GENESIS 14. ABRAHAM CONQUERS THE FOUR KINGS AND RESCUES LOT. This chapter is, as Wellhausen says, like Melchizedek, without father, without mother, without pedigree. In other words, it cannot be affiliated to any of the three main documents J, E, P, though some believe that E supplied its basis, sin... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FOUR KINGS MAKE WAR WITH THE FIVE REBEL KINGS. The four kings of Lower Babylonia, Larsa, Elam, and (?) Guti, made war on the five kings of the cities of the Plain, who had formed a confederacy in the Vale of Siddim, a district now covered by the Dead Sea, and after twelve years'subjection threw... [ Continue Reading ]
GENESIS 12:1 TO GENESIS 25:18. THE STORY OF ABRAHAM. In this section the three main sources, J. E, P are present. Gunkel has given strong reasons for holding that J is here made up of two main sources, one connecting Abraham with Hebron, the other with Beersheba and the Negeb. The former associates... [ Continue Reading ]
The punitive expedition, instead of going straight for the rebel cities, makes a tour of conquest. It moves down the E. side of Jordan through Bashan and Moab to Edom and the Gulf of Akabah, then turning W. and N. it reaches Kadesh and the Negeb, Then at last the attack on the five kings is delivere... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BATTLE OF THE FOUR KINGS AGAINST FIVE, AND THE CAPTURE OF LOT. At last the victors over so many peoples attack the confederacy of five kings. In the words four kings against five the author may be suggesting that the kings from the East fought on unequal terms. But, if so, he quite misconceived... [ Continue Reading ]
ABRAHAM SMITES THE VICTORS AND RESCUES LOT. The fugitive, who is wont in such stories to bring the news, tells Abraham, mentioned here as if for the first time. He musters (Sam., LXX) his trained men, on whom as slaves born in his house he could rely more confidently than on purchased slaves, 318 in... [ Continue Reading ]
ABRAHAM AND MELCHIZEDEK. This section comes in a little awkwardly, for we should have expected Genesis 14:21 to have followed Genesis 14:17. It would be hazardous to infer that it is a later insertion. Melchizedek is a priest-king of Salem, _i.e._ probably Jerusalem, the name Uru-Salim being atteste... [ Continue Reading ]