Abram the Rescuer

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Greater love hath no man than this, That a man lay down his life for his friends. Dear Lord, we thank you for your love. We thank you for the gift of Jesus. His words remind us of true sacrifice. His life shows us perfect love. We are humbled by his example. We are grateful for his mercy. Fill our hearts with this same love. Teach us to walk in selflessness. Teach us to live with compassion. Help us to place others before ourselves. Give us the courage to sacrifice when needed. Help us to serve with joy. May our love reflect your grace. May our actions point to your truth. We surrender our pride, We lay down our egos. We give up our comforts for the sake of others. In giving, we receive your blessing. In serving, we find your presence. Thank you for showing us the greatest love of all. May our lives honor that love today and always. Amen. Thank you for praying with me today. You're listening to The Chosen People. Remain here for a dramatic story inspired by the Bible. Be sure to follow this podcast, or you can stay encouraged each week. 00:01:36 Speaker 2: Previously on The Chosen People. As for Lot he wanted to believe and could believe in a god who could make him so rich. But they seemed to have come up against an obstacle here. He just hoped Abram would be in the right frame of mind to help him solve it. 00:01:53 Speaker 3: But what are we supposed to do? Amen? 00:01:55 Speaker 4: Are at each other's throats, Abram, and we can't agree on anything. It's like a b and fever dream. 00:02:03 Speaker 3: We must separate. What do you think? The whole land is before us? But I will let you decide which way will you go? 00:02:13 Speaker 4: You honor me by allowing me to take the land of my choosing uncle, Really you do, since you've offered it to me. I'll take the Jordan place for my family and herds. 00:02:24 Speaker 3: That's the direction. Will go so close to Sodom, Are you sure? I think? 00:02:31 Speaker 4: I think the proximity of the city would prove useful to me. 00:02:36 Speaker 3: Yeah, useful. Be careful near those cities. I fear the influence of their culture is more dangerous than their spears. 00:02:46 Speaker 2: Lot waved his hand casually with a dismissive tongue. He shouted back to his uncle. 00:02:52 Speaker 3: My mind is a locked vault of integrity, Ingram, you know this. 00:02:58 Speaker 4: I love you, Abram, always will. You've always been a bit of a brother to me, and you're everything an older brother should be. Your sense of duty and loyalty are unmatched. 00:03:11 Speaker 3: Farewell, Why is it? 00:03:20 Speaker 5: Lot? 00:03:21 Speaker 4: Sh quiet? 00:03:23 Speaker 6: Father? You're scaring me? 00:03:25 Speaker 3: Bless? Did I said? Shut up? 00:03:26 Speaker 2: Lot's arm was frozen where he had thrust it in front of his wife and daughters, his body taught with fear. He was perfectly still. Ear perked up to the sounds of the night. He had been alerted to their presence by chance. The night was unnaturally still. Animals ceased their nighttime songs, the muffled chatter from the perimeter tents had similarly disappeared, and the snapping of a twig too close for comfort all pointed to a large force moving through camp in stealth under cover of darkness. Lot's heart pounded so ferocious that he feared it might be audible to his terrified family beside him. Then piercing through the silence, a scream, as if that initial cry was some secret signal, A twisted chorus of tortured screams broke out into the night throughout their camp and in the distance from the city beyond. It was followed by tormented sobbing and the unmistakable sounds of slaughter. As if inspired by a supernatural premonition. Fueled by adrenaline, Lot silently gestured for his family to follow him through the back entrance of the tent. The end of his younger daughter, Milker's dress, had barely cleared the opening. As a fist tore back the opening of their tent, flanked by an already bloodied blade, Lot could hear the audible sound of disappointment as the intruder beheld there, now empty dwelling, unaware that his prey huddled in the cramp walkway behind the tent. Again, led by a desperate, prim alurge to escape, he dragged his wife and daughter through their camp, keeping them out of sight. The horrors they saw would haunt his dreams for years to come. Unspeakable things were being done to the women of his camp, and countless numbers of his men lay dead, dismembered, or bleeding out on death's door. One such man noticed their quiet escape in the direction of Sodom. He was writhing on the ground, hand to his abdomen, struggling to keep his entrails inside his body. Gasping for air as he poured the air in Lot's direction. Lot crept forward and knelt beside the dying man to listen to what he was trying to say. 00:05:33 Speaker 3: Don't go to the city, don't gold to Sodom. What they sat the city as well, there everywhere. 