Genesis 14:4

_TWELVE YEARS THEY SERVED CHEDORLAOMER, AND IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR THEY REBELLED._ Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer - i:e., were tributary to him (cf. 2 Kings 18:7). AND IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR. The accusative of time denoting duration. Ewald renders these words, 'during the whole of the thirteenth year.'...

1-12 The wars of nations make great figure in history, but we should not have had the record of this war if Abram and Lot had not been concerned. Out of covetousness, Lot had settled in fruitful, but wicked Sodom. Its inhabitants were the most ripe for vengeance of all the descendants of Canaan. The invaders were from Chaldea and Persia, then only small kingdoms. They took Lot among the rest, and his goods. Though he was righteous, and Abram's brother's son, yet he was with the rest in this trouble. Neither our own piety, nor our relation to the favourites of Heaven, will be our security when God's judgments are abroad. Many an honest man fares the worse for his wicked neighbours: it is our wisdom to separate, or at least to distinguish ourselves from them, 2 Corinthians 6:17. So near a relation of Abram should have been a companion and a disciple of Abram. If he chose to dwell in Sodom...

- Abram Rescues Lot 1. אמרפל _'amrāpel_, Amraphel; related: unknown. אלריוך _'aryôk_, Ariok, “leonine?” related: ארי _'arı̂y_, “a lion:” a name re-appearing in the time of Daniel Daniel 2:14. אלסר _'elāsār_ Ellasar (related: unknown) is identified with Larsa or Larancha, the Λάρισσα _Larissa_ or Λαράχων _Larachōn_ of the Greeks, now Senkereh, a town of lower Babylonia, between Mugheir (Ur) and Warka (Erek) on the left bank of the Frat. כדרלעמר kedārlā‛om

EXPOSITION GENESIS 14:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS. After the separation of Abram and Lot, the latter of whom now appears as a citizen of Sodom, and not merely a settler in the Jordan circle; perhaps about the eighty-fourth year of Abram's life (Hughes). The present chapter, "the oldest extant record respecting Abraham" (Ewald), but introduced into the Mosaic narrative by the Jehovistic editor (Knobel, Tuch, Bleek, Davidson), possesses traces of authenticity, of which not the least is the chronological definition with which it commences (Havernick). IN THE DAYS OF AMRAPHEL. Sanscrit, _Amrapala_, keeper of the gods (Gesenius); _Arphaxad_ (Furst); powerful people (Young, 'Analytical Concordance'); root unknown (Murphy, Kalisch). KING OF SKINAR. _Babel _(Onkelos); Bagdad (Arabic version of Erpe

TWELVE YEARS THEY SERVED CHEDORLAOMER,.... King of Elam, who was of the race of Shem, and so the prophecy of Noah began to be fulfilled, that Canaan should be servant to Shem, Genesis 9:26; for the kings of Sodom, c. and their subjects, were of the race of Ham in the line of Canaan, who had by violence seized on that part of the earth which was allotted to the sons of Shem, and therefore Chedorlaomer being a descendant of his claimed his right, and made them tributary to him, which they were for the space of twelve years: AND IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR THEY REBELLED refused homage to Chedorlaomer and to pay tribute to him....

CHAPTER 14 THE FIRST RECORDED WAR AND LOT'S DELIVERANCE _ 1. The battle of the confederacy (Genesis 14:1)_ 2. Sodom and Gomorrah spoiled (Genesis 14:11) 3. Abram's rescue (Genesis 14:14) 4. Sodom's king to meet Abram (Genesis 14:17) 5. Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18) 6. The king's offer and Abram's answer (Genesis 14:21) The record of the first war is here foreshadowing the last great warfare still to com

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 off the yoke of Elam. Amraphel is by most scholars identified with Hammurabi (p. 51), in spite of serious objections which others regard as insuperable. The date of Hammurabi has been much disputed (pp. 119, 130). He threw off the sovereignty of Elam, then overthrew Rim-Sin, the brother and successor of Arad-Sin or Eri-aku, and created a united kingdom of Babylonia after the conquest of Sumer and Accad. He has become specially famous in recent times through the discovery of the legislation, known as the Code of Hammurabi, which, apart from its intrinsic interest for the student of jurisprudenc...

TWELVE. The No. of Government. See App-10. SERVED. had served, Genesis 14:4 goes back to the events leading up to the present war with Sodom. THIRTEENTH. The first occurance. Hence the number of Rebellion. See App-10....

_they served_ The five kings "served," i.e. were vassals, and paid tribute to, the king of Elam who was their over-lord. _rebelled_ Probably by omitting to pay tribute or to send gifts, as they had done for 12 years. The distance from southern Palestine to Elam was great. The five kings were doubtless petty princes, who took part in a wide-spread rebellion. Perhaps they took advantage of the decline of the power of Elam, and of the growth of the power of Babylonia. This is a justifiable conjecture if "Amraphel" be the same as Hammurabi. For Hammurabi threw off the yoke of Elam, united Babylonia, and founded the Dynasty of Babylon. Compare the description in 2 Kings 24:1, "Jehoiakim became his [Nebuchadnezzar's] servant three years; then he turned, and rebelled against him....

_4. The Biblical Account (ch. 14)._ And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Beta (the same is Zoar). 3 All these joined together in the vale of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashterothkarnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shavehkiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 7 And they returned, and came to Enmishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites...