John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 12:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 12



In this chapter an account is given of the call of Abram to depart from his own country, with a promise of a divine blessing, Ge 12:1 of his obedience to it, Ge 12:4 of his journey through the land of Canaan, and of the Lord's appearance to him in it, and his promise of it to his seed, and of Abram's building altars in it, and calling on the name of the Lord, Ge 12:6 and of a famine there, which occasioned him to go into Egypt, Ge 12:10 where, through fear of being slain, he desired his wife to call herself his sister,

Ge 12:11 and she being greatly admired by the Egyptians for her beauty, it went well with Abram for her sake, Ge 12:14 but the Egyptians were plagued because of her, who, when they understood she was Abram's wife, sent them both away, and all that belonged to them,

Ge 12:17.



Ver. 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,.... In Ur of the Chaldees, before he came and dwelt in Charran, as seems from Ac 7:2 and so Aben Ezra interprets it; but Jarchi and others think, that what follows was said to him in Haran, and so the words may be more literally rendered {u}, "and the Lord said unto Abram"; after the death of Terah, who died in Haran; and indeed it is highly probable there were two appearances of God to Abram, and that the same words, or very near the same, were spoken to him at two several times, first in Ur of the Chaldees, and then in Haran:



get thee out of thy country; the land of Chaldea, and the city of Ur, which was in it, or out of Mesopotamia, in which, when taken in a large sense, were both Ur and Haran; and this country was now become idolatrous, for though it was first inhabited and peopled by the posterity of Shem in the time of Arphaxad, yet these, in process of time, degenerated from the true religion, and fell into idolatry. The same Maimonides {w} calls Zabaeans, in whose faith and religion, he says, Abram was brought up, and who asserted there was no other God but the sun, moon, and stars; and these Zabaeans, as he relates from their books and annals, say of Abram themselves, that he was educated in Cuthia, and dissented from the common people; and asserted, that besides the sun, there was another Creator; to whom they objected, and so disputes arose among them on this subject: now Abram being convinced of idolatry, is called out from those people, and to have no fellowship with them; it is literally in the Hebrew text {x}, "go to thee out of thy country"; for thy profit and good, as Jarchi interprets it; as it must be to quit all society with such an idolatrous and superstitious people:



and from thy kindred; as Nahor his brother, and his family, who are not mentioned, and seem to be left behind when Terah, Abram, Lot, and Sarai, came out of Ur of the Chaldees; though it looks as if afterwards Nahor did follow them to Haran or Padanaram, which are the same, and where he continued, and therefore is called his city; see Ge 24:10 so with great propriety Abram might be called a second time to leave his kindred as well as his country; and certain it is, Haran, or Padanaram, as well as Ur of the Chaldees, is called by himself his country, and Nahor and his family his kindred,

Ge 24:4



and from thy father's house; or household, his family, which better agrees with the second call at Haran, than with the first at Ur; for, upon the first call, Terah and his family came along with Abram, and therefore this phrase is omitted by Stephen, who speaks of that call, Ac 7:3 but Terah dying at Haran, his house or family went no further, but continued there with Nahor; only Abram and Lot, upon this second call, went from thence, as the following history makes it appear; and so Abram left, as he was bid, his father's house and family to go, as it follows:



unto a land that I will show thee; meaning the land of Canaan, though not mentioned, and seems to be omitted for the trial of Abram's faith; hence the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 11:8 observes, that "he obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went"; and yet it is said, that, when he and Terah came out of Ur of the Chaldees, "they went forth to go into the land of Canaan",

Ge 11:31 and, when he and Lot went first from Haran, the same is said of them, Ge 12:5 it is probable the case was this; there was no mention made at first what land he was to go to, and when he prepared for his journey he knew not where he was to go, but afterwards it was revealed to him that Canaan was the land, and therefore set out in order to go thither; and still, though he might know the place by name where he was to go, he might neither know the way to it, nor what sort of country it was for quality or quantity; and therefore God promises to show him the way, and direct his course right unto it, and give him a view of it, that he might see what sort of a country, and how large it was, that he would give to his posterity. This call of Abram is an emblem of the call of men by the grace of God out of the world, and from among the men of it, and to renounce the things of it, and not be conformed unto it, and to forget their own people and their father's house, and to cleave to the Lord, and follow him whithersoever he directs them.



{u} rmayw "et dixit", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. {w} More Nevochim, par. 3. c. 29. p. 421. {x} Kl Kl "vade tibi", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, &c.





Genesis 12:2



Ver. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation,.... In a literal sense, as the people of the Jews were that descended from him, and in a spiritual sense believers in all ages and of all nations, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abram, who are his children, and are blessed with him:



and I will bless thee; not only with temporal blessings, but principally with spiritual ones, since Abram in person had no share of the land of Canaan; even with the adoption of children and friendship with God; with justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, which blessedness came upon him when uncircumcised; with a large measure of faith, and every other grace; with the sanctification of the Spirit, and an increase of it until brought to perfection; and with eternal glory and happiness, a right, title, and meetness for it, and the full possession of it:



and make thy name great; as it was among the Jews his descendants, who boasted of having Abram for their father; and among the several nations of the world; his name is famous in profane history, and is in high esteem with the Mahometans to this day; and especially his name is great and famous, and the memory of him precious among all those who have obtained like precious faith with him, in every age and in every nation:



and thou shall be a blessing; to all that knew him and conversed with him, they receiving spiritual light and knowledge by means of his instruction, and to all that should hear and read of his faith and piety, being encouraged by his example: or, "shall be blessing"; blessing itself, that is, most blessed, exceedingly blessed; as a very wicked man may be called wickedness itself; as "scelus" for "scelestus" with the Latins; so a good man may be called blessing itself, extremely happy.





Genesis 12:3



Ver. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee,.... Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Ga 3:7.



And curse him that curseth thee; here is a change of numbers, before the plural, here the singular, denoting, it may be, that many would bless him, and but few curse him, and that every individual person that did curse him should be cursed himself: the Targum of Jonathan wrongly restrains this to Balaam's cursing Abraham's children, and was cursed by God; Maimonides {y} thinks, there is no doubt to be made of it, that the Zabaeans, the idolatrous people Abram was brought up with, when he contradicted them, loaded him with curses and reproaches; and, because he bore them all patiently for the glory of God, as became him, therefore these words are said; but they, without question, respect future as well as present times, and regard all such, in every age and of every nation, that disapproves of, or rejects and reproaches Abram's God, his faith, his religion, and his people.



And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed; that is, in his seed, as in Ge 22:18 and which is interpreted of Christ, Ac 3:25 meaning not every individual of all the families or nations of the earth; but that as many as believe in Christ, of all nations, are blessed in him; and that whoever of them are blessed, they are blessed and only blessed in him, and that they are blessed for his sake with all spiritual blessings; see Eph 1:3 such as redemption, justification, remission of sins, sanctification, adoption, and eternal life.



{y} More Nevochim, ut supra. (par. 3. c. 29. p. 421.)





Genesis 12:4



Ver. 4. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him,.... Or, "when the Lord had spoken to him", as Cocceius renders the words; when he had called him a second time, even when in Haran, immediately after the death of his father Terah; as soon as ever the words were spoken to him before recorded, he immediately prepared and got all things ready for his journey, and departed from Haran, as he had done before from Ur of the Chaldees:



and Lot went with him; of his own accord, and he only, besides his wife Sarai and his servants, for Terah was dead, and Nahor and his family stayed behind.



And Abram was seventy five years old when he departed out of Haran; by which it appears, as has been observed, that he was not Terah's eldest son, born when he was seventy years of age, Ge 11:26 for then he must have been at this time, one hundred and thirty five years old, since his father, who was just now dead, lived to be two hundred and five years old, Ge 11:32 so that Abram must be born in the one hundred and thirtieth year of Terah: how many years before this time he was converted from idolatry cannot be said with any certainty; various are the accounts given by the Jewish writers; some say that at three years of age he knew his Creator; others at eight; others thirteen; others more probably when forty; others fifty one; others fifty two; and others say he was sixty years old when he began publicly to assert the unity of God in heaven {z}: however, all agree it was before the age here mentioned, as it may well be concluded.



{z} Vid. Pirke Eliezer, c. 26. Maimon. Hilchot obede cocabim, c. 1. sect. 3. & Comment. in ib. Juchasin, fol. 9. 2. Shalshelet, fol. 2. 2.





Genesis 12:5



Ver. 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,.... The son of Haran his brother, not against their wills, but with their full consent: Sarai went readily with him, not only as being his wife, and so obliged by the law of marriage and tie of relation, but on the score of religion; and Lot as being a good man, and so willing to go with him, as his near relation too, for the sake of religion.



And all their substance that they had gathered; either in Ur of the Chaldees, or in Haran, and indeed in both; which, as it was their own property, they had a right to take with them, and it was their wisdom so to do, both for the support of their families, and for the service of religion; and it appears from hence that they were not slothful, but industrious persons, and by the blessing of God were succeeded in their employments:



and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; the more excellent part of man being put for the whole; and the meaning is, either that were procreated {a}, as some render it, or begotten by them; for, though Abram had no children, Lot had, and possibly some that might be begotten while there; and their servants might have children by their fellow servants, and to which Abram and Lot had a right, and therefore took them with them; or rather it means servants which they had bought with their money there, and so had gotten or obtained them as their own property: some understand it of the proselytes made during their stay there; and no doubt they were as industrious in spreading and propagating the true religion, as in acquiring substance and servants; and to this sense are the several Chaldee paraphrases; that of Onkelos is,



"and the souls which they made subject to the law in Haran;''



the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan are,



"and the souls of the proselytes, or which they proselyted in Haran;''



and with this agrees the note of Jarchi,



"which they brought under the wings of the Shechinah; Abram proselyted the men, and Sarai the women;''



though in the literal sense he takes it to be the acquiring of servants and handmaids; there might be of both sorts, both proselytes and servants bought with money, which made up the number of three hundred and eighteen trained servants, Ge 14:14 how long Abram stayed in Haran is not certain, it must be some time, to gather more substance, increase servants, and make proselytes; the Jews {b} generally say he was there five years.



