, who, as Abraham had read, had been lifted up and shown the four cardinal directions of the earth. In fact, the Joseph Smith Translation adds that God commanded Abraham to “remember the covenant which I make with thee; for it shall be an everlasting covenant; and thou shalt remember the days of Enoch thy father” (JST Gen. 13:13).
The Genesis Apocryphon tells that God commanded Abraham to actually walk around the perimeter of the entire land that God was giving him, and Abraham did so [45] – a lengthy journey that must have taken weeks. It was apparently a legal formality denoting acquisition of the land. [46]
That this event comes right after Abraham’s stay in Egypt is striking, for it echoes what the pharaohs did at the Sed festival in ritually walking around the perimeter of a field simulating the land of Egypt granted to Pharaoh by the creator god. [47] Abraham, as the true heir, now receives his land, itself but a microcosm of the larger world that Abraham and his seed were to bless.
What he saw on his journey was that the land was occupied, as Genesis reports, by the Canaanites and Perizzites, with their idolatrous ways. “They dwelt at ease and in tranquility,” according to Jewish tradition, “with none to challenge their peace, and yet could not harm Abraham.” [48] God was fulfilling his promise that his hand would be over Abraham (Abr. 2:8), not only to bless Abraham but to allow him to be a blessing to others.
And to maximize his opportunity to spread that blessing, Abraham moves to Hebron, a city of such strategic importance that King David would later choose it as his capital. Hebron is located on a height that at one point overlooks the cities of the plain, and it happened to be at the juncture where an important trade route branched off into three roads. [49] Bustling with travelers, it was an opportune location for Abraham to reach out to as many of his fellow men as possible, as he proceeded to establish a society sharply in contrast to that of nearby Sodom.
“In the most inhospitable of worlds,” says Nibley, “Abraham was the most hospitable of men.” [50] And always at his side was Sarah, his partner in extending hospitality. She worked along with him (see Gen. 18:6), and “during her lifetime, the doors to her house were always hospitably open,” and the lamp was always lit. [51]
Having been abundantly blessed by God, Abraham and Sarah proceeded to show their gratitude by using their resources to bless others, an illustration of the principle taught by President Harold B. Lee: “There is only one way to thank your Heavenly Father, and that is by faithfulness in what He has given you in the way of time, means, and talent in service to those less fortunate than you.” [52]
At Hebron, Abraham made himself accessible to the many who sought him out. According to one rabbinic source, “He was like a king of the entire civilized world. He possessed great genius; all the kings of the east and the west would come to seek his advice.” [53]
But Abraham’s door was equally open to the lowly and needy, as he “welcomed everyone – rich and poor, kings and rulers, the crippled and the helpless, friends and strangers, neighbors and passersby – (all) on equal terms.” [54] His life is a supreme illustration of the truth expressed by President David O. McKay, that “the noblest aim in life is to make other lives better and happier.” [55]
Thus were Abraham and Sarah, biologically childless still, merciful parents to all in need. How many had come to consider Abraham as a father and provider, and Sarah as a mother and friend! It is said that “Abraham cultivated the friendship of the common people,” [56] and would even go in search of poor wayfarers needing assistance. [57]
The lesson is remembered to this day in Judaism: “if the poor do not come to your house, you are obligated to seek them and bring them into your home, for this is what Abraham did.” [58] Or, as seen in light of the Savior’s teachings, Abraham had already been privileged several times to speak face to face with the Savior, but now visited Him daily as he lovingly reached out to the least of his brethren (see Matt. 25:40), seeking to bless them temporally and spiritually. “Who was greater than Abraham,” asks the Zohar, “whose kindness extended to all creatures?” [59]
The Zohar tells that near Abraham’s residence at Hebron was a spring and pool of water that he used for “those who required immediate immersion,” for he sought to make “known the true faith to the whole world.” [60] Anglo-Saxon tradition even seems to indicate that Abraham had a temple here. [61]
Through his love of his fellow beings, his sharing of the gospel and his administering in temple ordinances, Abraham was reaching out to all within his power. Abraham was, says a modern rabbi, “both Friend of God and Friend of Man,” [62] or, according to Hugh Nibley, Abraham “was ‘the Friend of God’ because he was the friend of man.” [63]
Abraham was practicing charity, or in Judaism hesed, and only those who follow his example can be included in his covenant, according to Jewish tradition. [64] Compassion is the one sure test of true Abrahamic descent, insists the Talmud: “When someone has mercy on God’s creatures, we can be certain that he is descended from our father Abraham.” [65] In the New Testament, such Abrahamic acts of love and service are called simply “pure religion” (James 1:27). [66]
His action is a model for Latter-day Saints, who are urged by President Gordon B. Hinckley: “May we bless humanity with an outreach to all, lifting those who are downtrodden and oppressed, feeding and clothing the hungry and the needy, extending love and neighborliness to those about us.” [67] “Let us open our hearts, let us reach down and lift up, let us open our purses, let us show a greater love for our fellowmen.” [68]
6. Matthews, Armenian Commentary on Genesis, 81. There is some ambiguity in the context in which Ephrem makes this statement; it may possibly refer to Abraham’s sojourn in Canaanite territory before going down into Egypt.
20. Blunt, Twelve Lectures, 76-77. The first quote within the quote is from Genesis 13:9; the second is from Matthew 5:9. Blunt’s insightful remarks also include the following: “When we look around us in the world, who would believe that the same relationship, and therefore the same blessed motive for peace, still exists among its inhabitants? When we see the quarrels and coldnesses, the lawsuits and the strifes, between those who are not only bound by the common tie of Christian fraternity, but by the closest and most indissoluble bonds of affinity and blood, are we not tempted to inquire, can these men indeed be ‘brethren?’ Can they be all trusting to the same hope of salvation, and expecting, or even desiring, to dwell together in the same heaven? It is impossible: with such divisions of heart and affections, with such bitterness of feeling and expression, the same eternal mansions could not contain them; the very tranquility of heaven itself would be broken up if they were admitted there; heaven would be no heaven” (75-76).
30. See Ezekiel 16:48-50; Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:245-50; and Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 25, in Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, 181-83.
54. Testament of Abraham (Recension A) 1:2, in Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:882 (parenthesis in original).
