13Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaksb of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram. 14When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot with his goods, and the women and the people.
Abram Blessed by Melchizedek
17After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.c 19He blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,d
maker of heaven and earth;
20and blessed be God Most High,e
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. 21Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High,f maker of heaven and earth, 23that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”
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a Heb Salt Sea
b Or terebinths
c Heb El Elyon
d Heb El Elyon
e Heb El Elyon
f Heb El Elyon
14.1–24 The account of Abram’s rescue of Lot from the army of four eastern kings has a different character from the other Abraham narratives and cannot be identified with any of the pentateuchal sources. The first part (vv. 1–9) imitates the style of a royal annal or inscription, including the apparently concocted names of various kings and countries. The second part (vv. 13–16) portrays Abram as a mighty sheik with a sizable army of retainers, able to conquer foreign armies in order to rescue his nephew. The third part (vv. 17–24) portrays the aftermath of Abram’s victory—Abram’s nobility and his blessing by a foreign priest-king. This story gives an indication of the different types of traditions about Abraham that circulated in ancient Israel. In Genesis it continues the Abram-Lot cycle begun in ch. 13 and shows Abram’s care for Lot, which will recur in the story of the destruction of Sodom in chs. 18–19 (see 19.29).
14.1 The names and countries of the four eastern kings are a pastiche of real and fictional names. Shinar (Babylonia) and Elam are real places, Ellasar is unknown, and Goiim means “nations.” Amraphel sounds like a Semitic name, Arioch like a Hurrian name, Chedorlaomer like an Elamite name, and Tidal like a Hittite name, but there are no historical people or kings with which these can be identified. This is a learned exercise in invented history.
14.2 The kings of the cities of the Plain are also invented. Bera, “in evil,” and Birsha, “in wickedness,” appropriate names for the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah.
14.5–7 The kings of the east defeat the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan, who are elsewhere depicted as giants: the Rephaim, Zuzim (Zamzummim), Emim, Horites, and Amorites; cf. 15.19–21; Num 13.32–33; Deut 2.10–12, 20–23; Am 2.9.
14.12–13 The mention of Lot breaks the annalistic style and returns the focus to the patriarchal family. Hebrew, an ethnic term usually used by foreigners or when speaking to or about foreigners (e.g., 39.14; 40.15; Ex 1.19; 1 Sam 4.6; Jon 1.9). The usage here is unusual. Mamre, here a native Amorite; he and his brothers are allies (lit. “lords of the covenant”) of Abram (cf. 13.18). This association with Amorites is also unusual.
14.14–15 The details of Abram’s battle with the kings of the east emphasize his skill and military prowess—with only 318 men he defeated the great eastern alliance, pursuing them all the way to Syria.
14.17 The king of Sodom meets the victorious Abram at a place identified as the King’s Valley next to Jerusalem (see 2 Sam 18.18). This encounter resumes in v.21, after Abram’s meeting with the king of Jerusalem.
14.18–20 Salem, a short form of Jerusalem (see Ps 76.2). Its king and priest, Melchizedek (which means “my king is righteousness”), bestows on Abram the blessing of God Most High, maker of heaven and earth. This is an expansion of a traditional West Semitic divine title, “God, maker of earth,” known from various inscriptions (including a Hebrew text from Jerusalem). Abram equates God Most High (El Elyon) with Yahweh in v. 22. The blessing on Abram creates a patriarchal link with Jerusalem and its cult (including the payment of a tithe to its priests), which are in some sense legitimized by this association. Ps 110.4 applies Melchizedek’s combination of royal and priestly authority to the Jerusalem king, suggesting that Melchizedek played a symbolic role in Israel’s royal ideology.
14.21–24 Abram’s graciousness to the king of Sodom and his refusal to enrich himself presents him as an honorable and eloquent leader, to whom the kings and peoples of Canaan are indebted.
GENESIS 15
God’s Covenant with Abram
1After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”a 3And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4But the word of the LORD came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORDb reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7Then he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” 8But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. 13Then the LORDc said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; 14but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Heb he
c Heb he
15.1–21 This chapter returns to the theme of the promises. In the first part (vv. 1–6), Abram expresses doubt about the promise of offspring and, when reassured, shows his trust in God, and in the second part (vv. 7–21) he expresses doubt about the promise of the land, and God makes a covenant that guarantees its fulfillment. The two parts have different styles and diff
erent settings (in v. 5 it is night since the stars are visible; in v. 12 the sun was going down), and neither can be assigned to the major pentateuchal sources. The two scenes are, however, complementary and are presented as a two-part revelatory encounter that confirms and adds detail to the promises.
15.1–6 Eliezer of Damascus, not mentioned elsewhere, although an unnamed servant of Abraham plays a major role in ch. 24. V. 3 appears to be an explication of obscure terms in v. 2. God’s promise that Abram’s very own issue shall be his heir (v. 4) leaves open the identity of the mother (cf. 18.10) and sets the stage for the conflict between Sarah and Hagar. Bringing Abram outside to count the stars (v. 5) provides a vivid symbolic action accompanying the verbal promise comparable to the covenant ceremony in the second part of the chapter. Abram’s response—he believed the LORD (v. 6)—means that he trusts God and his promise. It is not faith without evidence, but rather faith that takes God’s word as sufficient. The theme of Abram’s righteousness (v. 6) recurs in 18.19. Paul in Rom 4.3; Gal 3.6 uses this passage as a basis for his understanding of the importance of faith. Jas 2.23 makes different use of the text.
15.7 God’s self-identification to Abram echoes the beginning of the Decalogue (Ex 20.2) with Ur of the Chaldeans in the place of Egypt. This allusion anticipates God’s foretelling of the Egyptian bondage and the exodus in vv. 13–16.