And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came: which last clause is very fitly added, since, when they came out of Ur, they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, Ge 11:31 but they did not then come into it, but stopped by the way at Haran; but now, when they went out from thence, they proceeded on in their journey, and made no stay any where of any length, until they came into the land of Canaan; which is reckoned to be three hundred miles from the one to the other, and by some four hundred to Sichem, and a troublesome way through the deserts of Palmyrene, and over the mountains of Lebanon and Hermon {c}: of Ura, Pliny says {d}, which seems to be the same with Ur, it is a place where, turning to the east, we leave the Palmyrene deserts of Syria, which belong to the city Petra, and the country called Arabia Felix; and, as it was at the northern part of Canaan they entered, they must come over Lebanon, which was the northern border of it.



{a} wve, "procreaverant", Piscator. {b} Seder Olam Rabba, Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 5. 2. {c} See Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, par. 1. b. 2. sect. 3. p. 130. and Bunting's Travels, p. 56. {d} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 24.





Genesis 12:6



Ver. 6. And Abram passed through the land,.... Entering the northern part of it, as appears by his going southward, Ge 12:9 he went on



unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh; the place afterwards called Shechem, from a prince of that name in the times of Jacob; and so it was called when Moses wrote, and therefore, by way of anticipation, calls it so here; it was about the middle of the land of Canaan, and the same with Sychar, a city of Samaria, in the times of Christ, Joh 4:5. Moreh was the name of a man, from whence the plain took its name, which was near Sichem; some render it the oak of Moreh {e}, perhaps the same with that in Ge 35:4 or a grove of oaks of that name; the Syriac and Arabic versions render it the oak of Mamre wrongly.



And the Canaanite [was] then in the land; in that part of the land where they were in Jacob's time, see Ge 34:30 this land belonged to the posterity of Shem, but Canaan's offspring seized upon it and held it, as they did in the times of Moses, but were then quickly to be removed from it; but now they were settled in it in Abram's time, which was a trial of his faith, in the promise of it to his seed, as well as it was troublesome and dangerous to be in a country where such wicked and irreligious persons lived.



{e} hrwm Nwla "quercetum More", Tigurine version, "quercum Moreh", Pagninus, Montanus.





Genesis 12:7



Ver. 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram,.... Perhaps in an human form, and so it was the Son of God; for whenever there was any visible appearance of a divine Person, under the former dispensation, it seems to be always of the essential Word, that was to be incarnate, and who spake with an articulate voice:



and said, unto thy seed will I give this land; the whole of it inhabited by Canaanites and others; and it was for this end chiefly that Abram was called out of Chaldea into Canaan, to be shown the land, and have the grant of it for his posterity:



and there builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him: by way of gratitude and thankfulness for his kind and gracious appearance, and for the gift of the land of Canaan to his offspring; for on this altar he no doubt offered sacrifice in a way of thanksgiving, as Noah did when he came out of the ark.





Genesis 12:8



Ver. 8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,.... As it was afterwards called by Jacob, which before and at this time had the name of Luz, Ge 28:19 now to the east of this place was a mountain, whither Abram removed his tent from Sichem, which was about twenty miles from it, as Sir Walter Raleigh {f} observes, some say twenty eight {g}:



and pitched his tent; that is, upon the mountain, as before upon the plain, fitly representing the state of the people of God, as sojourners in this world, living like Abram in tents and tabernacles, having no abiding place:



having Bethel on the west, or "on the sea" {h}, the Mediterranean sea, which Aben Ezra calls the Spanish sea, and lay to the west of the land of Canaan:



and Hai on the east; the same which is called "Ai", and said to be on the east side of Bethel, Jos 7:2 hard by this place, Rauwolff {i} says, you shall still find some old ruins of old stones, where first Abraham the patriarch did build a tent, as you read in

Ge 12:8 and he says that Bethel is still called to this day Bethisella, and is situated half a league further towards the west, at the foot of the hill, in a very fruitful country:



and there he builded an altar unto the Lord: as he had done at Sichem; for wherever he went he worshipped God, and offered sacrifice unto him:



and called upon the name of the Lord: prayed unto him for fresh mercies, as well as gave thanks for past ones; or, "he called in the name of the Lord" {k}, he called upon Jehovah the Father, in the name of his Son, the glorious Mediator, who had appeared unto him, and whose day he saw and was glad.



{f} History of the World, par. 1. b. 2. sect. 3. p. 132. {g} Bunting's Travels, p. 56. {h} Mym "a mari", Montanus, Piscater, Schmidt. {i} Travels, part 3. ch. 21. p. 317. Ed. Ray. {k} hwhy Mvb arqyw "et invocavit in nomine Domini", Montanus, Tigurine version.





Genesis 12:9



Ver. 9. And Abram journeyed,.... He did not stay long in the mountain between Bethel and Hai, but moved from thence, and kept on journeying in the land of Canaan:



going on still toward the south; the southern part of the land of Canaan, which lay nearest Egypt, into which he is said to go next, the occasion of which follows.





Genesis 12:10



Ver. 10. And there was a famine in the land,.... The land of Canaan, which was a very fruitful country, abounding with all kind of provisions usually; but now there was a scarcity of all; and which was both for the sins of the inhabitants of the land, and for the trial of Abram's faith, who was brought out of his own country, where was bread enough and to spare, into one in which there was a famine; and this might be a temptation to Abram to return from whence he came, and to slight and despise the country that was given him:



and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; not to dwell there, only till the famine was over; and rightly is he said to go down to Egypt, since that lay lower than the land of Canaan; and his going thither only to sojourn, and with an intention to return again to Canaan, shows the strength of his faith in the promise; and so far was he from going back to his own country, from whence he came, that he went directly the contrary, for Chaldee lay north east of Canaan, and Egypt south west: this country is in the Hebrew text called Mizraim, from the second son of Ham, see Ge 10:6 it had its name Egypt not from Aegyptus, one of its kings, as some {l} say, but from the blackish colour of its soil, and also of its river Nile, and of its inhabitants; which colour is by the Greeks called "aegyptios", from "aegyps", a vulture, a bird of that colour: it is bounded on the south by the kingdom of Sennar, tributary to the king of Ethiopia, and the cataracts of the Nile; on the north by the Mediterranean sea; on the east by the Arabian Gulf, or Red sea, and the isthmus of Suez; and on the west by a region of Lybia, called Marmorica {m}.



For the famine was grievous in the land; in the land of Canaan, and perhaps nowhere else; God ordering it so in his wise providence, that there should be plenty of food in one land, when there is a scarcity in another, that countries may be helpful to one another: of this famine, and of Abram's going down to Egypt on account of it, mention is made by Heathen writers; Nicolaus of Damascus says {n}, that Abram came out of Chaldee into Canaan, now called Judea, and a grievous famine being there, and understanding there was plenty in Egypt, he readily went thither, partly to partake of their plenty, and partly to hear what the priests would say of the gods; and Alexander Polyhistor relates, from Eupolemus {o}, that Abram removed from the place of his nativity, Camarine, called by some Urie, and settled in Phoenicia, where being a famine, he went with all his family into Egypt, and dwelt there.



{l} Apollodorus, l. 2. in initio. {m} Vid. Universal History, vol. 1. p. 391. {n} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 16. p. 417. {o} Apud ib. c. 17. p. 418, 419.





Genesis 12:11



Ver. 11. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,.... Just entering into it, having travelled from the mountain between Bethel and Hai, two hundred and forty miles {p}; or when he "caused to come near" {q}, either his camp, as Aben Ezra supplies it, or his tent, or his family, as others:



that he said unto Sarai his wife, behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon; though sixty five years of age, being ten years younger than her husband, see Ge 17:17 who was now seventy five years old, Ge 12:4 yet might still be a fair woman, having a good complexion and comely features, and having never bore children, and especially she would be reckoned so among the Egyptians, whose women were of a blackish, sallow, swarthy complexion.



{p} Travels of the Holy Patriarchs, &c. p. 56. {q} byrqh rvak "quum admoveret, sub tentorium", so some in Vatablus; "familiam", Munster.





Genesis 12:12



Ver. 12. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee,.... Who were a lustful people, and whose eyes would soon be fastened upon, and be taken with the beauty of Sarai:



that they shall say, this is his wife; this beautiful woman is such a man's wife:



and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive; so great a regard had they in those times, and even in Heathen countries, to the laws of marriage, that they chose rather to be guilty of murder than of adultery, though a lustful people; and therefore would, as Abram feared, take away his life, that it might be free and lawful for them to marry Sarai.





Genesis 12:13



Ver. 13. Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister,.... Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Ge 20:12 yet it was done to conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to endanger his wife's chastity, as well as showed great timorousness in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of him; and upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall, and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for which he is most eminent, as Abram was for his faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins; this he said to his wife, and desired her to say on occasion, when she found it necessary:



that it may be well with me for thy sake; his life spared, as follows:



and my soul shall live because of thee; his life be safe and secure for her sake, being reckoned her brother, whereas he feared it would be in the utmost danger should it be known she was his wife.





Genesis 12:14



Ver. 14. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt,.... To the city of Heliopolis; for there it was that Abram had his abode, as Eupolemus {r} says, when upon the famine he went into Egypt, and where he conversed with the Egyptian priests, and taught them astrology, and other things belonging to it; and of this descent of Abram into Egypt, and teaching astrology, Artapanus {s}, another Heathen writer, speaks; Abram, he says, having learned the science of astrology, went first into Phoenicia and taught it the Phoenicians, and afterwards went into Egypt, and taught it there.



[The] Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair; Abram knew that Sarai was a fair woman; but in the eyes of the Egyptians she was very fair, exceeding fair, they not being used to see very beautiful women.



{r} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. c. 17. p. 418, 419.) {s} Apud ib. c. 18. p. 420.





