All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.
3. All these ] Probably the kings mentioned in Gen 14:2, i.e. the five local subject princes. That there should be any doubt whether “all these” refers to the four kings of the east, or to the five kings of the west, is an example of the unskilful style in which this section is written.
joined together ] The five local kings combined: “the vale of Siddim” was their rallying place. But as “the vale of Siddim” was their own country, the wording is awkward. Hence some prefer R.V. marg. “joined themselves together against,” with a change of subject; i.e. the kings of the E. combined and marched against the kings of the W. But the change of subject, interrupting Gen 14:2 ; Gen 14:4, is surely too harsh.
the vale of Siddim ] Not mentioned elsewhere; but traditionally identified with the Dead Sea, beneath whose waters the “cities of the Plain” were believed by the Israelites to lie engulfed. The suggestion of Renan to read Shdim (“demons”), a word occurring in Deu 32:17, Psa 106:37, is ingenious, but lacks support from any other passage mentioning the Dead Sea. LXX = “the salt valley,” Lat. vallem silvestrem.
the Salt Sea ] An explanatory note, like the reference to Zoar, in the previous verse. “The Salt Sea” is the commonest name in the O.T. for “the Dead Sea”: e.g. Num 34:3; Num 34:12; Jos 15:2; Jos 15:5. Another name by which it is called is “the sea of the Arabah,” Deu 3:17, Jos 3:16; Jos 12:3, where “the Salt Sea” is added as an explanation. In Eze 47:18, Joe 2:20, it is called “the eastern sea.” Josephus calls it “the sea of Asphalt”; and in the Jewish Talmud it appears as “the sea of Sodom,” or “the salt sea.” The intense saltness of its waters and its deposits of salt have given rise to its name. Nothing lives in its waters. The name “Dead Sea” goes back to the time of Jerome, 6th cent. a.d.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which now is, though when this battle was fought it was not so.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim,…. Or “of fields”, or “ploughed lands” b, a fruitful vale abounding with corn; or of gardens or paradises, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, being full of gardens and orchards, and was as the garden of the Lord, even as Eden, see Ge 13:10; though Aben Ezra thinks it had its name from the slime or bitumen, of which there was great plenty in it, see Ge 14:10. Now the above five kings, as they all dwelt in the plain, they entered into a confederacy, met together, and joined their forces in this vale, to oppose the four kings that were come to make war with them, as being an advantageous place, as they judged, perhaps on more accounts than one; and here they stayed to receive the enemy, and give him battle, see Ge 14:8;
which is the salt sea; afterwards so called, not at this time, for then it would not have been fit for armies to be drawn up in battle array in it; but it was so called in the times of Moses, and after this fine vale was turned into a bituminous lake, and had its name from the saltness of the waters of the lake, or from the city Melach, or city of salt, which was near it, Jos 15:62.
b “valle amaenissimorum agrorum”, Munster; “in planitie agrorum”, Fagius; so Jarchi; “in valle occationum”, Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 937. “dicta ab agris occatis”, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) All these were joined together.Were united in a confederacy, and so formed a pentapolis, or group of five allied towns, like the Philistine league with its five lords (1Sa. 6:16-18).
The vale of Siddim.Mr. Conder (Tent-work, ii. 16) says that the name Sidd is still given by the Arabs to the cliffs or banks of marl which run along the southern edge of the plain of Jericho; and with this agrees Aben-Ezras explanation, who derives the word from the Hebrew sid, chalk. Mr. Conder searched throughout the Ciccar for traces of the ruined cities, but in vain; and the gradual rise of the level of the plain, caused by the constant washing down of the soft marl from the western hills, would effectually, he thinks, cover over any such ruins. He found, however, copious springs of water upon the north-western side of the lake, and considers that the five cities were in their neighbourhood.
Which is the salt sea.From these words commentators have rashly concluded that the vale of Sodom was swallowed up by the Dead Sea; but not only is no such convulsion of nature mentioned in Genesis 19, but Abram is described as seeing the Ciccar-land not submerged, but smoking like a furnace (Gen. 19:28). Probably the vale of Siddim was the name of the whole district in which these sidds, or bluffs, are situated, and which extend round all the northern shores of the lake. Mr. Conder, after tracing the lines of former beaches, which show that the Dead Sea has long been shrinking in extent, tells us (Tent-work, ii. 43) that geologists hold that it had reached its present condition long before the days of Abram. It still, indeed, covered a much larger space, for the rains at that time were far more copious in Palestine than at present; but it no longer extended over the whole Arabah, as, by the evidence of these beaches, was once the case.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(3) The Horites.Cave-men, the aboriginal inhabitants of Mount Seir, subsequently conquered by the Edomites (Deu. 2:12; Deu. 2:22). The miserable condition of these earth-men is described in Job. 30:3-8.
El-paran.This forest of oaks (or terebinths) was on the edge of the great wilderness, and reached to within three days journey of Sinai (Num. 10:12; Num. 10:33).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. These were joined together They were allies and confederates . The vale of Siddim is, according to the obvious import of the words here used, the name of the ancient plain or valley in which the five kings joined together, but which, at the time of our writer, was covered by the waters of the salt sea. But these waters may cover a larger extent of surface than was included in the vale of Siddim. The word Siddim ( ) itself means fields or plains. The sea here called the salt sea is called in Deu 4:49, “the sea of the plain;” in 2Es 5:7, “the Sodomitish sea;” in Josephus, “the Asphaltic lake;” by the Arabs, Bahr Lut, “Sea of Lot;” and by the Greek writers and most moderns, “the Dead Sea . ”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 14:3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.
Ver. 3. The salt sea. ] So it was afterwards called. See Trapp on “ Gen 19:25 “ See Plin., lib. v. cap. 16.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
vale. Afterward, the Salt (or Dead Sea), when Moses wrote.
Siddim = the Siddim.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
salt sea: Gen 19:24, Num 34:12, Deu 3:17, Jos 3:16, Psa 107:34, *marg.
Reciprocal: Gen 14:8 – in Gen 19:25 – General Num 34:3 – salt sea eastward Jos 12:3 – the sea Jos 15:2 – the salt sea Jos 18:19 – the salt 2Ki 14:25 – unto the sea 2Ch 20:2 – beyond the sea
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:3 All these were {c} joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the {d} salt sea.
(c) Ambition is the chief cause of wars among princes.
(d) Called also the dead sea, or the lake Asphaltite, near Sodom and Gomorrah.