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,
5. came Chedorlaomer ] The king of Elam was strong enough to deal vigorously with the rebellion in his western dependencies. This and the two following verses describe the punitive expedition, with which Chedorlaomer and his vassal kings crushed the rebellion. Whether the kings led their forces in person, we are not able to say for certain. The description leaves it to be inferred. The Oriental style of chronicle identified successful generals with the name of the king who sent them on their campaign.
The march of the punitive expedition must have been across the Euphrates at Carchemish, and then southward past Damascus. It overthrew the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites who, apparently, were peoples on the east side of Jordan, involved in the rebellion. The southernmost point of the march was reached at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. As it commanded an important trade route, it may have formed the chief objective of the march. Returning from that point, the expedition struck at the Amalekites in the wilderness to the south of Palestine, and then attacked the joint forces of the five cities of the Plain and overthrew them in the valley of Siddim.
the Rephaim ] or “sons of the Rapha.” The name given to the aborigines of Canaan, giant survivors of whom are mentioned in 2Sa 21:16-22. The name is specially applied, in Deu 3:11, to Og, the king of Bashan, whose territory corresponded with the country spoken of in this verse.
Ashteroth-karnaim ] Generally identified with Tell-‘Ashtara, in the plateau of Bashan, about 20 miles east of the sea of Galilee. Karnaim means “the two horns”; and the full name will therefore probably mean “the two-horned Astarte,” who, as the Goddess of the Moon, was represented with two horns. “Astarte of horns was that immemorial fortress and sanctuary which lay out upon the great plateau of Bashan towards Damascus; so obvious and cardinal a site that it appears in the sacred history both in the earliest recorded campaign in Abraham’s time and in one of the latest under the Maccabees. Gen 14:5; 1Ma 5:26 ; 1Ma 5:43 ” (G. Adam Smith, The Twelve Prophets, vol. i. p. 176.)
the Zuzim ] Possibly the same as “the Zamzummim,” mentioned in Deu 2:20 as the aborigines who were dispossessed by the Ammonites.
in Ham ] Ham has been conjecturally identified with the old name of the Ammonite capital, mentioned in 2Sa 12:26, Rabbath Ammon.
the Emim ] Mentioned in Deu 2:10 as the name of the aborigines, “a people great and many and tall, as the Anakim,” dispossessed by the Moabites. The name means probably “the terrible ones.”
in Shaveh-kiriathaim ] or the plain of Kiriathaim. In Num 32:37 and Jos 13:19 Kiriathaim is a town in Reuben: in Jer 48:23 in Moab. It is generally identified with Kureyat, about 10 miles east of the Dead Sea and north of the river Arnon.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. Rephaims] A people of Canaan: Ge 15:20.
Ashteroth] A city of Basan, where Og afterwards reigned; Jos 13:31.
Zuzims] Nowhere else spoken of, unless they were the same with the Zamzummims, De 2:20, as some imagine.
Emims] A people great and many in the days of Moses, and tall as the Anakim. They dwelt among the Moabites, by whom they were reputed giants; De 2:10-11.
Shaveh Kiriathaim] Rather, as the margin, the plain of Kiriathaim, which was a city afterwards belonging to Sihon king of Heshbon; Jos 13:19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The kings that were with him, i.e. confederate with him for the recovery of his right, expecting the same assistance from him upon the like occasion.
The Rephaims, a fierce and warlike people of Canaan. See Gen 15:20. Or the giants, as this word is taken Deu 2:11.
Ashteroth Karnaim, a place in Basan called Ashteroth, Deu 1:4; Jos 9:10; 13:31. It is surnamed Carnaim, q.d.
Two-horned, like a half moon, either from the situation and form of the place, or from the goddess Diana, or the moon, which usually was painted with two horns, whom they worshipped.
The Emims, a people in Canaan of giant-like stature, Deu 2:10-11.
