13 And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.
And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
Give me nothing but the food which the fighting-men who went with me have had; but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.
She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;
And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.
And opening it, she saw the child, and he was crying. And she had pity on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,
And a man of Benjamin went running from the fight and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothing out of order and earth on his head.
And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, a worshipper of the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they of Israel? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 14
Commentary on Genesis 14 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 14
We have four things in the story of this chapter.
Gen 14:1-12
We have here an account of the first war that ever we read of in scripture, which (though the wars of the nations make the greatest figure in history) we should not have had the history of if Abram and Lot had not been concerned in it. Now, concerning this war, we may observe,
Gen 14:13-16
We have here an account of the only military action we ever find Abram engaged in, and this he was prompted to, not by his avarice or ambition, but purely by a principle of charity; it was not to enrich himself, but to help his friend. Never was any military expedition undertaken, prosecuted, and finished, more honourably than this of Abram's. Here we have,
Gen 14:17-20
This paragraph begins with the mention of the respect which the king of Sodom paid to Abram at his return from the slaughter of the kings; but, before a particular account is given of this, the story of Melchizedek is briefly related, concerning whom observe,
Gen 14:21-24
We have here an account of what passed between Abram and the king of Sodom, who succeeded him that fell in the battle (v. 10), and thought himself obliged to do this honour to Abram, in return for the good services he had done him. Here is,