00:05:47 Speaker 2: As the man choked out his last words, shouts from mere yards away forced him back to the shadows of the walkway between tents, where his family was hidden. As he drew back, he noticed the man's dag lying in the damp dirt beside him. Lot grasped it and choked back his disgust at the slick gore, clinging to the weapon. At least he had some sort of defense to protect his family. Mercifully, he didn't need to use it. 00:06:15 Speaker 3: As they went. 00:06:16 Speaker 2: Unnoticed through the camp turned killing field. They crouched in the darkness just outside of what was their caravan and took stock of what was before them. The intruders had torched a few of the tents on the far edge, and the flames now steadily consumed everything in their path. Thick smoke choked the air, and in the distance, twin flames were springing up, climbing the taller structures of sodom men hauled looted trunks of silver, gold, and anything else they deemed a value through Lot's burning camp, callously stepping over the corpses of his fallen men. The abused women were being corralled into a line as well, surely to be taken wherever Lot's riches were headed. 00:07:00 Speaker 5: Next Lot, what do we do? 00:07:03 Speaker 6: Where do we go? Where are they taking them? 00:07:07 Speaker 2: Oh? 00:07:10 Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't know. We can't go into the city. 00:07:13 Speaker 4: Then where will we gone? Where is it safe? 00:07:17 Speaker 6: It's all gone, they're all dead. 00:07:21 Speaker 4: Laugh quiet, you're whimpering in focus. 00:07:25 Speaker 3: We need to get as far away as we can. We can't be discovered. Where do we go? 00:07:29 Speaker 1: Where do we go? 00:07:30 Speaker 3: The mountains, the mountains. Are the mountains safe? 00:07:33 Speaker 4: Are the mountains safe? 00:07:34 Speaker 5: You saw the Ashbault pits when we first came here. It will be perilous across them in the dark. 00:07:41 Speaker 3: We have to take that chance. We need cover. 00:07:44 Speaker 4: They'll find us out here on the plains. 00:07:45 Speaker 3: When the sun. 00:07:46 Speaker 2: Rises decided, Locke turned to lead his family through the Sidheen Valley towards the mountains. When the grinning warrior waiting in the dark stepped in front of them, blocking their path. 00:07:57 Speaker 3: Moving all the way out. 00:07:59 Speaker 2: Lots why and daughters screamed. As he turned to look behind him, he saw five more warriors spring forward and grab them. He whirled back to confront his would be attacker, palming his bloody dagger, and the world suddenly went black. About forty miles away, in a wealthy district of the city of Hebron, Abram reclined as a guest in the home of his new friend and ally, the clan leader Mamory, and his two brothers, Anna and Eshko. Abram did not expect to find friends amongst the Amirates. All the other Canaanites he met during his journey had been indifferent or downright hostile, but he was surprised that he found favor with Mamory almost immediately, and they formed an unlikely alliance. 00:08:49 Speaker 4: Ma'm ree, brother, tell me how goes our business? 00:08:54 Speaker 7: Never better? I tell you something. I've started to believe that our friend Abram here, Abram the Hebrew, must have blown into our town on the winds of prosperity. I can't explain it, but ever since he came here and we all began working together, I've never seen such a yield. The flocks are multiplying faster than I've ever seen. The crops are springing back to life, and production everywhere has increased tenfold. 00:09:21 Speaker 8: Here, let's drink to our new friend, Abram, Abram the Hebrew. 00:09:28 Speaker 7: Ha ha. 00:09:30 Speaker 3: You honor me, but surely the gain is beneficial for us. All. I couldn't have asked for better friends, And the kindness you've shown me and my people since we came here will not be forgotten. 00:09:43 Speaker 7: No, it will not. 00:09:46 Speaker 3: They say. The whole city is prospering. 