A long time ago, in this galaxy...
It is a period of civil war. Rebel soldiers have fled to their hidden base after losing their first battle against the evil Four-King Empire. During the battle, Imperial soldiers managed to steal the nephew of the ultimate person, AVRAHAM, a human being with enough power to destroy an entire army. Pursuing the Empire’s sinister soldiers, Avraham races away from home aboard his camel, chasing the custodians of the stolen booty to save his nephew and restore freedom to the land…
In all seriousness, what is the plot of a Star Wars movie doing in the Torah? The Torah measures every word, not containing a single thing that is superfluous, so why would this story make the cut? What is so important about it? I think that in order to answer this question, we must look at the second half of the story, so we can learn the lesson that Avraham Avinu learns.
As soon as Avraham hears about the capture of his nephew Lot, he gathers 310 servants and chases after the four kings. He defeats their armies and rescues all the captives along with Lot. Avraham is then greeted by Malki-Tzedek, king of Shaleim, a priest of Kel Elyon—Hashem. Malki-Tzedek gives Avraham bread and wine before blessing him, but then also blesses Hashem for protecting Avraham and giving him the victory. Avraham gives Malki-Tzedek Maaser from the spoils.
The King of Sedom, one of the five kings who lost the first battle, thanks Avraham, and asks for Avraham to keep the spoils and give him the captives. Avraham, however, declines, swearing to Hashem, Kel Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth, that he won’t take a penny from the spoils. He doesn’t want the King of Sedom to say that he made Avraham rich. What happened here?
Avraham wins the battle. Now comes Malki-Tzedek, priest of Hashem. Malki-Tzedek praises Avraham, but also reminds Avraham that the true source of victory came from above. When Avraham won the battle, perhaps he attributed it to chance. Perhaps he believed the opening crawl, that he really was a human being with enough power to destroy an army. Perhaps he did not think too hard about how he won the battle, only being glad that he did. But now Avraham realizes that his victory was thanks to Hashem, and from that realization, gives Maaser to Malki-Tzedek, the first example of Maaser in the Torah.
This realization that his victory came from Hashem explains the wording used in Avraham’s conversation with the King of Sedom. Avraham refuses to take the spoils in the name of Hashem Kel Elyon, directly connecting his refusal with Malki-Tzedek’s blessings. Why?
Avraham’s claim to the spoils comes from having beaten the four kings. He saved Sedom, so Sedom should give him its money to repay him. However, now Avraham realizes that it wasn’t he who beat the army. It was Hashem. That’s why Avraham gave Maaser: Hashem won the battle, so Hashem gets the spoils. That’s also why Avraham cannot let the King of Sedom take credit for his wealth. Wealth doesn’t come from man. Wealth comes from God. Avraham just learned that lesson, and will not let it go to waste.
This explains why the story of the Four and Five Kings made it into the Torah. While some parts might seem Star Warsy, the story teaches us very real and very important lessons about wealth and success. While we might fight a war, success comes from God.