Knowing The Word in Genesis 14:1-7, Kings in Battle

[This is the only military campaign we find in Genesis and comes with a list of kings. The arrangement of the chapter falls into two sections:

vv 1-16 Three battle reports:

1-4 Eastern kings vs Westerners round 1

5-12 Eastern kings vs Westerners round 2

13-16 Abram vs Eastern kings

vv 17-24 Confrontation between Abram, the king of Sodom, and Melchizedek:

17 King of Sodom meets Abram

8-20 Melchizedek blesses Abram

21 King of Sodom’s demand

22-24 Abram’s reply]

1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar [Babylonia], Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 these [eastern] kings made war [first mention of war in the Bible] with [the following western kings] Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) [indicates this is based on an old source that has been updated]. [The exact location of these five towns remains problematic. It is usually supposed these cities lie under or near the shallow southern end of the Dead Sea where interesting salt formations that reek of sulfur remind one of Sodom’s end. Recent excavations indicate five sites on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea found five towns occupied in the Early Bronze Age (3100-2350 BC).] 3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer [the apparent victor of the first battle], but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites [a Bedouin people who lived in the Sinai peninsula and northern Negeb who clashed with Israel in the exodus], and also the Amorites [one of the most commonly mentioned pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan and the Transjordan] who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.