Chedorlaomer

Four kings from the east march against five cities near the Dead Sea, and the story of Genesis 14 could be a battle report from any age. Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, leads them. The cities had served him twelve years and then rebelled, so he came back, and he left with the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and with Lot. Word reaches Abram, who arms “three hundred and eighteen” trained servants, chases the kings by night, and brings back Lot and everything taken. Chedorlaomer matters in the Bible because of one person he captured.

16 verses

Genesis

Genesis 14:1

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

Genesis 14:2

That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

Genesis 14:3

All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

Genesis 14:4

Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Genesis 14:5

And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

Genesis 14:6

And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

Genesis 14:7

And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.

Genesis 14:8

And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela(the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

Genesis 14:9

With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

Genesis 14:10

And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

Genesis 14:11

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

Genesis 14:12

And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

Genesis 14:13

And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

Genesis 14:14

And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

Genesis 14:15

And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

Genesis 14:16

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(= Khudur-Lagamar of the inscriptions), king of Elam. Many centuries before the age of Abraham, Canaan and even the Sinaitic peninsula had been conquered by Babylonian kings, and in the time of Abraham himself Babylonia was ruled by a dynasty which claimed sovereignity over Syria and Palestine. The kings of the dynasty bore names which were not Babylonian, but at once South Arabic and Hebrew. The most famous king of the dynasty was Khammu-rabi, who united Babylonia under one rule, and made Babylon its capital. When he ascended the throne, the country was under the suzerainty of the Elamites, and was divided into two kingdoms, that of Babylon (the Biblical Shinar) and that of Larsa (the Biblical Ellasar). The king of Larsa was Eri-Aku (“the servant of the moon-god”), the son of an Elamite prince, Kudur-Mabug, who is entitled “the father of the land of the Amorites.” A recently discovered tablet enumerates among the enemies of Khammu-rabi, Kudur-Lagamar (“the servant of the goddess Lagamar”) or Chedorlaomer, Eri-Aku or Arioch, and Tudkhula or Tidal. Khammu-rabi, whose name is also read Ammi-rapaltu or Amraphel by some scholars, succeeded in overcoming Eri-Aku and driving the Elamites out of Babylonia. Assur-bani-pal, the last of the Assyrian conquerors, mentions in two inscriptions that he took Susa 1635 years after Kedor-nakhunta, king of Elam, had conquered Babylonia. It was in the year B.C. 660 that Assur-bani-pal took Susa.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(handful of sheaves), a king of Elam, in the time of Abraham, who with three other chiefs made war upon the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, and reduced them to servitude. (Genesis 14:17)