Shaveh Kiriathaim; Kiriathaim is a noted city in Gilead, and Shaveh may be either the ancient name of that city, or the present name of the country adjoining and belonging to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer,…. Not in the fourteenth year of their rebellion against him, as Jarchi, but from their becoming vassals to him:
and the kings that [were] with him; those kings before mentioned:
and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim; which were in their way to Sodom, c. and very probably were confederates with the five kings the Targum, and so the Septuagint, render the word “giants”, as it is in De 2:11; but they were one of the nations or tribes of the Canaanites,
Ge 15:20; and had their name either from the Hebrew word , which signifies to be healthful and robust, as those people might be, or from Rephas, the Remphan of Stephen, Ac 7:43; called Chiun, Am 5:26; and with Cronus or Ham the father of Canaan, as Bishop Cumberland c observes; and these dwelt in Ashteroth Karnaim, which was a place in Bashan, De 1:4; it is about six miles, as Eusebius d says, from Adraa or Edrei, and in the Apocrypha:
“Then Maccabeus marched forth to Carnion, and to the temple of Atargatis, and there he slew five and twenty thousand persons.” (2 Maccabees 12:26)
mention is made of a place called Carnion, where was a temple of Atergates, a Phoenician deity, as Ashteroth or Astarte, was; and this city here had its first name from Astarte the wife of Cronus or Ham, and whose name may be preserved in Carnaim, as Bishop Cumberland thinks; though as Astarte is said by Sanchoniatho e to put on her head the mark of her sovereignty, a bull’s head, that is, with its horns, this might be another of her names retained in this city; and it is certain that she was a Phoenician goddess, called the goddess of the Zidonians, 1Ki 11:5; and Sanchoniatho relates f, that the Phoenicians say, that Astarte is she, who among the Greeks is called Aphrodite or Venus; and Astarte is called by Lucian g the Phoenician Venus, and by Cicero h the Syrian Venus; and if she was the same with Diana or the moon, as some think, she might have the name of Carnaim from its two horns, as the word signifies: our English poet i seems to have this in his thoughts, when he speaks of Astoreth as the goddess of the Phoenicians: however the in habitants of this place who belonged to the Canaanites were first attacked by the four kings and routed, though not utterly destroyed, because we hear of them afterwards, as well as they that follow:
and the Zuzims in Ham; or Hemtha, as Onkelos and Jonathan render it, a place so called from Ham the father of Canaan, and was somewhere in the land of Canaan or near it, and near the former place; for it can hardly be thought the land of Egypt, sometimes called the land of Ham, is meant; these Zuzim are supposed by Jarchi to the same with the Zamzummim in De 2:20; the word is by Onkelos and Jonathan rendered strong and mighty ones, as also by the Septuagint, mighty nations:
and the Enims in Shaveh Kiriathaim: a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim, and were accounted giants as they, and who in later times were by the Moabites called Emim, De 2:10; and therefore Moses gives them the same name here, which they had from the dread and terror they injected into men, and so the word in all the three Targums is rendered terrible ones; and these dwelt in Kiriathaim, a city in the tribe of Reuben, taken from Sihon, king of the Amorites, and which seems to be situated in a plain, see Jos 13:19.
c Sanchoniatho’s Phoenician History, p. 220, 221. d Apud Reland. Palest. illustrata, tom. 2. p. 5. 98. e Sanchoniatho’s Phoenician History, p. 35. f Ibid. p. 36. g De Dea Syria. h De Natura Deorum, l. 3. i ————with these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call’d Astarte queen of heav’n, with crescent horns. –Milton’s Paradise Lost, B. 1. l. 437, 438, 439.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) The Rephaims.Described as an Amorite tribe (Amo. 2:9) of great stature, settled in Bashan, where Moses conquered them (Jos. 13:12). We find them also on the other side of Jordan, in Mount Ephraim ( Jos. 17:15), on the western side of Jerusalem (Jos. 15:8; Jos. 18:16; 2Sa. 5:18; 2Sa. 5:22), and even among the Philistines (2Sa. 21:16; 2Sa. 21:18). In many of these places the word is wrongly translated giants. From this wide dispersion of them we may safely conclude that they belonged to the earlier settlers in the land and that only their rulers, like Og (Jos. 9:10), were Amorites.
Ashteroth Karnaim.The two-horned Astarte, the Phnician Venus, identified by the Rephaim with the moon. Her worship had, no doubt, been introduced by the Amorites. This city was the capital of Og (Deu. 1:4), and is called Be-Eshtera, the house of Astarte, in Jos. 21:27. Its remains have been found at Tell-Ashtereh, in the Hauran, about two leagues from the ancient Edrei.
The Zuzim.Called in Deu. 2:20 Zamzummim, where they are identified with the Rephaim, of which stock they were an inferior branch. Their capital, Ham, has been identified with Hameitt, about six miles to the east of the lower part of the Dead Sea (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 117).
The Emims.Of these also we read in Deu. 2:10-11 : The Emim . . . also were accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim.
In Shaveh Kiriathaim.More probably, in the plain of Kiriathaim. This city, given to the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37), was, upon the decay of the Israelites upon the east of Jordan, re-occupied by the Moabites (Jer. 48:1), who had taken it from the Emim.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim The word Rephaim is in the Hebrew plural, and designates an ancient people of gigantic stature, of whom Og, king of Bashan, is spoken of as the last remnant .
