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- The war of four confederate kings against the five
kings of Canaan, 1-3.
- The confederate
kings overrun and pillage the whole country, 4-7.
- Battle between them and the kings of Canaan, 5, 9.
- The latter are defeated, and the principal part of
the armies of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
slain, 10;
- on which these two cities are
plundered, 11.
- Lot, his goods, and his family,
are also taken and carried away, 12.
- Abram, being informed of the disaster of his
nephew, 13,
- arms three hundred and eighteen of
his servants, and pursues them, 14;
- overtakes and routs them, and recovers Lot and his
family, and their goods, 15, 16;
- is met on
his return by the king of Sodom, and by Melchizedek,
king of Salem, with refreshments for himself and
men, 17, 18.
- Melchizedek blesses Abram, and
receives from him, as priest of the most high
God, the tenth of all the spoils, 19, 20.
- The king
of Sodom offers to Abram all the goods he has taken
from the enemy, 21;
- which Abram positively
refuses, having vowed to God to receive no
recompense for a victory of which he knew God to be
the sole author, 22, 23;
- but desires that a
proportion of the spoils be given to Aner, Eshcol
and Mamre, who had accompanied him on this
expedition, 24.
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Verse 1 . In the days of
Amraphel
Who this king was is not
known; and yet, from the manner in which he is spoken of
in the text, it would seem that he was a person well
known, even when Moses wrote this account. But the
Vulgate gives a different turn to the place, by
rendering the passage thus: Factum est in illo
tempore, ut Amraphel, Amraphel, of Babylon,
others make him king of Assyria; some make him the same
as Nimrod, and others, one of his descendants.
Arioch king of
Ellasar
Some think Syria is
meant; but conjecture is endless where facts cannot be
ascertained.
Chedorlaomer king of
Elam
Dr. Shuckford thinks that this
was the same as Ninyas, the son of Ninus
and Semiramis; and some think him to be the same
with Keeumras, son of Doolaved, son of Arphaxad,
son of Shem, son of Noah; and that Elam means
Persia; see Genesis
10:22. The Persian historians unanimously allow that
Keeumras, whose name bears some affinity to
Chedorlaomer, was the first king of the
Peeshdadian dynasty.
Tidal king of
nations
goyim, different
peoples or clans. Probably some adventurous person,
whose subjects were composed of refugees from
different countries.
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Verse 2 . These made war with
Bera,
It appears, from Genesis
14:4, that these five Canaanitish kings had been
subdued by Chedorlaomer, and were obliged to pay him
tribute; and that, having been enslaved by him twelve
years, wishing to recover their liberty, they revolted
in the thirteenth; in consequence of which Chedorlaomer,
the following year, summoned to his assistance three of
his vassals, invaded Canaan, fought with and discomfited
the kings of the Pentapolis or five cities-Sodom,
Gomorrah, Zeboiim, Zoar, and Admab, which were situated
in the fruitful plain of Siddim, having previously
overrun the whole land.
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Verse 5 .
Rephaims
A people of Canaan: Genesis
15:20.
Ashteroth
A city of Basan, where Og afterwards reigned;
Joshua
13:31.
Zuzims
Nowhere else spoken of, unless they were the same
with the Zamzummims, Deuteronomy
2:20, as some imagine.
Emims
A people great and many in the days of Moses,
and tall as the Anakim. They dwelt among
the Moabites, by whom they were reputed giants;
Deuteronomy
2:10,11.
Shaveh
Kiriathaim
Rather, as the
margin, the plain of Kiriathaim,
which was a city afterwards belonging to Sihon
king of Heshbon; Joshua
13:19.
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Verse 6 . The
Horites
A people that dwelt in Mount
Seir, till Esau and his sons drove them thence; Deuteronomy
2:22.
El-paran
The plain or oak of Paran, which was a
city in the wilderness of Paran; Genesis
21:21.
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Verse 7 .
En-mishpat
The well of
judgment; probably so called from the judgment
pronounced by God on Moses and Aaron for their rebellion
at that place; Numbers
20:1-10.
Amalekites
So called afterwards, from Amalek, son of
Esau; Genesis
36:12.
Hazezon-tamar.
