Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

January 16, 2026 - Genesis 14 & Psalm 14

• Josiah Smith - Compass Bible Church South Valley

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In Genesis 14 we trace a war of kings, Abram’s rescue of Lot, and a quiet meeting with Melchizedek that reframes victory, wealth, and worship. Psalm 14 exposes the depth of human corruption and directs hope toward salvation that comes from God alone.

• Abram’s night raid and the rescue of Lot
• Melchizedek as king-priest and type of Christ
• Why Abram refuses Sodom’s spoils
• Human nature in Psalm 14 and Romans 3
• Salvation from Zion and hope in Christ
• Living with integrity when wealth tempts
• Trusting God as the possessor of heaven and earth

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Friday, January 16th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Genesis 14. In the days of Amrafel, King of Shinar, Ariok, King of Elisar, Chedalimer, King of Elam, and Tidal, King of Goim, these kings made war with Bera, king of Sodom, Bersha, King of Gomorrah, Shinab, King of Adma, and Shimabir, King of Zeboim, and the king of Bala, that is Zoar. And all these joined forces in the valley of Sidim, that is the Salt Sea. Twelve years they had served Cheddar Limer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year, Chedalimer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashtarath Kanaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shava, Karithim, and the Horites and their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran on the border of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to In Meshpat, that is Kadesh, and defeated all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazan Tamar. Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Adma, the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bala, that is Zaar, went out and they joined battle in the valley of Sidim, with Chetalimer, King of Elam, Tidal, King of Goim, and Amrafel, King of Shinar, and Ariak, King of Alisar, four kings against five. Now the valley of Sidin was full of Biduman pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamer, the Amorite, brother of Eshkal, and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them to Hoba, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsmen lot with his possessions, and the women and the people. After his return from the great defeat of Chetalimer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shevah, that is the king's valley. And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God most high, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram by God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything, and the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich. I will take nothing but the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let honor, Eschel, and Mammer take their share.

SPEAKER_01:

The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds. There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. Have they no knowledge? All the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord. There they are, in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion. When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

SPEAKER_00:

Tyler, I have a question for you. You are a resident theologian. Our brainiac. Who is Melchizedek, my brother? Tell me.

SPEAKER_01:

