Genesis 14:20 - Exposition

And blessed be the most high God (cf. Genesis 9:1-29 :56), who hath delivered — miggen , a word peculiar to poetry— nathan (cf. Proverbs 4:9 ; Hosea 11:8 )— thine enemies — tsarecha, also a poetical expression— 'ōyeb (cf. Deuteronomy 32:27 ; Job 16:9 ; Psalms 81:15 )— into thy hand. And he —not Melchisedeck (Jewish interpreters), but Abram (Josephus, LXX ; Jonathan, Hebrews 7:6 )— gave him (not Abram, but Melchisedeck) tithes "tenths." These, being the customary offering to the Deity, were an acknowledgment of the Divine priesthood of Melchisedeck. The practice of paying tithes, primarily a voluntary tax for the servants of the sanctuary, appears to have obtained among different nations from the remotest antiquity ( vide Dr. Ginsburg in 'Kitto's Cyclopedia,' art. Tithes). The tithal law was afterwards incorporated among the Mosaic statutes (Le Genesis 27:30-33 ; Numbers 18:1-32 :51-32)— of all —the spoils which he had taken ( Hebrews 7:4 .)