14:1–12 The beginning of Genesis 14 includes an abrupt change in style, with verses 1–11 closely mirroring the style of the annals of ancient Near Eastern kings. The cycle of the subjection of a people, followed by rebellion, followed by the great king’s crushing defeat of his enemies and their resubjection to him, was a common one in the ancient world. This need not necessarily mean that these verses come from a different source;230 rather, this may simply be the author’s way of communicating the nature of the conflict he is describing: a mighty empire bent on imposing its authority and steamrollering local opposition. The kingdoms represented here form a major alliance of empires, underlining the risk Abram takes in confronting them, even if the actual army involved may be more of a raiding party than a full-scale assault. It also reminds us that the narratives of the patriarchs intersect with the real world of ancient history, even if we cannot precisely identify from external sources the names mentioned here.

The Mesopotamian alliance is led by Chedorlaomer of Elam (v. 4),231 supported by the kings of Shinar (i.e., the area around Babylon; cf. 11:2) and two unknown locations, Elassar and Goiim. On the opposing side is a local alliance of five small cities around the Dead Sea: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela/Zoar (14:2). It is an unequal struggle, and the five cities of the plain are reduced to vassal status, which would require them to pay annual tribute and accept other obligations to serve their overlord. They continue in this state of subjection for twelve years but then rebel in the thirteenth year (v. 4). Often such revolts would be triggered by changes in leadership or in response to another perceived weakness on the part of the great king, requiring him to send an army if he wanted to reestablish his hegemony. Since the Mesopotamian alliance is a considerable distance away, it takes time for news of the revolt to travel and additional time to put together a fighting force, so campaigning does not commence until the fourteenth year of the subjugation.

It is clear that the rebellion is much more widespread than the involvement of merely five cities of the plain, and so the Mesopotamian army deals first with a series of other threats: the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the Horites (vv. 5–6). These peoples are listed in order from north to south along the King’s Highway, the main road south through the land east of the Jordan that any army from the east would follow on its way into Israel. And one can imagine the mounting concern as news arrives of the successive fall of these cities. None of these tribal groups is individually particularly significant, but their mention underlines the power and commitment of the invaders: no one who challenges their power will escape.

Finally they arrive on the doorstep of the cities of the plain after defeating the more significant forces of the Amalekites at Kadesh and the Amorites at Hazazon-tamar (En-gedi; Gen. 14:7; cf. 2 Chron. 20:2). The outcome of the battle close to the Dead Sea with the five local kings and their small forces is predictable: the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah are defeated, and many of their men flee to hide in the hill country, while others fall (or perhaps throw themselves) into the bitumen pits dotting the area (Gen. 14:10). The cities are left defenseless, to be looted and pillaged by the invaders. The remaining inhabitants will be enslaved, their possessions stolen.

Thus far there seems to be no connection between these events and Abram, but that changes with the mention of Lot in Genesis 14:12. Lot does not seem to have been directly involved in the fighting, but, as someone allied to the inhabitants of Sodom, he and his household are also enslaved and their possessions stolen. It seems that the end of his story will be an ignominious life of bondage in faraway Mesopotamia, an apt punishment for his selfish grasping of what looked like the best of the land when separating from Abram in Genesis 13. However, Lot is Abram’s relative, as verses 12–14 remind us, and Abram will not leave him to his fate.

14:13–16 A fugitive brings the news to Abram, who is still living where he had been at the end of chapter 13, by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron (14:13; cf. 13:18), a distance of 20–30 miles [32–48 km] over very rough terrain. Abram is here uniquely called “Abram the Hebrew,” a description normally applied to Israelites by outsiders or used by Israelites to identify themselves to outsiders (cf. Gen. 39:14; Ex. 1:15).232 We also discover that Abram has formed an alliance with some of the local people, who, as Amorites, would have their own reasons for resisting the Mesopotamian alliance (cf. Gen. 14:7). Yet the motivating factor for Abram’s unexpected military action is not a generalized desire to protect the land from invaders but a very specific concern to rescue his kinsman, Lot (v. 14). In response to Lot’s capture and forced exile Abram mobilizes a significant part of his household: 318 fighting men (v. 14). Those “born in his house” as servants would generally be regarded as more reliable than those enslaved as adults or paid to serve.233 This force is a significant body for one man to put into the field but is tiny compared to the resources that could be mustered by the Mesopotamian alliance. Yet Abram pursues the victorious army as far as the northern border of Israel, which will later be marked by the city of Dan (v. 14).234 Abram is putting into practice the principle articulated many years later by Saul’s son Jonathan: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6).

