To Feed and To Fight

11.9.2009

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.

You’re Invited!

“When Abram heard that his relative [Lot] had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” (Genesis 14:14 NIV)

This story is always intriguing in that I ask, where did these men come from, and what constitutes ‘trained’? In Genesis 14 we are hardly into the narrative of Scripture but from Adam’s time it appears that hundreds, if not thousands of years have gone by. Ur of the Chaldees (the Chaldeans, later known as the Babylonians) is no small city of the then civilized world and Abraham, (or Abram as he was known then before he heads off to Canaan) was a native of ancient Chaldean society.

So what did guys do way back then before there was football, and no hunting and fishing regulations to get in the way of some decent elk jerky or smoked trout? From the verse above, it appears some of what they did was they trained one another to defend what was theirs, primarily; and to attack, when the need arose.

This verse (and the account in which we find it) made me think differently of Abraham. I used to see him as this lone ranger sort but from what I read, he was anything but – pick on Abram’s kin, and you gots to take on the whole fam damily…

What about you, o man of faith – whatchu got goin’ on these days… another football game, another distraction? What about training? What about the men or boys in your family, or in your church? Anything happening there?

I’ve always dreamed of being a part of Team Three Eighteen. I’m not sure how many men the 318 took on when Abe decided to go after their attackers, but I know it was way more than three hundred-eighteen and from what I read, Abraham's 318 kicked butt.

This is your invitation to become a part of Three Eighteen, the blog; and think about where God has placed you these days and consider what He may be trying to teach you or train you. The only way believin' guys are gonna survive as men is if we submit to the training of God and find our place in the army of God when the going gets rough and tough. I hope we can initially catch up with 318 guys but ultimately begin Three Eighteen groups in our homes, or in our churches and certainly in our communities.

To begin, there’ll be a regular posted thought for you to think about and along the way you might hear from another person or two or three (male and female) and we might ask you sometime to give us some of your input and insight. Bottom line, the battle is raging and we can either take ground or give it – the choice is ours. Stay tuned in…let’s hang together and fight for all that’s right.