Genesis 14-15: Completely Empty Land for Abram to Settle In

The bustling town of Sodom.

After God gave Abram this land, peace reigned, except for the dozen or so kings who were at war with each other. To fund their wars, Sodom was pillaged, and Lot land was cleaned out of its livestock and its women, leaving only a vacant… a vacant… well, I just can’t think of the right word here, but basically, he was broke. When Uncle Abram found out about this, he raised a militia and went to get it back. He did get it, too, except for the percentages he doled out to everyone he met who worshiped the same God he did. When the king of Sodom asked not for goods but for people, Abram turned him down flat.

God liked the way Abram snubbed the king of Sodom. “I keep telling you, Abram,” said God, “this nation thing is going to work out. I’m going to come down hard of the king of Sodom, but you, you’re getting all this land, which is completely empty except for ten nations of people who are already living there—but who’s counting?”

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