Genesis 12:15



Ver. 15. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh,.... The king of Egypt; so it seems by this, that Abram and Sarai were at the place where the court was kept, which the Arabic writers {t} say was Mesr (or Memphis), the capital of the kingdom. And these princes were the king's courtiers, who taking notice of Sarai, and admiring her beauty, praised her for it to the king, and recommended her to be taken into the number of his wives or concubines, they understanding that she was a single woman and the sister of Abram: and this they did to gratify their king, and gain his favour:



and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house; or palace, as the Jerusalem Targum; his royal palace, as the Targum of Jonathan; very probably into that part of his palace where his women were kept, or to some apartment where she might be purified and prepared for him; and this requiring time, was the means of preserving her from the danger she was exposed unto, see Es 2:8. The kingdom of Egypt, according to the Jewish and Arabic writers {u}, was set up in the times of Reu, about three hundred years before Abram was here; its first king was Mizraim, a son of Ham, the same with the Menes of Herodotus; by whom also mention is made of a king of Egypt, whose name was Pheron {w}, which seems to bear some likeness to the name of this king, who by Artapanus {x} is called Pharethone, and whom, he says, Abram taught astrology. It is generally thought that Pharaoh was a common name to the kings of Egypt, and continued to be so to the times of Ezekiel, as Ptolemy was some time after, and as Caesar with the Romans: whether this king was the first of the name is not certain, but probable; according to some {y}, he was one of the Hycsi, or shepherd kings. Mr. Bedford {z} calls him Janias, their fifth king, and this was about A. M. 2084, and before Christ 1920. A Jewish chronologer {a} asserts, he was the first Pharaoh, who was in the times of Abram, and that his name was Totis, or Tutis, as the Arabic writers {b}, one of which {c} says, that in the times of Serug lived Apiphanus king of Egypt (the same with Apophis; who according to Bishop Usher {d} was this Pharaoh); after him was Pharaoh, the son of Sancs, from whom they (the kings of Egypt) were called Pharaohs. The name of Pharaoh is derived by some {e} from

erp, which signifies both to be free, and to revenge; and so kings were called, because free from laws themselves, and were revengers of them that do evil: but it rather seems to come from the Arabic word {f}, which signifies to be above others, and rule over them; and so may be thought to be not the proper name of a man, but an appellative, or the name of an office; or in other words, a king, see Ge 41:44 and so it may be always rendered, where it is used, as here, the king's courtiers saw her, and commended her to the king, and she was taken into the king's house; though to this may be objected, that Pharaoh is sometimes called Pharaoh king of Egypt, and then there would be a tautology; wherefore it may be better perhaps to take it in the former sense.



{t} In the Universal History, vol. 2. p. 115. {u} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 1. Elmacinus, p. 29. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 274. {w} Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 111. {x} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 16. p. 417.) {y} Vid. Rollin's Ancient History, vol. 1. p. 68. {z} Scripture Chronology, p. 314. {a} Juchasin, fol. 135. 1. {b} In the Universal History, vol. 2. p. 115. {c} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 19. {d} Annal Vet. Test. p. 7. {e} Malvenda, Ainsworth, &c. {f} "in summo fuit, summumque cepit vel tenuit", Golius, col. 1787. Castel. col. 3077.





Genesis 12:16



Ver. 16. And he entreated Abram well for her sake,.... Pharaoh was very complaisant to him, showed him great respect, and bestowed many favours on him on account of Sarai, whom he took to be his sister, and which were done, that he would consent that she might be his wife:



and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels; which were, some at least, if not all, the gifts of Pharaoh to him, or otherwise there seems to be no reason why they should be made mention of here. The Jews say {g}, that Pharaoh, because of the love he had to Sarai, gave to her by writing all his substance, whether silver or gold, or servants or farms, and also the land of Goshen for an inheritance; and therefore the children of Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen, because it was Sarai our mother's, say they.



{g} Pirke Eliezer, c. 26.





Genesis 12:17



Ver. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues,.... Perhaps with the same sort that Abimelech and his servants were smote with on a like account, Ge 20:17. The Jews {h} say they were smitten with ulcers; not only Pharaoh was plagued, but those of his household also, his courtiers and servants, who were accessary to the bringing of Sarai into his house; for all this was



because of Sarai, Abram's wife; or "upon the word of Sarai" {i}, as it may be literally rendered: hence the Jews have a notion, that an angel stood by Sarai with a scourge in his hand, and when Sarai bid him smite Pharaoh, he smote him {k}; but rbd signifies not a word only, but thing, matter and business: and so Onkelos renders it here: and the sense is, that Pharaoh and his courtiers were smitten, because of the affair and business of Sarai; because she was taken by them, and detained in Pharaoh's house, and designed to be made his wife or concubine; and thus for evil intentions was this punishment inflicted; so that evil designs, not brought into execution, are punishable; though the word of Sarai may mean what she was bid to say, and did.



{h} Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 41. fol. 35. 4. {i} yrv rbd le "propter verbum Sarai", Montanus; "super verbo", Munster, Piscator. {k} Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 41. fol. 35. 4.)





Genesis 12:18



Ver. 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said,.... Understanding how it was, that Sarai was his wife, which he came at the knowledge of, either by consulting his priests and diviners, as some say, on account of the plagues inflicted; or rather suspecting they were on the account of Sarai, from the nature of them, sent for her, and questioned her about this affair, who confessed the whole matter to him; unless it can be thought that he was warned of God in a dream, as Abimelech was on a like occasion; however he sent for Abram on what intelligence he had, and justly, though gently, reproved him:



what is this that thou hast done unto me? to impose upon me, and deceive me after this manner, by giving out that Sarai was thy sister, when she is thy wife; by which means I have been led to prepare to take her for my wife, and have brought plagues upon myself and family? and thus he resented it as an injury done him, as he well might:



why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? when he first took her into his house, and no doubt Abram was present then, and very often afterwards was in company with Pharaoh, and conversed with him, having respect for him for the sake of Sarai, he took to be his sister, and yet would never tell him she was his wife.





Genesis 12:19



Ver. 19. Why saidst thou, she is my sister?.... He could not imagine what could be the reason of it, what could induce him to give out such a story as this; for he knew not the fears that Abram was possessed with, which led him to it, and which might be in a good measure groundless, or else Pharaoh might have guessed at the reason; or this he said as being willing to be satisfied of the true one;



so I might have taken her to me to wife; ignorantly, and without any scruple, supposing her to have been free; and so should have been guilty of taking another man's wife, and of depriving him of her; which with him were crimes he did not choose to commit, though polygamy was not accounted any by him, for no doubt he had a wife or wives when about to take Sarai for one:



now therefore, behold thy wife, take [her], and go thy way; Sarai it seems was present at this interview, who was delivered to her husband untouched, as his own property, and is ordered to depart the country, that so neither the king, nor any of his courtiers or subjects, might be under any temptation to do him an injury, by violating the chastity of his wife. The whole of this affair is related by Eupolemus {l}, an Heathen historian, in a few words, in great agreement with this account; only he represents Sarai as married to the king of Egypt; he says, that Abram, on account of a famine, went to Egypt, with all his family, and there dwelt, and that the king of the Egyptians married his wife, he saying she was his sister: he goes on to relate more at large, says Alexander Polyhistor that quotes him, that the king could not enjoy her, and that his people and family were infected with a plague, upon which he called his diviners or prophets together, who told him that the woman was not a widow; and when the king of the Egyptians so understood it, that she was the wife of Abram, he restored her to her husband.



{l} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 18. p. 420.)





Genesis 12:20



Ver. 20. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him,.... His courtiers and servants, not to do him any hurt or injury in his person or substance; who he might suppose would be enraged at hearing how the king and they had been imposed upon and deceived; he ordered a guard about him while he was there, and to conduct him, and all that belonged to him, safely out of his dominions, as appears by what follows: but Dr. Lightfoot {m} is of opinion, that he gave charge to the Egyptians, making it as it were a law for the time to come, that they should not converse with Hebrews, nor with foreign shepherds, in any so near familiarity, as to eat or drink with them, which the Egyptians observed strictly ever after, Ge 43:32



and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had; they did not drive him out by force, or in any disgraceful manner, but being committed to a guard of men, appointed by the king, he had safe conduct out of the land, with his family, and all that he had; all that he brought with him, and all the increase he had made there, and all the gifts he had received of the king. The Jews {n} interpret it of the writings and gifts he had given to Sarai; and they {o} observe a great likeness between Abram's descent into Egypt, his being there, and departure out of it, and that of his posterity in later times; as that they both went thither on account of a famine; that they both went down to sojourn there; and that they both went out with great substance; with other particulars observed by them.



{m} See his Works, vol. 1. p. 694. {n} Pirke Eliezer, c. 26. {o} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 40. fol. 35. 3.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 13:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 13



This chapter gives an account of the return of Abram from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and to the same place in it he had been before,

Ge 13:1 and of a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, and the occasion of it, Ge 13:5 which was composed by the prudent proposal of Abram, Ge 13:8 upon which they parted; Abram continued in Canaan, and Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and dwelt near Sodom, a place infamous for wickedness, Ge 13:10 after which the Lord renewed to Abram the grant of the land of Canaan to him, and to his seed, Ge 13:14 and then he removed to the plain of Mamre in Hebron, and there set up the worship of God, Ge 13:18.



Ver. 1. And Abram went up out of Egypt,.... That country lying low, and so more easy to be watered by the river Nile, as it was, and Canaan being higher; whither he went, but not till the famine in Canaan ceased: he went out of Egypt, as the Jewish {p} chronologers say, after he had been there three months; but Artapanus {q} an Heathen writer, says, he stayed there twenty years:



he and his wife, and all that he had; servants and cattle:



and Lot with him: from whence it is clear that he went down with him into Egypt, and it is highly probable had great respect and favour shown him on account of his relation to Abram and Sarai; for it appears by what follows, that he was become very rich: and they all went up



into the south; into the southern part of the land of Canaan, for otherwise they came to the north; for as Egypt lay south with respect to Canaan, Canaan was north from Egypt; but they journeyed to that part of that land which was commonly called the south, either Negeb, as here, or Daroma; See Gill on "Zec 7:7".



{p} Seder Olam Rabba, p. 2. {q} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 18. p. 420.





Genesis 13:2



Ver. 2. And Abram was very rich,.... He was rich in spiritual things, in faith, and in all other graces, and was an heir of the kingdom of heaven; and in temporal things, as it sometimes is the lot of good men to be, though but rarely, at least to be exceeding rich, as Abram was; or "very heavy" {r}, as the word signifies, he was loaded with wealth and riches, and sometimes an abundance of riches are a burden to a man, and, instead of making him more easy, create him more trouble; and, as we may observe presently, were the occasion of much trouble to Abram and Lot. Abram's riches lay



in cattle, in silver, and in gold; cattle are mentioned first, as being the principal part of the riches of men in those days, such as sheep and oxen, he and she asses and camels, see Ge 12:16 and besides these he had great quantities of silver and gold: the Jews say {s} he coined money in his own name, and that his coin had on one side an old man and an old woman, and on the other side a young man and a young woman. His riches no doubt were greatly increased by the gifts and presents he received from the king of Egypt during his stay there.



{r} dam dbk "gravis valde", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Schmidt. {s} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 2. 1.