15.9–12, 17 The ceremonial splitting of animals is an old West Semitic rite that seals oaths or covenants. Jeremiah refers to a covenant ceremony that involves splitting a calf in half and passing between its parts (Jer 34.18–21). The symbolism of this act seems to be that the party passing between the parts will die (like the animal) if it breaks its oath. In the covenant ceremony in ch. 15, God is the party affirming the covenant, and the smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that mysteriously pass between the pieces (v. 17) are his symbols. These two items may be small-scale allusions to God’s pillar of smoke and pillar of fire (e.g., Ex 13.21–22). The birds of prey that attack the pieces (v. 11) and the terrifying darkness (v. 12) that descends upon Abram set a fearful mood for the prophecy of Egyptian bondage that follows.
15.13–16 The prediction of the Egyptian oppression and the exodus is the only explicit mention in Genesis (but see note on 12.10–20). Four hundred years, roughly equal to the 430 years in Ex 12.40. The return in the fourth generation corresponds to the four generations from Levi to Moses in Ex 6.16–20. Iniquity of the Amorites, apparently their worship of other gods and idolatry (see Ex 23.23–33), which is punishable up to the fourth generation (see Ex 20.5). The return of Israel to the promised land will entail the destruction of the Amorites.
15.18–21 The boundaries of the promised land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river (the Euphrates), is a maximal interpretation of earlier descriptions (see Num 34.1–12; Deut 11.24; 1 Kings 4.21; 8.65). The parallelism of the two rivers is a descriptive figure and does not reflect Israel’s boundaries at any period. The list of ten peoples of the promised land expands the standard list of six or seven peoples (e.g., Ex 3.8; Deut 7.1; Josh 9.1; Judg 3.5) with three alliterative peoples (Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites) and the Rephaim (cf. 14.5).
GENESIS 16
The Birth of Ishmael
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, 2and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” 10The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” 11And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;
you shall call him Ishmael,a
for the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
12He shall be a wild ass of a man,
with his hand against everyone,
and everyone’s hand against him;
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.”
13So she named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”b for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”c 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;d it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore hime Ishmael.
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a That is God hears
b Perhaps God of seeing or God who sees
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d That is the Well of the Living One who sees me
e Heb Abram
16.1–16 The story of the expulsion of Hagar is told twice, here by the J (vv. 1–2, 4–14) and P sources (vv. 3, 15–16) and in 21.8–21 by the E source. In both Hagar incurs Sarai’s wrath, is expelled with the approval of Abram, and is rescued by an angel, who conveys the divine promise that Ishmael’s descendants will become a mighty nation. This is an ethnographic story about the ancestry of the Arab peoples, collectively called the Ishmaelites (see 25.12–18). The Arabs are culturally distinct, yet part of Israel’s family tree, and receive a version of the patriarchal blessing. In this story Sarai shows herself to be a dominant figure in the domestic domain, zealously protecting her honor and authority, while Hagar is a sympathetic and suffering figure, to whom God gives aid and an annunciation of her child’s birth and destiny. Paul in Gal 4.21–31 uses the story of Hagar as a polemical allegory.
16.1–2 The initial situation echoes the problem first stated in 11.30, Sarai’s barrenness, and also announces that Sarai will be a major figure in this story. An Egyptian, probably from the westernmost territory of the Arab tribes in the wilderness of Shur (see 16.7; 25.18), in the desert of north Sinai opposite Egypt. Hagar means “city, province, region” in old Arabic. Hagarite tribes (and Ishmaelites) are also located in Transjordan (see Ps 83.6; 1 Chr 5.10). Sarai takes the initiative by assigning her slave-girl to be a surrogate mother, in accordance with ancient Near Eastern custom (see also 30.3, 9). Abram’s response, here and later (see v. 6) acknowledges Sarai’s authority in domestic affairs.
16.4–6 She looked with contempt on her mistress, better “her mistress was lowered in her eyes.” Hagar’s inner response reverses the normal hierarchy of slave-girl and mistress. This enrages Sarai, who demands justice from Abram for the wrong (or “violence, injustice”) done to her. Abram grants Sarai unrestricted power over Hagar, in spite of the moral problem of exposing the pregnant slave-girl to her mistress’s wrath (cf. 21.11). Sarai’s oppression of her Egyptian slave, who then flees toward Egypt, ironically reverses the exodus theme.
16.7–12 God’s angel grants Hagar the patriarchal promise of descendants so abundant that they cannot be counted (v. 10; cf. the promise to Abram in 13.16; 15.5). The angel’s announcement of the future child’s name and destiny is also similar to the announcements given to Abraham (17.19; 18.10) and Rebekah (25.23). Ishmael (lit. “God has heard”), so named because God has given heed to (lit. “heard”) Hagar’s afflicti
on. The name highlights God’s compassion for Hagar, probably because he has saved her life, but this is tempered by the command to return to Sarai and submit to her (v. 9). The description of Ishmael as a wild ass of a man (v. 12), in conflict with all, describes the fierce independence and warrior ethos of the Arab peoples of antiquity.
16.13–14 A difficult sequence that connects the divine revelation to Hagar with the place-name Beer-lahai-roi. The LORD who spoke to her. Hagar identifies the angel as God himself. The angel is in some respects a manifestation of God; cf. Ex 23.20–21. Those who see God and live have special status (see also 32.30; Ex 33.20; Judg 6.22; 13.22), though the text is suspect at this point.
16.15–16 The brief P version of the story (along with v. 3). In this version there is a concern for chronology, and Abraham names the son. The placement of these verses here returns the focus to Abraham.
GENESIS 17
The Sign of the Covenant
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty;a walk before me, and be blameless. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram,b but your name shall be Abraham;c for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspringd after you. 8And I will give to you, and to your off-spring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
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