Genesis 14:5

_AND IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR CAME CHEDORLAOMER, AND THE KINGS THAT WERE WITH HIM, AND SMOTE THE REPHAIMS IN ASHTEROTH KARNAIM, AND THE ZUZIMS IN HAM, AND THE EMIMS IN SHAVEH KIRIATHAIM,_ Smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim. The Rephaim were an aboriginal people, who, though not Canaanites by descent, possessed numerous and powerful settlements both in Canaan Proper (2 Samuel 5:18; 2 Samuel 21:18; 1 Chronicles 11:15; Isaiah 17:5) and in the Transjordanic provinces. Their origin is unknown; but they are supposed to have been closely connected with the Hyksos or shepherd race so renowned in the early histo

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...

Verse Genesis 14:5. _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

- 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

AND IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR CAME CHEDORLAOMER,.... Not in the fourteenth year of their rebellion against him, as Jarchi, but from their becoming vassals to him: AND THE KINGS THAT [WERE] WITH HIM; those kings before mentioned: AND SMOTE THE REPHAIMS IN ASHTEROTH KARNAIM; which were in their way to Sodom, c. and very probably were confederates with the five kings the Targum, and so the Septuagint, render the word "giants", as it is in Deuteronomy 2:11; but they were one of the nations or tribes of the Canaanites, Genesis 15:20; and had their name either from the Hebrew word רפא, which signifies to be healthful and robust, as those people might be, or from Rephas, the Remphan of Stephen,...

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

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 Abraham with Lot. (For details, see ICC.) On the interpretation to be placed on the figures of Abraham and the patriarchs, see the Introduction. The interest, which has hitherto been diffused over the fortunes of mankind in general, is now concentrated on Abraham and his posterity, the principle of election narrowing it down to Isaac, Ishmael being left aside, and then to Jacob, Esau being excluded....

REPHAIM. a branch of the _Nephilim._ See App-25. Superhuman beings, so called after one Rapha: as the _Anakim_ after Anak. See Genesis 15:20; Deuteronomy 2:11; Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 2:21; Deuteronomy 3:11; Deuteronomy 3:13.Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12;...

_came Chedorlaomer_ The king of Elam was strong enough to deal vigorously with the rebellion in his western dependencies. This and the two following verses describe the punitive expedition, with which Chedorlaomer and his vassal kings crushed the rebellion. Whether the kings led their forces in person, we are not able to say for certain. The description leaves it to be inferred. The Oriental style of chronicle identified successful generals with the name of the king who sent them on their campaign. The march of the punitive expedition must have been across the Euphrates at Carchemish, and then southward past Damascus. It overthrew the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites who, apparently, were peoples on the east side of Jordan, involved in the rebellion. The southernmost point of the march was reached at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. As it commanded an important trade route, it may have...