THE FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE DOCTRINE – PAST SIN COMES BACK FULL FORCE INTO THE LIFE OF ABRAM

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

There is a legal concept, the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine, with which every law student, just beginning to tackle their first year Criminal Law Class, quickly becomes familiar. The term is a legal metaphor which states that, if the source of the evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained from it is tainted. Such evidence is, with few exceptions, rendered inadmissible, no matter its seeming necessity to the lawyer’s strategy for winning his or her case.

 

This legal metaphor has a Scriptural component in this week’s blog that further substantiates Michael’s words that the Bible is a book which does not leave out its’ players failures and the consequences of these.

 

How is this legal doctrine on point with the story of Abram? It is in this manner: Just like, when there is taint on a given piece of evidence in court which has repercussions later on,  there was taint on the possessions acquired by Abram and Lot in direct disobedience to God’s instructions and this taint had consequences years later. The existence of these mens’ wealth had caused them to part company and for Lot to gravitate toward his chosen, “easy path,” that is, life “near” the wicked city of Sodom. (Genet13:12) NIV.

 

The word “near” is an interesting one, for, as Michael says, even a single word in Scripture, teaches a valuable lesson. In the beginning of Abram’s and Lot’s separation, Lot was in close proximity to Sodom, not actually within its walls. In time, however, the Bible records a more ominous development. By the time of the catastrophe in Lot’s life, which we are about to discuss, Lot “was living IN Sodom.” (emphasis added), (Genesis 14:12) NIV.

 

OH, how satisfied Satan is to see us just simply draw NEAR evil – not to have actually fully embraced it yet. If the enemy can get us to situate ourselves in the general vicinity of sin, he’s excited beyond words.

 

Just placing ourselves NEAR gossip, for example, is a satanic goal, especially when we rationalize it as talk between people who bring up the well-disguised gossip allegedly only out of “concern” for the errant person of interest who is actually  being judged in the conversation.

 

Or, our just skirting CLOSE to any mere taste of hypocrisy in judging others, is perfectly fine with the enemy. The devil is two things if he is anything. First, he is, as the pun implies, devious, a fact well known by most. But, secondly, and not as widely recognized, he is PATIENT. He believes that, given time and opportunity, he can move a person from NEARNESS to sin to actually being IN it, using the same timeworn strategies that have been successful down the centuries.

 

With Lot, he had a field day. For, as stated, soon enough, Abram’s nephew went from residing near Sodom to living inside it. This, as the record of Scripture recounts, landed him, quite simply, very much in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

So the story continues… Now, with Lot ensconced IN wicked Sodom, a dangerous and extraordinary circumstance began to unfold in the area around Sodom. There developed a conflict between several Kings ruling in the vicinity. Finally, war broke out in a vicious series of attacks. (This is chronicled in Genesis 14.) At the end of the day, during the course of this war, the following calamity occurred:

 

“The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. They also carried off Abram’s nephew, Lot, and his possessions, SINCE HE WAS LIVING IN SODOM.” (emphasis added)

(Genesis 14:11-12) NIV.

 

Yes, it was the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine, a legal concept entirely at work in ancient times. What had been obtained through illegal means, in contradiction to God’s clear instructions, primarily the sin of Abram, now has repercussions right down the line in Lot’s life.

 

Tempted by the fertile area of Sodom, when he and Abram’s possessions caused them to live separately, Lot was putty in the hands of the enemy, again, when his NEARNESS,  his flirtation with life WITHIN the walls of Sodom, further enticed him to make the final move INSIDE.

 

All the way back to Abram’s detours in Harran and Egypt and the accumulation of great and encumbering wealth, the enemy was looking down the chessboard to this moment. Why? It wasn’t because of Lot, small potatoes in Satan’s real desire  –  to derail God’s plan to set up a Chosen People with Abram, (eventually to become Abraham), as the Patriarch. No, Lot wasn’t the major target of his endgame at all. It was the failure of God’s plan through Abram that the devil had in his crosshairs.

 

Michael so wisely says of today and, of Abram back in the Old Testament:

 

“People are so many times trying to erase God.”

 

When Abram made his detours, instead of listening to God, that is exactly what he was doing. The outcome of this always spells great trouble in one’s life, sooner or later. For Abram, it was coming later in the situation in which he now found himself.

 

For, now, Lot was taken captive. The man Abram loved like a son whom he did not yet have, was in great jeopardy, and Abram found out about these dire straits concerning Lot:

 

“A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.”

(Genesis 14:13) NIV

 

The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree had found its way back to the gardener of the tree, who, all that time ago, had planted it when he strayed from God’s plan. What happened next would, of course, result in Abram being placed in great danger and, most importantly, God’s grand plan, along with him.

 

Join us next week as the story continues with good versus evil on two battlefields, one physical and the other spiritual, in one of the great dramas of Scripture.

 

Michael always says,

 

“God gives great days to us. Sometimes, they come in bunches to a select few.”

 

This is never truer than with Abram in next week’s verses. He will have this kind of day of which Michael speaks. And in experiencing it, he will fall into the category of the select few. It will place him in the lofty environs of a singular man having a singular moment not found elsewhere in all of Scripture.

 

Postscript:

Next week, our blog will return to its usual Saturday delivery to your emails and texts. God  bless you mightily on your amazing spiritual journeys!