That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.
Study Helps
Interpretation
The wars of nations make great figure in history, but we should not have had the record of this war if Abram and Lot had not been concerned. Out of covetousness, Lot had settled in fruitful, but wicked Sodom.
Glossary
- Admah Place
- Biblical settlement. Modern identification: south of the Lisan.
- Bera Person
- Gift, or son of evil, king of Sodom at the time of the invasion of the four kings under Chedorlaomer ( Gen. 14:2 , 8, 17, 21).
- Birsha Person
- Son of wickedness, a king of Gomorrah whom Abraham succoured in the invasion of Chedorlaomer ( Gen. 14:2 ).
- Gomorrah Place
- Biblical settlement. Modern identification: south of the Lisan.
- Sodom Place
- Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim ( Gen. 13:10 ; 14:1-16 ). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut. 23:17 ). Modern identification: south of the Lisan.
- Zeboiim Place
- Biblical settlement. Modern identification: south of the Lisan.
- Zoar Place
- Small, a town on the east or south-east of the Dead Sea, to which Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom ( Gen. 19:22 , 23). It was originally called Bela (14:2, 8). Modern identification: Al Safi.