Genesis 14.1-4-Dead Sea Kings Rebel Against Eastern Kings
Tuesday November 29, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 14:1-4- Dead Sea Kings Rebel Against Eastern Kings
Lesson # 68
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 13:5.
On Sunday, we completed a study of Genesis 13 and this evening we will begin a study of Genesis 14.
We begin our study of Genesis 14 by noting Genesis 14:1-4 where the Dead Sea Kings in the days of Abram rebelled against the Eastern kings of Mesopotamia.
Tomorrow evening we will study Genesis 14:5-12, which records the defeat of these Dead Sea kings by the Eastern kings.
This battle had a major impact on Abram since these Eastern kings captured Lot his nephew who lived in the Dead Sea area.
The designation “eastern” kings are given to these four kings since their kingdoms resided in Mesopotamia, which is east of Israel.
As you recall, without any deference to his elder, Abram, Lot chose for himself the area of the Dead Sea and in particular the area of Sodom, whose inhabitants were involved in gross immorality.
This decision to settle in Sodom, not only demonstrated that Lot was out of the will of God at this time but also put him at great risk and so because of his bad decision to separate from Abram, he found himself a prisoner of war of these Eastern kings.
Genesis 13:5, “Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.”
Genesis 13:6, “And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.”
Genesis 13:7, “And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.”
Genesis 13:8, “So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.’”
Genesis 13:9, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Genesis 13:10, “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere -- this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah -- like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.”
Genesis 13:11, “So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.”
Genesis 13:12, “Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.”
This evening we will study Genesis 14:1-4, which as we noted records the rebellion of the five Dead Sea kings against the five Eastern kings.
Genesis 14:1-4 records the rebellion of the five Dead Sea kings against the four Eastern kings and Genesis 14:5-12 records the defeat of the five Dead Sea kings by the Eastern kings and it records the capture of Lot who was very wealthy as noted in Genesis 13.
Genesis 14:13-16 records Abram and his army routing these eastern kings and rescuing Lot.
Genesis 14:1-16 contrasts the military might of the four eastern kings (Gen. 14:5-7) and the weakness of the five Dead Sea Kings (Gen. 14:8-12) and the superiority of Abram (14:13-16) and also presents the courage of Abram and his unconditional love towards his nephew Lot.
Genesis 14:17-20 records Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek who states that the Lord had given Abram the victory over these four eastern kings.
Genesis 14:1, “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.”
The four eastern kings are listed in alphabetical order, though Chedorlaomer is their leader.
None of the kings mentioned in Genesis 14:1 has been identified by extra biblical sources but their names do fit the types from the Ancient Near East of the period.
Their names suggest an area from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, the entire Mesopotamian Valley and what is later known as Babylon and Asher.
One of the kings is from Shinar (now Iraq), one is from Ellasar (Iraq), one is from Elam (now Iran) and one appears to be from northern Babylonia (northern Iraq).
In the days of Abraham, kingdoms were still small, probably not much more than city-states and thus were not armies that were comparable in size to those who invaded Palestine in later times, such as Babylon, Assyria and Rome.
Archaeology has confirmed that invasions and wars were common all through the Middle East as each tribe sought to obtain for itself the most desirable lands and resources.
The objective of this war between the Eastern kings and the Dead Sea kings was the rich metal deposits of the region and thus was for economic purposes.
The first king mentioned is “Amraphel” whose name means, “sayer of darkness: fall of the sayer” and is said to be the “king of Shinar.”
Genesis 11:1-9 records that the Tower of Babel rebellion took place in Shinar, which in the ancient world was a designation for Babylon and is the area of what is now known as Iraq.
Therefore, king “Amraphel” ruled in the region now known as Iraq.
He is often been identified as “Hammurabi,” the great king of Babylon but “Hammurabi” did not come onto the scene until many years later.
The second of the eastern kings mentioned is “Arioch” whose name means, “lion-like” and is said to be the “king of Ellasar.”
Genesis 14:1, “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.”
“Ellasar” was a major city located in lower Babylon, between Ur and Erech, on the left bank of the Euphrates River where it was the center of sun worship and the Babylonian form of the city's name was Larsa.
The third king mentioned who is the leader of this eastern confederacy is “Chedorlaomer” according to Genesis 14:5, 17 and who Moses identifies as the “king of Elam” and whose name means, “servant of the god Logomar.”
“Elam” was located east of Babylonia or Mesopotamia with Susa (Hebrew: Shushan) as their capital.
In the ancient world, “Elam” was known as “Persia” and is now known today as “Iran” and possessed a wealth of natural resources such as metals, stone and wood and its location on the way to sources of coveted materials such as lapis lazuli and tin, made her an indispensable asset to the economy of Mesopotamia.
Genesis 10:22 identifies the Elamites as descendants of Shem.
