John Calvin Commentary Genesis 14

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel. The history related in this chapter is chiefly worthy of remembrance for three reasons:

1. Lot, with a gentle reproof, urged the men of Sodom to repentance; they had, however, become altogether unteachable and desperately perverse in their wickedness.

2. God, out of compassion for him, raised up Abram as his avenger and liberator to rescue him, when a captive, from the hand of the enemy. In this act, the incredible goodness and benevolence of God towards His own people is made clear, since for the sake of one man, He preserves for a time many who were completely unworthy.

3. Abram was divinely honored with a significant victory and was blessed by the mouth of Melchizedek, in whose person, as appears from other passages of Scripture, the kingdom and priesthood of Christ was foreshadowed.

But Lot was beaten with these afflictions because, having been lured and deceived by the richness of the soil, he had mixed himself with unholy and wicked men.

Regarding the sum of the history, it is a horrible picture both of the greed and pride of man.

The human race still had their three ancestors, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, living among them; by the very sight of whom they were reminded that they all originated from one family and one ark. Moreover, the memory of their common origin was a sacred pledge of brotherly bond, which should have bound them to assist each other by mutual support.

Nevertheless, ambition so prevailed that they attacked one another on all sides with sword and armor, and each attempted to subdue the rest. Therefore, while we see today princes raging furiously and shaking the earth to the utmost of their power, let us remember that this evil is ancient, since the lust of dominion has in all ages been too widespread among men.

Let us, however, also remark that no fault is worse than that arrogance, which many consider a most heroic quality. The ambition of Chedorlaomer was the torch of the whole war, for he, inflamed with the desire of triumphing, drew three others into a hostile alliance. And pride compelled the men of Sodom and their allies to take up arms to shake off the yoke.

That Moses, however, records the names of so many kings while Shem was still living (although derided by irreligious men as mythical) will not appear absurd if we only reflect that this great increase of the human race was a remarkable miracle of God. For when the Lord said to Noah himself and to his sons, Increase and multiply, He intended to raise them to the hope of a much greater restoration than would have taken place in the ordinary course of nature.

This blessing is indeed perpetual and will flourish until the end of the world, but it was necessary that its extraordinary effectiveness should then appear, so that these earliest ancestors might know that a new world had been divinely enclosed within the ark. Poets portray Deucalion and his wife as having sown the human race after the flood by throwing stones behind them. But it necessarily followed that the wretched minds of men would be deceived by such trivial things when they departed from the pure truth of God; and Satan has used this deception for the purpose of discrediting the truthfulness of God’s miracles.

For since the memory of the flood and the unusual increase of a new world could not be quickly erased, he spread clouds and smoke, introducing childish notions so that what had before been considered certain truth might now be seen as a myth. It is, however, to be observed that all are called kings by Moses who held the leading position in any town or in any significant gathering of men.

It is asked whether those kings who followed Chedorlaomer lived at a great distance because Tidal is called the king of nations. There are those who imagine that he reigned over different nations far and wide, as if he were a king of kings. The ancient interpreter places Arioch in Pontus, which is most absurd.

I rather think the true reason for the name was that he had a band composed of deserters and wanderers who, having left their own country, had gathered to him. Therefore, since they were not one body—natives of his own country—but gathered together from a mixed crowd, he was properly called king of nations.

In saying that the battle was fought in the valley of Siddim, or in the open plain, which, when Moses wrote, had become the Salt Sea, it is not to be doubted that the Dead Sea, or the lake Asphaltites, is meant. For he knew whom he was appointed to instruct, and therefore he always adapted his words to the simple understanding of the people; and this is his common custom regarding the names of places, as I have previously suggested.

Before, however, the battle was fought, Moses declares that the inhabitants of the region were partially beaten. It is probable that all had been scattered because they had no leader under whose leadership they might fight, until five kings advanced to meet them with a disciplined army. Now, though Chedorlaomer had made so many people subject to tribute to him by tyranny rather than by lawful authority, and on that account his ambition is to be condemned, yet his subjects are justly punished for having rashly rebelled. For although liberty is by no means to be despised, yet the subjection once imposed upon us cannot, without implied rebellion against God, be thrown off, because every power is ordained by God (Romans 13:1), although at its beginning it may have flowed from the lust of dominion. Therefore some of the rebels are slaughtered like cattle; and others, though they have put on armor and are prepared to resist, are yet driven to flight; thus, unhappily for all concerned, ends the stubborn refusal to pay tribute. And such narratives should be noted so that we may learn from them that all who try to create anarchy fight against God.

And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled. Some explain that they had fallen into pits. But this is not probable, since they were by no means ignorant of the neighboring places; such an event would rather have happened to foreign enemies.

Others say that they went down into them for the sake of preserving their lives.

