Genesis 14:5 Kommentar

We have four things in the story of this chapter. I. A war with the king of Sodom and his allies (Gen 14:1-11). II. The captivity of Lot in that war (Gen 14:12). III. Abram's rescue of Lot from that captivity, with the victory he obtained over the conquerors (Gen 14:13-16). IV. Abram's return from the expedition (Gen 14:17), with an account of what passed, 1. Between him and the king of Salem (Gen 14:18-20). 2. Between him and the king of Sodom (Gen 14:21-24). So that here we have that promise to Abram in part fulfilled, that God would make his name great.

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 14 This chapter gives an account of a war that was waged, and a battle fought between four kings on one side, and five on the other, and of the occasion and issue of it, who were the first kings, and this the first battle the Scriptures speak of, Gen 14:1; Lot and his goods being taken and carried off, with those of Sodom, by the conquerors, Abram hearing of it armed his men, and pursued after them, and overtook and overcame them, and rescued Lot and his goods, with others, and returned, Gen 14:12; when he was met by the kings of Sodom and Salem, who congratulated him on his victory, Gen 14:17; and what passed between him, and those great personages, is related, Gen 14:20.

And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer,.... Not in the fourteenth year of their rebellion against him, as Jarchi, but from their becoming vassals to him: and the kings that were with him; those kings before mentioned: and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim; which were in their way to Sodom, &c. and very probably were confederates with the five kings; the Targum, and so the Septuagint, render the word "giants", as it is in Deu 2:11; but they were one of the nations or tribes of the Canaanites, Gen 15:20; and had their name either from the Hebrew word which signifies to be healthful and robust, as those people might be, or from Rephas, the Remphan of Stephen, Act 7:43; called Chiun, Amo 5:26; and with Cronus or Ham the father of Canaan, as Bishop Cumberland (c) observes; and these dwelt in Ashteroth Karnaim, which was a place in Bashan, Deu 1:4; it is about six miles, as Eusebius (d) says, from Adraa or Edrei, and in the Apocrypha:"Then Maccabeus marched forth to Carnion, and to the temple of Atargatis, and there he slew five and twenty thousand persons.'' (2 Maccabees 12:26)mention is made of a place called Carnion, where was a temple of Atergates, a Phoenician deity, as Ashteroth or Astarte, was; and this city here had its first name from Astarte the wife of Cronus or Ham, and whose name may be preserved in Carnaim, as Bishop Cumberland thinks; though as Astarte is said by Sanchoniatho (e) to put on her head the mark of her sovereignty, a bull's head, that is, with its horns, this might be another of her names retained in this city; and it is certain that she was a Phoenician goddess, called the goddess of the Zidonians, Kg1 11:5; and Sanchoniatho relates (f), that the Phoenicians say, that Astarte is she, who among the Greeks is called Aphrodite or Venus; and Astarte is called by Lucian (g) the Phoenician Venus, and by Cicero (h) the Syrian Venus; and if she was the same with Diana or the moon, as some think, she might have the name of Carnaim from its two horns, as the word signifies: our English poet (i) seems to have this in his thoughts, when he speaks of Astoreth as the goddess of the Phoenicians: however the in habitants of this place who belonged to the Canaanites were first attacked by the four kings and routed, though not utterly destroyed, because we hear of them afterwards, as well as they that follow: and the Zuzims in Ham; or Hemtha, as Onkelos and Jonathan render it, a place so called from Ham the father of Canaan, and was somewhere in the land of Canaan or near it, and near the former place; for it can hardly be thought the land of Egypt, sometimes called the land of Ham, is meant; these Zuzim are supposed by Jarchi to the same with the Zamzummim in Deu 2:20; the word is by Onkelos and Jonathan rendered strong and mighty ones, as also by the Septuagint, mighty nations: and the Enims in Shaveh Kiriathaim: a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim, and were accounted giants as they, and who in later times were by the Moabites called Emim, Deu 2:10; and therefore Moses gives them the same name here, which they had from the dread and terror they injected into men, and so the word in all the three Targums is rendered terrible ones; and these dwelt in Kiriathaim, a city in the tribe of Reuben, taken from Sihon, king of the Amorites, and which seems to be situated in a plain, see Jos 13:19. (c) Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History, p. 220, 221. (d) Apud Reland. Palest. illustrata, tom. 2. p. 5. 98. (e) Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History, p. 35. (f) Ibid. p. 36. (g) De Dea Syria. (h) De Natura Deorum, l. 3. (i) ------------with these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte queen of heav'n, with crescent horns. --Milton's Paradise Lost, B. 1. l. 437, 438, 439.

