Tag: Genesis 14

An Echo of Giants

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
Genesis 14:5 (NASB)

The battle between kings in Genesis 14 brings us to a scene involving the Raphaim.

Do you know this word? We encounter it again a few times in scripture later.

giants, Rephaim
old tribe of giants
H7497: רְפָאִים (rᵊp̄ā’îm)

It is giants.

In fact, this whole chapter feels a bit like an echo of Genesis 6-9…

The Hebrew

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then a survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was residing by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and they were allies with Abram.
Genesis 14:13 (NASB)

Abram is described as “the Hebrew” here in Genesis 14:13, and it’s the first time this title is used in scripture.

The Midrash suggests this may the origin story of circumcision, and that Mamre is the one who encourages Abram to do it.

Abram is going to meet the King of Salem and give him a tithe.

While there’s no linguistic link between a tithe and circumcision, they seem thematically linked. Financially, a tenth is so little, but it’s so much. Similarly, a man feels this about his foreskin. It’s nothing, but it’s so much.

Miry Clay

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.
Genesis 14:10 (NASB)

So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Jeremiah 38:6 (NKJV)

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
Psalm 40:2 (KNJV)

“Tar pits” (or bitumen pits) can also be understood as “pits of miry clay,” which we see echoed in Jeremiah 38:6 and Psalm 40:2.

The rabbis say that the kings mentioned here did not “fall in,” but threw themselves in, in the way one “falls upon their face” (Numbers 16:4).

Ransom

Posted on by jovial_cynic

They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.
Genesis 14:12 (NASB)

When the kings of Empires captured Lot, the rabbis suggest that they knew exactly who Lot was, and that perhaps they could demand a ransom for him from Abraham.

ויקחו את לוט בן אחי אברם, they made a special effort to capture Lot because he was Avram’s nephew. They were aware of his wealth. They were expecting that Avram would pay a heavy ransom for the release of his nephew.
Sfnorno on Genesis 14:12:1

Genesis tells us Everything

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
Genesis 14:1 (NASB)

The rabbis tell us that these four kings are the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

“Rabbi Avin said, ‘Just as Abraham’s grief began with four kingdoms, so will it end for his descendants only with four kingdoms.’” And it further says there: “And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar — this is Babylon; Arioch king of Ellasar — this is Media; Chedorlaomer king of Elam — this is Greece; And Tidal king of Goiim — this is that kingdom (Rome)
Ramban on Genesis 14:1

Perhaps these are the same Empires that comprise the statue in Daniel’s dream of Daniel 2.

Genesis appears to tell us everything.

Empires

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Until recently, I’ve assumed that every empire in scripture (Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Rome, etc.) represented wickedness. But the more I’m reading through Genesis 14, the more I’m coming to a different conclusion. Perhaps Empire is not the culmination of wickedness. It is the culmination of man.

The shift for me here is that empire does represent bondage and slavery, and these things are definitely not good. But they are not the same as “wickedness,” which is also not good, but they are different, and treated differently in the text.