I have long had the wrong idea about Abraham (Abram) the father of the faithful and the one through who the world would be (is) blessed.
Genesis 14 is the account of the attack of the kings of the east under the leadership of a king named, Kedorlaomer. Just some everyday guys out of anitiquity – Kedorlaomer, Amraphel, Arioch and Tidal. Just some guys bent on flexing their muscles and lording it over everyone else. Typical. So many guys, so much power, such wasted effort and energy all because I can and you can’t stop me. How else you gonna feed all those subjects?
But they picked on the wrong guy when they picked on Abram and he had 318 trained men born into his household who could kick butt and takes names. When I think of three hundred eighteen guys, I think of the wives and kids they all had; and I think of their daily grocery bill. If each of the 318 had at least one wife (and there’s no reason for me to think otherwise) then there is at least 318 couples. If each of the 318 couples had at least 6 kids, (I’m taking the average between Abraham who had two sons initially and his grandson Jacob who had twelve) then we add around 2000 more individuals to Abraham’s household. All of a sudden we have a very large group of people and a huge daily logistical problem when it comes to simple stuff like the basics of food, clothing, and shelter – and these folks lived in tents.
So it’s no wonder that Abraham had to train his men how to feed and to fight; there was no other way they could survive the crush and conquer mentality of their day.
Men and boys need to be trained to feed and to fight in our day as well. Paul the apostle said “…the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (2 Co 10:4 NASB) The reason there are weapons is because there is a war, and there are still souls to rescue and to nourish. The battle in our day is spiritual and intellectual and must be fought with spiritual weapons like prayer, truth, and reason; and the food is the milk and the meat of the Word of God.
As it was then it continues to this day; training is essential in our day and it is up to us to recognize the needs of those in our households and find those who will rise up to the challenge and the demands of survival in a modern crush and conquer world.
