A major significance of this literary unit is that it describes two more challenges to God's faithfulness and Abram's faith. So far Abram had had to contend with several barriers to God's fulfilling His promises to him. His wife was barren, he had to leave the land, his life was in danger, and his anticipated heir showed not interest in the Promised Land. Now he became involved in a war and consequently became the target of retaliation by four powerful kings.
14:1-12 The four kings (v. 1) were from the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent. They sought to dominate the land of Canaan by subjugating the five kings (v. 2) who lived there. They probably wanted to keep the trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt open and under their control. It is interesting that people living around Babylon initiated this first war mentioned in the Bible (v. 2).
Scholars have debated the identity of the Rephaim (vv. 5; cf. 15:20; literally "ghosts"or "spirits of the dead"). Some believe they were gods, others that they were the deified dead, and still others the promoters of fertility.450Most likely they were one of the early tribal groups that inhabited Canaan when Abram entered the land. They appear to have been very powerful, and apparently some of their neighbors regarded them as superhuman before and or after their heyday.451
The scene of the battle of the nine kings was the Valley of Siddim (vv. 3, 8). This valley probably lay in the southern "bay"of the modern Dead Sea south of the Lissan Peninsula.
14:13-16 Abram could have lost his possessions and his life by getting involved in war with the Mesopotamian kings. He also set himself up as the target for retaliation. Almost everyone in the ancient Near East practiced retaliation, and it is still a major factor in the continuing political turmoil that characterizes the Middle East to this day. People did not forgive and forget; they harbored resentment for acts committed against their ancestors or themselves for generations and took revenge when they thought they could succeed.
Why was Abram willing to take such risks? He probably thought he could win. His love for Lot may have been the primary factor. Perhaps Abram hoped that Lot had learned his lesson living in Sodom and would return to him. Unfortunately Lot had not learned his lesson but returned to Sodom soon after his release as a prisoner of war. Undoubtedly Abram also had confidence in God's promises to him (12:2-3, 7).
"We have here a prelude of the future assault of the worldly power upon the kingdom of God established in Canaan; and the importance of this event to sacred history consists in the fact, that the kings of the valley of Jordan and the surrounding country submitted to the worldly power, whilst Abram, on the contrary, with his home-born servants, smote the conquerors and rescued their booty,--a prophetic sign that in the conflict with the power of the world the seed of Abram would not only not be subdued, but would be able to rescue from destruction those who appealed to it for aid."452
Some scholars have suggested that Abram's designation as a Hebrew (v. 13) marked him as a resident alien rather than a semi-nomad. As such he took steps to take possession of the land God had promised him.453He could have been both.454Albright argued that he was a "donkeyman, donkey driver, caravaneer."455However most conservative interpreters have concluded that he was a semi-nomadic shepherd.456The term "Hebrew"is primarily an ethnic designation in the Old Testament.457Usually people other than Hebrews used it to describe this ethnic group.
The situation that Abraham faced taking his 318 men and going into battle against an alliance of five armies was similar to the one Gideon faced in leading 300 men against 135,000 Midianites (Judg. 7:6; 8:10). The lesson of both passages is similar: God is able to give a trusting and obedient minority victory over ungodly forces that are overwhelmingly superior in numbers.