Genesis 13:3



Ver. 3. And he went on in his journeys from the south,.... He took the same tour, went the same road, stopping at the same resting places, as when he went down to Egypt; having learned, as Jarchi observes, the way of the earth, that a man should not change his host. Though some, as Ben Gersom, understand it of his taking his journeys as were suitable for his cattle, as they were able to bear them, and not overdrive them, lest he should kill them, but made short stages, and frequently stopped and rested. And thus he went on through the southern part of the land, until he came



even to Bethel; as it was afterwards called, though now Luz,

Ge 28:19



unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning; when he first came into the land of Canaan, to a mountain



between Bethel and Hai; afterwards called Mount Ephraim, and was four miles from Jerusalem on the north {t}; see Ge 12:8.



{t} Bunting's Travels, &c. p. 59.





Genesis 13:4



Ver. 4. Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first,.... When he first came to that place, and before he went down to Egypt: it is not said he came to the altar, but "to the place", where it had stood, for it seems now to have been demolished, either having fallen of itself, being made of earth, or had been destroyed by the Canaanites, since Abram left it; or perhaps it might be pulled down by Abram himself before he went from thence, that it might not be used and polluted by the idolatrous Canaanites.



And there Abram called on the name of the Lord; prayed unto him, and gave him thanks for the preservation of him and his wife in Egypt; for the support of himself and his family there during the famine in Canaan; for the increase of his worldly substance, and for the protection of him, and all that belonged to him, in his journey from Egypt thither; and for all the instances of his grace, and the rich experiences of his goodness he had favoured him with;

See Gill on "Ge 12:8" where the same form of expression is used.





Genesis 13:5



Ver. 5. And Lot also, which went with Abram,.... into Egypt, and was now come back with him;



had flocks, and herds, and tents; flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, of oxen, asses and camels, and tents for himself and his servants to dwell in, and put his substance in.





Genesis 13:6



Ver. 6. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together,.... That part of the country where Abram and Lot were could not afford them room enough for their several tents; or however could not furnish them with sufficient pasturage for their flocks and herds, they were so numerous; at least could not do it so as to be contiguous to each other, that there was a necessity of one of them going further off:



for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together; we have before an account of the substance of each of them, how great it was; and here now is noted an inconvenience which arises from a large increase of riches, that relations and friends are obliged to part, and cannot dwell together; what one would think would make them more comfortable together, is the cause and occasion of their separation.





Genesis 13:7



Ver. 7. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle,.... Not between the two masters, but between their servants, their upper servants, that had the care of their herds to feed them, and water them; and it is very probable their strife was about pasturage and watering places, the one endeavouring to get them from the other, or to get the best; which is much more likely than what Jarchi suggests, that the herdmen of Lot were wicked men, and fed their cattle in the fields of others, and the herdmen of Abram reproved them for their robbery; but they said, the land is given of Abram, and he hath no heir, but Lot is his heir, and what robbery is this? and to this sense are the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem:



and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land; which observation is made by Moses to point to a reason why they could not both of them have a sufficiency for their large flocks and herds, because the country was in the possession of others; and though there was to spare, yet not enough for them both. The Canaanite, though it was a general name for the people of the whole land, yet was given to a particular family in it, and was derived from their first founder Canaan, the son of Ham; the Perizzite was another family or tribe of the same nation, who had their name from zwrp, "a village"; these being Pagans or villagers, living in huts, or houses, or tents scattered up and down in the fields, and were a rough, inhuman, and unsociable sort of people, and therefore it could not be expected that they would oblige them with much pasturage and water for their flocks: and besides, this may be remarked, partly to show the danger that Abram and Lot were in through the dissension of their herdmen, since those people that were so nigh might take the advantage of their quarrels among themselves, and fall upon them both, and destroy them, and therefore a reconciliation was necessary; and partly to observe the reproach that was like to come upon them, and upon the true religion, for their sakes, should they differ among themselves, which such sort of men would gladly catch at, and improve against them.





Genesis 13:8



Ver. 8. And Abram said unto Lot,.... Being either an ear witness himself of the contentions of their servants, or having it reported to him by credible persons, he applied himself to Lot, in order to make peace, being a wise and good man; and though he was senior in years, and superior in substance, and higher in the class of relation, and upon all accounts the greatest man, yet he makes the proposal first, and lays a scheme before Lot for their future friendship, and to prevent quarrels, and the mischievous consequences of them:



let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee; there had been none yet, but it was very likely there would, if the dissension should go on between their servants; they could not well avoid interesting themselves in it, when it related to their respective properties; and there must be a right and wrong in such cases to be looked into and adjusted, which might occasion a difference between them; and this Abram was desirous of preventing, and therefore bespeaks his kinsman in this loving, affectionate, and condescending language:



and [or] between my herdmen and thy herdmen; as he understood there was, and which, if not timely put an end to, might be of bad consequence to them both, especially as to their peace and comfort, giving this excellent reason to enforce his request:



for we [be] brethren; or "men brethren we [be]" {u}; we are men, let us act like such, the rational and humane part; they were brethren being men, so by nature all are brethren; by natural relation, Lot being the son of his brother Haran; brethren in religion, of the same faith in the one true and living God, and worshippers of him; and therefore on all accounts, by the ties of nature, relation, and religion, they were obliged to seek and cultivate peace and love.



{u} wnxna Myxa Myvna "viri fratres vos", Pagninus Montanus, Drusius, Schmidt.





Genesis 13:9



Ver. 9. [Is] not the whole land before thee?.... Signifying, that though there were not room and convenience for them both in that part of the country in which they were, yet there were in other parts; and though the land was given to Abram, he did not desire Lot to depart out of it; nay, he sets it all before him to choose what part he would dwell in, which was great condescension in him:



separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; not that he was weary of his company and fellowship with him, but, as things were circumstanced, a separation was necessary for the subsistence of their herds and flocks, and for the peace and comfort of their respective families; nor did he desire him to go out of the land, or be so far from him, that he could be of no advantage to him; but though separate, yet so near him as to give him help and assistance, as there might be occasion for it, and as there was some time after, which appears from the history of the following chapter.



If [thou wilt take] the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if [thou depart] to the right hand, then I will go to the left; or as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,



"if thou wilt go to the north, I will go to the south, or if thou wilt go to the south, I will go to the north:''



for when a man stands with his face to the east, the principal part, the north is on his left hand, and the south on his right; and this was an usual way of speaking in the eastern countries; but they were not, as Grotius observes, Aristotelians, who make the east the right hand, and the west the left. This was an instance of the peaceable disposition of Abram, and of his humility and condescension to give his nephew leave, who was in all respects inferior to him, to make his choice, to go which way he would, and take what part of the country he pleased.





Genesis 13:10



Ver. 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes,.... He immediately fell in with Abram's proposal, but had not the ingenuity to return back the choice to Abram which he gave him, but took the advantage of it; nor did he show any uneasiness or unwillingness to part from Abram, though so near a relation, and so wise and good a man, and by whose means greatly he had obtained his riches; but without giving himself any concern about this, he at once cast about in his mind where to make his choice; he considered within himself which was the best part of the country, and most convenient for his flocks and herds, and where he was most likely to increase his substance; for this phrase chiefly has respect to the eyes of the understanding, he made use of, consulted with himself with his rational powers what was fittest to be done; unless we can suppose him situated on some considerable eminence, from whence he could have a view of the whole country he made choice of, as follows:



and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it [was] well watered every where; a large plain, full of rich pasturage, which had its name from the river Jordan, which by various windings and turnings ran through it, and which at harvest time overflowed its banks, and greatly contributed to the richness of the soil:



before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: as he afterwards did by fire from heaven, and then that part of the plain on which those cities stood was turned into a sulphurous lake:



[even] as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt; as any most excellent garden that is full of plants and trees, well watered, and well cultivated, and taken care of; as things most excellent are sometimes expressed by having the name of God, or the Lord, added to them, as the "cedars of God", &c. or as the garden of Eden, which was planted by the Lord, abounding with all kind of trees, and was well watered by a river running through it: and some think that the plain of Jordan, and the parts thereabout, were the real garden of Eden; wherefore one learned {w} man takes the "as" here not to be a note of similitude, but of reality, and not merely comparative but causal, giving a reason why it was so watered, being the garden God; so that the plain was not like unto, but really was the garden of Eden: and another observes {x}, that the words should be rendered, "so was the garden of the Lord, as the land of Egypt", and that the repetition of the similitude only makes one comparison, and not two; not that the plain of Jordan is first compared with the garden of the Lord, and then with the land of Egypt; but the plain of Jordan, or garden of the Lord, is only compared with the land of Egypt; and with that undoubtedly it is compared, it being once a year overflowed by the river Jordan, as the land of Egypt was with the Nile, and was a most delightful and fruitful spot like that:



as thou comest unto Zoar; which is not to be connected with the land of Egypt, for Zoar was at a great distance from Egypt, but with the plain of Jordan, well watered everywhere till you come to Zoar, at the skirts of it, and which is by an anticipation called Zoar; for at this time, when Abram and Lot parted, it was called Bela, and afterwards, on another account, had the name of Zoar; see Ge 14:2.



{w} Nic. Abram. Pharus Ver. Test. p. 59. {x} Texelii Phoenix, l. 3. c. 7. p. 262.





Genesis 13:11



Ver. 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan,.... Because of its good pasturage, and because of the plenty of water there; the want of both which was the inconvenience he had laboured under, and had occasioned the strife between his and Abram's servants:



and Lot journeyed east, or "eastward"; for the plain of Jordan, and that part of the land on which Sodom and Gomorrah stood, were to the east of Bethel: the phrase is by some rendered "from the east" {y}, and the particle used most commonly so signifies; and Jarchi observes, that he journeyed from east to west; and Aben Ezra says, that Sodom was at the west of Bethel, in which he is most certainly wrong, for it was most clearly in the eastern part of the land; wherefore others, that follow this version, interpret it, that he went from the east of Bethel, or he went into that country situated at the east with respect to the land of Canaan; but it is best to render it as we do, east or eastward, to or towards the east {z}:



and they separated themselves the one from the other; that is, Abram and Lot, they parted good friends by consent; and the one went with his family, flocks, and herds, to one place, and settled there; and the other in another place, and so further animosities and contentions were prevented.



{y} Mdqm "ab Oriente", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Cocceius, Schmidt. {z} "Orientem versus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cartwrightus.