Called, in the Chaldee, Engaddi; a city in the land
of Canaan, which fell to the lot of Judah; Joshua
15:62. See also 2 Chronicles
20:2. It appears, from Canticles ; Song
of Solomon 1:14, to have been a very fruitful place.
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Verse 8 . Bela, the same is
Zoar
That is, it was called
Zoar after the destruction of Sodom, Genesis
19:24,25.
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Verse 10 .
Slime-pits
Places where
asphaltus or bitumen sprang out of the
ground; this substance abounded in that country.
Fell there
It either signifies they were defeated on this spot,
and many of them slain, or that multitudes of them had
perished in the bitumen-pits which abounded there; that
the place was full of pits we learn from the
Hebrew, which reads here beeroth beeroth, pits,
pits, i.e., multitudes of pits. A bad place to maintain
a fight on, or to be obliged to run through in order to
escape.
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Verse 11 . They took all the
goods,
This was a predatory war, such
as the Arabs carry on to the present day; they pillage a
city, town, or caravan; and then escape with the booty
to the wilderness, where it would ever be unsafe, and
often impossible, to pursue them.
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Verse 12 . They took Lot,
The people, being exceedingly wicked,
had provoked God to afflict them by means of those
marauding kings; and Lot also suffered, being found in
company with the workers of iniquity. Every child
remembers the fable of the Geese and Cranes; the former,
being found feeding where the latter were destroying the
grain, were all taken in the same net. Let him that
readeth understand.
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Verse 13 . Abram the
Hebrew
See Clarke on Genesis
10:21. It is very likely that Abram had this
appellation from his coming from beyond
the river Euphrates to enter Canaan; for haibri,
which we render the Hebrew, comes from
abar, to pass over, or come from
beyond. It is supposed by many that he got this name
from Eber or Heber, son of Salah; see Genesis
11:15. But why he should get a name from Heber,
rather than from his own father, or some other of his
progenitors, no person has yet been able to discover. We
may, therefore, safely conclude that he bears the
appellation of Hebrew or Ibrite from the
above circumstance, and not from one of his progenitors,
of whom we know nothing but the name, and who preceded
Abram not less than six generations; and during the
whole of that time till the time marked here, none of
his descendants were ever called Hebrews; this is
a demonstration that Abram was not called the
Hebrew from Heber; see Genesis
11:15-27.
These were confederate with
Abram.
It seems that a kind of
convention was made between Abram and the three
brothers, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner,
who were probably all chieftains in the vicinity of
Abram's dwelling: all petty princes, similar to the nine
kings before mentioned.
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Verse 14 . He armed his trained
servants
These amounted to three
hundred and eighteen in number: and how many were in the
divisions of Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, we know not; but
they and their men certainly accompanied him in this
expedition. See Genesis
14:24.
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Verse 15 . And he divided
himself against them
It required both
considerable courage and address in Abram to lead him to
attack the victorious armies of these four kings with so
small a number of troops, and on this occasion both his
skill and his courage are exercised. His affection for
Lot appears to have been his chief motive; he cheerfully
risks his life for that nephew who had lately chosen the
best part of the land, and left his uncle to live as he
might, on what he did not think worthy his own
acceptance. But it is the property of a great and
generous mind, not only to forgive, but to forget
offences; and at all times to repay evil with good.
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Verse 16 . And he brought
back-the women also
This is brought
in by the sacred historian with peculiar interest and
tenderness. All who read the account must be in pain for
the fate of wives and daughters fallen
into the hands of a ferocious, licentious, and
victorious soldiery. Other spoils the routed
confederates might have left behind; and yet on their
swift asses, camels, and dromedaries, have carried off
the female captives. However, Abram had disposed his
attack so judiciously, and so promptly executed his
measures, that not only all the baggage, but all the
females also, were recovered.
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Verse 17 . The king of Sodom
went out to meet him
This could not
have been Bera, mentioned Genesis
14:2, for it seems pretty evident, from Genesis
14:10, that both he and Birsha, king of
Gomorrah, were slain at the bitumen-pits in the vale of
Siddim; but another person in the meantime might have
succeeded to the government.
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Verse 18 . And Melchizedek,
king of Salem
A thousand idle stories
have been told about this man, and a thousand idle
conjectures spent on the subject of his short history
given here and in Heb. vii. At present it is only
necessary to state that he appears to have been as real
a personage as Bera, Birsha, or Shinab,
though we have no more of his genealogy than we
have of theirs.
