Genesis 14

1. Amraphel. The name is probably identical with that of Hammurabi, King of Babylon, about 2100 or 1958 B.C., whose Code of Laws was discovered at Susa in 1902.—king. This word is applied to the sovereign of a nation, the ruler of a single town, or the chieftain of a tribe. “Shinar” is Southern Babylonia; “Ellazar” the capital of a kingdom owing allegiance to Elam. It has been identified with the Chaldæan town Larsa, now Senkereh.—Chedorlaomer. Identified with Kudin-Lagamar, whose name has in recent years been found in Babylonian inscriptions. “Elam” was in Lower Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. “Nations,” or, as in R.V., a proper name, Goim or Guti, a people in Asia Minor.

2. Zoar. The five cities here mentioned, often called the Pentapolis, were in the lower part of the plain of Jordan; they seem to have maintained a federal union (see next verse).

3. Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim. These nations, whose origin is unknown, occupied the country east of Jordan and the land of Seir, and part of Palestine, before the Amorites, Edomites, and Canaanites took possession of it. Many among them were of extraordinary stature. See Deut. ii.; iii. 11.

6. Horites. “Cave-men.” Cave-dwellings are still found in the sandstone cliffs of Edom. “Seir,” like “Trossachs,” means “bristling,” and describes a region abounding in woods and thickets.—the wilderness. This expedition was on a large scale. The invaders ravaged the highlands along the east of the Jordan, to the Elanitic Gulf. They then turned westward across the north of the peninsula of Sinai, nearly to the borders of Egypt, and thus descended upon the vale of Siddim, through the mountain passes. “The royal names here given, the political situation presupposed by the narrative, the possibility of campaigns in the distant west on the part of the Chaldæan monarchs, all alike find support and verification in ancient cuneiform texts."—Sayce.

7. Hazezon-tamar. Afterwards Engedi, now Ain-Jidi.

10 slimegits. “Petroleum wells” (Moffatt). The lake which now covers the lowest part of the Jordan valley occasionally throws up great quantities of bitumen.—the mountain. That is, to the mountainous district around the valley.

13. Hebrew. The first occurrence of the word. Whether he was so called from his ancestor Eber (Gen. x. 21; xi. 14-29), or because he was a foreigner (as the name “Eber” signifies), it is not easy to determine. The Septuagint reads, “he who was from beyond,” i.e., the Euphrates. Luther translates it “the foreigner.” In the Old Testament, “Hebrew” is the name applied to the chosen people by foreigners; “Israelite” is their own title of privilege. In the New Testament, “Hebrews” seems to denote the Jews who retained the ancient language, in distinction from “Grecians,” or Greek-speaking Jews. “Jew” properly belongs to the tribe of Judah; and is not used of the entire nation until after the dispersion of the ten tribes.

14 armed. Rather, “led forth” (R.V.).—Dan. “Dan” is probably Laish. See Judges xviii. 29. The use of a later name (“Dan”), here and elsewhere, shows that the words of Moses were modernised by a later hand.

17. Shaveh. i.e., “plain,” different from Shaveh in ver. 5.

18. Melchizedek. Melchizedek, “King of Righteousness” (as his name signifies) and “of Peace” (as the name of his city indicates), is the first person in the Bible called a “priest,” the only person beyond the family of Aaron recognised as priest of the true God; and the only individual who was permitted to unite the priestly and kingly offices until Christ came. Of his race, parentage, time of birth, appointment, and death, nothing is recorded. A tablet of Amenophis, discovered in Egypt, 1889, confirms the existence (about 1400 B.C.) on Mount Moriah of “the city of the god Unas, whose name (there) is Salim.” For the application to our Lord, see Psa. cx. 4; Heb. v., vi., vii.—Salem. Some identify this place with the Shalem of ch. xxxiii. 18, and the Salim of John iii. 23. It is, however, most probable (see Psa. lxxvi. 2) that Salem was the earliest name of Jerusalem; which lay on Abram’s homeward route, and was the most likely place for the king of Sodom to reach from the Vale of Siddim. The Jebusites afterwards changed its name for a while. See Judges xix. 10; 1 Chron. xi. 4.

20. And he. “He,” Abram: “him,” Melchizedek. See Heb. vii. 2, 4.