Genesis 14:14 - Exposition

And when Abram heard that his brother —so called as his brother's son, or simply as his relative ( Genesis 42:8 )— was taken captive, he —literally, and he — armed —literally, caused to pour forth, i.e. drew out in a body, from a toot signifying "to pour out" (Gesenius, Furst); from a root meaning to unsheath or draw out anything as from a scabbard, and hence equivalent to expedivit , he got ready (Onkelos, Saadias, Rosenmüller, Bush, 'Speaker's Commentary'). Kalisch connects both senses with the root. The LXX ; Vulgate, and others translate "numbered," reading later יָּדֵּק for יָּרֵק his trained —literally, initiated, instructed, but not necessarily practiced in arms (Keil); perhaps only familiar with' domestic duties (Kalisch), since it is the intention of the writer to show that Abram conquered not by arms, but by faith— servants, born in his own house — i.e. the children of his own patriarchal family, and neither purchased nor taken in war— three hundred and eighteen —which implied a household of probably more than a thousand souls— and —along with these and his allies ( vide Genesis 14:24 )—pursued them—the victorious Asiatics— unto Dan —which is here substituted for its older name Laish, for which vide Joshua 19:47 (Ewald), though regarded by some as not the Laish Dan conquered by the Danites, but probably Dan-jaan, mentioned in 2 Samuel 24:6 (Havernick, Keil, Kalisch); against which, however, is the statement of Jose. phus ('Ant.,' 1.10), that this Dan was one of the sources of the Jordan. Murphy regards Dan as the original designation of the town, which was changed under the Sidonians to Laish (lion), and restored at the conquest. Clericus suggests that the Jordan fountain may have been styled Dan, "Judge," and the neighboring town Laish, and that the Danites, observing the coincidence of the former with the name of their own tribe, gave it to the city they had conquered. Alford is doubtful whether Dan-juan was really different from Laish.