The campaign of Abraham
Genesis 14:1 In the days of Amrafel, the king of Sinear, Arioch, the king of Ellasar, Kedor-Laomer, the king of Elam, and Tideal, the king of the nations, it happened
2. that they made war against Bera, the king of Sodom, against Birsa, the king of Gomorrah, against Sinab, the king of Adama, against Shemember, the king of Zeboiim, and against the king of Bela, the present day Zoar.
3. All of these had made a commitment and went up to the valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea today.
4. Twelve years they had served Kedor-Laomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5. Therefore in the fourteenth year Kedor-Laomer came with the kings who were with him; and they defeated the Refaites in Asteroth-Karnaïm, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shave-Kiriathaïm,
6. and the Horites in their mountain country of Seir as far as El-Paran, which bordered on the desert.
7. Then they returned and came to En-Mispat – present-day Kadesh – and they defeated all in all the area of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon-Thamar.
8. Then the king of Sodom went to war with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Adama, the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela – the present Zoar – and they set themselves up for battle against them in the Siddim Valley,
9. against Kedor-Laomer, the king of Elam, Tideal, the king of the nations, Amrafel, the king of Sinear, and Arioch, the king of Ellasar; four kings against five.
10. Now the valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into them, and those who remained fled to the mountain country.
11. They took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and went away.
12. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his possessions, and went away; for he lived in Sodom.
13. Then there came one who had escaped, and told it to Abram the Hebrew; who lived by the oaks of the Amorite Mamre, the brother of Eskol and Aner. They were allies of Abram.
14. When Abram heard that his brother had been carried off as a prisoner, he armed his trained men born in his house, three hundred and eighteen men, and he pursued them as far as Dan.
15. He divided himself against them at night into groups, he and his men, and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left of Damascus.
16. And he brought back all the possessions, and he also brought back his brother Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the people.
17. Then the king of Sodom, having returned from defeating Kedor-Laomer and the kings who were with him, went to meet him in the valley of Shave, which is the present valley of Kings.
The victory in first world war on earth, the world war of the Nephilim….
Genesis 14:1-6
1 In the days of Amrafel, the king of Sinear, Arioch, the king of Ellasar, Kedor-Laomer, the king of Elam, and Tideal, the king of the nations, it happened
2 that they made war against Bera, the king of Sodom, against Birsa, the king of Gomorrah, against Sinab, the king of Adama, against Shemember, the king of Zeboiim, and against the king of Bela, the present day Zoar.
3 All of these had made a commitment and went up to the Siddim valley, which is today the Salt Sea.
4 Twelve years they had served Kedor-Laomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 Therefore in the fourteenth year Kedor-Laomer came with the kings who were with him; and they defeated the Refaites in Asteroth-Karnaïm, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shave-Kiriathaïm,
6 and the Horites in their mountain country of Seir as far as El-Paran, which borders the desert.
The kings led by the king of Elam (Persia), Kedor Laomer, wanted to go from the North to the South where the kings of Sodom and Gomorrha lived in order to destroy them. But then they had to pass through the area of the Refaists, the giants, the Nephilim.
Here, for the first time after the flood, the Refaites (Nephilim) are mentioned. So they are involved in the first world war. They lived in Asteroth or Ashtaroth-Karnaïm (asthar = stars/tarot= maps and 2 horns = Karnaïm), the same area as King Og of Basan (a giant!). This is east of the Jordan River. After Babel, the Refaites took possession of that.
After all, Cham did not want to go to the God-allotted area of Africa (Book of Jubilees). He settled in the area around the Jordan River. All the peoples who lived there were Refaites. The Zuzites were giants named after the Mezuzah, or “doorpost.” Big and tall. So was Saf from Gob.
(2 Samuel 21:18). All the peoples in that area were descendants of Rephaïm, a Nephilim.
2 Samuel 21:18 Then it happened that in Gob there was another war with the Philistines. Then Sibbechai from Husa, defeated Saf, who was one of the children of Rapha.
Deut 2:10 speaks of the Emites (giants). Emim in Hebrew means “the terrible ones” after the fear they instilled in opponents.
Deuteronomy 2:10 (The Emites (literally the terrible ones) used to dwell in it, a great and numerous people, as long as the Enakites.
Deut 2: 19-22
19 You shall come near the Ammonites.
(Descendants of Ben-Ammi, the son of Lot, fathered by his youngest daughter. Their country is the present-day Jordan, of which Amman is still the capital. Moab was the son of Lot fathered by his eldest daughter. Both peoples merged into Arab tribes and now form North and South Jordan).
Do not bring them into harm’s way, and do not do battle with them, for of the land of the Ammonites I will give you nothing in possession. For I have given it in possession to the children of Lot.
20 (This, too, was counted among the land of the Refaites. The Refaites used to live there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites,
21 a great and numerous people, as long as the Enakites. However, the LORD wiped them out from before their eyes. The Ammonites drove them out of their possessions and went to live in their place;
22 just as He did for the children of Esau, who live in Seir: He wiped out the Horites from before them: they drove them out of their possessions and dwelt in their place, until this day.