00:09:49 Speaker 4: It's as if the famine never happened. The land is finally healing. 00:09:53 Speaker 2: Suddenly, commotion from the receiving hall of the dwelling echoed off the stone walls of the interior. The three men halted their conversation to listen to the disturbance in the other room. Abram's chief servant, Elieza, burst in not a moment later, attempting to slow a somewhat unkempt travel worn man from entering the room before him. 00:10:18 Speaker 7: Master, pardon the intrusion, but this man insists on speaking with you. 00:10:24 Speaker 3: I told him you were not at home. 00:10:25 Speaker 1: Men. 00:10:26 Speaker 3: I couldn't reason with him. To wait for you to return, I must speak with Master Abram. 00:10:31 Speaker 7: What is the meaning of this? 00:10:33 Speaker 3: It's all right, Mamray you there. What are you called, Gira? 00:10:38 Speaker 7: Master? 00:10:39 Speaker 3: If it pleases yeah, what have you come to say? Gira? I've traveled far to bring you this news. I fear they may be hunting me. Yet it's your nephew Lot. They've taken him, taken who's taken him? I don't know for certain which king has him, but King Kido Laomer led the attack. I was able to learn that later they sacked the cities and destroyed the armies. Out on the plane, I was in lots caravan outside the city, though we didn't think they would come for us too. I didn't see any survivors from the campus I escaped. I don't think anyone was left alive. You're sure they took Lot as a prisoner. Are you sure he isn't dead? Yes, my lord, I saw them take Lot and the girls. The other women from the camp were carted off with their livestock and riches. As for his men, Will, I'm not sure anywhere spared. They were marching them north. No one thought four kings could defeat the five. No one they traveled the King's highways on the heels of their victories from the. 00:11:47 Speaker 7: West, which cities were defeated, all of them. 00:11:52 Speaker 3: The alliance of the cities of the Plane are no more. 00:11:58 Speaker 2: A heaviness settled over the three men, receiving the terrible news. The cities of the Plain long held the valley's southern part of the Salt Sea. They were Sodom where Lot and his family had gone, gomorrah admach Zeboem and Bella. But they were also slaves to King Caedalaoma, or had been. After twelve long years, they rebelled against his tyranny, and the rebellion had gone unchecked as King Cadalaioma invaded and conquered the lands to the west, until now. 00:12:31 Speaker 7: So King Cadalaomer at last came to crush the rebellion and take back what was. 00:12:38 Speaker 8: His beating the western nations. Our distant Amori cousins included into submission was not enough. 00:12:47 Speaker 7: It would seem it was not. This is grave news. 00:12:50 Speaker 4: Indeed, Abram, forgive me for asking this, But why take Lot and his family prisoner? Cerrolema is not known as a merciful. 00:13:00 Speaker 8: Perhaps they recognized that they were not canonites, and not to hold them to exploit a foreign government. 00:13:08 Speaker 3: It doesn't matter. If they're alive, then I must find them and take them back. 00:13:13 Speaker 7: Abram. When you entered my house and we forged our alliance, I swore to you then that my house would defend your honor and fight in your battles in this time of prosperity and peace, and never imagined we would be called to arms quite like this. But you have the strength of my house to aid you in this fight. We will be with you, Abram. 00:13:35 Speaker 3: Our shields and spears are yours. Memray you honor me, Thank you Escoll, thank you Anair. You are good man and true friends. 00:13:45 Speaker 7: We are with you, Abram, to whatever end. 00:13:53 Speaker 2: Abram could hear his friend's resolute words repeating over and over in his mind as he hurried across Hebrn to his caravan of tents. Abram always suspected he knew the real reason he had found favor in this city and with these powerful men, but now knowing perhaps the greater purpose behind it, left Abram in awe. His God had once again provided a way to rescue his family. This time, Abram was determined to answer the call. Though the decision was already made. He knew what he had to do, for he was still repairing what he had lost with his wife. Abram's heart pounded with a mix of fear and determination as he hurried to his tent to tell Sarah what had transpired. He recounted every detail to her, watching her face turn pale at the news. 00:14:45 Speaker 5: Oh, those poor people, no survivors, and Lot and his family were taken. Yes, and so you must go and find him and bring him back. 00:14:58 Speaker 3: Yes, sir, I I will try. I must leave it once so we don't lose that trail. I came here directly to tell you, But now I must make preparations to leave. I will raise my trained men and we will begin the pursuit. We'll be a company of three hundred and eighteen, so we'll be able to cover ground quickly and deftly. 