I I couldn't I couldn't give you a an answer outside of what we read. He's a king. Uh he's uh he's uh a mysterious figure.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he comes out of nowhere. Right? There's all these kings listed, the four against the five, the battle that's going down in the valley. And here comes this king, Melchizedek, who is a king of righteousness. I mean, so far we've been tracking Abram, who's at this point he's he's showcased great faith, but he's also showcased doubt and just throwing his wife to the wolves, as we talked about before. But here comes this other figure that is an example of righteousness. We're supposed to be looking to Abram ultimately as an example of righteousness, and we see that in Hebrews 11 through the Faith Hall of Fame, where it commends Abraham's faith. But here we've got another figure, Melchizedek, and again it feels like he comes out of nowhere. So there is a variety of different perspectives on who Melchizedek is, or you could even say what Melchizedek is. Some people think that Melchizedek is a Christophany. That basically is a fancy term for a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. So the incarnation is when the Son of God took on flesh, and so in the Old Testament, we too we do see pre-incarnate appearances, we do see Christophanies in the Old Testament. That's basically an appearance of the Son of God, think of the angel of the Lord before the incarnation. And so some people would say this is one of them because it talks about the king of righteousness, it talks about um him being a priest to God most high. And the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 7 connects these things. It connects Jesus being the great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron or the Levites, but Melchizedek. So some people would would see a connection between uh Christ and Melchizedek, and ultimately this being a Christophany. Others would say, no, that Melchizedek wasn't a Christophany, he was a real flesh and blood human. He was a historical figure, he was a real king over a real nation. He lived in a real place during a specific time period. Uh so we have those who would think he's a historical figure, and then you know, we'll just say for the sake of um time, something else. So those really are the options a Christophany, a historical figure, or something else. Now, where I land on this, and again, good and godly people will disagree on this, but I I think Melchizedek actually is a historical, real figure. I think in some ways he does prefigure Christ and he sets sets the table to show us the kind of priest that God or that that Christ would be ultimately. Um, but I think he's a real person. So I think the reason why he doesn't have a genealogy and the reason why it seems like he he appears out of nowhere, you know, as Hebrews 7 talks about, he has no beginning and no end of days. I think all of that is to point forward to what Christ ultimately would be, but I nevertheless think he is a real man. You know, even just looking at the text here, it talks about um Melchizedek, king of Salem. So he's a king of a of a specific real place. He brought real physical things, bread and wine. He was a priest of God most high. He had an interaction uh with Abram. And of course, we see Abram interacting with angels in later chapters that we'll get to. But I see uh Melchizedek being an historical figure that points forward to Christ. And the significance of Melchizedek is that he is both a king and a priest, which as we get into the law, you'll find out that that's that's not allowed. You you either are a king or you either are a priest, you are not both. So the and that's why even uh you know we have kings in the in the old testament getting in trouble because they enter into uh the temple and and they eat the the priest's uh food that are meant for sacrifices, and then they do things that are only reserved for priests. We see kings giving sacrifices without the priests, and they're getting in trouble. They're not supposed to do that. We have the line of the priests, and we have kings and their separate offices, uh, but in Christ, those two offices come together. He is the great high priest, he is king of kings and lord of lords. Uh, and ultimately, as we'll kind of study as we get to Hebrews, the the trifold office of Christ, prophet, priest, and king, is part of what makes Christ unique. It's part of what helps uh at least set the stage in the Old Testament for what his work would be in the New Testament, because we see prophets in the Old Testament, we see priests in the Old Testament, and we see kings. They're they're typically separate. And so this is something unique. Melchizedek comes, he is a priest and he is a king. And again, that sets the stage uh for what Christ would ultimately be. So I know that's just a lot of uh background information. I wanted to dive into that because uh perhaps you were reading today and you were like, What's going on with Melchizedek? Uh, but that's that's where I stand. So an historical figure that points forward to Christ and that really sets the table for for the work that Christ would accomplish.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the uh the thing that I I really like uh as I read and you have questions about just the mystery of this of this figure, Melchizedek, he he points uh he points to God, he points to uh he points Abram to God and uh what a great encouragement for him after a troublesome time um bringing bringing opportunity to to reset and refocus Abram's mind on on God's promises and how Abram is to honor God through decision making. He's not he's not taking um these uh these offers from from wicked kings and and mingling and mixing with them and doing deals with them. He's he's pausing, he's reflecting, he's like, No, I I'm raising my right hand. I'm I'm gonna make a promise or an oath. I'm gonna I'm gonna commit myself and my future and what God has already spoken to me, and I'm gonna honor him with my decisions.