The Amorites: were direct descendants of Cham (see Genesis 10:15-16)
Genesis 10:15 Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, Heth,
16. and the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgasite, 17. the Hevite, the Arkite, the Sinite, 18. the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; then the genera of the Canaanites scattered.
(Amorites came from Syria/Iraq and were also called Babylonians. In Moses’ days they were victors: see Amos)
A mighty people mixed with Nephilim. Amos 2: 9:
9 But I have swept away the Amorites before their eyes,
which were high as cedars (40-60 feet high!)
and strong as oaks.
I have swept away its fruit from above
and its roots from below.
Again we see the line of the Amorites going back to Cham. They were their direct descendants and therefore had the corrupt genes in their blood.
Nephilim threaten the survival of mankind and the Messianic bloodline. To this day!
And God intervenes where the Nephilim needed to be fought!
Every time the Nephilim threaten the Messianic bloodline, God Himself intervenes in a supernatural way. We also read this in Deut. 2 and Amos 2.
Kedor-Laomer, the king of Elam, with fellow kings from the area N.E. of Israel were used by God to defeat and slaughter the Nephilim.
- 1. Amrafel: He is the king of Sinear, which is Babylon. Some Bible commentaries suggest that it was Nimrod himself. The meaning of his name is even more dubious! “Speaker of darkness” or “speaker of secrets”.
- 2. Arioch: He is king of Ellasar, which means “rebellion against God.” The meaning of Arioch is “tall”, “great”, like a giant.
- 3. Kedor-laomer: has no particular name. “A handful of yarns”. Kedor-laomer is king of Elam, which means a young man, a virgin, a secret. Literally it means servant of Lagamar, an Elamian goddess. He overcame Engedi which was a city of the Amorites.
- 4. Tideal: The meaning of his name is “that which breaks the yoke; knowledge of ‘bringing up’ (like an elevator). He is king, but not of a nation, but “of the nations.” = Goyim = pagan peoples!
Which of the four is notable? Kedor-laomer! He stands out because of his unremarkable name meaning. It is therefore this Kedor-laomer, who goes to war against five other kings. He is assisted in this by three allies. These are nephilim goods. We find “a teacher of dark things,” a giant, and one who could put the stones of Baalbek (3 pieces of more than 1,000,000 pounds each) in place. Because even today there is no device that can do that.
They did so because they wanted to teach their rebellious vasal kings in the Dead Sea Valley (fertile then!) of Sodom, Gomorrah, et al. a lesson. But they could not get to them because they had to go through the land of the Nephilim. To defeat the Nephilim, however, the confederacy of Kedor-Laomer had to have a huge army.
After winning the battle against the Nephilim, Kedor-Laomer began the original attack, namely on Sodom and Gomorrha and others in the valley of Siddim. That is where the Dead Sea is now. Not at the time, because Lot chose a green fertile plain. “Salt Sea” does not appear before Genesis 14 and “Siddim” does not appear after Genesis 14 in the Bible.
The Bible reports that there were glue pits near the Dead Sea. In the NBG (Dutch) translation, they are described as “asphalt wells. But what exactly are these pits? Shortly after the Flood, Nimrod and his people built a tall tower of clay or loam (glue), a combination of asphalt, lime and plaster, which was abundant in these lands. The loam was extracted from wells; there it bubbled up, just like the pieces of asphalt that still rise from the Dead Sea. So what we see now can be traced very directly back to the history in Genesis.
They defeated the Amalekites, Israel’s historic enemies, in the process (Amalek means “evil”) (vs. 7)
Deut 25:19 When the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies from all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to take possession of it, it must be so that you blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget it!
Amalekites were the inhabitants of Sinai and descendants of Esau, another enemy of Israel and the Messianic bloodline. Think of Haman who wanted to exterminate the Jewish people (Esther). He was originally an Amalekite.
Why this campaign and war? Not because the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha stopped paying tribute (which, by the way, was the reason for the campaign), but the real reason was that the inhabitants of these cities did worse than anyone else because they had giants among them (Jude:7…they ran after other flesh. No homosexuality here but Nephilim!).
Jude 1:7 Likewise it is with Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, which committed whoredom in the same way as they did, and followed other flesh. They lie there as a warning example in that they are suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
God set an example with Sodom and Gomorrha and used Kedor-Laomer for that.
Again, you see God intervening where the Nephilim threaten humanity.
Then Kedor-Laomer also takes Lot who had entangled himself with the world (with Sodom). Abraham gets to hear this and immediately takes action! Together with 318 servants (raised in his house so God-fearing!) and he goes into a 3rd consecutive war against a huge army. Surely this cannot be!
Genesis 14:15-17
14 When Abram heard that his brother had been carried off as a prisoner, he armed his trained men born in his house, three hundred and eighteen men, and he pursued them as far as Dan.