00:15:18 Speaker 6: Three hundred eighteen against a whole eastern army led by a king who has conquered many nations. 00:15:25 Speaker 3: The Amirits have agreed to join us as well. We won't be alone, and you know that my God will be with me, even. 00:15:33 Speaker 6: Though the numbers are not in your favor, even though time is not on your side, even though your well passed fighting age, Lot could be hundreds of miles away in any direction. Lot chose to settle close to the city that was his folly. You would still be loyal to him despite all of that. 00:15:53 Speaker 3: I would. 00:15:56 Speaker 6: So you'll fight for him. Then you'll be courageous for him. 00:16:02 Speaker 3: Yes, I don't want to fail them. I I know I've been a coward before. This is my chance to. 00:16:09 Speaker 2: Abram turned his face away from Sarahi. He feared what would happen if he continued. Abram couldn't bring himself to fully admit what had happened in Egypt, certainly not to Sarahi. Perhaps someday, but the failure still haunted him. Deeply. Feeling self conscious about what he had started to confess aloud, Abram shuddered and trailed off into silence, unable to meet her gaze. Fighting back the emotions welling up inside of him, he pushed down his guilt toward his wife and turned to his feelings for Lot. He couldn't lose Lot. He refused to consider the possibility and bit back the fears that had been creeping into his mind since the messenger burst into Mamori's hall. SARAHI tentatively approached him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. She tilted her head to meet his gaze, but he refused. Her voice was soft behind it was a well of unrequited love. 00:17:12 Speaker 6: Go and save them, don't fail and come back onto me. 00:17:20 Speaker 2: Abram, his three hundred and eighteen men, and the combined forces of the Amirates set out and quickly found the trail of King Cadalaoma and his Four King Alliance. They had left a wake of destruction in their path, looting and pillaging as they went north following the Euphrates River. Abram's tracking party, made up of his trained men, made remarkable speed. As Abram had become familiar with the hill country on the western side of the valley. Abram's God had shown him all of it in his years of wandering before and after Egypt. They easily navigated the landscape and used it to their advantage in avoiding the detection of their enemy's scouts. When the larger Amirates force finally caught up to them and made camp with them less than half a day's march from the Four Kings Alliance, Abram emerging as the unlikely military strategist among them laid out their plan. 00:18:14 Speaker 3: Just before dusk tomorrow. Your larger forces will allow yourselves to be seen in the foothills. We're far enough away that they cannot guess our true numbers. You will draw the rise here to the west, and in all likelihood it will be late enough in the day for them not to be able to mount an attack until dawn. They will spend the night preparing and be distracted as I take my men to the east under darkness. There we will slip between their camp and the river, will spring an attack and disorient them. Though our force is small, it will feel like another great army has stormed into their midst. They will not flee west. They'll fear that they will lack the advantage of the high ground, and so they will flee either north or south, and we'll pursue them. 00:19:06 Speaker 7: Hear, hear, and we will crush them whichever direction they choose. 00:19:12 Speaker 2: The fainting light of dusk intermixed with the dark clouds on the horizon, painting the landscape the color of rotted wine. Mamori's army positioned themselves on the foothills. Each man carried two torches, making their army seem twice the size. The Four King Alliance immediately began preparing for an attack. Abram and his men lingered in the shadows near the enemy camp. Abram grinned to himself as he and his men skirted the perimeter, hearing the commander's bark orders with terse frayed tempers. They were likely used to have been the hunter, never the prey, and the reversal of rolls had them on edge. Abram turned to Eliezer and smirked. 