This post was originally written in May 2017. Navigate to Genesis index: index-genesis.
19 July 2022 -- I've since abandoned this specific project, and am working on something a bit different. This page remains for anyone who might find it interesting.
Genesis 14 can be tricky because it’s easy to miss who the various characters are, where they are from, and where the action takes place. For this post, I’ll be working through the Hebrew text as it stands, and generally ignoring questions about which parts of the story may have been written earlier or later. If you want to read about that sort of thing, get yourself to JSTOR.org and search for J. A. Emerton’s “The Riddle of Genesis XIV.”
Before jumping in, it’s worth noting that we are not dealing here with a historical account of something that happened. There is no reason to believe that any of the stories in Genesis actually happened, and a good deal of reason to believe they didn’t. In every case, the Genesis stories either cannot be supported by historical data, or they outright contradict it. Genesis 14 is historically impossible, at least in its present form. It is, of course, it’s impossible to prove conclusively that there isn’t some historical nugget of truth that eventually was spun into this tall tale. But we’re dealing with the story as it exists, not some hypothetical historical underpinning.
It happened in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim . . .
This “in the days of” does not serve to identify the time when the story is supposed to have happened, because these kings cannot be identified with any particular historical figures. The kings are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, either. The best we can do for a date is to follow some form of the Masoretic Text’s internal dating scheme for the life of Abraham. Take the traditional date of Solomon’s Temple being begun in 964 BCE, add your 480 years to the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1), and 430 years for the Exodus itself, and Jacob goes down to Egypt about 1874 BCE. Add 130 years to the birth of Jacob, 60 years to the birth of Isaac, and you have Isaac born about 2064 BCE. This story occurs just before the birth of Isaac. You could push back the date a couple centuries earlier if you believe the data in Joshua, Judges, and Samuel instead of 1 Kings. You could bring it a couple centuries later if you buy the Septuagint / New Testament chronology of the Exodus. But either way, we’re looking at a date about 2000 BCE.
We can do a bit better with the locations than we can with the names. Shinar is, roughly, Babylonia. Elam is, well, Elam. Ellasar is often identified with Larsa, a city near the southeast end of Mesopotamia, we don’t know for certain. Goyim is uncertain as well. It could be read as the common noun “nations,” in which case this guy calls himself Tidal king of Nations. Or it could be a proper noun, some place called Goyim. Perhaps “Goyim” is a misspelling of “Gutim” (Gutium), as suggested in the New International Encyclopaedia (1917).
So, to recap. None of these kings are historically known, and only two of the locations are clearly identifiable. Suffice it to say that the four kings come from outside of Canaan (Ellasar and Goyim don’t seem to be places of any known Canaanite locations). But the four kings must represent a large geographical area a large distance from
. . . that they waged war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (which is Zoar).
The kings are unknown. The locations are not precisely known, but as the story makes clear, they are all kings of the region around the Dead Sea. Depending on who you ask, the location might be north of the Dead Sea, south of it, or even on land that is now buried submerged under the Dead Sea [1] [2].
All these joined together [their armies] in the Valley of Siddim, which is the Dead Sea [literally, Salt Sea].
The Valley of Siddim is mentioned only in this story: it does not appear anywhere else in the Bible. If you vocalize differently, you could read shedim instead of shiddim, and read “valley of the shedim,” roughly, “valley of the demons” [3]. The Valley of Siddim is not mentioned again in the Bible.
I know of two readings. On one reading, this 14:3 makes “Dead Sea” equal to “Valley of Siddim.” The only way I know to understand this is as follows. In the mythical past behind Genesis, the Dead Sea was once thought not to have existed, and a valley was there in its place. Sodom et al. were in that mythical valley. Genesis contains one version of the legend about the destruction of the cities of the valley, and eventually we must imagine that the cities were buried beneath the waters of the Dead Sea. This extra detail to the cataclysm is not explicitly spelled out in Genesis, but we already know that Genesis makes abbreviated use (without all details) of previously existing myths. So that’s one understanding. The ESV and NET seem to presuppose this reading.
The second understanding makes only Siddim equal to “Dead Sea.” On this reading, “valley of Siddim” = “Dead Sea Valley” — the low-lying land near, not in, the Dead sea. You can find this interpretation in the NIV and NLT.
Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El Paran in the wilderness.
The Rephaim are a race of mythological giants. Ashteroth-Karnaim, by that exact name, is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, but “most scholars” consider it the same as Ashtaroth, in the Transjordan, well north of the Jordan valley [4].
The Zuzim appear only here in the Bible. However, a similar term Zamzummim, is treated as synonymous with the ancient Rephaim according to Deuteronomy 2:2, so it’s a good assumption that Zuzim must be a shorter form of the same name. Their location, Ham, is found only here. (This Ham is spelled with a he, while the other name Ham found elsewhere has a het.)
The Emim are mentioned only here and in Deuteronomy 2:10-11, where they said to be Rephaim. Shaveh Kiriathaim is mentioned only in Genesis 14.
The Horites are mentioned only here and in two other passages. Genesis 36 seems to describe them as the pre-Edomite inhabitants of Edom, near Mount Seir, which is south of Judah. Just as here they are mentioned after three groups (or alternate names for?) “giants,” also in Deuteronomy 2 they are associated with early gigantic inhabitants of Canaan.