Genesis 13:12



Ver. 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,.... In that part of the land strictly so called, where the family of the Canaanites had their abode; for otherwise taking Canaan in a more general sense, the plain of Jordan, and cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, were in the land of Canaan.



And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain; in the neighbourhood of them, or near those cities, which were built on the plain of Jordan, for he could not dwell in more than one, if in one; for it looks as if at his first settlement he did not dwell in any, but near them all, especially Sodom: since it follows,



and pitched [his] tent toward Sodom, or "even unto Sodom" {a}; and it may be rendered, as it is by some, "he pitched his tents" {b}, for himself, his family, and his servants, his shepherds and his herdsmen, which reached unto Sodom, and where he afterwards dwelt, at least at the gate of it.



{a} Mdo de "usque Sodom", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. {b} lhayw "movens tentoria", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator & Tigurine version; so Jarchi.





Genesis 13:13



Ver. 13. But the men of Sodom [were] wicked,.... Which either he knew not, and so ignorantly made this bad choice, to take up his abode among such very wicked men, which occasioned a great deal of grief, trouble, and vexation to him; or if he knew it, the pleasing prospect of convenience for his cattle, and of enriching himself, was a temptation to him, and prevailed upon him to take such a step; and so Jarchi interprets it, "although" they were so, Lot was not restrained from dwelling among them:



and sinners before the Lord exceedingly; exceeding great sinners, guilty of the most notorious crimes, and addicted to the most scandalous and unnatural lusts that can be thought of; and these they committed openly and publicly in the sight of God, in the most daring and impudent manner, and in defiance of him, without any fear or shame. The Targum of Jonathan reckons up many of their sins, as defrauding of one another in their substance, sinning in their bodies, incest, unclean copulation, shedding of innocent blood, worshipping of idols, and rebelling against the name of the Lord; see Isa 3:9.





Genesis 13:14



Ver. 14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,.... The Lord appeared unto him as he had before, and with an articulate voice spoke unto him, to comfort him upon the separation of his kinsman from him, and to renew the grant of the land of Canaan to him and his seed, and to assure him, that though Lot had chosen the most delightful and fruitful part of the country, yet it should not be an inheritance to him and his posterity, but the whole land should be Abraham's and his seed's.



Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art; being upon Mount Ephraim, between Bethel and Hai, see Ge 12:8; from whence his view of the land might be extended very far:



northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; the north of the land of Canaan was Mount Lebanon, the south of it Edom or Idumea, the east the plain and river of Jordan, the west the Mediterranean sea; and the word for "westward" here is "to the sea" {c}; northward of it was Babylon, southward Egypt, eastward Arabia, and westward the Mediterranean sea.



{c} hmyw "et ad mare", Montanus, Schmidt.





Genesis 13:15



Ver. 15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,.... Not only so much of it as his eye could reach, but all of it, as far as it went, which way soever he looked; and this he gave him to sojourn in now where he pleased, and for his posterity to dwell in hereafter; he gave him the title to it now, and to them the possession of it for future times:



and to thy seed for ever; the meaning is, that he gave it to his posterity to be enjoyed by them until the Messiah came, when a new world would begin; and which Abram in person shall enjoy, with all his spiritual seed, after the resurrection, when that part of the earth will be renewed, as the rest; and where particularly Christ will make his personal appearance and residence, the principal seed of Abram, and will reign a thousand years; see Gill "Mt 22:32"; besides, this may be typical of the heavenly Canaan given to Abram, and all his spiritual seed, and which shall be enjoyed by them for evermore.





Genesis 13:16



Ver. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,.... An hyperbolical expression denoting the great multitude of Abram's posterity, as they were in the days of Solomon, and as they will be in the latter day; and especially as this may respect all the spiritual seed of Abram, Jews and Gentiles, and as they will be in the spiritual reign of Christ, see Ho 1:10;



so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, [then] shall thy seed be numbered; but as it is impossible to do the one, so the other is not practicable, see Nu 23:10.





Genesis 13:17



Ver. 17. Arise, walk through the land,.... And take a survey of it, and see what a land it is, how good and how large, and take possession of it for himself and his, though he was only to be a sojourner in it; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds, and making in it a possession, which in civil law was done by walking:



in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; the extent of it is variously settled by geographers; some giving it no more than about one hundred and seventy or eighty miles in length, from north to south, and about one hundred and forty in breadth from east to west, where broadest, as it is towards the south, and but about seventy where narrowest, as it is towards the north: but it is observed {d} from the latest and most accurate maps, that it appears to extend near two hundred miles in length, and about eighty in breadth about the middle, and ten or fifteen more or less where it widens or shrinks:



for I will give it unto thee; that is, to his seed, the whole of it, in its utmost extent, as to length and breadth; which if he pleased for his own satisfaction he might take a tour through, whereby he would be a judge what was bestowed on him and his



{d} Vid. Universal History, vol. 2. p. 385.





Genesis 13:18



Ver. 18. Then Abram removed [his] tent,.... From the mountain between Bethel and Hai, Ge 13:3;



and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, or "in the oaks of Mamre" {e}; in a grove of oaks there, as being shady and pleasant to dwell among or under, and not through any superstitious regard to such trees and places where they grew; which has obtained since among the Heathens, and particularly among the Druids, who have their name from thence. Indeed such superstitions might take their rise from hence, being improved and abused to such purposes; and both Jerom {f} and Sozomen {g} speak of the oak of Abram being there in the times of Constantine, and greatly resorted to, and had in great veneration; and they and others make mention of a turpentine tree, which it is pretended sprung from a walking stick of one of the angels that appeared to Abram at this place, greatly regarded in a superstitious way by all sorts of persons: this plain or grove of oaks, here spoken of, was called after a man whose name was Mamre, an Amorite, a friend and confederate of Abram:



which [is] in Hebron; or near it, an ancient city built seven years before Zoan or Tanis in Egypt, Nu 13:22; it was first called Kirjath Arbab, but, in the times of Moses, Hebron, Ge 23:2. The place they call the Turpentine, from the tree that grows there, according to Sozomen {h}, was fifteen furlongs distant from Hebron to the south; but Josephus {i} says it was but six furlongs, or three quarters of a mile; who speaking of Hebron says,



"the inhabitants of it say, that it is not only more ancient than the cities of that country, but than Memphis in Egypt, and is reckoned to be of 2300 years standing: they report, that it was the habitation of Abram, the ancestor of the Jews, after he came out of Mesopotamia, and that from hence his children descended into Egypt, whose monuments are now shown in this little city, made of beautiful marble, and elegantly wrought; and there is shown, six furlongs from it, a large turpentine tree, which they say remained from the creation to that time.''



A certain traveller {j} tells us, that the valley of Mamre was about half a mile from old Hebron; from Bethel, whence Abram removed to Mamre, according to Sir Walter Raleigh {k}, was about twenty four miles; but Bunting {l} makes it thirty two:



and built there an altar unto the Lord; and gave thanks for the prevention of strife between Lot and him, and for the renewal of the grant of the land of Canaan to him and his seed; and performed all acts of religious worship, which the building of an altar is expressive of.



{e} armm ynlab "juxta quercetum Mamre", Tigurine version, Pagninus, Montanus; so Ainsworth. {f} De loc. Heb. fol. 87. E. tom. 3. {g} Eccles. Hist. l. 2. c. 4. p. 447. {h} lbid. {i} De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 7. {j} Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 2. c. 4. p. 79. {k} History of the World, par. 1. B. 2. sect. 3. p. 132. {l} Travels, p. 57.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 14:1



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, Ge 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, Ge 14:12; when he was met by the kings of Sodom and Salem, who congratulated him on his victory, Ge 14:17; and what passed between him, and those great personages, is related,

Ge 14:20.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass, in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar,.... Or Babylon, as Onkelos, where Nimrod began his kingdom,

Ge 10:8. This was Nimrod himself, as the Jewish writers generally says; though more likely Ninyas the son of Ninus and Semiramis, and grandson of Nimrod; or rather some petty prince or deputy governor of Shinar, under the king of Babylon; since, though named first, he was not the principal in this war, but fought under the king of Elam, and as an ally and auxiliary of his; and it may be the kingdom of Babylon was not as yet of any great extent and power, and that all those stories told of Ninus, Semiramis, and Ninyas, are mere fables; and indeed we hear nothing in Scripture of this kingdom, and the kings of it, from this time, until the times of Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, in the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah; nor of the Assyrian kingdom, and the kings of it, until Pul king of Assyria, in the times of Menahem king of Israel; wherefore it is greatly to be questioned, whether those kingdoms rose to any considerable height until these times: though some think that Shinar here does not intend Shinar in Chaldea or Babylon, which was too far distant from Abram, but Shinar in Mesopotamia, a large city at the foot of a mountain, three days distant from Mansil, which is now, in Arabic, called Singjar, and by Ptolemy, Singara {n}



Arioch king of Ellasar; or Telassar, according to the Targum of Jonathan, a place in Mesopotamia, inhabited by the children of Eden,

Isa 37:12; and Stephanus {o} makes mention of a city in Coelesyria, upon the borders of Arabia, called Ellas, of which this prince may be thought to be the governor; or rather he was king of a people called Elesari, whose country is placed by Ptolemy {p} in Arabia; and could Ninyas be thought to be Amraphel, this king would bid fair to be Ariaeus a king of Arabia, or a son of his of the same name, that was a confederate of Ninus, as Diodorus Siculus {q} relates out of Ctesias. Next follows,



Chedorlaomer king of Elam; or the Elamites, as the Vulgate Latin version, the Persians, see Ac 1:9. This led Diodorus {r} to say, that the war Moses speaks of is what the Persians waged against the Sodomites. This seems to have been the most powerful prince at this time, to whom the five kings of Sodom, &c. had been subject for twelve years, but now had rebelled, and to subdue them again he came forth, with three other kings his allies, see Ge 14:4; but if Elam is the same with Persia, as it often signifies, or with Elymais, a part of Persia, that kingdom could not be at this time so large and potent as it has been since; or Chedorlaomer would not have stood in need of the assistance of other princes against such petty kings as those of Sodom, &c. Nor does it seem credible that he should come out of Persia, and pass through so great a part of the world as the countries of Assyria, Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Syria, and part of Arabia and of Canaan, to bring five such small towns or cities into subjection to him, as he must, as Sir Walter Raleigh {s} observes; nor could the trifle of goods, as they may be comparatively called, he carried off, be an equivalent to the expense he must be at in so long a march. It is more probable, therefore, that this was the name of some place near to the land of Canaan, built by some of the posterity of Elam, the son of Shem, and called after the name of their ancestor; or it may be a colony of the Elamites in those parts, of which this prince was their head and chief:



and Tidal king of nations; that is, either of other nations distinct from those before mentioned, so Aben Ezra; or else, as he also observes, the name of a province; or as Jarchi and Ben Melech, the name of a place called Goim, because there were gathered together many out of various nations and places, and they set a man to reign over them, whose name was Tidal; just as one of the Galilees in later times was called Galilee of the nations, for a like reason. Sir Walter Raleigh {t} conjectures, that as there were many petty kingdoms joining to Phoenicia and Palestine, as Palmyrene, Batanea, Laodicene, Apamene, Chalcidice, Cassiotis and Celibonitis, these might be gathered together under this man. According to Eupolemus {u}, an Heathen writer, these several princes were Armenians that fought with the Phoenicians, and overcame them, by whom Lot was carried captive. Josephus {w} indeed, accommodating himself to the Greek historians, and in favour of them, says that the Assyrians at this time were masters of Asia, and led out an army under four generals, and made the kings of Sodom, &c. tributary to them; and they rebelling against them, made another expedition upon them under these four kings as their generals, and conquered them: but it seems not likely that the Assyrian monarchy was so large at this time; or if it was, these live petty kings of the plain of Jordan, who had not so much ground as our Middlesex, as Sir Walter Raleigh {x} observes, and perhaps not a quarter of the people in it, would never have dared to have engaged with so powerful an adversary.