15 He divided himself against them at night into groups, he and his men, and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the possessions, and he also brought back his brother Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the people.
Abraham had to travel 150-200 Km to defeat Kedor-Laomer. By brilliant strategy?
The same probably that Gideon used!
By something else?
The Bible answers in Genesis 14:18-20….
18 And Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God, the Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said:
Blessed be Abram through God, the Most High,
who owns heaven and earth!
20 And be praised God, the Most High,
who has delivered your adversaries into your hand!
And Abram gave him a tenth part of everything. (Apparently, tithes were already common among priests)Melchizedek was, of course, an image of Jesus!
Abraham won because God was fighting for him. Melchizedek, king of Salem, eternal ruler (Heb 7:3) was God Himself and fought with Abraham against the Nephilim.
Genesis 14:
21. The king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people, but keep the possessions for yourself.
22. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I swear by the LORD God Most High, Who owns heaven and earth,
23. that I will take nothing, from thread to shoe strap, yea, nothing of all that is yours, so that you cannot say, I have made Abram rich.
24. Far from it! Only what the servants have eaten, and the portion of the men who have gone with me, Aner, Eskol, and Mamre; let them take their portion!
Again you see where Nephilim are involved God intervenes in a supernatural way!
Genesis 14 also shows why God allowed Nephilim genes to survive the Flood:
Every person has a choice to follow God or disobey. Cham disobeyed and chose a wife with Nephilim in her ancestry. He must have known that!
So Canaan carried those genes. Thus the Nephilim became the examples of a disobedient world. Nephilim became the “gods on earth” and were fearsome supermen who did everything God forbade.
God allowed Nephilim after the Flood to show His omnipotence by exterminating them. For this purpose He used foreign kings and later Israel.
Thus, to this day, man can freely choose whom to follow.
This is immediately confirmed by Melchizedek declaring that God is “Most High” and that the “adversaries are in your hand.”
Remember that the Messianic bloodline was hanging by a thread at the time of Abraham. All the nations were under the authority of rebellious fallen angels.
But God sat on His throne and fought for His cause!
For Abraham, Israel and us it is of utmost importance to see that you must believe His Word and follow God instead of your own insights. When trouble comes, do you trust God and His Word or your own philosophies, justifications and worldly wisdom?
God alone the glory!
So Abram wants God, and He alone, to receive the glory of the blessing that came to Abram. No people, no people worship, and often it is better to cut off that possibility right away. Both to protect yourself and those people! Abram thus protects both the honor of God and the reputation of the king of Sodom.
Consider also that it is written about the inhabitants of Sodom
Now the men of Sodom were very wicked and sinful toward the LORD.
(Gen. 13:13)
That will undoubtedly have been an extra motivation for Abram to make sure that the honor of his Lord was not defiled by this sinful king. Surely we may conclude that if the men of Sodom were “very wicked and sinful toward the Lord,” their leaders were not setting a good example? We see this today, don’t we? On the one hand, politics bends with the fading values of the people, but on the other hand, the government also promotes sin and encourages the “very bad” lives of its subjects. Would that have been different back then?
We see throughout the Bible that change must ultimately come from the leaders. Leaders are sometimes appointed from the lowest walks of life (David was a shepherd!) but it is the leaders who determine whether idols are worshipped, who build altars or overthrow idol altars. So the actions of the leaders are charged just as heavily as those of the whole people.
So Abram protects himself and his Lord by not accepting gifts from this sinful “king” who will later be the cause of his entire city being destroyed (Genesis 19)
Do you really have faith that any event in your life that you surrender to God, He can make you overcome it too? Even if it is “giant” in size?
1 Peter 5:8… Be sober and watchful; for your adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
For Today
The lesson I take from it for today is again sanctification. The most important part, as far as I’m concerned, is Abram’s rejection toward the king of Sodom, who wants to bless Abram in his own way after the battle. Don’t accept gifts from sinful kings who can use them to later pat themselves on the back and say that they would be the cause of your wealth. As far as I’m concerned, wealth can be interpreted broadly. So think also of career, and actually anything that people can boast about to others. Personally I find it difficult to find examples, but actually every “wheelbarrow” should be viewed with suspicion, and we should realize daily that our dependence on God is greater!
Maybe God wants you to say “no” to a nice looking offer once in a while. Put yourself in Abram’s shoes for a moment. How beautiful was not the offer of the king of Sodom? All the goods and chattels of Sodom, except the people. The king must have thought that he would be able to gain more wealth with the people, but then he could also have boasted to everyone that Abram had become so rich because of him. A nice marketing trick, because that would undoubtedly have inspired confidence in others. It still works that way, doesn’t it?
So again: Consider every beautiful offer with the necessary suspicion. Could it somehow bring harm to God? Could it elevate someone with impure intentions? And anyway, be wary if it is “too good to be true,” because then it usually isn’t! We see that too all the time!
