Genesis 14:4

Gen 14:4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Ver. 4. They rebelled.] Which they ought not to have done, if they had promised fidelity, unless in case of extreme necessity: and then also, at first, to have been on the defensive only. {a}

{a} Alsted.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 14:4. Twelve years they served him — The Sodomites were the posterity of Canaan, whom Noah had pronounced a servant to Shem, from whom Elam descended. Thus soon did that prophecy begin to be fulfilled. In the thirteenth year (beginning to be weary of their subjection) they rebelled — Denied their tribute, and attempted to shake off the yoke.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:4-5 This was Kedorlaomer’sChedorlaomer’s war. Under the feudal system of tribal affiliations, those in covenant with him had to fight. It was also Abram’s battle to rescue Lot, and those under treaty with him had to accompany him.

14:4 King Kedorlaomer apparently defeated the Siddim Valley kings at an earlier time and put them under tribute for asphalt, olive oil, and copper. In the thirteenth year they refused to send it; in the fourteenth year (14:5), the invaders returned to subjugate them again.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(4) They served.—That is, paid a yearly tribute, that they might be exempt from Chedorlaomer’s marauding expeditions (see 2Ki_18:7). There must, therefore, have been envoys going from time to time to and from the Jordan valley to Shinar.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. they served] The five kings “served,” i.e. were vassals, and paid tribute to, the king of Elam who was their over-lord.

rebelled] Probably by omitting to pay tribute or to send gifts, as they had done for 12 years. The distance from southern Palestine to Elam was great. The five kings were doubtless petty princes, who took part in a wide-spread rebellion. Perhaps they took advantage of the decline of the power of Elam, and of the growth of the power of Babylonia. This is a justifiable conjecture if “Amraphel” be the same as Hammurabi. For Hammurabi threw off the yoke of Elam, united Babylonia, and founded the Dynasty of Babylon.

Compare the description in 2Ki_24:1, “Jehoiakim became his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] servant three years; then he turned, and rebelled against him.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,.... King of Elam, who was of the race of Shem, and so the prophecy of Noah began to be fulfilled, that Canaan should be servant to Shem, Gen 9:26; for the kings of Sodom, &c. and their subjects, were of the race of Ham in the line of Canaan, who had by violence seized on that part of the earth which was allotted to the sons of Shem, and therefore Chedorlaomer being a descendant of his claimed his right, and made them tributary to him, which they were for the space of twelve years:

and in the thirteenth year they rebelled; refused homage to Chedorlaomer and to pay tribute to him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Served. Thus Noe’s prediction began to be fulfilled, as Elam was the eldest son of Sem, to whose posterity Chanaan should be slaves, chap. ix. 26.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He was their lord, either,

1. By inheritance, as the issue of Elam, Shem’s son, Gen 10:22. Or,

2. By conquest, having subdued those people in a former war, which Josephus speaks of.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Twelve years they served — During these years they were probably required to pay annual tribute to the king of Elam, the leader and most powerful of the eastern kings.

Rebelled — Threw off this yoke and refused to pay homage to eastern sovereignty.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Twelve years dating from the commencement of his reign (Murphy)they served and paid tribute (cf. 2Ki_18:7) Chedorlaomer. If the king of Elam was a Shemite prince, this was m accordance with the Noachic prophecy; (Gen_9:26) but according to the monuments the Elamits dynasty was Turanian. And in the thirteenth year during the whole of the thirteenth year (vide Ewald"s "Hebrews Synt.," a; cf. Ver. 5)they rebelled, or had rebelled.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Twelve years they served him - The Sodomites were the posterity of Canaan, whom Noah had pronounced a servant to Shem, from whom Elam descended. Thus soon did that prophecy begin to be fulfilled. In the thirteenth year, beginning to be weary of their subjection, they rebelled - Denied their tribute, and attempted to shake off the yoke.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

שתים עשרה שנה עבדו TWELVE YEARS DID THEY i. e. these five kings SERVE Chedorlaomer.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

שתים עשרה שנה עבדו, they were enslaved to Amrafel, paying annual taxes to him.

ושלש עשרה שנה, these words mean the same as if they had been written in the ordinal form, i.e. “during the thirteenth year.”

מרדו, their rebellion consisted of their not paying the annual taxes. Contrary to the impression created that Amrafel was the leader seeing he was named first, the leading king in that group of three was Kedorleomer.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.