Deu 3:11. Of their origin the Bible is silent . Their chief seat was at Ashteroth Karnaim, or Ashteroth of the two horns, so called, probably, from the worship of the two-horned Astarte, the Syrian Venus and moon-goddess. See note and cuts on Jdg 2:13. Some identify this place with the Ashtaroth near Edrei, where Og dwelt, (Deu 1:4,) which is generally identified with the modern Tel-Ashtereh, some 25 miles east of the Sea of Galilee. Others locate it at the modern Es-Sanamein, about half way between Tell-Ashtereh and Damascus. After this defeat these Rephaim seem to have settled in other parts of Canaan, and the “valley of Rephaim” south-west of Jerusalem probably derived its name from them. We find traces of them in the time of David. 2Sa 21:18 ; 2Sa 21:20; 2Sa 21:22. The Zuzim were probably the same as the Zamzummim of Deu 2:20, a people akin to the Rephaim, and described as “great, and many, and tall . ” Ham, where they dwelt, is probably represented in the modern Amman, east of the Jordan, better known as Rabbath-Ammon, the capital city of the Ammonites . The Emim are represented in Deu 2:10-11, as the ancient occupants of the land of Moab, and also “a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim . ” Shaveh Kiriathaim, or the “plain of the two cities,” is probably the same as Kirjathaim, allotted to the Reubenites . Num 32:37; Jos 13:19. The name still lingers in the extensive ruins of Kureiyat, east of the Dead Sea, and about three miles southeast of Mt. Attarus.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir, unto El-paran which is by the wilderness. And they returned and came to Enmishpat (the same is Kadesh) and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.’
This is more than a punitive expedition. The intention is to go wider afield and the attack is powerful and far reaching. Chederlaomer has been increasing in power and is now clearly the leader. ‘The kings who were with him’ are the same kings mentioned previously, a demonstration of the strength of the force.
They sweep down the King’s Highway, ignoring the rebels. This demonstrates their contempt for the five cities. They did not feel any need to protect their rear. Then they attack places on the route down as far as extreme South of East Jordan, then they move round beyond the end of the Dead Sea and attack Kadesh, before finally coming back to smite the Amalekites, and the Amorites in Hazazon-tamar, prior to approaching the five kings who have refused tribute.
The Rephaim are mentioned in Gen 15:20; Deu 2:11; Deu 2:20; Deu 3:11; Deu 3:13, and the Emim in Deu 2:10, although there they are seen as in some way connected, Emim being seen as Rephaim. The Rephaim are clearly a more widespread people given differing local names. They had a reputation for great size. In Ammon they were known as the Zamzummim (Deu 2:20-21), who may be represented here as the Zumim. The Horites in Mount Seir are also mentioned in connection with them (Deu 2:12). Thus we have independent evidence of the close connection of these groups.
Horites were possibly connected with the Hurrians in the Upper Tigris, elements of whom had filtered down into Canaan and the name had become applied more widely (see Gen 36:20 on; Deu 2:12; Deu 2:22). Here a specific group of Horites is identified. These different peoples would have presented a fairly formidable foe to the four kings.
The Amalekites are well known elsewhere as dwelling in the South. The attacking of trade caravans was for them a way of life. The name Amorite indicated a mountain people and they were spread throughout the country on both sides of Jordan. The name Amorite could be applied to the inhabitants of Canaan generally, including the inhabitants of Transjordan. In this sense it had a wider meaning than Canaanite. These particular ones are identified as to their connection. The names are therefore all genuine and not misplaced.
The purpose of this attack was clearly to secure the trade routes and gain booty, but it is quite possible that some or all of these places had also refused tribute. The five kings are only dealt with as seemingly central to the situation because the writer is concerned with this aspect of the matter. The detail is put in the covenant agreement between Abram and Melchizedek to explain the final agreement.
