Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. At that time, he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. They were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his three hundred eighteen trained men, born in his house, and pursued as far as Dan.”
(Genesis 14:13-14)

Abram was living a good life in a good place which contained an altar to God that he had built. He wasn’t doing crazy things. He was stewarding his resources and enjoying the Land God was showing him. Abram was prospering. Abram was staying connected to God. Abram was training his household. He wasn’t lazy. He was working and he was prepared.

As soon as Abram heard about Lot, he went into action. He was not going to let a family member be a captive. He didn’t stop at Lot, but Lot was his motivation.

Abram had three hundred and eighteen people who had been born into his household – servants, workers, etc. And each and every one of them had been trained for action. Abram didn’t just put his trust in the Lord. Abram trusted the Lord and took wise steps to steward what God had given him. Preparation time (training time) is NEVER wasted time. We need to train ourselves so that we are ready when those skills are needed. If we wait until there is a problem or a concern rearing its head, we won’t be ready to come against it. But if we are ready on every day, no matter WHAT happens we will be prepared to act. It WON’T be too late.

Abram was a visitor in the Land, a traveller. But he made alliances with those around him. He did not live in a vacuum. He was part of the support system wherever he lived. He was a blessing to those around him and consequently was able to call on them for assistance when something threatened their area. In Genesis 14:24 we learn that these allies went with him into battle.

This is the first time in scripture that someone is called a Hebrew. It is the word haibri or Ibri (ib-ree’) which came from the name Eber or Eberite (Genesis 10:21-25). In context, Abram earned the name because he was from the other side of the Euphrates (one of the meanings of the word is to pass over or cross over). But there is a teaching which says it also was meant in a cultural and spiritual sense: ‘The entire world was on one side, and he was willing to be on the other side’ (Bereishit Rabbah 42:8). He was willing to take on and take down the idols of his day.

The sage Sforno writes: ‘ויגד לאברם העברי, this refugee had no idea that Lot was related to Avram. He only knew that Lot’s religious beliefs were similar to those of Avram. והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא, this is why Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre participated in the war with Avram, and why he insisted in verse 24 that they receive their share of the loot.’

The sage Chizkuni writes: ‘והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא, “and he lived at the time in Elon Mamre.” The tree so called stood in the town of Chevron, as we know from Genesis 13,18. An alternate exegesis: the words: “and he lived in Elon Mamre which is in Chevron,” refer to the home of the person described as הפליט, “the escapee.” This would explain why he came to tell Avram whose home was also in Elon Mamre all about what he had escaped from.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘העברי, a member of the tribe of Ever, he and all his descendants proudly regarded Ever as their ancestor. They were the only people who still spoke Hebrew, the original language of man. Subsequent descendants, other than the line which ran through Avraham and the Israelites, changed their language to Aramaic, and were called Aramim, i.e. members of the people of Aram, in recognition of their specific language. Even Lavan, a third or fourth generation descendant of Ever, was already known as לבן הארמי, Lavan who spoke Aramaic. The tribe called עברים was Yaakov and his offspring. חניכיו, an adjective, similar to שרידיו and פליטיו, his trainees, people whom he had instructed in true monotheism. The word occurs in this sense in Proverbs 22,6 חנוך לנער על פי דרכו, train the lad in an appropriate manner, in accordance with his natural talents.” ילידי ביתו, people born in his household, to parents who had come with him already from Charan as well as those later in the land of Canaan. They totaled שמונה עשר ושלש מאות, 318. According to a Midrash quoted by Rashi, he took only Eliezer with him, the numerical value of the letters in his name amounting to a total of 318. If so, why did the Torah have to tell us that he took with him people born in his household? The Torah must have meant that he took an undisclosed number of people of his household with him, plus Eliezer, who was equivalent to 318 trained men. וירדף עד דן, the place was not called Dan until much later, when the tribe of Dan expanded its territory under Joshua in the north of the country. At that time the Danites named the place after their tribe’s founding father.’