Summary of passage: Basically, the Babylonians attacked a group of peoples living in the Siddim Valley who had been under their control but had rebelled. The Babylonians defeated or re-conquered them and took even more territory. The Babylonians sacked Sodom and Gomorrah, which included Lot and his possessions since he was living in Sodom.
Questions:
3a) Amraphel King of Shinar (Babylonia), Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
b) Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (or Zoar)
c) Plain of Shinar (or Babylonia)
4a) Lot put himself in the midst of these pagan countries by choosing the most fertile land as he saw it and pitched his tent near the evil city of Sodom (Genesis 13:11-13) and so he was caught up in the wars and taken along with the rest.
b) Personal Question. My answer: All of our choices are the same–to either choose God or to not choose Him. To choose God’s way or something else (either your way, the devil’s way, or some other idol or false god’s way). This is what all of our choices come down to. Obedience or disobedience. It’s as simple as that.
Conclusions: Didn’t like this lesson because we didn’t learn anything. Of course, Lot would end up in trouble. He chose to live with evil people. The names of these kings are obscure to most and I would wager meaningless. And the personal question? I truly don’t think details matter. What it comes down to is this: you either choose God or you don’t. Period.
My kids had this question too and they were stumped. So this is their answer as well.
I do admire the note at the beginning. This is unusual. But it sums up typical ancient times: people were conquered; the people rebelled; the conquerors put down the rebellion; prisoners and goods were taken.
End Note: Great home drawn map of the region and the battles! I love this website:
http://www.generationword.com/notes_for_notesbooks_pg/genesis/14_1.htm
I respectfully disagree…doing the content for the homiletics for these verses showed me that not only were the greater numbered Siddim Valley kings defeated by the lesser numbered Eastern kings (odds were in the favor of Siddim Valley) but Siddim Valley also lost on their home turf succumbing to the pitfalls of their own terrain. The Eastern Kings were more likely to lose when you look at those factors, in yet they won. Siddim Valley were ultimately weakened and lacked wisdom because of their lifestyles.
Also, Lot tried so hard to protect his wealth, lifestyle, family & people from loss that he held onto them over the life he could have had with God and Abram. He made a choice based out of flesh, to selfishly thrive and grow what he had, only to lose them in the long run anyway by the choice he made to live in the heart of a sinful land. He was brought down by the culture. We deceive ourselves into thinking our stuff is ours when it can be taken at a whim. It all belongs to God. He gives and takes away. To me it was a powerful lesson.
Adding…we also deceive ourselves if we think our decisions won’t be affected by the culture we hose to immerse ourselves in, whether that’s a positive influence or negative one depends on which culture we allow ourselves to be influenced by.
As we go on in this lesson, I also wouldn’t have appreciated the fact that God in His grace gave Lot all of his people & possessions back if it weren’t for this days questions revealing what it did to me. Nothing in scripture is waisted. It is all there for a purpose, I love uncovering the little nuggets buried in an apparently meaningless list of names. 🙂