{n} Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 46. {o} De Urbibus. {p} Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. {q} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 90. {r} Apud Drusium in loc. {s} History of the World, par. 1. B. 2. c. 1. sect. 13. p. 138. {t} Ibid. sect. 11. p. 137. {u} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 17. p. 418. {w} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 9. {x} Ut supra, (History of the World, par. 1. B. 2. c. 1.) sect. 10. p. 136.





Genesis 14:2



Ver. 2. [That these] made war with Bera king of Sodom,.... A city in the plain of Jordan, which with the four following made the Pentapolis, or five cities of the plain. Strabo {y} says, in this place formerly were thirteen cities, the metropolis of which was Sodom, and which yet had remaining a compass of sixty furlongs; according to Dr. Lightfoot {z}, it should be placed in the southern extremity of the lake Asphaltites, whereas it is usually set in the maps in the northern bounds of it:



and with Birsha king of Gomorrah; another city in the plain of Jordan, called by Solinus {a} Gomorrum:



Shinab king of Admah; a third city situated in the same plain:



and Shemeber king of Zeboiim; a fourth city of the plain, which seems to have its name from the pleasantness of its situation:



and the king of Bela, which is Zoar; so it was afterwards called by Lot, being a little city, Ge 19:20; but before, Bela; the name of its king is not mentioned, being a person of no great note and importance, and his city small.



{y} Geograph. l. 16. p. 526. {z} Works, vol. 2. p. 6. Vid. Reland. Palestina illustrata, tom. 2. p. 1020. {a} Polyhistor. c. 48.





Genesis 14:3



Ver. 3. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim,.... Or "of fields", or "ploughed lands" {b}, a fruitful vale abounding with corn; or of gardens or paradises, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, being full of gardens and orchards, and was as the garden of the Lord, even as Eden, see Ge 13:10; though Aben Ezra thinks it had its name from the slime or bitumen, of which there was great plenty in it, see Ge 14:10. Now the above five kings, as they all dwelt in the plain, they entered into a confederacy, met together, and joined their forces in this vale, to oppose the four kings that were come to make war with them, as being an advantageous place, as they judged, perhaps on more accounts than one; and here they stayed to receive the enemy, and give him battle, see Ge 14:8;



which is the salt sea; afterwards so called, not at this time, for then it would not have been fit for armies to be drawn up in battle array in it; but it was so called in the times of Moses, and after this fine vale was turned into a bituminous lake, and had its name from the saltness of the waters of the lake, or from the city Melach, or city of salt, which was near it, Jos 15:62.



{b} Mydvh qme la "valle amaenissimorum agrorum", Munster; "in planitie agrorum", Fagius; so Jarchi; "in valle occationum", Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 937. "dicta ab agris occatis", Schmidt.





Genesis 14:4



Ver. 4. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,.... King of Elam, who was of the race of Shem, and so the prophecy of Noah began to be fulfilled, that Canaan should be servant to Shem, Ge 9:26; for the kings of Sodom, &c. and their subjects, were of the race of Ham in the line of Canaan, who had by violence seized on that part of the earth which was allotted to the sons of Shem, and therefore Chedorlaomer being a descendant of his claimed his right, and made them tributary to him, which they were for the space of twelve years:



and in the thirteenth year they rebelled; refused homage to Chedorlaomer and to pay tribute to him.





Genesis 14:5



Ver. 5. 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 De 2:11; but they were one of the nations or tribes of the Canaanites,

Ge 15:20; and had their name either from the Hebrew word apr, which signifies to be healthful and robust, as those people might be, or from Rephas, the Remphan of Stephen, Ac 7:43; called Chiun, Am 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, De 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, 1Ki 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 De 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, De 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.





Genesis 14:6



Ver. 6. And the Horites in their Mount Seir,.... Or the Horim who dwelt in Mount Seir, so called from Seir the Horite, who continued here till they were drove out by the sons of Esau or Edom, from whom their country was afterwards called Edom or Idumea, see Ge 36:20 De 2:12;



unto Elparan, which [is] by the wilderness; so far these Horites inhabited, and the four kings smote all they met with unto this place, which was either the plain or oak of Paran, near a wilderness of the same name; the wilderness of Arabia, through which the Israelites travelled forty years, in their way to Canaan.





Genesis 14:7



Ver. 7. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh,.... Pursuing their victories as far as Elparan by the wilderness, they had passed by the country of the Amalekites; wherefore they "returned", or came back to fall upon them, and they came to a place called Enmishpat, or the "fountain of judgment"; which was not its future name, as Jarchi thinks, because there Moses and Aaron were to be judged concerning the business of that fountain, even the waters of Meribah, with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan;



"and they returned and came to the place where the judgment of Moses the prophet was determined by the fountain of the waters of contention:''



but it seems to have been the ancient name of the place, and by which it was called at this time, as Kadesh was the name of it at the time of Moses writing this; and therefore he adds,



which [is] Kadesh; that is, which is now called Kadesh, because there the Lord was sanctified, when the rock at that place was smitten, and waters gushed out: it was a city on the uttermost border of the land of Edom, Nu 20:1, and seems formerly to have been a place where causes were heard and judgment passed; and so Onkelos paraphrases it,



"to the plain of the division or decision of judgment;''



which, as Jarchi himself interprets it,



"is a place where the men of the province gathered together for all judgment;''



or for hearing all causes and determining them:



and smote all the country of the Amalekites; which, according to Josephus {k}, reached from Pelusium in Egypt to the Red sea; they inhabited Arabia Petraea, for he {l} says, the inhabitants of Gobolitis and Petra are called Amalekites; which name is generally supposed to have been given them here by way of anticipation, since the commonly received opinion is, that they were the descendants of Amalek, a grandson of Esau, who was not born when this war was waged, see

Ge 36:12; but the Mahometan writers derive the pedigree of Amalek, from whom these people had their name, from Noah in the line of Ham, and make him to be some generations older than Abram, which with them stands thus, Noah, Ham, Aram, Uz, Ad, Amalek {m}; and they speak of the Amalekites as dwelling in the country about Mecca, from whence they were driven by the Jorhamites {n}: and indeed it seems more probable that the Amalekites were of the posterity of Ham, since Chedorlaomer, a descendant of Shem, falls upon them, and smites them; and they being confederates with the Canaanites, and are with the Amorites, Philistines, and other Canaanitish nations, always mentioned, seem to be a more ancient nation than what could proceed from Amalek the son of Eliphaz, since Amalek is said to be the first of the nations,

Nu 24:20; nor does there ever appear to be any harmony and friendship between them and the Edomites, as it might be thought there would, if they were a branch of Esau's family; nor did they give them any assistance, when destroyed by Saul, so that they seem rather to be a tribe of the Canaanitish nations; and they are, by Philo {o} the Jew, expressly called Phoenicians:



and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar; the same with the Emorites, see Ge 10:16; another tribe or nation of the Canaanites descended from Amor or Emor, a son of Canaan: the place of their habitation has its name of Hazezontamar from the multitude of palm trees which grew there: for Tamar signifies a palm tree, and Hazezon is from Uux "to cut"; and this part of the name seems to be taken from the cutting of the top, crown, or head of the palm tree, for the sake of a liquor which has a more luscious sweetness than honey; and is of the consistence of a thin syrup, as Dr. Shaw {p} relates; the head of the palm tree being cut off, the top of the trunk is scooped into the shape of a basin, as he says, where the sap in ascending lodges itself at the rate of three or four quarts a day during the first week or fortnight, after which the quantity daily diminishes; and at the end of six weeks or two months the juices are entirely consumed, and the tree becomes dry, and serves only for timber or, firewood. This place is the same with Engedi, 2Ch 20:2; and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan here translate it, "in Engedi"; and which place Pliny {q} says was famous for groves of palm trees; it was a city near the Dead sea, see

Eze 47:8; and Josephus says {r} it was situated by the lake Asphaltites, that is, the place where Sodom and Gomorrah stood; and he adds, that it was three hundred furlongs distant from Jerusalem, where were the best palm trees and balsam: so that now the four kings had got pretty near Sodom; wherefore it follows,



{k} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 7. sect. 3. {l} lbid. l. 3. c. 2. sect. 1. {m} Taarich, M. S. apud Reland. Palestina illustrata, tom. 1. p. 81. {n} Alkodaius, apud Pocock. Specimen Arab. Hist. p. 173. {o} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 636. {p} Travels, tom. 1. p. 143. Ed. 2. {q} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 17. {r} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 1. sect. 2.





Genesis 14:8



Ver. 8. And there went out the king of Sodom,.... With his armed men to meet the four kings, and give them battle, being so near him, and in so much danger from them, that if they could not stand their ground, they might flee to the mountains, and not perish in the city:



and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the King of Zeboiim; whose names are before given, Ge 14:2:



and the king of Bela, the same [is] Zoar: as in Ge 14:2:



and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; where the five Canaanitish kings met, of which see Ge 14:3; and fought the four kings that were come forth against them, and whose names are repeated, and are as follow:





Genesis 14:9



Ver. 9. With Chedorlaomer king of Elam,.... Who is here mentioned first, being the principal in the war, and against whom the kings of Sodom, &c. had rebelled:



and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; who were his allies, confederates, and auxiliaries:



four kings with five; those four last mentioned, with the other five before spoken of, that is, they fought with them; or rather four kings against five, as the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, and some others.





