Musar sur La Genèse 14:1

On 14,1 Nachmanides writes that the whole occurrence was to teach Abraham that there would be four empires that would rule the earth at different times, but that ultimately Abraham's descendants would prevail over them all and that all their property would be restored to Israel. The first such empire would be the Babylonian Empire, as we know from Daniel 2,38: "to whom He has given dominion over them all -you are the head of gold." Possibly the name of the king Elassar, (14,1) corresponds to a town in Persia by the same name. King "Eylam" may be the name of a town in Greece also. He may have been the first king of that empire, Darius being a later one after the empire expanded. [There are some confusing versions here as to who is who, seeing that Darius was a king of the Medes. This does not matter in our context. Ed.] There is a view among our sages that this king ruled for six years in Eylam before ruling the whole civilized world. The name “מלך גויים" refers to a variety of kings appointed by the king of Eylam as his deputies in different parts of his empire. There is a hint here of the method of the Romans who appointed governors in different parts of their empire. Similar views are expressed in Bereshit Rabbah 42,2 by Rabbi Avin who claims that since the chapter opens with four kingdoms (the problems of Abraham), so his descendants also will suffer at the hands of four kingdoms. [Rabbi Avin, as do others, assumes that the campaign against Sodom was really intended as a campaign against Abraham, and that his involvement was not quite voluntary. Ed.] Rabbi Avin sees in Amrafel king of Shinor a reference to Babylon, in Aryach king of Elassar (a reference) to the Empire of the Medes, in Kedor-Leomer king of Eylam a reference to the Greek Empire, and in Tidal king of "Goyim," (a reference) to the present exile since it comprises numerous kingdoms all of which exercise dominion over the Jewish people. The king "Bela" is called so because he ruled only over a small city with few inhabitants. Thus far Nachmanides' comment. His words are truly those of a wise man. Abraham's experiences foreshadow both the bondage in Egypt and the redemption that was to follow. Later, it foreshadowed Jewish exile (after the destruction of the Temple) and finally the Redemption at the hands of the משיח בן דוד, the Messiah son of David, a descendant of Lot.