1And it happened in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim. 2They made war on Bera king of Sodom and Birsha king of Gomorrah, on Shinab king of Admah and Shemeber king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. 3All of them joined forces in the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Dead Sea. 4Twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and struck down the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Karnaim and the Zuzim at Ham and the Emim at Shaveh-Kiriathaim, 6and the Horite in the high country of Seir as far as El-Paran which is by the wilderness. 7And they swung back and came to En-Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and they struck all the territory of the Amalekite and also the Amorite who dwelled in Hazazon-Tamar. 8And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, went forth and joined battle with them in the Valley of Siddim, 9with Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against the five. 10And the Valley of Siddim was riddled with bitumen pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled there and leaped into them, while the rest fled to the high country. 11And the four kings took all the substance of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and went off. 12And they took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and all his substance, and went off, for he was then dwelling in Sodom.
13And a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he was then encamped at the Terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, kinsman of Eshkol and Aner, who were Abram’s confederates. 14And Abram heard that his kinsman was taken captive and he marshaled his retainers, natives of his household, three hundred and eighteen of them, and gave chase up to Dan. 15And he and his servants with him fanned out against them by night and he struck them and pursued them up to Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16And he brought back all the substance, and also Lot his kinsman and his substance he brought back, and the women and the other people as well. 17And the king of Sodom went forth to meet him after he came back from striking down Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, to the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the Valley of the King. 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine, for he was priest to El Elyon. 19And he blessed him, and he said,
“Blessed be Abram to El Elyon,
possessor of heaven and earth,
20and blessed be El Elyon
who delivered your foes into your hand.”
And Abram gave him a tithe of everything. 21And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the folk, and the substance take for yourself.” 22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand in oath to the LORD, the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, 23that I will take not a single thread or sandal strap of all that is yours, lest you say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24Nothing for me but what the lads have consumed. And as for the share of the men who came with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, let them take their share.”
CHAPTER 14 NOTES
Click here to advance to the next section of the text.
1. And it happened in the days of. This introductory formula (just two words in the Hebrew, wayehi biymey) signals a drastic stylistic shift to an annalistic narrative. Because verse 2 has no explicit subject, E. A. Speiser, followed by later scholars, has conjectured that the first two Hebrew words of the text are a somewhat awkward Hebrew translation of an Akkadian idiom used at the beginning of literary narratives that simply means “when.” This solution is a little strained, and would compromise the effect of introducing the audience to a historical account that is conveyed by the formula “And it happened in the days of such-and-such a king, or kings.” Scholarship is virtually unanimous in identifying this chapter as the product of a different literary source from the three principal strands out of which Genesis is woven. The whole episode is in fact a prime instance of the technique of literary collage that is characteristic of biblical narrative. Abram, having been promised national tenure in the land in the immediately preceding episode, is now placed at the center of a different kind of narrative that makes him a figure on the international historical scene, doing battle with monarchs from the far-flung corners of Mesopotamia and treating with the king of Jerusalem (Salem), one of the principal cities of Canaan. The dating of the narrative is in dispute, but there are good arguments for its relative antiquity: at least four of the five invading kings have authentic Akkadian, Elamite, or Hittite names; and the repeated glossing of place-names (“Bela, that is, Zoar”) suggests an old document that invoked certain names which usage had replaced by the time this text was woven into the larger Abraham narrative.
3. joined forces. The verb is a technical military term and initiates a whole chain of military or political terms not evident in the surrounding Patriarchal narratives: “had been subject,” “rebelled” (verse 4), “joined battle” (verse 8), “marshaled his retainers” (verse 14), “fanned out against them” (verse 15). The narrative perspective is geostrategic, and there is no dramatic engagement of characters in dialogue until the rather ceremonial and didactic exchange between Melchizedek and Abram at the end.
11. the four kings. The subject is supplied for clarity by the translation: the Hebrew simply says “they.” A similar employment of a verb without a stipulated subject, not uncommon in biblical usage, occurs at the end of verse 20, where the Hebrew does not state what the context implies, that it is Abram who gives the tithe.
13. Abram the Hebrew. Only here is he given this designation. Although scholars have argued whether “Hebrew” is an ethnic or social term or even the name for a warrior class, it is clear that it is invoked only in contexts when Abraham and his descendants stand in relation to members of other national groups.
14. he marshaled his retainers. The noun and the verb in this particular sense occur only here. The former may derive from a root that means “to train,” and thus might imply “trained fighters.” The latter is applied elsewhere to unsheathing a sword, and thus may be metaphorically extended to the “unsheathing” of warriors.
three hundred and eighteen. This number sounds quite realistic, whereas the geographical origins and the huge sweeping itinerary of the four kings, coming hundreds of miles to subdue five petty princelets in eastern Canaan, sound legendary.
18. Melchizedek. The name means “righteous king,” which has suggested to many commentators a Davidic agenda in this tale of the founder of the people of Israel in ceremonial encounter with a priest-king of Jerusalem.
19–20. El Elyon. El is the proper name of the sky god in the Canaanite pantheon, and Elyon is evidently a distinct, associated deity, though here the two appear as a compound name. But the two terms are also plain Hebrew words that mean “God the Most High,” and elsewhere are used separately or (once) together as designations of the God of Israel. Whatever Melchizedek’s theology, Abram elegantly co-opts him for monotheism by using El Elyon in its orthodox Israelite sense (verse 22) when he addresses the king of Sodom.
19. possessor. Although conventional Semitic lexicography claims that the original meaning of this verb, qanah, is “to make,” the overwhelming majority of biblical occurrences reflect the meaning “to buy,” “to acquire,” “to gain possession,” which is the standard acceptation of the word in postbiblical Hebrew.
24. lads. The primary meaning of the word is “lads” but it also has a technical military sense of picked fighters. Its use here makes a neat contrast with “the men,” who do not belong to Abram’s household and are entitled to a share of the booty.
In all this, it is a little surprising that Abram should figure as a military hero, and some scholars (most forcefully, Yochanan Muffs) have seen this story as an Israelite adaptation of an old Akkadian literary form, the naru, a historical romance meant to glorify kings. One should note, however, that the military exploit—apparently, a surprise attack by night—is dispatched very quickly while the main emphasis is placed on the victorious Abram’s magnaminity and disinterestedness. Thus the idea of the patriarch’s maintaining fair and proper relations with the peoples of the land, already intimated in his dealings with Lot in the previous chapter, comes to displace the image of mere martial prowess.