I, however, understand them to have exchanged one kind of death for another, as is common in moments of desperation. It is as if Moses had said that the swords of the enemy were so formidable to them that, without hesitation, they threw themselves headlong into the pits.

For he immediately afterwards adds that those who escaped fled to the mountains. From this, we infer that those who had rushed into the pits had perished. Let us simply understand that they fell, not so much deceived by ignorance of the place, as disheartened by fear.

And they took Lot. It is doubtful whether Lot remained at home while others went to the battle, and was captured there by the enemy, or whether he had been compelled to take up arms with the rest of the people. However, since Moses does not mention him until he speaks of the plundering of the city, the conjecture is probable: that at the end of the battle, he was taken at home, unarmed. Here we see, first, that sufferings are common to the good and the evil; then, that the more closely we are connected with the wicked and the ungodly, when God pours down his vengeance on them, the more quickly does the scourge come upon us.

And there came one that had escaped. This is the second part of the chapter, in which Moses shows that when God showed regard for His servant Lot, He gave him Abram as his deliverer, to rescue him from the hands of the enemy. But here various questions arise, such as whether it was lawful for Abram, a private person, to arm his family against kings and to undertake a public war.

I do not, however, doubt that as he went to the war endowed with the power of the Spirit, he was also guarded by a heavenly command, so that he did not transgress the bounds of his vocation. And this should not be regarded as a new thing, but as his special calling, for he had already been created king of that land.

And although the possession of it was deferred to a future time, yet God would give some remarkable proof of the power which He had granted him, and which was until now unknown to men. We read of a similar prelude to what was to follow in the case of Moses, when he killed the Egyptian, before he openly presented himself as the avenger and deliverer of his nation.

And for this reason, this subject should be noted, so that those who wish to defend themselves by armed force whenever any force is used against them do not use this event to frame a rule for themselves. We will later see this same Abram bearing patiently and with a submissive mind injuries that were at least equally likely to provoke his spirit.

Moreover, it will shortly appear from the commendation of Melchizedek that Abram attempted nothing rashly, but rather that his design was approved by God. We may therefore conclude that this war was undertaken by him under the special direction of the Spirit.

If anyone should object that he went further than was lawful when he stripped the victors of their plunder and captives and restored them entirely to the men of Sodom, who had by no means been committed to his protection, I answer that since it appears that God was his Guide and Ruler in this affair—as we infer from His approval—it is not for us to dispute His secret judgment.

When their neighbors were ruined and destroyed, God had destined the inhabitants of Sodom to a still more severe judgment, because they themselves were the worst of all. Therefore, after they had been admonished by a sufficiently severe chastisement, He raised up His servant Abram to deliver them, so that they might be rendered all the more inexcusable.

Therefore, this unique prompting of the Holy Spirit should no more be taken as a precedent than the entire war that Abram had carried on.

Regarding the messenger who told Abram about the slaughter at Sodom, I do not accept what some suppose, that he was a pious man. We may rather conjecture that, as a fugitive from home who had been deprived of all his goods, he came to Abram to appeal to his compassion.

That Abram is called a Hebrew, I do not explain from his having crossed the river, as some believe, but from his being of the progeny of Eber, for it is a name of descent. And the Holy Spirit here again honorably announces that race as blessed by God.

And these were confederate with Abram. It appears that, in the course of time, Abram was freely allowed to enter into covenant and friendship with the princes of the land, for the man’s heroic virtues caused them to regard him as someone by no means to be despised.

Indeed, since he had such a large household, he might also have been counted among kings, if he had not been a stranger and a sojourner. But God intended in this way to provide for his peace by a covenant relating to temporal things, so that he might never be mixed with those nations.

Moreover, we may readily conjecture that this whole transaction was divinely ordered from the fact that his associates did not hesitate, at great risk, to attack four kings who (considering the conditions of those times) were sufficiently strong and were flushed with the confidence of victory. Surely they would hardly ever have been so favorable to a stranger, except by a secret prompting from God.

When Abram heard that his brother was taken captive. Moses briefly explains the cause of the war that was undertaken: namely, that Abram might rescue his relation from captivity. Meanwhile, what I have said before is to be remembered: that he did not rashly fly to arms, but took them as from the hand of God, who had constituted him lord of that land.

With reference to the words themselves, I do not know why the ancient interpreter has rendered them, ‘Abram numbered his trained servants.’ For the word ריק (rik) signifies to unsheathe or to draw out. Now Moses calls these servants חניכים (chanichim), not as those educated and trained for military service, as many suppose, but rather (in my opinion) as those brought up under his own authority and imbued from childhood with his discipline.

Consequently, they fought the more courageously, being stimulated by his faith, going forth under his auspices, and ready to undergo every kind of danger for his sake. In this great household troop, we must notice not only the diligence of the holy patriarch but also the special blessing of God, by which it had been increased beyond the common and usual manner.