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34 | Genesis 14:1 rah , the king of Ad mah , the king of Ze boy im and the king of Bela ( that is , Zoar ) marched out and drew up their bat tle lines in the Val ley of Sid dim
9 against Ked or la o mer king of Elam , Ti dal king of Goy im , Am ra phel king of Shi nar and Ar i och king of El la sar — ​four kings against five . 10 Now the Val ley of Sid dim was full of tar pits , and when the kings of Sod om and Go mor rah fled , some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills .
11
The four kings seized all the goods of Sod om and Go mor rah and all their food ; then they went away .
12
They also car ried off Abram ’ s neph ew Lot and his pos ses sions , since he was liv ing in Sod om .
13
A man who had es caped came and re port ed this to Abram the He brew . Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mam re the Am o rite , a broth er b of Esh kol and Aner , all of whom were al lied with Abram . 14 When Abram heard that his rel a tive had been tak en cap tive , he called out the 318 trained men born in his house hold and went
Abram Rescues Lot
At the time when Am ra phel was king of Shinar , a Ar i och king of El la sar , Ked or la o mer

14 king of Elam and Ti dal king of Goy im , 2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sod om , Bir sha king of Go mor rah , Shi nab king of Ad mah , Sheme ber king of Ze boy im , and the king of Bela ( that is , Zoar ). 3 All these lat ter kings joined forc es in the Val ley of Sid dim ( that is , the Dead Sea Val ley ).

4
For twelve years they had been sub ject to Ked orla o mer , but in the thir teenth year they re belled .
5
In the four teenth year , Ked or la o mer and the kings al lied with him went out and de feat ed the Reph a ites in Ash te roth Kar na im , the Zu zites in Ham , the Emites in Sha veh Kir ia tha im 6 and the Ho rites in the hill coun try of Seir , as far as El Pa ran near the des ert . 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mish pat ( that is , Ka desh ), and they con quered the whole ter ri to ry of the Am a­ lek ites , as well as the Am o rites who were liv ing in Haz e zon Ta mar .
8
Then the king of Sod om , the king of Go mora
1 That is , Babylonia ; also in verse 9 an ally b
13 Or a relative ; or
14:1 – 24 This episode recounts a regional war between several Mesopotamian kings . Lot ’ s fateful choice to live near Sodom embroils him in the conflict , and Abram must rescue him from the kings who have conquered Sodom and the surrounding cities . This narrative is the only time Abram is depicted as a warrior , and the themes of promise and blessing — ​prominent in the other episodes from Abraham ’ s life — ​are absent here .
14:1 Amraphel was king of Shinar The identity of this person is unknown . Shinar Another name for Babylonia ( see 11:2 ). Arioch The name Arioch appears in the ancient Near Eastern Mari archives ( eighteenth century BC ) and the Nuzi tablets ( fifteenth century BC ). Ellasar This may be the Hebrew equivalent of the Akkadian phrase al ashshur , which indicates “ city of Ashur ” ( Assyria ). Kedorlaomer This name does not appear in the known lists of Elamite kings ( roughly 40 kings ). The first part of the name , however , may correspond to the Akkadian term kudur ( kutir in Elamite , which means “ a servant ”). This element appears in several royal Elamite names . Elam The ancient name for modern Khuzestan ( southwestern Iran ), east of Babylon . Tidal This name may be a transcription of the Hittite royal name Tudchaliash . The name is attributed to four Hittite kings , the earliest of whom lived during the seventeenth century BC — ​chronologically too late to be identified with the king mentioned here . 14:2 Bera king of Sodom , Birsha king of Gomorrah Neither name is known . However , this may be a wordplay : Bera ( bera ’ in Hebrew ) and Birsha ( birsha ’ in Hebrew ) appear to play on the Hebrew words for “ evil ” ( ra ’ ah ) and “ wicked ” ( rasha ’). 14:3 the Dead Sea Valley The water of the Dead Sea has the highest salt content of any body of water in the world . 14:5 Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim The people groups listed in this verse were clans of giant people — ​ much like the descendants of Anak ( see Nu 13:33 ; Dt 2:10 – 11 ; 3:11 – 13 ). 14:6 Horites The inhabitants of the region of Edom before it was taken over by the descendants of Esau
( Ge 36:20 – 30 ). The narrator probably intended the Horites to be understood as another Canaanite people group since all the names given in ch . 36 are Semitic . Another possibility , though less likely , is that “ Horites ” was the Hebrew name for the Hurrians — ​a non-Semitic people who moved into northwestern Mesopotamia and established the Mitannian Empire in the mid-second millennium BC . There is no evidence that the Hurrians lived in the region of Edom or Seir , though they were occasionally in other parts of Canaan . Seir Refers to the mountainous region southeast of the Dead Sea . This name is often used as a synonym for Edom . El Paran Generally refers to the desert of the Sinai Peninsula southwest of Palestine ( see 21:21 ; Nu 10:12 ). 14:7 En Mishpat ( that is , Kadesh ) A location in the northern Sinai that later served as a regular campsite for Israel during their wilderness wanderings ( Nu 20:1 ). the Amalekites Refers to a nomadic or seminomadic tribe that later occupied parts of Canaan . Genesis portrays them as descendants of Esau , Abraham ’ s grandson ( Ge 36:12 ; compare 1Ch 1:36 ). Hazezon Tamar This location is later equated with En Gedi , a freshwater spring on the west side of the Dead Sea ( 2Ch 20:2 ). 14:13 the Hebrew The Hebrew language word used here , ivri , could come from the Hebrew language preposition ever , meaning “ beyond ,” resulting in the translation “ Abram , the one from beyond ( the river Euphrates ).” However , this phrase most likely refers to Abram being a descendant of Eber ( see Ge 10:21 – 31 ; 11:10 – 26 ) — ​ whom Genesis seems to present as the forefather of the Hebrew people . great trees See note on 12:6 . Mamre the Amorite Since his own people had been attacked in this war , Mamre had good reason to assist Abram . 14:14 318 trained men A realistic number for an armed force , but two extra-Biblical examples suggest it may be a symbolic number indicating a large group . In an Egyptian text , Princess Giluchepa of Mitanni arrives with 317 harem attendants . In the Greek work Homer ’ s
Iliad , 318 men die in a four-day battle . The number 318 is the sum of the 12 prime numbers from 7 to 47 , so the number may have symbolic meaning .