Setting: Genesis 14:1-14
Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 42:12 ,
Zevachim 113b
The messengers of Bera and Birsha were but a precursor of things to come. Next came an Egyptian mercenary dispatched by Amraphel of Shinar to twist our arms, that we might join the ranks of Chedorlaomer. He was a giant of a man and he claimed to be a personal friend of Mardon. I cannot imagine what gave him the audacity to visit us, seeing that his fellow mercenaries had put our Amorite brothers to the edge of the sword in Hazezon-Tamar not one month prior, as they marched north for Laish.
Mabug spoke peacefully to him and indicated that we would pledge full support to his master. But as our visitor slept in Hebron that night, a dispatch was sent to the tent of Abram, who in turn assembled my brothers and I, and we entered the city while he slept and subdued him and bound him in chains. For it was certain that to refuse this man’s demands would be to incur the full wrath of his allies, and at least in binding him we might buy some time to prepare for the conflict ahead.
The man was bound among us many days and yet no one came to retrieve him or to besiege Hebron. We would soon learn the reason why conflict was delayed in reaching us, for the friends of this Egyptian were engaged in a great battle that required their full attention.
Who should stride into my camp that summer but Og son of Anak, that infamous giant of a man who made even our Egyptian messenger seem small by comparison. They say that Og stowed away with Noach on the ark during the great flood, but I have it on the authority of Melchizedek that no one survived the flood save Noach and his closest relatives.
He came with important news from the North, and he requested to speak with Abram at once. According to Og, after the Elamites and their mercenaries had plundered Hazezon-Tamar, they intended to march all the way to their homeland. But upon reaching the regions of Sodom and Gomorrah, they found the armies of these towns, accompanied by the forces of Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar arrayed against them to cut them off from Mesopotamia.
The two sides joined battle in the vale of Siddim, the four northern kings of the Mesopotamian alliance against the five southern kings of Canaan. There the Elamites prevailed, and they drove the men of Sodom and Gomorrah so hard that they fell into the tar pits that are common in the valley. Those who died in the tar pits that day were more than those who died by the sword, so said Og.
Among those who were driven so that they fell or were cast into the tar pits was Bera, king of Sodom. They say that the tar of those pits will drag a man straight to sheol, and not a few have suffered this fate due to carelessness or misfortune when extracting the bituminous substance as a building material. Yet whether for better or for worse, the mighty king dragged himself out of the pit and fled to Og with the news that the Canaanites were utterly defeated.
I sounded one long blast of the ram’s horn, a signal to my brothers and Abram that there was important news in the camp, and by nightfall we were assembled.
It was clear when Abram arrived at my camp that Og was chiefly interested in speaking with him. He made inquiries about Sarai’s wellbeing, and it seemed he was a bit too interested, in fact, to know if she was as well and as beautiful as ever. He then wasted no time in informing Abram that his nephew Lot had been taken, along with all of Lot’s household, and that they were now prisoners of war in the camp of Elam.
Abram assembled his chief men at once. We had as it were five commanders: Abram, Eliezer, Mamre, Eschol, and myself. Abram’s 318 men, and 700 that comprised the rest of our force, sharpened their swords and made provisions that night, and all the next day, and the women of the entire Kiriath-Arba prepared victuals for us to take as we might have need.
The men rested in the afternoon heat, and the next evening we set out, to travel light and fast in the nocturnal cool of the desert. That night we traversed the hills unto Salem, where we descended eastward to the plains of Jericho. In Salem I asked if we should not seek out Melchizedek, to know if it might go well with us or if he might give us a blessing on our way. Abram said simply, “do not wake him, for he sleeps peacefully,” and strangely enough the watchmen of the town agreed readily, so that we skirted the town quietly in the darkness, and descended without entering that city or conversing with its leaders.
We rested in the plains of Jericho until the heat of the next day had passed, and then followed the Jordan River valley as far as Beth-Shan, where we camped outside the city, within sight of Mount Gilboa.
In another day we reached Hazor, where we camped opposite the city, and far from its view. Hazor is no city to be trifled with, and while they certainly were no sympathizers with the Elamites, nor did we judge them likely to welcome our own army with warm hospitality. Given their advantaged position of trade and military might, they are apt to remain neutral from any conflict that they can, favoring neither side in the battles around them.
It was the following day, when we came to Laish, that the residents of that beautiful village informed us that the Elamites had passed by not two days before, moving slowly with the women and children they had taken as spoils of war.
As we rested that day, we prepared our souls for war.