Genesis 14

Chap. XIV. Ver. 1—16. The first battle of kings—Lot captured, and retaken.—When we here read of nine kings engaged in conflict, we must not take our ideas from the mighty priests in after times, for he was an independent prince; but as an acknowledgment of his sacred character, with a view to part being offered in sacrifice to Him, who is the only rightful “possessor both of heaven and earth.” “Almost all nations of the earth (says Dr. Clarke) have agreed in giving a tenth part of their property to be employed in religious uses.” “The King of Sodom went out to meet Abram,” probably from the retreat where he had taken refuge; and having witnessed the scene between Abram and Melchizedek, he now says to Abram, whom he doubtless considered as his deliverer.

‘Give me the persons”—let me only have back my subjects, and I am satisfied, “and take the goods to thyself.” This seems an honourable proposal on the king’s part; but Abram was jealous of being thought a marauder, who had engaged in this expedition with the hopes of plunder. On the contrary, he had “lifted up his hand,” and taken a solemn oath, that he would take nothing for himself, not even “a sandal thread or a shoestring,” lest it should be said he had been enriched by war. O that other conquerors were actuated by the same principles of honour and integrity!

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIV. Ver. 1. King of nations.—Hebrew, Gojim. A settlement, probably, formed by people of different nations, like “Galilee of the nations,” or Gentiles, (Isaiah 9:1). (Matthew 4:15).—Ainsworth. Ver. 3. Vale of Siddim—Which by ver. 10. appears to have had in it pits of slime or rather bitumen, and which afterwards was covered with the lake Asphaltites, the salt or dead sea.—Ainsworth Asphaltum is jet black; shining lustre; opaque; very brittle. Consists chiefly of bituminous oil, hydrogen gas, and carbon. It was used originally as a cement; by the Egyptians as an ingredient in embalming. At present it is used in the composition of a particular kind of paint, and is quite an article of commerce. Ver.

5. Rephaims.—Called by the Greek and Chaldee, giants. They became afterwards a very formidable people. (Joshua 12:4). xvii. 15. (1 Chronicles 20:4-6). See Calmet’s Dict. Shaveh, means the plain of Kiriathaim; and Elparan, the plain of Paran, as in the marginal notes. The words used for plain in the two verses are, however, not the same; the latter is used ch. xii. 6. and implies rather a grove than a plain. See Note there. Ver. 13. Plain of Mamre—This was also, probably, a grove, the same word being used as in the places above mentioned. We have here the origin of the name Mamre, which means rebellious or bitter. Compare ch. xiii. 18. Ver. 14. Trained servants, or instructed.—That is, according to some, catechised and taught their duty; according to others, “trained to arms,”

which seems more pertinent to the occasion; but Dr. Boothroyd renders it, “he mustered his tried servants,” which is perhaps still better. He pursued them unto Dan.—Either the town afterwards so called; or rather, perhaps, a branch of the Jordan, near which Lot settled. ch. xiii. 10. “Now a river is full as likely as a town to stop a pursuit,” as Bp. Watson has observed.—Apology for the Bible. Ver. 17. The King of Sodom went out to meet Abram.—But we read above that the king of Sodom fell into one of the pits of bitumen; either then he must have had a very providential escape therefrom, or this king (as some think) was the son of him who fell in the battle. Dr. Boothroyd, however, gives a different translation of ver.

10. “And the vale of Siddim was full of bituminous pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were defeated, and (many) fell there; and the rest fled to the mountains.” It is certainly not likely that the kings were the only persons who fell there.—Eusebius has preserved a fragment of Pagan antiquity, which speaks of Abraham being entertained by Melchizedek, not only at Salem, but in what he calls the sacred quarter of it, which was a mountain; probably a place of refuge long before the cities of refuge were established.—Biblioth. Bib. Some has laboured to prove that Salem was considered as a sacred place and Mount Moriah consecrated to divine worship, long before the city of Jerusalem was built.—Calmet, Frag.

11. Ver. 18. Melchizedek.—The authorities in favour of his being Shem may be seen in Bibliotheca Bib.; in Ainsworth on Genesis; and in Calmet’s Dict. The late Taylor, editor of the English edition, has bestowed considerable pains to prove and illustrate this point, and has produced a very curious mythological extract from the Purannas, (the sacred books of the Hindoos,) which he thinks throws some light on the allusion to this character by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. vii. 3. ‘The passage with T.’s interpretation, is as follows: Soma, (Shem) the eldest son of Atri, (Noah) was the moon in a human shape; was a portion or form of Brahmah (the Deity.) ‘To him the sacred jales in the west were allotted.

He is still alive, though invisible; and is acknowledged as the chief of the Sacerdotal tribe to this day.”—Asiatic Researches. See Calmet, Frag. 660. Ver. 19. The most High God.—Eli-on, according to Bryant, was “a compound of two titles of the sun,” though we feel more inclined to explain it of the god On, (Genesis 41:45).—Holwell’s Mytholog. Dict. Parkhurst also remarks “The Phenicians (as Philo Bib. informs us from Sanchoniathon) called one of their gods Elioun, the Most High; and from them the Carthaginians styled their gods and goddesses Alonium, and Alonioth, as we find in the Punic verses explained by Bochart. Ver. 20, He gave him tithes of all.—A custom of high antiquity. “The Arabian merchants, who traded in spices, durst

not sell any till they had paid the tithe to their god Subis.”—Pliny, lib. xii. cap. 14. The Persians were very exact in offering to their gods the tithe of the spoils they had taken from their enemies. Xenophon, Cyrop. lib. iv. v. vii. The Scythians themselves sent their tithes to Apollo.—Solin, cap. 27. The Carthaginians used to send to Tyre (of which they were a colony) the tithe of their profits.—Mela, lib. iii. cap. 5. They sent to Hercules Tyrius, the tenth of the spoils they took in Sicily.—Diod. lib. xx. Justin, lib. xviii. The ship that brought the usual tithe of the Carthaginians to Tyre, happened to arrive there a little before Alexander began the siege of that city.—Q. Curtius, lib.

iv. cap. 2. When Pisistratus wrote to Solon, to persuade him to return to Athens, he did the tithe of his goods for the offering of gold told him [in Greek] the tithe was given to the Magians, who were settled in sacrifices to the gods.—Laert. lib. i. The Pelasgians offered their tithes to Apollo, at Maly, received a command from the oracle to send Delphos.—Dionys Halicarn. Plutarch mentions a custom of the Romans of offering to Hercules the tithe of what they took from their enemies, &c. &c.—Orient. Lit. Ver. 23. A shoe-latchet.—These latchets, or strings, were used to fasten the ancient sandals (or soles) to the feet. “They were turned round the feet in various manners, as appears from antique statues and medals.”—Bynaus Orien.