Genesis 14:10



Ver. 10. And the vale of Siddim [was full of] slimepits,.... Or "wells" or "fountains of slime" or bitumen {s}; a liquid of a pitchy nature, cast out of fountains, and which was used for a cement in buildings; such fountains were near Babylon, See Gill on "Ge 11:3"; so that this place was naturally prepared for what it was designed to be, a bituminous lake; and hence, when turned into one, it was called the lake Asphaltites, from this slime or bitumen, called by the Greeks "asphaltos". Brocardus {t} says, these pits or wells of bitumen are at this day on the shore of the lake, each of them having pyramids erect, which he saw with his own eyes; and such pits casting out bitumen, as fountains do water, have been found in other countries, as in Greece {u}. Now this vale being full of such pits, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah chose it to fight in, and here drew up in a line of battle, hoping that the enemy, being ignorant of them, would fall into them and perish, and their ranks be broke and fall into confusion; but as it often is, that the pit men dig and contrive for others they fall into themselves, so it was in this case:



and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled: the battle going hard against them, and they not able to stand before their enemies:



and fell there, or "into them" {w}; the slimepits, or fountains of bitumen, into which they precipitately fell, and many perished; or of their own accord they threw themselves into them for their own safety, as some think; though the sense may be this, that there was a great slaughter of them made there, as the word is frequently used, see 1Sa 4:10; this is to be understood not of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah; for it is certain that they were preserved alive, at least the king of Sodom, for we hear of him afterwards, Ge 14:17; but of their soldiers:



and they that remained fled to the mountain: or mountains hard by, where Lot after went when Sodom was destroyed, Ge 19:30; hither such fled that escaped the sword of the enemy, or perished not in the slimepits, judging it more safe to be there, than to be in their cities, which would fall into the hands of their enemies, and be plundered by them, and where they would be in danger of losing their lives.



{s} rmh trab trab "putei, putei bituminis", Vatablus, Piscator, Cartwright, Drusius, Schmidt; so Jarchi. {t} Apud Adricom. Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 44. {u} Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 13. c. 16. {w} hmv "in eos", Cocceius.





Genesis 14:11



Ver. 11. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah,.... They entered these cities and pillaged them, and carried off everything valuable in them, that was portable or could be driven, as their cattle, &c. they did not burn these cities, nor take possession of them, and leave garrisons in them, which shows them to be petty princes that came for plunder, and to get an equivalent for nonpayment of tribute to one of them:



and all their victuals, and went away; all the meat and drink they could light of, with which they refreshed their troops, and then departed.





Genesis 14:12



Ver. 12. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son,.... The son of Haran, his elder brother, who was now, as the Jews say {x}, fifty years of age:



who dwelt in Sodom, or near it, in the country adjacent to it, see

Ge 13:12; and so being a neighbour of the men of Sodom, and a sojourner among them, he partakes of their punishment; and this was a just correction of him for choosing to dwell among such a people: and they took



his goods, and departed; as him and his family, so all his substance, his cattle, wealth, and riches of every sort, and went off with it: Eupolemus {y}, an Heathen writer, makes mention of this circumstance in his relation of this war, and says, that the Armenians, as he calls the four kings, baring conquered the Phoenicians, carried away captive the brother's son of Abram.



{x} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 77. 1. {y} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 17. p. 418.





Genesis 14:13



Ver. 13. And there came one that escaped,.... Both the sword of the enemy and the slimepits; either one of the inhabitants of Sodom, who had an acquaintance with Lot and a friendship for him, and knew his relation to Abram; or one of Lot's family, that might escape being taken and carried captive: for not Michael the prince, so called, because when the angels fell they would have drawn him with them, but God delivered him, and therefore his name was called jylp, or "one that escaped", as the Jews {z} say; nor Og, that escaped the waters of the flood, as they also say {a}, and now from this war, and was the only one left of the Rephaim, or giants, whom Amraphel slew, which they gather from De 3:11; who they suppose came with the following message to Abram with an ill design, that he might go out to war with the kings, and be slain, and then he thought to marry his wife; but these are idle fancies, what is first suggested is right.



And told Abram the Hebrew; that there had been a battle of four kings with five, that the latter were beaten, among whom were the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah; and that Lot, his kinsman, who dwelt in or near Sodom, was carried captive, with all his goods. Abram is called the Hebrew, either from his passing over or coming beyond the river Euphrates, from Chaldea into Canaan; with which the Septuagint version agrees, rendering it the "passer over"; and so Jarchi says he is called, because he came beyond the river: or rather from his having lived beyond it, as such as dwelt there were called; for it can hardly be thought that he should peculiarly have this name from that single action of his passing the river, which multitudes did besides him: but rather, why should he not be called Ibri, the word here used, from the place of his birth? For, according to the Talmudists {b}, Ur of the Chaldees was called aryez arbye, "little Ibra"; though it is more generally thought he had this name from his being a descendant of Eber, and who was not only of his sons' sons, and spoke the same language, but professed the same religion, and which was continued in his posterity, who to the latest ages were called Hebrews, and sometimes Eber, Nu 24:24; and which is the opinion of many Jewish writers {c}, and seems most probable:



for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite; see Ge 13:18; it was about forty miles from Sodom, but from it to Dan, whither he pursued the four kings, and where he overtook, fought, and smote them, is by some computed one hundred and twenty four miles {d}: this Mamre, from whom the plain or grove of oaks were called, was the



brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; who are particularly mentioned, because of their concern in the following expedition:



and these [were] confederate with Abram; or "[were] masters" or "authors of a covenant" {e} with him; they had entered into a league to defend one another, their persons and properties, from the insults of invaders and tyrants, or thieves and robbers: and it may be lawful to form such leagues with irreligious persons on such accounts, where there is no prohibition from God, as there was none as yet, though there afterwards was one; and the Israelites, were forbid to make covenants with the Canaanites, but that was after they were drove out of the land for their sins, De 7:1; besides, it is not improbable that these men were religious men, and worshipped the same God with Abram, for such there were among the Canaanitish princes, of which Melchizedek, after spoken of, is an instance; and as yet the sin of the Amorites was not full, of which tribe or nation these men were.



{z} Pirke Eliezer, c. 27. {a} Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 42. fol. 37. 2. T. Bab. Niddah, fol. 61. 1. {b} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1. & Gloss. in ib. {c} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 42. fol. 37. 3. Sepher Cosri, par. 1. sect. 49. fol. 24. 2. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 75. 1. Aben Ezra on Exod. i. 16. {d} Bunting's Travels, p. 57. {e} tyrb yleb, "Domini vel antores foederis", Piscator, Oleaster.





Genesis 14:14



Ver. 14. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive,.... That is, his brother's son Lot, as in Ge 14:12; which was contrary to the law of nations; since Lot was only a sojourner, and not an inhabitant n Sodom, and therefore had no concern in the quarrel between the kings, and this justified Abram's taking up arms on his behalf:



he armed his trained [servants]; such as were trained up by him in religious exercises, see Ge 18:19; in the affairs and business of civil life, in the care of flocks and herds, and particularly in the art of war; which was both lawful and necessary, for the preservation of his family and substance from oppressors:



born in his own house; of his servants, and so were his property, and at his disposal and command; their number was



three hundred and eighteen, a large number for servants, and which showed how great a man Abram was, what possessions he must have to employ so many, and yet but a small number for an army, to go forth with against four kings who had conquered five; though how many his confederates brought with them is not certain:



and pursued [them] unto Dan; the Jerusalem Targum is, to Dan of Caesarea, meaning Caesarea of Philippi, as in the times of Christ and his apostles it was called; which at first had the name of Leshem, or Lais, and was not called Dan until the times of the judges,

Jud 18:29; wherefore, if the same place is intended here, it is so called not only by anticipation, but by a spirit of prophecy; since it had not the name of Dan even in the times of Moses, the writer of this history, unless it may be thought to be inserted by Samuel or some other inspired writer, after Moses; though there is no need to suppose either of these, seeing there might be a town or city of this name in those parts at this time, or however one of the springs of Jordan might be so called, from whence the river had its name as early, Ge 13:11; and so Josephus {f} expressly says, speaking of this expedition, that Abram fell upon them at Dan, for so, adds he, the other fountain of Jordan is called.



{f} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 10. sect. 1.





Genesis 14:15



Ver. 15. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants by night,.... Together with his confederates; and very probably their whole three was divided into four parts, under their four leaders; and this might be done in order to attack the four kings and their soldiers, who might be in four separate bodies; or to fall upon their camp in the four quarters of it, and to make a show of a greater army, thereby to intimidate the enemy: Abram seems to have understood the art of war, and the use of stratagems in it; and, as it might be night before he could come up to them, he took the advantage of that, and fell upon them unawares, when some were asleep in their beds, and others drunk, as Josephus {g} relates; and who also says, it was on the fifth night after Abram had knowledge of what had happened at Sodom:



and smote them, and pursued them unto Hoba, which [is] on the left hand of Damascus; a famous city in Syria; it was in later times the metropolis of that country, Isa 7:8; and was most delightfully situated in a vale, See Gill on "Jer 49:25"; according to Josephus {h} it was built by Uz, the son of Aram and grandson of Shem, and some say {i} by Shem himself, and that it is to this day called Sem in the Saracene language, and lay between Palestine and Coelesyria; on the left hand of this city, or on the north of it, as all the Targums paraphrase it, lay a place called Hoba, and is completed to be eighty miles from Dan, from whence he pursued them hither, after he had discomfited them there.



{g} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 10. sect. 1. {h} lbid. c. 6. sect. 4. {i} Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 3. c. 4. p. 111.