At Dan, Abram follows a time-tested strategy of smaller forces taking on much larger armies, dividing his company into groups and attacking the enemy encampment at night, counting on creating confusion and fear in the darkness (Gen. 14:15; cf. Judges 7). The strategy is a success, and the Mesopotamian alliance is routed, with Abram pursuing the remnants of their force a considerable distance, as far as the unknown location of Hobah (Gen. 14:15), which is north of Damascus and thus well outside what would later constitute the Promised Land. Having seen off the invaders, Abram returns home to the southern part of Israel, bringing with him all the captives and spoil that the Mesopotamian alliance had carried off, including Lot (v. 16).

In this passage Abram is depicted as though he were the king of the land promised to him, risking his own life in warfare to deliver his people from bondage to foreign enemies. This is quite different from the way in which Abram is portrayed elsewhere in Genesis, but the point is not so much Abram’s boldness and military might as it is the Lord’s protection and support, which enable Abram—and others who are later called to follow in his footsteps—to triumph by faith over adversaries far mightier than they. A striking example of this pattern is found in the person of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20, whose faith-filled conflict with an overwhelming enemy is explicitly connected with Genesis 14 by the mention in both texts of Hazazon-Tamar, a location mentioned nowhere else in the Bible (2 Chron. 20:2; cf. Gen. 14:7).

14:17–24 Upon his return Abram is faced with a much more subtle struggle that tests his faith in the Lord’s power and provision. It comes in the approach of two kings, Melchizedek, king of Salem, and the unnamed king of Sodom, who both come to meet him in a location named “the King’s Valley” (vv. 17–18). These two kings form a study in contrasts. Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness,” and the name of his city means “peace”;235 he approaches Abram as the priest of God Most High, offering Abram the priestly elements of life, bread and wine, pronouncing a gracious blessing upon him, and praising God for Abram’s victory (vv. 19–20). In consequence Abram gives him a tithe of the spoils of battle236 as an acknowledgement of God’s role in the victory (v. 20)—an explicit acknowledgment that Melchizedek’s “God Most High” (Hb. ʾEl ʿElyon) is the same God whom Abram serves. The title “Most High” (ʿelyon) or “God Most High” (ʾEl ʿElyon) recurs a number of times in the OT, especially in the Psalms and Daniel. On the other hand, the title “Possessor [or Creator]237 of heaven and earth” (qoneh shamayim vaʾarets) occurs only in this passage. Abram makes the identification explicit when he calls him “The Lord, God Most High” in his response to the king of Sodom (14:22).

The king of Sodom, on the other hand, rules over a territory justly notorious for its wickedness (13:13). He “went out” (vayyetseʾ; 14:17) to meet Abram, a verb that often implies a confrontation of some kind.238 His words to Abram are terse and rude, offering no thanks to Abram for his actions nor praise to God for the victory (v. 21). Rather, he assumes that Abram is a man like himself, motivated chiefly by the desire for personal gain (v. 21). In response Abram calls on the Most High God as his witness that he will take nothing of the spoil recovered by Sodom—not even the most worthless items, a thread or the strap of a sandal. He marks the solemnity of the oath by formally swearing with an uplifted hand (v. 22). His Amorite allies are not bound by his oath and are entitled to their share, which is part of the blessing due to those who have aligned themselves with Abram (cf. 12:2–3), but no one will be able to credit the looting of Sodom with making Abram rich. His trust for his financial provision rests entirely in the Lord’s fulfilling his promise to bless him, just as his trust for safety in battle had done.