Genesis 14 tells about a war between several kings and you might wonder why God takes up so many verses in His precious Bible for that, until you get down to verse 12;
“And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in. Sodom, and his goods, and departed”. That tells why; it was because God still cared for poor Lot.. who had first gone near Sodom, and then went to live in the city. Mind you, Lot was one of God’s children, but he was not where God would have him, and I think he ought to have felt that Sodom was the wrong place for him. It was a good thing for him that Abram could and did come after him and set him free, but it is sad to see that he went right back to Sodom again to live.
Another king, who had not been in the war that brought Lot into trouble. Melchizedek, the King of Salem, a man who feared God, was sent by Him to meet Abram when he came back with all the captives and all the property, which the victorious armies had carried away. Abram was in danger; he would be tempted to give up his place as standing separate from the wicked world around him, and to join hands with the king of Sodom, but strengthened by his meeting with Melchizedek, Abram refused to take any reward for what he had clone. He would receive from God, but not from men who did not know God, and indeed hated Him. We shall learn more about Sodom and its people, and Lot, too, in Genesis 19.