00:19:57 Speaker 3: You'd ever expect us to be here with you, Lord, I've come to expect the unexpected. That's the spirit. First company attack. 00:20:09 Speaker 2: The first cluster of men charged out of the woods into the enemy camp. None of them grew up as warriors, but they were fiercely loyal to Abram. Their war cries were deep and triumphant. They burst through the camp, slashing away at unprepared Sodomite soldiers. 00:20:27 Speaker 3: Second Company harge. 00:20:29 Speaker 2: Abram stationed clusters of his men at regular intervals along their eastern flank, making three hundred men feel like three hundred thousand. In the dark, more men burst through the tree with fresh legs, passing the men who had paused for combat. The sound of clanging steel and torn flesh filled the camp. Abram tightened his belt and drew his blade. He was no longer a young man. The white in his beard and creases in his eyes contrasted uply with the tight muscles in his arm holding up a sword. Fueled by passion, he. 00:21:05 Speaker 3: Bellowed and company follow me. 00:21:10 Speaker 2: The last of Abram's men paced behind him and around him. He ran with the vigor of a man half his age. The first man he saw as a foot soldier, poised with a spear. Abram swiped his sword across his body from left to right, splitting the shaft of the spear in half. He replanted his feet and swung back to the left across his body, slashing the man's neck. Blood sprayed out on Abram's face. Each face of the camp brought a new challenger. Abram was no warrior, but a force more powerful than him fueled him. Elieza was beside him, protecting his blind side. All the men pressed forward, slowly, diminishing their forces. As Abram predicted. They panicked at the surprise attack from the opposite direction and fled north. His men and the Amirates pursued them as far as Leish, picking off any squadrons who fell behind or broke ranks from the larger mass. When they reached the northern city of Leis, beyond the mouth of the Euphrates River, they launched another attack. This time Abram charged with more than a thousand men by his side. His God promised him that he would make him great. Since leaving the comforts of aw Abram had sat in the palace of Pharaoh, dined with warlords, and led an army into battle. As Abram rushed the enemy, he couldn't help but wonder what other things this god had in store for him. The second attack was more successful than the last. Abram held a staff in one hand and a sword in another, parrying with the staff before attacking with the blade. He was no master in warfare, but it didn't seem to matter. The collective forces of Abram again pursued the last of the Great Army to Hobba, north of Damascus. They had traveled hundreds of miles from where they started, Abram's God sustaining them and granting them victory after victory, and it was there that Abram and his men made their last stand. With face caked in blood and sand. Abrams screamed with passion, die seeing the enemy one by one. Each was a barrier to his nephew. What had started as chaffed irritated skin had turned roar and inflamed on Lots, wrists, and ankles. He knew somewhere in the back of his muddled mind that the overwhelming fatigue that gnawdered him day and night was probably an infection. The wounds from his bonds had never been adequately tended to His wife and daughters were the same. He tried not to think about to morrow, the next day, or even the next hour, and what horrors they were sure to hold. They sat in the dark the prisoner's tent, trying to remain optimistic amid tragedy and suffering. Lot could tell that his captors were anxious. The pace they had adopted was grueling, and they were clearly frustrated. He had the feeling that they were being pursued. Their captors often took their frustrations out on Lot. Despite this, he feared that if these pursuers were to overtake them, they could be trading one evil for a more terrifying one. To strike fear in the hearts of King Kdalaoma was no small feat. It was just before dawn and the sun was only starting to warm at the tail end of the night when the shouting and fighting began. Whoever had been pursuing them finally caught up to their caravan. Lot and his family couldn't see any of it. All they could hear was the sound of clanging metal, battle cries and tearing flesh. 