Genesis 14:16



Ver. 16. And he brought back all the goods,.... Taken from Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 14:11;



and also brought again his brother Lot; his brother's son,

Ge 14:12, for whose sake chiefly he engaged in this enterprise: and his goods; money, cattle, &c.



and the women also, and the people; not only that belonged to Lot, but to Sodom and Gomorrah, who had been taken and carried captive; these were all rescued and brought back by Abram, see Ge 14:21;





Genesis 14:17



Ver. 17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him,.... While Abram was in pursuit of the four kings, the king of Sodom came down from the mountain whither he and those that escaped with him fled, and came to Sodom: and from hence he went out, not alone, but accompanied with his retinue, to meet Abram:



after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that [were] with him; to congratulate him upon the victory he had obtained over them; and this meeting was



at the valley of Shaveh; a most plain and even valley, as the word signifies, clear of trees and everything that obstructs sight or passage, as Jarchi observes, and so a proper place to have an interview in:



which [is] the king's dale; some say King Melchizedek's, but one should rather think it was the king of Sodom's; the Targum of Jonathan calls it the place of the king's exercise, where he had his diversions in riding, walking, &c. it can hardly be that in 2Sa 18:18; though some are of this opinion, being near to Jerusalem, which they suppose to be the same with Salem in Ge 14:18.





Genesis 14:18



Ver. 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine,.... Both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say, this is Shem the son of Noah, and which is the sense of the Jewish writers in general, and of many Christian ones; but, though it is highly probable he was living at this time, yet it is not easy to account for it why his name should be changed, or that he should reign in a country in the possession of his brother's son; or that he should meet Abram, and congratulate him on the slaughter of one of his own descendants, as Chedorlaomer was; and especially it cannot be said of him that he was without father or mother, or that those were not known, since Shem's parentage and pedigree are famous enough; some have thought him to be more than a mere man, even the Son of God himself, but he is manifestly distinguished from him in Heb 7:3; he seems to be what Josephus {k} says he was, a Canaanitish prince, a pious and religious man, eminently raised up by God, and whose genealogy was kept a secret, that he might be in this as in other things a type of Christ; but that he should be Canaan himself, as Dr. Clayton {l} thinks, a brother of Metsir, or Mizraim, the second son of Ham, being by Sanchoniatho called Sedec, is not likely, since he was cursed by Noah. Salem, of which he was king, is by the above Targums said to be Jerusalem, and which is the opinion of many writers, Jewish and Christian, and of which opinion I myself was formerly, See Gill on "Heb 7:1"; Jerusalem being plainly called Salem, Ps 76:2, but it seems clear from hence that it must be near to Sodom, and lay in the way between Damascus and Sodom; whereas Jerusalem was in a contrary situation, and lay nearly forty miles from Sodom; for Josephus says {m}, the lake Asphaltites, where Sodom once stood, was three hundred furlongs from Jerusalem, which is about thirty eight miles; and Jerom relates {n}, that Salem was a town near Scythopolis, which was so called in his times, and where was showed the palace of Melchizedek, which, by the largeness of the ruins, appeared to have been very magnificent, and takes it to be the same place with Shalem in

Ge 33:18; and Salim, near to which John was baptizing, Joh 3:23: this great man "brought forth bread and wine"; not as a priest for an offering, but as a munificent king, to refresh Abram and his weary troops, and which the king of Sodom could not do, because the victuals of that place were carried off by the four kings, Ge 14:11; and as Abram had the land of Canaan by promise, and now had made conquest in it over the invaders of it, Melchizedek, sensible of his right unto it, brings forth the best fruits of it, and, as Dr. Lightfoot observes {o}, tenders them to him as "livery and seisin" of it: in this Melchizedek was a type of Christ, who comforts and refreshes his hungry and weary people with himself, the bread of life, and with the wine of his love, as well as his name and title agree with him, who is a righteous King and Prince of Peace, Jer 23:5:



and he [was] the priest of the most high God; a priest as well as a king, as in many countries princes were both {p}; and in this he was a type of Christ in his kingly and priestly offices, who is a priest upon the throne, both king and priest, Zec 6:13. Melchizedek was a priest not of any of the Phoenician deities, but of the true and living God, who is above all gods, dwells in the highest heaven, and is the most High over all the earth; by him was he called to this office and invested with it, and he ministered to him in it.



{k} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 10. {l} Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 100. {m} Autiqu. l. 15. c. 6. sect. 2. {n} Ad Evagrium, tom. 3. fol. 13. E. {o} Works, vol. 1. p. 694. {p} "Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos", Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. vid. Servium in loc.





Genesis 14:19



Ver. 19. And he blessed him,.... Melchizedek blessed Abram, which was one part of his office as a priest, to wish and pray for a blessing on others, see Nu 6:23, &c. and herein typified Christ, who really blesses or confers blessings on all his people, even spiritual blessings, such as redemption, remission of sins, and justifying righteousness, adoption, and eternal life:



and said, blessed [be] Abram of the most high God; that is, may he be blessed by him who is the most high God, with all kind of blessings, both temporal and spiritual; or he declares him to be blessed of him, as he undoubtedly was, or foretells that he would be, as was certainly his case: and another epithet of God is added, which abundantly shows he was able to bless him, since he is the



possessor of heaven and earth; is the Maker of both, and has a right to dispose of all things in them, both heavenly and earthly.





Genesis 14:20



Ver. 20. And blessed be the most high God,.... Let his name be praised, and thanks be given to him for all mercies temporal and spiritual, since all flow from him, and particularly for the mercies Abram and others through him were now made partakers of; for whoever were the instruments, God was the efficient cause, and to him all the glory was to be given:



which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand; the four kings, who are called Abram's enemies, because the enemies of God and of true religion, and because they had been injurious to a relation of his; and especially they may be so called, if their intention was, as, say the Jewish writers {q} to slay him, beginning first with Lot: and those four kings, according to them, signify the four monarchies, the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman {r} who in their turns distressed his posterity, but in the latter day shall fall into their hands, as those did into Abram's, and fall by them:



and he gave him tithes of all; not Melchizedek to Abram, but Abram to Melchizedek, as appears from Heb 7:4; and these tithes were given not out of the goods that were recovered, for they were restored to the proprietors of them, but out of the spoils that were taken from the enemy, as is evident from the same place referred to; and these were given both as a return for the respect shown him by Melchizedek, and by way of thankfulness to God for the victory, whose priest he was; otherwise, as a king, he stood in no need of such a present; nor was it for his maintenance as a priest, or what Abram was obliged unto, but was a voluntary action, and not out of his own substance, but out of the spoils of the enemy, and to testify his gratitude to God: this was imitated by the Heathens in later times; so the Tarentines, having got a victory over the Peucetians, sent the tenth (of the spoil) to Delphos {s}: the Jews {t} say Abraham was the first in the world that began to offer tithes; but they are mistaken, when they say in the same place, that he took all the tithes of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of Lot his brother's son, and gave them to Shem the son of Noah. Eupolemus {u} makes mention of this interview between Abram and Melchizedek by name; he says, Abram was hospitably entertained in the holy city Argarizin, which is by interpretation the mountain of the most High (but seems to be the Mount Gerizzim) and that he received gifts from Melchizedek, the priest of God, who reigned there.



{q} Pirke Eliezer, c. 27. {r} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 42. fol. 37. 1. {s} Pausan. Phocica, sive l. 10. p. 633. {t} Pirke Eliezer, c. 27. {u} Apud Euseb. Evang. Praepar. l. 9. c. 17. p. 419.





Genesis 14:21



Ver. 21. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram,.... After the conversation between him and Melchizedek was over:



give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself; meaning by "persons" or "souls", as in the original, his own subjects that had been taken and carried away by the four kings, and were now brought back by Abram; and by "the goods", those of his own and his subjects, which their conquerors had spoiled them of, but were now recovered, and which he was very willing Abram should have as his right, according to the laws of war, and as a reward of his labours; and very modestly asks for the other, which he did not deny but he might claim as the fruits of his victory: and this also shows, that the king of Sodom, though a Heathen prince, and perhaps a wicked man, yet had more regard to the persons of his subjects than to his own or their goods: the word for "goods" includes all the substance and possession of a man, gold, silver, cattle, and all movables {w}.



{w} R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 21. 2.





Genesis 14:22



Ver. 22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom,.... In reply to his request:



I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord; which was both a gesture of praying and of swearing, and both may be intended here; when he set out on his expedition, it is very probable he prayed to God for success, and swore that if he prospered him, that he would receive no profit or advantage from it to himself; or now in the presence of Melchizedek he lift up his hands and swore that he would take none of the goods he had recovered to his own line; and in this form of praying or swearing, he makes use of the same epithets of God Melchizedek had just used:



the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth: having his heart struck with those just and glorious representations of God, and awed with a sense of such a glorious Being, and being forward to learn and retain everything that tended to make for the glory of God.





Genesis 14:23



Ver. 23. That I will not [take] from a thread even to a shoelatchet,.... That is, from a thread used in sewing garments to, a shoelatchet, or the string which fastens the shoes to the foot, the least belonging to that; or from the hair lace of the head, to the shoelatchet of the foot; that is, he would take nothing of his from head to foot: the meaning is, that he would not take that which was of the least value and importance that could be conceived of, and which is more clearly expressed by what follows:



and that I will not take anything that [is] thine; the least thing that belonged to him, or to any of his subjects, for this reason:



lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich; lest he should upbraid him with it afterwards, and say, that all his riches were owing to him; whereas God had promised to bless him, and make him rich and great, as he had begun to do, and still would more and more; and in whom his trusted, and to whom he was desirous all the glory of his greatness and riches should be ascribed.





Genesis 14:24



Ver. 24. Save only that which the young men have eaten,.... His three hundred and eighteen trained servants, and those of his confederates, who having recovered the victuals taken away from the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, had eaten of it for their refreshment, as it was but just and right they should:



and the portion of the men which went with me; the part in the spoil which belonged unto them by the laws of war; wherefore, though he abridged himself of rights and privileges that belonged unto him, which he might do, and thereby showed his great generosity, and that it was not covetousness but kindness that moved him to do what he did; yet he did not take upon him to abridge the rights and privileges of others, which would have been injurious to them: the men he means were Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; his confederates, who went with him in the pursuit of the enemy, and were assisting to him in recovering the men and goods they had carried away: and as it was but justice they should have their share in the spoils, therefore he says,



let them take their portion; in the goods recovered, and in the spoils taken. Eupolemus {x}, the Heathen writer above quoted, relates this affair thus, that



"Abram being assisted by his servants became master of those who had captivated others, and carried captive the wives and children of the soldiers; and when ambassadors came to him to ransom them with money, he would not suffer the conquered to be insulted, but taking food for the young men, returned the captives freely.''



{x} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Evang. Praepar. l. 9. c. 17. p. 419.)

 

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