Comentario sobre Génesis 14:5

ובארבע עשרה שנה AND IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR of their rebellion

והמלכים אשר אתו, the ones who had been signatories to the compromise deal 12 years previously, amongst whom had also been Amrafel.

ובארבעה עשר .. את רפאים בעשתרות קרנים, they defeated the giants who lived at that place. The place עשתרות קרנים was so named seeing it was situated between two mountains, so that the word קרנים, “horns,” describes the way in which these mountains protruded from the earth’s surface. Our sages in Sukkah 2 already mentioned that all the places mentioned in these verses are not far from Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps the inhabitants had supported the insubordination of Sodom and satellites and that is why they were attacked.

בא כדרלעומר, “Kedorleomer came, etc.” The Torah wants to describe the power of this king as well as that of the kings who joined him and who defeated the various mighty kings who dwelled in fortified cities. This is the true meaning of the words בעשתרות קרנים. The word קרנים, “horns,” symbolizes strength seeing that the strength of a bull is represented by its horns. They even defeated the wealthy amongst them [reference to the name זוזים, derived from זוז , coin. Ed.] Seeing that these four kings defeated the kings (Refaiim) who resided in fortified cities as well as the ones who dwelled in the mountains, there was no need to mention that they overran the cities in the valley. According to Bereshit Rabbah 26,16, שוה קריתים is a reference to cities in the valley. The אימים were people who had inspired fear amongst all the people around them. The חורי בההרם שעיר were tillers of the soil in mountainous territory. According to Tanchuma these people were able to “smell” the earth, i.e. their sense of smell told them about what a particular piece of earth was best suited for. According to another Midrash the name עין משפט refers to Kadesh, the place where Moses would be judged when he hit the rock instead of speaking to it The name חצצן תמר is an allusion to חציון של תמר, another name for the land of Israel which is situated in the very center of the earth. (חציון from the word חצי “half.”) The main reason the Torah provides us with all these details of the military exploits of Kedorleomer and Arafel and their allies is to provide the background to the tremendous military achievement of Avram and his 318 warriors in the latter half of this chapter. This is why the Torah underlines in verse 17 אחרי שובו מהכות את כדרלעומר ואת המלכים אשר אתו “after he (Avram) returned from defeating Kedorleomer and the kings who were with him.”

Of their rebellion ... By saying, “Of their rebellion,” Rashi is telling us that it does not mean they served Kedorlaomer for twelve years, and the next year they rebelled, and the next year Kedorlaomer came. For then it should have said ובשלש עשרה שנה, as it says afterwards, ובארבע עשרה שנה. Rather, Rashi is saying that after serving for twelve years, they rebelled for a thirteen year period. And the very next year, i.e., in the fourteenth year, “Kedorlaomer came.”

(5-7) zeigen uns zuerst in raschem Fluge die Macht und Tapferkeit der Länderkönige: sie waren zuerst den ganzen Osten von Palästina südwärts bis nach Edom hinabgezogen und hatten hier en passant alles erobert; dann zogen sie wieder zurück nach Norden zu ihrem eigentlichen Zwecke, und standen in der Nähe ihrer eigentlichen Feinde.

בא כדרלעמר CHEDORLAOMER CAME — Because the matter concerned him mostly, “he bore the heavier side of the beam" (Genesis Rabbah 42:6).

ויכו את הרפאים...ואת הזוזים...ואת האימים, all of these people had been subservient to the group of 5 kings headed by the king of Sodom, and had even fought wars on behalf of their masters. By telling us all this, the Torah wanted us to know that the five kings were not just paper tigers, pushovers. By inference, it enables us to imagine the military power of the four kings who defeated the five kings afterwards. Having once appreciated all this, we can image what a tremendous feat Avram accomplished when he defeated the four kings under the leadership of Kedorleomer. He must have possessed outstanding military skills in order to have accomplished this. It also testifies to the act of selfless love he displayed for his nephew, when he endangered himself and his men to such a degree in order to free him from captivity. Most of all, it gives us a chance to marvel at the mercy G’d showed both to Lot and to Avram in this sequence of events.

These are the Zamzumim. Rashi knows this because it is written here Rephaim and Aimim, and mentions the Zuzim with them — while in Devarim 2:11, it mentions Rephaim, Aimim and Zamzumim. Thus, Zuzim must be Zamzumim.

והמלכים AND THE KINGS [THAT WERE WITH HIM] — These are the other three kings.

הזוזים These are the Zamzumim (see Deuteronomy 2:10 and Deuteronomy 2:20).