Chapter 14
Lot’s Captivity and Rescue.[a] 1 When Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 there was a war between them and Bera, king of Sodom, Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 All the latter kings gathered in the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Dead Sea. 4 For twelve years they were vassals of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him.
5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him arrived and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim 6 and the Horites on Mount Seir as far as El-paran, which borders the desert. 7 They then changed direction and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kedesh), and they plundered the land of the Amalekites as well the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
8 The king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, went out to the Valley of Siddim and did battle with them, 9 with Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goiim, Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar. There were four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pools. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these pools. The others fled into the mountains. 11 The four kings took all the possessions and provisions of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 12 They also captured Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and all his possessions (for he lived in Sodom).
13 One of those who escaped captivity came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew who was camped at the Oak of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were Abram’s allies. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he organized the armed men who had been born to his household. There were three hundred and eighteen of them. They gave chase as far as Dan. 15 He divided his forces and his servants, and defeated them during the night, following them all the way to Hobah, to the north of Damascus. 16 He recovered the booty and also Lot, his relative, and his possessions, as well as the women and the other people.
17 Meeting with Melchizedek near Jerusalem.[b] When Abram returned after defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom met him in the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the Valley of the King.
18 Melchizedek, the king of Salem,[c] offered bread and wine. As a priest of God Most High, 19 he blessed Abram with these words,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of the heavens and the earth.
20 And blessed be God Most High
who has delivered your enemy into your hands.”
Then Abram gave him a tithe of all he had taken.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people; you take the booty.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of the heavens and the earth,[d] 23 that I would not take anything for myself, not even a thread or a sandal strap, lest you be able to say, ‘I have enriched Abram.’ 24 I want nothing for myself other than what my servants have already eaten. As for the men who have accompanied me, Eshcol, Aner, and Mamre, they can take their own shares.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 14:1 Chapter 14, which is perhaps from a special source, locates the life of Abraham within the history of the ancient East.
- Genesis 14:17 It is not impossible that Melchizedek, the Canaanite priest of the supreme god El had found faith in the true God (see Vatican II, Lumen gentium, no. 16). His offering of bread and wine was undoubtedly a sacrifice of thanksgiving (also known as a communion sacrifice), in which the gifts offered to the divinity were then divided among those present and consumed, to signify that human beings are called to table fellowship with God.
According to Hebrew exegetes, these two personages prefigure David, descendant of Abraham and distant successor of Melchizedek on the throne of Jerusalem. In blessing Abraham, Melchizedek was blessing David, the instrument of God’s conquests, who after conquering Jerusalem made it the center of worship of the Lord (2 Sam 6). At the same time, in paying homage to Melchizedek, Abraham was paying homage to Jerusalem, the city that the Lord would choose as his own dwelling and that from that time forward would worship the true God. It is clear that these visions needed to be broadened. According to Ps 110:4, Melchizedek prefigures Christ, a descendant of David, because only in this new David will kingship and priesthood be united again as they were long ago in Melchizedek; moreover, Christ will have an everlasting priesthood, different from the hereditary priesthood that began with Aaron. The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 7, will explain the message of the psalm, saying that, since tithes are paid to a superior, Abraham’s action was one of homage to a priesthood higher than the Israelite temple priesthood. Behind the veil of the ancient priest-king we are therefore to discern the person of Christ, who in virtue of his own sacrifice that will be completed in Jerusalem is the true source of the blessing bestowed on Abraham, that is, his victory and liberation of prisoners (see a similar observation in 1 Cor 10:4) and all the victories of the people of God. For this reason the Christian tradition sees in Melchizedek’s sacrifice of bread and wine (see the First Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass, the Roman Canon) a sign and prediction of the Eucharist, which is the thanksgiving for the redemption wrought by Christ and a pledge of victory for believers who remain in union with him. - Genesis 14:18 Salem, according to the entire Jewish tradition, is none other than Jerusalem (Ps 76:3). This very old Canaanite city was already inhabited before 3000 B.C. and is explicitly mentioned in Egyptian texts beginning with the start of the 19th century B.C. God Most High: in Hebrew, El-Elyon, a compound name made up of two Phoenician-Canaanite names for the supreme divinity; the writer sees in Melchizedek a worshiper of the true God.
- Genesis 14:22 A form of solemn oath.