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we see Abram refusing the spoils from this battle from the king of Sodom. And we remember in uh just we read recently that the king of Sodom or the the nation of Sodom is filled with wicked men, and so uh we have a wicked nation, which I think it's safe to infer. We have a wicked king that's ruling and leading a wicked nation. And so Abram's like, hey, I I don't want I don't want that stuff from you. Uh and even just think about that from a from a riches perspective. The king is offering him great wealth. I mean, Abraham is doing just fine. Remember, it says he has lots of gold and silver, they didn't have enough space, they had to split him and lot. Uh they have he has plenty of possessions, but the king was going to give him all of these great possessions, and he says, No, you know, verse 22 Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abraham rich. I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me. And uh, we see this this sort of humility and this commitment from Abram to be like, no, God's gonna provide. I don't want to, I don't want to give you any ammo to be able to say that you have blessed me. You are the reason why I am wealthy, or you are the reason why I am X, Y, and Z. He he wanted to be able to say that about God and God alone. And ultimately, what we see is Abram saying no to just earthly material wealth because he saw what God could give him and the blessing that he knew was coming from God through this covenant promise was far greater and far more rich than anything this wicked king had to offer. So he looked past the spoils of this world and he looked forward to the wealth of just the promise of God. And what an encouragement that is for us, Tyler. I know it can be so easy in this day and age to get caught up in earthly material possessions, in a sense, to have the world offer us uh money and I don't know, fame, um, nice houses, nice cars, or whatever comfort. And uh oftentimes, even as Christians, we can be really tempted uh to eat that up. And I'm not saying nice cars or nice houses are a bad thing per se, uh, but we need to have an eternal mindset and to look beyond the material possessions of this world and look to the wealth that we know we have reserved for us in Christ. I mean, that's what Paul says in Ephesians 1, he has given us every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, every single one. And so we have this richness in Christ. And so ultimately, we we don't want to be enamored by the shiny things of this world. We want to look forward to the great things that we know that God has in store for us, and even what Paul says in Philippians 3 uh all of his status, all of the things he's accomplished, he he counts as rubbish for the sake of knowing the all-surpassing worth of Christ Jesus as his Lord. And so I see just a great example here of Abram looking beyond what an earthly king could provide because he was trusting in ultimately what his God would provide.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. As we look to our second text, uh, Pastor Josiah, we're looking at Psalm 14. We kind of see the other side of the coin of we we see what what it would look like to honor God, to look to God, to remember God with our with our decisions, to to remember God's promises to us, his covenants, and we we look at the other kind of a person that would say that God that you're talking about doesn't even exist. This God, this God that you're talking about, who is he? Never heard of him. Um people that might be doing abominable deeds, as we see in in verse one of Psalm 14. Um, and and there's just a a great contrast that we're looking at this morning as we look at Abram and and his heart and his desire for the Lord, and and we're looking at the fool in Psalm 14.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and the question that I had reading this was how how bad is human nature? Uh how corrupt are we? Uh if we're gonna put it in the language of Genesis, how how how far have we fallen? We're thinking about the fall of Genesis 3. How far, how bad, how corrupt? Because this is something in our modern day where you're gonna hear, well, you know, humans are are naturally good. It's their circumstances or their it's their environment that can sort of put bad in them. And we love to play the comparison game, don't we? Um, but we're gonna see here in Psalm 14. I mean, it starts off by saying, you know, the those who say there is no God, they're fools, they are corrupt, they do abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. And then it just is as if that wasn't clear enough. You know, it says they have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. And so David's like poured it on thick. And of course, Paul quotes this in Romans 3, Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He quotes this text and says, No one does good, no one seeks after God. Uh so when it comes to humanity, when it comes to our nature, when it comes to our sin nature that we inherit from Adam, the the scriptures are clear and they're very unapologetic. It's it's bad, it's way worse than we think. No one does good. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds. Those who do not acknowledge God as their creator, as their God, ultimately they they don't look to Christ as their savior. First, they're a fool, but also it says they're corrupt, they're abominable. Use New Testament language, they're dead in their trespasses and sins. And so we need to recognize that the scriptures make it very clear that our sin is far more pervasive than we often give it credit for. And far from humans being naturally good and then being tainted by environments, that Psalm 14 said, There is no one who does good. I mean, think about that. Um, that that is a strong statement. You know, outside of the righteousness of Christ, outside of being made a new creation, that that's how we are seen. And from a New Testament perspective, that's exactly what Paul says in Romans 3. He's applying it to those who have not believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's saying, No one does good, no one seeks after God. So we need to recognize how pervasive, how far-reaching, how actually corrupt a human nature is. And Psalm 14 makes that very clear.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the a passage that comes to mind is Isaiah 53, 6. We're talking about Romans 3. Uh, all of us, all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us have gone after our own way, and we're looking at the remedy to that. Uh the iniquity of us all was laid, was laid on Christ, laid on Jesus, and and he is the solution, he is the salvation, he's the one who restores, who restores our our wicked ways. Um, he restores us um back to a place where we'd be in right standing with with God, back to Genesis pre-fall. We are walking with the Lord, and and we can walk with him in newness of life because of uh his blood that cleanses us. Um and it's something so exciting to look about. Uh, we could look at the restoration noted in in Psalm 14 7, and we see there's this there's this hope, uh, there's this excitement um that salvation would come out of Zion. It is the Lord, it is uh the God of Jacob. Um Israel can be glad and rejoice, and this might be speaking to you can give us a little inside look here, Pastor Josiah. We're looking at the restorations of the fortunes of his people. Who is David talking about his current people? Is this something that's pointing us forward, or is this more of an immediate, uh a current uh heart cry of David here?