Brought forth bread and
wine
Certainly to refresh
Abram and his men, exhausted with the late battle and
fatigues of the journey; not in the way of
sacrifice, this is an idle conjecture.
He was the priest of
the most high God.
He had preserved
in his family and among his subjects the worship of the
true God, and the primitive patriarchal institutions; by
these the father of every family was both king
and priest, so Melchizedek, being a worshipper of
the true God, was priest among the people, as
well as king over them.
Melchizedek is called here king of Salem, and
the most judicious interpreters allow that by Salem,
Jerusalem is meant. That it bore this name
anciently is evident from Psalms
76:1,2: "In Judah is God known; his name is
great in Israel. In SALEM also is his
tabernacle, and his dwelling place in
Zion." From the use made of this part of the
sacred history by David, Psalms
110:4, and by St. Paul, Hebrews
7:1-10, we learn that there was something very
mysterious, and at the same time typical, in the
person, name, office, residence,
and government of this Cannanitish prince. 1. In his
person he was a representative and type of
Christ; see the scriptures above referred to. 2. His
name, malki tsedek, signifies my righteous
king, or king of righteousness. This name he
probably had from the pure and righteous administration
of his government; and this is one of the characters of
our blessed Lord, a character which can be applied to
him only, as he alone is essentially righteous,
and the only Potentate; but a holy man, such as
Melchizedek, might bear this name as his type or
representative. 3. Office; he was a
priest of the most high God. The word
cohen, which signifies both prince and
priest, because the patriarchs sustained this
double office, has both its root and proper
signification in the Arabic; [Arabic] kahana
signifies to approach, draw near, have intimate
access to; and from hence to officiate as priest
before God, and thus have intimate access to the
Divine presence: and by means of the sacrifices which he
offered he received counsel and
information relative to what was yet to take
place, and hence another acceptation of the word, to
foretell, predict future events, unfold hidden
things or mysteries; so the lips of the priests
preserved knowledge, and they were often the
interpreters of the will of God to the people. Thus we
find that Melchizedek, being a priest of the most high
God, represented Christ in his sacerdotal
character, the word priest being understood as
before explained. 4. His residence; he was king
of Salem. shalam signifies to make
whole, complete, or perfect; and hence it
means peace, which implies the making
whole the breaches made in the political and
domestic union of kingdoms, states, families, making an
end of discord, and establishing friendship. Christ is
called the Prince of peace, because, by his
incarnation, sacrifice, and mediation, he procures and
establishes peace between God and man; heals the
breaches and dissensions between heaven and earth,
reconciling both; and produces glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace and good will among men. His
residence is peace and quietness and
assurance for ever, in every believing upright heart. He
governs as the Prince and Priest of the most high God,
ruling in righteousness, mighty to save; and he ever
lives to make intercession for, and save to the
uttermost all who come unto the Father by him. See
Clarke on Hebrews
7:25.
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Verse 19 . And he blessed
him
This was a part of the priest's
office, to bless in the name of the Lord, for
ever. See the form of this blessing, Numbers
6:23-26; and for the meaning of the word to
bless, see Genesis
2:3.
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Verse 20 . And he gave him
tithes
A tenth part of all the
spoils he had taken from the confederate kings. These
Abram gave as a tribute to the most high
God, who, being the possessor of heaven
and earth, dispenses all spiritual and temporal
favours, and demands the gratitude, and submissive,
loving obedience, of all his subjects. Almost all
nations of the earth have agreed in giving a tenth
part of their property to be employed in religious
uses. The tithes were afterwards granted to the
Levites for the use of the sanctuary, and the
maintenance of themselves and their families, as they
had no other inheritance in Israel.
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Verse 22 . I have lift up mine
hand
The primitive mode of appealing
to God, and calling him to witness a particular
transaction; this no doubt generally obtained among the
faithful till circumcision, the sign of
the covenant, was established. After this, in swearing,
the hand was often placed on the circumcised part; see
Genesis
24:2,9.
