Genesis 14:1 Commentary and Bible Study

This is about the four kings from outside Canaan, who conducted a military expedition into the cities of the plain, that is to say, Sodom and Gomorrah, Zoar and so on. These five city states of the plain were ruled by their overlords, these four kings, or at least one leader among them, mentioned in verse 1. But they threw off the yoke of that king and rebelled against him, perhaps by refusing to pay tribute money. Verse 4 tells us that for twelve years they served Chedorlaomer and in the 13th year they rebelled, and in the 14th year came Chedorlaomer on this expedition and the kings that were with him. And they went round the entire area, destroying the lesser tribes so that they would give no help to the kings of the plain of Jordan. The kings of the plain of Jordan ultimately had to go on the defensive, and there went out the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, and the three other kings, and they attacked Chedorlaomer to try and stop his advance. But they were defeated, and the Vale of Siddim (the valley of the Dead Sea), was full of slime pits, asphalt pits, that had been mined for asphalt evidently, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there – which may mean that their armies fell there, rather than they personally – and they that remained fled to the mountains. Perhaps most of their military was destroyed. The four invading kings took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the victuals and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom. He was living there and he fell victim to the plunderers, and they took him and his goods and went.