Genesis 14:22

22 And he answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the most high, the possessor of heaven and earth,

Genesis 14:22 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 14:22

And Abram said to the king of Sodom
In reply to his request:

I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord;
which was both a gesture of praying and of swearing, and both may be intended here; when he set out on his expedition, it is very probable he prayed to God for success, and swore that if he prospered him, that he would receive no profit or advantage from it to himself; or now in the presence of Melchizedek he lift up his hands and swore that he would take none of the goods he had recovered to his own line; and in this form of praying or swearing, he makes use of the same epithets of God Melchizedek had just used:

the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth:
having his heart struck with those just and glorious representations of God, and awed with a sense of such a glorious Being, and being forward to learn and retain everything that tended to make for the glory of God.

Genesis 14:22 In-Context

20 And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection, the enemies are in thy hands. And he gave him the tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and the rest take to thyself.
22 And he answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the most high, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That from the very woofthread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of any things that are thine, lest thou say: I have enriched Abram.
24 Except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre: these shall take their shares.
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