So this is strange. Genesis 14 opens with five “kings” (mayors, roughly) in the Jordan Valley rebelling. Chedorlaomer, emperor of Elam, sends a punitive force, but instead of attacking the rebelling kings right off, he instead attacks mythological giants both north and south of the Jordan Valley. Weird.
El Paran (perhaps, “oak of Paran”) is mentioned only here. Paran, though, is in or a little north of the Sinai, so locating El Paran there makes good sense of this passage. Chedorlaomer & Co., then, make a giant-killing expedition from the northern Transjordan all the way to somewhere in the Paran.
They turned back and came to En Mishpat, which is Kadesh, and struck all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazezon-Tamar.
So now the punitive raid turns northward again, towards Canaan, and attacks Kadesh, a location along the south edge of Canaan. There may be more than one location by that name, both in the same general area. The Amalekites were a people of the Negev (Numbers 13:29), a wilderness region to the south of Judah.
The term Amorites refers sometimes to a subset of the Canaanite population, and in some cases is used as synonymous with “Canaanite.” In keeping with the “giants” theme so far, Amos 2:9 describes the Amorites as “tall as cedars.” These particular Amorites dwelt in Hazazon Tamar, which is mentioned only here and in 2 Chronicles 20:2. Chronicles identifies Hazazon Tamar as Ein Gedi, a location by the west shore of the Dead Sea. So now Chedorlaomer’s giant-killing tour has lead him from northern Transjordan, south to the Sinai, and back north to the Dead Sea region where we would have expected him to go in the first place.
Then the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, and arrayed their forces for battle against them in the Valley of Siddim, with Chedolaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
Now the Valley of Siddim was had tar pits throughout, and the king of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and the survivors fled to the hill-country. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and left.
And they took Lot with his goods, the nephew of Abram who was living in Sodom. Someone who had escaped came and told Abram, as he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshkol and Aner, who were allies of Abraham.
The three brothers are never mentioned outside of this story. The “oaks of Mamre” (Septuaint: “oak of Mambre”, singular) are easier to locate. Genesis identifies Mamre with Hebron (13:18, 35:27), a town about twenty miles west of the Dead Sea. So it would take the escapee some time to reach Abraham.
Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he lead out his hanikim [trained servants?], born of his household, three hundred eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.
Evidently Chedorlaomer’s forces have continued their northward route, as Abraham follows them north from Hebron 120 miles, all the way to Dan, a city portrayed in the idiomatic “Dan to Beersheba” as the very northernmost point of biblical Israel.
Abram divided his forces against them, he and his slaves, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
Hobah is mentioned only here, and the site is unknown. However, Damascus is about 35 miles northeast of Dan. Abram is now outside of the land of Canaan. This is an implausible verse, because it has Abram, with 318 people, defeating a punitive Elam-Babylonian joint imperial expedition which has just defeated five cities.
He recovered all the goods, and he also recovered Lot and all his goods, and also the women, and the [other] people.
And the king of Sodom came out to greet him after he returned from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, to the valley of Shaveh, which is the King’s Valley.
“Valley of Shaveh” appears nowhere else in the Bible, but “the King’s Valley” does, in 2 Samuel 18:8, which places it very close to Jerusalem [5]. Jerusalem is 15 miles north-northeast of Abram’s dwelling-place at Hebron.
And Melchizedek, king of Shalem, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of El Elyon.
“Melchizedek” is portrayed as a Canaanite king of Shalem and a priest of the deity El Elyon. Later tradition imaginatively made a great deal of him, both in Christianity and in Judaism, but as portrayed in Genesis he is simply a Canaanite king and priest. The only other mention of Melchizedek in the Hebrew Bible is a brief allusion to this story in Psalm 110.
Shalem, according to Psalm 76, is another name for Jerusalem (Hebrew Yerushalayim). However, other scholars have argued that Shalem was Shechem [6]. Regardless, we may ask, If we are to assume that Shalem is Jerusalem, why did the Genesis author not simply use the term Jerusalem?
Likewise with the term El Elyon, while Abraham identifies El Elyon with his own god Yahweh, the text gives no indication that Melchizedek himself serves Yahweh. Likely we should read this as an indication that Melchizedek is identified as worshipping the Canaanite deity El Elyon, who in later tradition was equated with Yahweh.
And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of El Elyon, creator of sky and land. And blessed be El Elyon, who has given over your enemies into your hand. He gave him a tenth of everything.
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, El Elyon, creator of sky and land, to swear that I will not take even a thread or sandal-strap, that I will not take anything of yours, so that you cannot say, I made Abram rich, except for only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who came with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.
Notes
[1] Douglas Scott’s translation of the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume 10, page 153.
[2] Ryan Byrne, “Siddim,” in the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000).
[3] This reading (shedim) does not change the consonantal text, but disregards the Masoretic vowel-points.
[4] See the entry “Ashtaroth” in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2011 revision).
[5] See the entry for “Shaveh” in Richard Losch’s All the Places of the Bible.
[6] See James Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, page 292.