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's a a lot of times in the Old Testament, there's both a near context and a far, just to simplify it. Near would be um like there's prophecies about Babylonian captivity as an example and Israel being rescued and ransomed from that, and those come true in a near sense, but then there's an ultimate, you could say eschatological sense, in which uh there is a future restoration of all things. Uh, in this context, though, uh it says let the Lord restores the fortunes of his people that Jacob or Israel rejoice, let Israel be glad. And so I think there's a near sense of which that could be happening immediately in this context, but also in the ultimate sense that Paul talks about in Romans 11, where all of Israel will be saved. Prophetically, that's bound up in our eschatology and what we believe about the end times. So I think it's it's a both and it's not an either-or, but certainly there's an immediate context here to consider. But salvation, ultimately here in Psalm 14, David's recognizing, okay, no one does good, everyone's corrupt, there's no knowledge, there's there's foolishness, there's wickedness, salvation. Basically, he he kind of ends with what we need is outside of ourselves. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people. And again, this is specific to a particular nation, but then there's, of course, we can connect us to the salvation that we have in Christ. Uh, and recognizing that because in our sin nature we are corrupt, we do abominable deeds. That there is none that does good. We need something we that we do not possess. And the good news of the gospel is that uh Christ gives that to us through his perfect life, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the from the dead, and his ascension uh into heaven, where he now sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I something that I uh I look at and I key in on is this calling upon the Lord, these evildoers, these wicked people uh who eat up uh David's people as they eat up bread. There's some some imagery there. They they don't call upon the Lord. And and that's what that's what God asks us to do in faith is call upon the Lord to be saved. Acknowledge your state, acknowledge your wickedness, acknowledge your unrighteousness, call upon the Lord and be healed, be cleansed by the blood of Christ. And and there's this this connection I'm seeing here that we can we can call upon the Lord, and we can we can look and rejoice and be restored because God is faithful to his promises. And that's that's an exciting thing for me too, is like there's there's this imagery also that I have where I have this thought of a courtroom, and I've seen some really encouraging and heart heartwarming things where you see you see a person who's committed a crime and you see someone in a courtroom. I'm not sure if you've seen this, Pastor Josai, but a video where this person has a chance to address the courtroom, address the person who's being convicted of a crime and and just with a with a heart of of purity, a heart of of unity. Just point blank says, I forgive you for what you've done to me and my family. I've forgiven you. And and on the other side, you see you see videos of people who are just point blank unashamed uh of their wickedness and they're not repentant. They don't care about what their sin is and what is done to other people, and and we can see we can see those moments where the internal heart posture matters a ton. It matters a whole lot where we might be able to look uh look at God and say, Um, you're the creator, you are the one who's in control, you're the one that ultimately I will answer to. You you are the judge, and there's this suppression, there's this suppression of the truth that are it just fills fills the world. We we have a lot of people that like to fire firearms, they love they love to go out and practice, they love to go out and train uh for fun and blow things up just just to get a giggle. And there are these things called suppressors, these things that you put at the end of uh end of your barrel, and they they make this loud percussive sound, and and it dims it, it dulls it. And that's kind of that's what the fool does. That's what the fool does in his heart. He suppresses the truth. It takes this this show of God through creation, God plainly showing himself in Romans 1. The wrath of God is against all ungodliness, but this his his his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature. It's it's clear, it's clearly perceived since creation. Um, and and we are without excuse in this world uh full of wickedness. The people who who who are opposed to God are suppressing the truth uh of their creator and suppressing uh this this judgment. Ultimately, they're dodging it, they're they're dip duck diving and dodging this this ultimate reality that their sin offends a perfect and holy God. Um and and ultimately one day they will answer to him.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's what David can say uh as he starts, the fool says in his heart, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. I mean, Ecclesiastes talks about God placing eternity on the hearts of man. And I mean, that just so clearly, I always say when when it comes to that verse and understanding it, it's like when you're laying in bed at night, late at night, it's just you and your thoughts, and you start thinking to yourself, there's got to be something more than this life. That's eternity that God has placed on your heart. That's the the truth that the fool suppresses in unrighteousness. And so uh, because of our corrupt human nature, because of our wickedness, uh, because of all of those things, we do suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And if it wasn't for the grace of God opening our eyes, showing us the truth by the Spirit of God, we would all be in the same condition and we'd all play the part of the fool. And so we want to give thanks to God for his salvation, give thanks to him for giving us the righteousness of Christ through faith. And we want to walk forward in obedience to him, and we want to say, no, there is a God, and he and he knows what's best, and we're gonna serve him and worship him all the days of our life. So we hope that's an encouragement for you today. Well, thanks for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.