Lot and His Daughters: Part 3 Warring Kings
In this part of the Lot’s story, we see nine kings clash in battle, Lot and his family are captured and then Abraham fights to rescue them.
The nine kings are made up of 5 kings of the Dead Sea Plain and four invading kings. It appears that the kings of the cities around the Dead Sea were paying tribute to King Chedorlaomer for 12 years. In the 13th year they decided to rebel and stop paying. The following year the King took his army and defeated them, taking what was owed to him by force.
At this time, kings ruled towns and cities. A city might only have a few tens of thousand of people living there. They weren’t the large cities we have today.
The kings would have treaties between themselves. These would consist of not only trade deals, but also military coalitions. In this case, King Chedorlaomer probably had a treaty with the other three invading kings mentioned in the text. And the cities around the Dead Sea probably had a similar pact.
Before the Battle of the Plain
Before the battle, the invading kings first traveled down the East side of the Jordan River, passing the five Cities. They headed to Edom and reached the edge of the Sinai wilderness, only to travel North, back to the Dead Sea.
The names of the tribes they conquered along the way are worth noting:
Rephaites = Giants
Zuzites = Roving Creatures
Emites = Terrors
Horites = Cave-Dwellers
Amalekites = People of Toiling/Labourers. Looking at the context, I think it might mean Enslavers - forcing others to work. Though Rabbinical sources say it means, ‘those who lick blood’.
Amorites = Mountain-Dwellers
These names suggest the tribes existed on the fringe of culture and civilisation. These invading kings are conquering those outside of the cities, then they would defeat those within the cities. As a military tactic, it would clear out any extra support the cities could muster from the surrounding area. This would make sense them more vulnerable to attack.
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