The opinion the kings have of the five kings of the Jordan valley comes out in that they attack them on the way home when their troops are exulting in victory but are probably somewhat weary and longing to get home. They had had a number of fierce battles against worthy foes but they do not really anticipate any problem here. The number five (the covenant number) suggests that because the kings are connected with Abram’s land they are to some extent ‘people of the land’, and therefore covenant people (it is Yahweh’s land).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 14:5. The Rephaims The LXX and some others render this, the giants: they dwelt in Ashteroth-Karnaim, which was in Bashan, Deu 1:4. Jos 9:10. The word Karnaim signifying horned, some have supposed that this was the city of Ashteroth or Diana, dedicated to the moon, which, is always represented horned. The Zuzims are supposed to have lived in the country afterwards inhabited by the Ammonites, east of Canaan, Deu 2:20. The Emims joined on the south to the Zuzims, and inhabited the country afterwards possessed by the Moabites; they were also a robust, gigantic race. See Deu 2:9-10. The country which the Horites, Deu 2:6 inhabited, was afterwards possessed by the Edomites: El-paran, or the plain of Paran, was a part of the desert of Arabia Petraea. Those who would enter more into the history of these places, may receive satisfaction by referring to Dr. Wells’s Sacred Geography.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Abram might be called the Hebrew, either from Eber, his ancestory as above, or else from his having passed the Euphrates, when he became a passenger, or pilgrim, in the land of Canaan.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 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,
Ver. 5. Chedorlaomer. ] King of Persia; he was commander in chief; and upon his sword might have been written, as was upon Agamemnon’s, , this is the common terror. a
a Pausan.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rephaim = a branch of the Nephilim. See App-25. Superhuman beings, so called after one Rapha: as the Anakim after Anak. See Gen 15:20. Deu 2:11, Deu 2:20, Deu 2:21; Deu 3:11, Deu 3:13. Jos 12:4; Jos 13:12; Jos 15:8; Jos 17:15; Jos 18:16. See notes on Gen 6:4; Gen 12:6; Gen 13:7; Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20, Gen 15:21.
Zuzims in Ham, same as Zam-zummim in Cuneiform writing. Compare Deu 2:20.
Emim. Compare Deu 2:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rephaims: Gen 15:20, Deu 3:11, Deu 3:20, Deu 3:22, 2Sa 5:18, 2Sa 5:22, 2Sa 23:13, 1Ch 11:15, 1Ch 14:9, Isa 17:5
Ashteroth: The same as Ashteroth, a city of Bashan, where Og afterwards reigned. Deu 1:4, Jos 12:4, Jos 13:12, Jos 13:31
Zuzims: Deu 2:20-23, 1Ch 4:40, Psa 78:51, Psa 105:23, Psa 105:27, Psa 106:22
Emims: Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11
Shaveh Kiriathaim: or, the plains of Kiriathaim, Kiriathaim was beyond Jordan, 10 miles west-ward from Medeba, and afterwards belonged to Sihon, king of Heshbon. Jos 13:19, Jer 48:1, Jer 48:23
Reciprocal: Jos 17:15 – giants 2Sa 21:16 – the giant 1Ch 19:19 – the servants
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 14:5. In the fourteenth year After some pause and preparation, Chedorlaomer, in conjunction with his allies, set himself to reduce the revolters. The four kings laid the neighbouring countries waste, and enriched themselves with the spoil of them, Gen 14:5-7. Upon the alarm of which, the king of Sodom and his allies went out and were routed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 14:5-7. The punitive expedition, instead of going straight for the rebel cities, makes a tour of conquest. It moves down the E. side of Jordan through Bashan and Moab to Edom and the Gulf of Akabah, then turning W. and N. it reaches Kadesh and the Negeb, Then at last the attack on the five kings is delivered. The apparent uselessness of much of these operations in the mountains and desert, not to speak of the difficulties and dangers, suggests that the narrators object is to enhance the glory of Abrahams victory over such conquerors. The Rephaim (Job 26:5 *) were a race of giants, but of questionable historicity. The name is used for the shades of the dead (Isa 14:9*), also also connected with the Nephilim (cf. Deu 2:11 with Num 13:33). The Zuzim are probably the same as the Zamzummim of Deu 2:20 f., a branch of Rephaim so called by the Ammonites; the Emim is the name given by the Moabites to another branch (Deu 2:10 f.). The Horites were the original inhabitants of Edom. Ashteroth-karnaim was presumably in Bashan, but two places may be intended; Ham is unknown, but perhaps Rabbath-Hammon, the capital city of the Ammonites; Kiriathaim is in Moab. El-Paran is perhaps Elath, the well-known port on the Gulf of Akabah, an arm of the Red Sea. En-mishpat is Kadesh-barnea, a sacred spring now known as Ain Kadish, famous as the headquarters of the Hebrews after the Exodus. The Amalekites lived in the Negeb; the name Amorites (p. 53) is used sometimes for the people ruled by Sinon on the E. of Jordan, sometimes, as here, for the predecessors of the Hebrews in Canaan. Hazazon-tamar is identified with En-gedi in 2Ch 20:2. The route this would involve is almost impossibly difficult; the descent to the Dead Sea from it is 1950 ft. and precipitous. Kurnub, 20 miles SW. of the Dead Sea, would provide an easier approach, but the identification is dubious.