Genesis 14

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:19

The God Melchizedek worshipped as a priest was the true God known to him as El Elyon, the possessor of heaven and earth. This title reveals the sovereign power of God. Melchizedek and Abram regarded Abram’s recent victory in battle as due to the blessing of El Elyon. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:20

People practiced tithing as an act of worship commonly in the ancient Near East at this time (cf. Genesis 28:22). [Note: See Keil and Delitzsch, 1:207.] It was also a common tax. This is still true in some modern countries. For example, in England part of every person’s taxes goes to maintain the Church of England. Some residents regard this part of their tax as their contribution to the church or their tithe. However since Melchizedek gave Abram a priestly blessing, it is likely that Abram... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:21-24

Abram identified El Elyon with Yahweh (Genesis 14:22). His willingness to take no spoil from the battle for himself demonstrates Abram’s desire that God would receive all the glory for his prosperity. He also appears not to have wanted to be indebted to the wicked king of Sodom. This man may have, by his command to Abram, been setting him up for demands later (cf. Genesis 23:15)."The gifts of the ungodly are often attached to deadly strings." [Note: Davis, p. 182.] Generally, the patriarchs... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 14:1-24

The Battle of the Kings, and the Capture and Rescue of LotChedorlaomer, king of Elam, had subdued the Canaanites of the Jordan valley some years before the events narrated in this chapter. The latter had rebelled, and a campaign for their fresh subjugation was undertaken, which included a general punitive expedition from Syria to the Gulf of Akaba.Within the last few years Assyrian tablets of great antiquity have been found, throwing considerable, if indirect, light on this narrative, and... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14

EXCURSUS E: UPON ELAM AND THE CONQUESTS AND ROUTE OF CHEDORLAOMER (Genesis 14:0).Of Elam we lately knew nothing more than that it was a country called after a son of Shem, and this narrative, containing an account of a conquest of Canaan by Elamites, was a puzzle to thoughtful Bible readers, and a mark for the derision of such critics as imagine that everything of which a clear explanation cannot be given must necessarily be unhistorical. Within the last few years our knowledge has so grown... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:1

XIV.INVASION OF THE JORDAN VALLEY BY CHEDOR-LAOMER, KING OF ELAM.(1) It came to pass.—Connected with the settlement of Lot in the Jordan valley is one of the most remarkable episodes in the whole of the Bible, derived either from Canaanite records, or, as Mr. Sayce thinks (Chald. Genesis, p. 72), from those of Babylon. The latter view is made the more probable by the fact that Amraphel, though but a subject king, is placed first; and the way in which the patriarch is described in it, as “Abram... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:2

(2) Bera king of Sodom.—The failure of the attempt to explain the names of these five kings, and of the cities over which they ruled (with one or two exceptions), by the help of the Hebrew language makes it probable that the inhabitants of the Ciccar were either Canaanites who had come from the sea-coast, or men of some Hamite stock who had colonised this region from the east. The latter is the more probable view, as they do not seem to have had much affinity either with the Amorites or with... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:3

(3) The Horites.—Cave-men, the aboriginal inhabitants of Mount Seir, subsequently conquered by the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:12; Deuteronomy 2:22). The miserable condition of these earth-men is described in Job 30:3-8.El-paran.—This forest of oaks (or terebinths) was on the edge of the great wilderness, and reached to within three days’ journey of Sinai (Numbers 10:12; Numbers 10:33). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:4

(4) They served.—That is, paid a yearly tribute, that they might be exempt from Chedorlaomer’s marauding expeditions (see 2 Kings 18:7). There must, therefore, have been envoys going from time to time to and from the Jordan valley to Shinar. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:5

(5) The Rephaims.—Described as an Amorite tribe (Amos 2:9) of great stature, settled in Bashan, where Moses conquered them (Joshua 13:12). We find them also on the other side of Jordan, in Mount Ephraim ( Joshua 17:15), on the western side of Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18; 2 Samuel 5:22), and even among the Philistines (2 Samuel 21:16; 2 Samuel 21:18). In many of these places the word is wrongly translated giants. From this wide dispersion of them we may safely conclude... read more

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:19

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:20

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 14:21-24

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 14:1-24

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:1

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:2

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 14:5

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