Giant Wars and the Rescue of the Captives
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Giant Wars And the Rescue of the Captives 1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh- kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar. 8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim 9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. 11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. 13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people. Genesis 14:1-16 Giants and Abram Everyone has heard of Goliath. He was the mighty Philistine champion who defied the entire army of Israel in the valley of Elah. Everyone in Israel’s army shrieked at the sound like the figure in Munch’s Scream painting. They ran from the sight of Goliath like ants fleeing their hill just splattered by the foot of a school boy. This included King Saul. Himself a head taller than any other Israelite, it says he was 1 © Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado and Pastor Doug Van Dorn All Rights Reserved “dismayed and greatly afraid” (1 Sam 17:11) of this one person, even with an entire army behind him. This is because Goliath was 10 ft. tall. His armor alone weighed 160 lbs. His spear was three inches in diameter, and the tip weighed 15 lbs. Perhaps the most important thing about Goliath is that he was descended from a people called the Rephaim (2 Sam 21:22), who show up in our story today. But did you know that Goliath isn’t even the largest man in the Bible? Most people do not know that there are any other giants in the Bible. This distinction belongs to king Og of Bashan. It says that his bed/casket was 13½ ft. long and 6 ft. wide (Deut 3:11). Someone wanted it for a trophy, so they took it away to Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites where they seem to have put it on display. Bashan means “place of the serpent.” It is the region of today’s Golan Heights, in the foothills of Mt. Hermon north and east of the Sea of Galilee. In fact, I believe that there is even a giant serpent mound right next to one of the oldest archeological sites in all of Israel, which is called Gilgal Refaim—Wheel of Giants. Like the Rephaim, Og also shows up in our passage today. Or, at least he would if we were sitting in a synagogue listening to a priest read from Genesis in one particular Aramaic Targum—Pseudo-Jonathan. Genesis 14:13 says: Then came Og, who had escaped from among the giants who died in the Flood; he had ridden upon the ark, and there was a cover over his head, and he was sustained from Noah’s provisions. He had not escaped because of his own merit, but that the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord and say, “Did not the giants who were there from the beginning rebel against the Lord of the world, and he wiped them out from the earth?” When these kings waged war, Og was with them. He said to himself “I will go and inform Abram concerning Lot who has been captured, so that when he comes to rescue him from the hands of the kings, he himself will be given into their hands. So he came on the eve of the day of the Passover and found him making unleavened cakes, and he told Abram the Hebrew, who was dwelling in the Vision of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. These were allies of Abram. This strange tale contains a mixture of the actual words of Genesis (unbolded) as well as ancient legends and oral traditions that almost no one alive today knows. There is one more addition from the Targum that I want to tell you about here. It is found in the first verse. It says, “In the days of Amraphel—he is Nimrod who ordered Abram to be thrown into the fire” (Gen 14:1 tg.Ps-Jon). I won’t focus on this 2 © Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado and Pastor Doug Van Dorn All Rights Reserved very old story of Abram being cast into the fire. The Targum spoke about this back in ch. 11.1 What I’m interested in is the identification of Amraphel with Nimrod. If you remember back in Gen 10:8, it said that Nimrod began to be a gibborim (mighty man/giant) on the earth. He was the builder of Babel. He was that mighty hunter of Hercules or Ninurta fame (9). And he began to build many cities in “the land of Shinar” (10) including Babel. I suggested he is probably the instigator of the Tower of Babel itself. So Nimrod is in the land of Shinar, and now Amraphel is in the land of Shinar. So, naturally, Amraphel becomes Nimrod in the traditions. The truth or non-truth of Og hitching a ride on Noah’s ark or of Nimrod and Abram actually knowing each other are not important to me today. They are neither biblical nor anti-biblical things. I bring them up to put an already fascinating story into its proper context. Why would we need context that adds Nimrod and Og? It is because most commentaries, and even scholarly articles on Genesis 14, miss the point. They scratch their collective heads wondering, “Why is this chapter even in the Bible?” Even when they get the main point right (a point that really doesn’t even come into focus until the end of the chapter), almost all of them miss the function of these early verses, those we are looking at today. But the Targum doesn’t miss it at all. In fact, its embellishments are there in order to help the hearer understand it even better, because apparently, even they were having difficulty getting the point. And what is this point? Why is this chapter here? It comes across as plain as I know how to make it in the title of the sermon today: Giant Wars and the Rescue of the Captives. Giant Wars What we are looking at today are three battles. In Gen 14:1-4 you have Round 1 of a coalition of eastern kings vs. a coalition of western kings. In vv. 5-12 you have Round 2. If you have ever heard of any of these kings or wars in your life, you are one of the chosen few. The section concludes with Abram now entering into the 3rd battle, where he fights the eastern kings (13-16). To begin this, what I want to remind you of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In a recent interview, Michael Horton was asked, “What is the gospel?” His answer was a little unexpected to me, but I really liked it. “The gospel is God’s promise of a Son who will crush the serpent’s head, forgive the sins of his people, raise them from the 1 “And it was when Nimrod had cast Abram into the furnace of fire because he would not worship his idol, and the fire had no power to burn him, that Haran's heart became doubtful, saying, If Nimrod overcome, I will be on his side: but if Abram overcome, I will be on his side. And when all the people who were there saw that the fire had no power over Abram, they said in their hearts, Is not Haran the brother of Abram full of divinations and charms, and has he not uttered spells over the fire that it should not burn his brother? Immediately (min yad, out of hand) there fell fire from the high heavens and consumed him; and Haran died in the sight of Terah his father, where he was burned in the land of his nativity, in the furnace of fire which the Kasdai had made for Abram his brother” (Gen 11:28 PJE).