(Verse 5.) And the giants settled in Astaroth Carnaim, and strong nations along with them: and Ominaeos in the city of Save, before they came to Sodom. Four kings who came from Babylon killed the giants, that is, the strong ones of Arabia, and the Zozim in Hom, and the Emim in the city of Save, which is still called by that name today. But the Zuzim and the Emim are interpreted as terrifying and horrifying: for this reason, the Seventy [translators], conveying the sense rather than word for word, translated them as the strongest nations. Furthermore, Baem, for which they said, 'with them', they thought it was written with He (), guided by the similarity of the elements, while it is written with Heth. Baem () is written with three letters: if it has the middle He, it is interpreted as 'in them'; but if it has Heth, as in the present case, it signifies a place, that is, 'in Hom ()'.

And they struck the Rephaim in Ashtaroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim with them, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, Rephaim in Hebrew, in Greek are called Giants: in the singular number, however, a Rephaim is called a Giant. Now their land, which was called Ashtaroth-karnaim, was at the edge of Sodom. Moreover, until today a village across the streams of the Jordan called Carnea is shown. Ashtaroth-karnaim is interpreted as "Flocks of Horns," because indeed they were the dwellings of strong men. But Shaveh is a city of the Emim situated above the region of Sodom, which is still called by that name today. What is added as Cariathaim is interpreted as "Their City"; and the meaning is, they also struck the Emim in Shaveh their city, just as the Seventy Translators have translated. Emim undoubtedly, as well as Zuzim, were proven to be a very strong people even by their name itself. For Zuzim are called "The Terrible Ones," Emim are called "The Horrifying Ones."

The war of four confederate kings against the five kings of Canaan, Gen 14:1-3. The confederate kings overrun and pillage the whole country, Gen 14:4-7. Battle between them and the kings of Canaan, Gen 14:5, Gen 14:9. The latter are defeated, and the principal part of the armies of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah slain, Gen 14:10; on which these two cities are plundered, Gen 14:11. Lot, his goods, and his family, are also taken and carried away, Gen 14:12. Abram, being informed of the disaster of his nephew, Gen 14:13, arms three hundred and eighteen of his servants, and pursues them, Gen 14:14; overtakes and routs them, and recovers Lot and his family, and their goods, Gen 14:15, Gen 14:16; is met on his return by the king of Sodom, and by Melchizedek, king of Salem, with refreshments for himself and men, Gen 14:17, Gen 14:18. Melchizedek blesses Abram, and receives from him, as priest of the most high God, the tenth of all the spoils, Gen 14:19, Gen 14:20. The king of Sodom offers to Abram all the goods he has taken from the enemy, Gen 14:21; which Abram positively refuses, having vowed to God to receive no recompense for a victory of which he knew God to be the sole author, Gen 14:22, Gen 14:23; but desires that a proportion of the spoils be given to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, who had accompanied him on this expedition, Gen 14:24.

Rephaims - A people of Canaan: Gen 15:20. Ashteroth - A city of Basan, where Og afterwards reigned; Jos 13:31. Zuzims - Nowhere else spoken of, unless they were the same with the Zamzummims, Deu 2:20, as some imagine. Emims - A people great and many in the days of Moses, and tall as the Anakim. They dwelt among the Moabites, by whom they were reputed giants; Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11. Shaveh Kiriathaim - Rather, as the margin, the plain of Kiriathaim, which was a city afterwards belonging to Sihon king of Heshbon; Jos 13:19.

WAR. (Gen. 14:1-24) And it came to pass--This chapter presents Abram in the unexpected character of a warrior. The occasion was this: The king of Sodom and the kings of the adjoining cities, after having been tributaries for twelve years to the king of Elam, combined to throw off his yoke. To chastise their rebellion, as he deemed it, Chedorlaomer, with the aid of three allies, invaded the territories of the refractory princes, defeated them in a pitched battle where the nature of the ground favored his army (Gen 14:10), and hastened in triumph on his homeward march, with a large amount of captives and booty, though merely a stranger.