וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אַבְרָ֔ם כִּ֥י נִשְׁבָּ֖ה אָחִ֑יו וַיָּ֨רֶק אֶת־חֲנִיכָ֜יו יְלִידֵ֣י בֵית֗וֹ שְׁמֹנָ֤ה עָשָׂר֙ וּשְׁלֹ֣שׁ מֵא֔וֹת וַיִּרְדֹּ֖ף עַד־דָּֽן׃
아브람이 그 조카의 사로잡혔음을 듣고 집에서 길리고 연습한 자 삼백십팔 인을 거느리고 단까지 쫓아가서
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 14,14. “when Avram heard that his brother (nephew) had been taken captive, etc.” When the Torah continues and speaks about Avram taking with him 318 men in his pursuit of Kedorleomer and his armies as far north as the tribal territory of Dan (in the future), the number 318 is not accidental, but represents the numerical value of the word שיח, another word for דבור, suggesting that Avram defeated these armies by means of uttering the holy name of G’d. [The reader is referred to when Moses killed the Egyptian in Exodus 2,13, an act referred to in Exodus 2,14 as having been accomplished by a word, i.e. אומר. Ed.] The word דבור also means הנהגה, leadership; the word שיח=318 also occurs in the sense of השפלה, humiliation, i.e. Avram humiliated these boastful kings. The word occurs in Proverbs 23,27 in that sense, i.e. שוחה עמוקה זונה, “a harlot is a deep pit.” [The author is at pains to understand the number of men Avram took with him as also having profound symbolical meaning. Ed.]