Monday, Aug. 19
Genesis 14:1 – 15:21 Read it here

If your attention wanders in the sea of unpronounceable names this section starts with, be sure to wake up for the end of Chapter 14, which recounts one of the strangest and most mysterious encounters of the Bible.
Abram has defeated kings who had taken Lot captive. Apparently hostage-taking was already a practice in that part of the world as it remains today.
We read that the king of Salem comes to him, bringing bread and wine. “Salem” was already a significant city; its name would later be given some new letters and it would become “Jerusalem.”
Not only are we now in the area that will one day be the heart of Hebrew worship, but we get a model of that worship when the king of Salem, Melchizedek, blesses Abram, and Abram responds by giving him a tenth of everything.
We don’t really know much about the mysterious Melchizedek. This is long before the establishment of the priesthood, yet he is identified as a priest. None of the ritual law has yet been established, yet Abram shows his faithfulness and commitment by tithing to him.
In the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus himself is said to have been “designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
Quoting Psalms, the letter also refers to Melchizedek, and consequently Jesus, as a “priest forever.”
His priesthood, through which he served as a bridge between humans and God, didn’t come from the law of Moses, but came before it and will continue without end.
God then promises the childless Abram that he will be the father of many descendants, as many and countless as the stars.
Then, in another verse that will later be a foundation for Christian understanding, the Bible says, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
Like with the priesthood of Melchizekek, timing is everything. Righteousness cannot depend on obedience to the law of Moses when Abram was credited as righteous long before Moses was even born.