The Campaign of Chedorlaomer (xiii. 22-29)

The Campaign of Chedorlaomer (xiii. 22-29; cf. Gen. xiv.).

22. And in this year came Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Sêllâsar ⁴ and Têrgâl, ⁵ king of nations, and slew the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Sodom fled, and many fell through wounds in the vale of Siddim, by the Salt Sea. 23. And they took captive Sodom and Adam ⁶ and Zeboim, and they took captive Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, and all his possessions, and they went to Dan. ⁷ 24. And one who had escaped came and told Abram that his brother's son had been taken captive and (Abram) armed ⁸ his household servants. 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . for Abram, and for his seed, a

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tenth of the first-fruits to the Lord, ¹ and the Lord ordained it as an ordinance for ever that they should give it to the priests who served before Him, that they should possess it for ever. ² 26. And to this law there is no limit of days; for He hath ordained it for the generations for ever that they should give to the Lord the tenth of everything, of the seed and of the wine and of the oil and of the cattle and of the sheep. 27. And He gave (it) unto His priests to eat and to drink with joy before Him. 28. And the king of Sodom came to him and bowed himself before him, and said: "Our Lord Abram, give unto us the souls which thou hast rescued, but let the booty be thine." 29. And Abram said unto him: "I lift up my hands to the Most High God, that from a thread to a shoe-latchet I shall not take aught that is thine, lest thou shouldst say I have made Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me--Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. These will take their portion." ³

Footnotes

94:4 MT Ellasar.

94:5 MT Tidal (for form here cf. LXX Θαργάλ).

94:6 i. e. Admah.

94:7 Cf. Gen. xiv. 14.

94:8 R.V. "led forth"; the rendering "armed" has the support of the Targum Onkelos.

95:1 Charles suspects a lacuna at the beginning of 25. It no doubt contained an account of the pursuit of the kings and told of Melchizedek (cf. Gen. xiv. 15-20). That Abraham should have given tithes to Melchizedek (who was uncircumcised) was a difficulty to later Jews (cf. Justin, Trypho xix.). One way of overcoming it was to identify Melchizedek with Shem.

95:2 The law about tithes is made to apply for the Levitical priesthood; cf. xxxii. 15.

95:3 For 28-29 cf. Gen. xiv. 21-24.