The fourth and final eastern king mentioned in Genesis 14:1 is “Tidal” who Moses identifies as the “king of Goiim” and whose name is a Hittite royal name, which means, “great son.”
Genesis 14:1, “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.”
As we noted in our study of Genesis 10:15, the Hittites were the descendants of “Heth” who was one of the sons of “Canaan” and they settled in the area of what is now known as Turkey.
“Goiim” in the Hebrew literally means, “Gentile nations,” indicating that possibly a confederacy of Hittite cities were involved in this invasion of the Dead Sea area or more than likely, a tribe of northeastern Babylonia.
Genesis 14:1, “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 14:2, “that they (Eastern kings: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim) made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).”
So the four eastern kings took military action against five kings who rebelled against them and whose rulership was in the area of the Dead Sea.
This is the first mention of war in the Bible but not necessarily the first war.
As a result of the Lord confounding the universal language of the human race at the Tower of Babel, nations could not understand each other.
Couple this with the fact that the entire human possesses a sin nature (Rm. 5:12-19) and are deceived by the devil (1 Jn. 5:19), nations have gone to war against one another.
Nations go to war against one another because they first of all, seek to live independently of God.
Secondly, they go to war against one another because they do not understand each other and thirdly, because they are inherently selfish in their pursuit to have dominion over each other.
The first Dead Sea king mentioned in Genesis 14:2 is the “king of Sodom” who is “Bera” and whose name means, “triumph, victor.”
“Sodom” was located on the south end of the Dead Sea along with “Gomorrah.”
The king of “Gomorrah” was “Birsha” whose name means, “iniquity.”
As we noted in Genesis 13:10, “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” were located in the Dead Sea area of the Jordan Valley.
“The valley of the Jordan” was a tropical area between Jericho and Zoar, 800 to 1200 feel below sea level, where crops could grow all year-round.
Like the rich delta of the Nile area in Egypt, the valley of the Jordan was well-watered land stretching to Zoar at the southeast end of the Dead Sea.
Today, the valley of the Jordan is no longer a green, well-watered land since the Lord’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah brought a drastic change to the entire area.
The third Dead Sea king mentioned in Genesis 14:2 is “Shinab, king of Admah.”
The name “Shinab” means, “the moon god, Sin, is father” and the city, which he ruled “Admah” was a southern border city of the land of Canaan, located in the same area as “Sodom, Gomorrah” and “Zeboiim.”
The fourth Dead Sea king mentioned in Genesis 14:2 is “Shemeber king of Zeboiim.”
The name “Shemeber” means, “the name is mighty” and the city, which he ruled “Zeboiim” was situated near the southern end of the Dead Sea in an area presently covered by water.
The name of the fifth and final Dead Sea king is not given but his dominion was “Bela,” the name of which means, “destruction” and Moses identifies as being “Zoar.”
“Zoar” was a small town situated on the south or southeast of the Dead Sea and was the only one of the five cities of the valley or plain that were not destroyed by fire in God’s judgment recorded in Genesis 19:24-28 and is the town to which Lot escaped from the coming judgment (Gen. 19:20-23, 30).
The fact that Moses gives the name of “Bela” in his day indicates that his information was based on a precise historical source.
Genesis 14:3, “All these came as allies to the valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).”
Genesis 14:3 records that these five Dead Sea kings made an alliance.
They joined forces at the “valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea,” which we know today as the “Dead Sea.”
The “valley of Siddim” was at the southern end of the Dead Sea since Genesis 14:3 relates it to the Salt Sea, insinuating their proximity to each other or even that the Dead Sea was once the valley of Siddim.
Further indicating that this valley was at the southern end of the Dead Sea is that the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 connects the cities of the valley with the southeastern border of Canaan (Gen. 10:19).
Lastly, Abram could see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from Hebron, which would have been easily possible if the valley was south of the Dead Sea.
Some dispute this stating that Genesis 13:10 and forward record Lot settling in the Jordan Valley, a location otherwise cited as being northeast of the Dead Sea (1 Kgs. 7:46; 2 Chr. 4:17) but the Jordan Valley stretched to the southeast end of the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is called the Salt Sea because its average 32 percent saline content is about ten times more than the 3 percent average of the oceans.
The Hebrew name “Siddim” is derived from a term meaning, “to drag” or “to plow” indicating that this valley was extremely fertile and was likely a flat and open plain, making it a suitable place for this battle between the Dead Sea kings and the Eastern kings.
Genesis 14:4, “Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.”
Genesis 14:4 records that the five Dead Sea kings were vassals of Chedorlaomer, the head of the Eastern Mesopotamian Coalition for twelve years and in the thirteenth year they rebelled indicating that this Eastern Mesopotamian Coalition had come into the region earlier and had placed the Dead Sea kings under tribute.