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Verse 23 . From a thread even
to a shoelatchet
This was certainly a
proverbial mode of expression, the full meaning of which
is perhaps not known. Among the rabbinical writers
chut, or chuti, signifies a fillet worn
by young women to tie up their hair; taken in
this sense it will give a good meaning here. As Abram
had rescued both the men and women carried
off by the confederate kings, and the king of Sodom had
offered him all the goods, claiming only
the persons, he answers by protesting against the
accepting any of their property: "I have vowed unto the
Lord, the proprietor of heaven and earth, that I will
not receive the smallest portion of the property either
of the women or men, from a girl's fillet
to a man's shoe-tie."
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Verse 24 . Save only that which
the young men have eaten
His own
servants had partaken of the victuals which the
confederate kings had carried away; see Genesis
14:11. This was unavoidable, and this is all he
claims; but as he had no right to prescribe the same
liberal conduct to his assistants, Aner, Eshcol, and
Mamre, he left them to claim the share that by
right of conquest belonged to them of the
recaptured booty. Whether they were as generous as Abram
we are not told.
THE great variety of striking incidents in this
chapter the attentive reader has already carefully
noted. To read and not understand is the
property of the foolish and the
inconsiderate. 1. We have already seen the danger
to which Lot exposed himself in preferring a fertile
region, though peopled with the workers of iniquity. His
sorrows commence in the captivity of himself and family,
and the loss of all his property, though by the good
providence of God he and they were rescued. 2. Long
observation has proved that the company a man keeps is
not an indifferent thing; it will either be the means of
his salvation or destruction. 3. A generous man cannot
be contented with mere personal safety while others are
in danger, nor with his own prosperity while others are
in distress. Abram, hearing of the captivity of his
nephew, determines to attempt his rescue; he puts
himself at the head of his own servants, three hundred
and eighteen in number, and the few assistants with
which his neighbours, Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, could
furnish him; and, trusting in God and the goodness of
his cause, marches off to attack four confederate kings!
4. Though it is not very likely that the armies of those
petty kings could have amounted to many
thousands, yet they were numerous enough to
subdue almost the whole land of Canaan; and
consequently, humanly speaking, Abram must know that by
numbers he could not prevail, and that in this
case particularly the battle was the Lord's. 5.
While depending on the Divine blessing and succour he
knew he must use the means he had in his power; he
therefore divided his troops skilfully that he might
attack the enemy at different points at the
same time, and he chooses the night
season to commence his attack, that the
smallness of his force might not be discovered.
God requires a man to use all the faculties he has given
him in every lawful enterprise, and only in the
conscientious use of them can he expect the Divine
blessing; when this is done the event may be safely
trusted in the hands of God. 6. Here is a war undertaken
by Abram on motives the most honourable and
conscientious; it was to repel aggression, and to rescue
the innocent from the heaviest of sufferings and the
worst of slavery, not for the purpose of plunder nor the
extension of his territories; therefore he takes no
spoils, and returns peaceably to his own
possessions. How happy would the world be were every
sovereign actuated by the same spirit! 7. We have
already noticed the appearance, person, office,
Melchizedek; and, without indulging in the wild
theories of either ancient or modern visionaries, have
considered him as the Scriptures do, a type of
Christ. All that has been already spoken on this
head may be recapitulated in a few words. 1. The
Redeemer of the world is the King of
righteousness; he creates it, maintains it, and
rules by it. 2. His empire is the empire of
peace; this he proclaims to them who are afar off,
and to them that are nigh; to the Jew and to the
Gentile. 3. He is Priest of the most high God,
and has laid down his life for the sin of the world; and
through this sacrifice the blessing of God is
derived on them that believe. Reader, take him for thy
King as well as thy Priest; he saves those
only who submit to his authority. and take
his Spirit for the regulator of their
heart, and his word for the
director of their conduct. How many do we
find, among those who would be sorry to be rated so low
as to rank only with nominal Christians, talking
of Christ as their Prophet, Priest, and
King, who are not taught by his word and Spirit,
who apply not for redemption in his blood, and
who submit not to his authority! Reader,
learn this deep and important truth: "Where I am
there also shall my servant be; and he that
serveth me, him shall my Father honour."
• Key
Copyright Statement
These files are considered public domain and are
a derivative of an electronic edition that is available
in the Online
Bible Software Library.
Bibliography
Information
Scofield, C. I.
"Scofield Reference Notes on Genesis 14". "Scofield
Reference Notes (1917 Edition)".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/srn/view.cgi?book=ge&chapter=014>.
1917.
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