00:24:55 Speaker 5: What will happen to us? Will they take the camp? 00:25:00 Speaker 6: Should never have lefter run? Hoorry poor methel or I oh are anywhere quite? Keep quiet, listen? 00:25:10 Speaker 2: Sure enough, the sounds of battle started to change. The rhythm of blows and suffering began to slow. Someone was winning, and from the inside of the prisoner's tent, it was impossible to tell who it was. Lot and his family exchanged leary glances with the other captives. An armored hand and forearm threw back the sheepskin hide that was their tents opening. The warrior silently made a terse assessment of the space and called for aid. Lot's fever laden head spun as his thoughts raced. The armor was not that of their captors. This warrior was one of their pursuers. More soldiers poured into the tent, taking in the prisoners, All bound and roped together, they drew daggers as one a diligent and practiced force. Lot braced himself for the worst and squeezed his eyes shut, But then came the sound of rope being frayed. Lot's eyes snapped open. They were being released. Moments later, the prisoners were being held to their feet and their wounds assessed and tended to. One particularly brusque soldier hauled Lot to his feet and shouted something to the men outside ahead of him in a languige. Lot did not know. He pulled Lot outside the tent. Lot found himself squinting into the bright morning sun. One last warrior was locked in battle with the general of King Cadelaeuma's army. He seemed to be the last man standing. The warrior was sure footed and moved deftly, despite being smaller and much older. He had a confident gravitas to him. This man could be a king. Avian could barely keep his legs up. Every breath was heavy, strained and painful, but he couldn't show weakness, not yet. He and King Cadelaama's general circled each other, waiting for the other to make another move. The others had surrounded them with holding their aid. They knew this was a battle of honor. The general made another move, gliding his feet through the dirt to jab at Abram's ribs. Abram stepped to the side, but the blade grazed him. Abram winced, but quickly parried with a downward chop of his sword. The general blocked it with a thick leather armor on his arm. Abram heard the sound of cracking bone. This was his chance. Abram turned his hips back and cocked his arm. He swung his staff at the general's head. The whack made everyone watch him gasp. Then, before the general could gather himself, Abram thrust the tip of his sword into the general's throat. The general fell, The crowd cheered, and the euphoria of victory rushed through him. The exhaustion of the supernatural feet finally washed over him. Abram stumbled to his knees. It wasn't over yet. He had to see if Lot was alive. He limped over to the prisoner's tent. Several of his men were helping the prisoners out of their bonds and to their feet, knees buckling, he collapsed before a familiar face he knew almost as well as his own. The two wept at the sight of each other. Still shaking with weariness and raw emotion, he pulled Lot and his family into an embrace. All alive, all safe. Abram hadn't failed them. 00:28:50 Speaker 3: Abram, you came. You came for us, of course I did. 00:28:55 Speaker 4: I hadn't even let myself hope that you would, or that anyone would. 00:29:00 Speaker 3: You are my family, Lot. I will always fight for you and come to your rescue. And through the faithfulness of my God, I hear you made it. You saved us. 00:29:11 Speaker 1: Ah. 00:29:12 Speaker 4: Thank you, Abram. 00:29:14 Speaker 3: Ah. Perhaps I should thank your. 00:29:16 Speaker 4: God as well for saving me and my family eh eh. 00:29:20 Speaker 2: Together, Abram and Lot set about aiding the captured women and other prisoners. They also discovered that the gold and silver Lot lost in the abduction was still there, along with riches from other kingdoms the Four king Alliance had plundered before they broke camp to begin the long trek southward, and after they had recovered, they freed the other prisoners of war and sent them home to their countries. In peace. Once everything was settled, Abram's men, the Amirates, Lot, his wife and daughters, and the women and men who had been captured along with Lot's family started their long trick home together. This Prey dot Com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schllabager and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People. Narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate and leave a review.