Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
4. they served ] The five kings “served,” i.e. were vassals, and paid tribute to, the king of Elam who was their over-lord.
rebelled ] Probably by omitting to pay tribute or to send gifts, as they had done for 12 years. The distance from southern Palestine to Elam was great. The five kings were doubtless petty princes, who took part in a wide-spread rebellion. Perhaps they took advantage of the decline of the power of Elam, and of the growth of the power of Babylonia. This is a justifiable conjecture if “Amraphel” be the same as Hammurabi. For Hammurabi threw off the yoke of Elam, united Babylonia, and founded the Dynasty of Babylon.
Compare the description in 2Ki 24:1, “Jehoiakim became his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] servant three years; then he turned, and rebelled against him.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He was their lord, either,
1. By inheritance, as the issue of Elam, Shems son, Gen 10:22. Or,
2. By conquest, having subdued those people in a former war, which Josephus speaks of.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,…. King of Elam, who was of the race of Shem, and so the prophecy of Noah began to be fulfilled, that Canaan should be servant to Shem, Ge 9:26; for the kings of Sodom, c. and their subjects, were of the race of Ham in the line of Canaan, who had by violence seized on that part of the earth which was allotted to the sons of Shem, and therefore Chedorlaomer being a descendant of his claimed his right, and made them tributary to him, which they were for the space of twelve years:
and in the thirteenth year they rebelled refused homage to Chedorlaomer and to pay tribute to him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) They served.That is, paid a yearly tribute, that they might be exempt from Chedorlaomers marauding expeditions (see 2Ki. 18:7). There must, therefore, have been envoys going from time to time to and from the Jordan valley to Shinar.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Twelve years they served During these years they were probably required to pay annual tribute to the king of Elam, the leader and most powerful of the eastern kings .
Rebelled Threw off this yoke and refused to pay homage to eastern sovereignty .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 14:4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
Ver. 4. They rebelled. ] Which they ought not to have done, if they had promised fidelity, unless in case of extreme necessity: and then also, at first, to have been on the defensive only. a
a Alsted.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Twelve. The No. of Government. See App-10.
served = had served, Gen 14:4 goes back to the events leading up to the present war with Sodom.
thirteenth. The first occurance. Hence the number of Rebellion. See App-10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
they served: Gen 9:25, Gen 9:26
they rebelled: Eze 17:15
Reciprocal: 1Ch 19:19 – the servants
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 14:4. Twelve years they served him The Sodomites were the posterity of Canaan, whom Noah had pronounced a servant to Shem, from whom Elam descended. Thus soon did that prophecy begin to be fulfilled. In the thirteenth year (beginning to be weary of their subjection) they rebelled Denied their tribute, and attempted to shake off the yoke.