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Chedorlaomer gets only one chapter in the Bible, Genesis 14, and yet he keeps catching my attention. On his way to punish five rebel cities he defeated the Rephaim, the Zuzim and the Emim, peoples the Bible counts among the giants. Then Abraham defeated him. That makes this king of Elam a small but telling link between the giant stories and the story of Abraham.
Below I keep the account of the war, then add what the Bible text, a nineteenth century historian and a few other pages on this site say about him.
Chedorlaomer is a figure mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis. He is identified as a king of Elam, an ancient civilization located in what is now southwestern Iran.
Names
- Chedorlamomer
- Kedorlaomer
- Khodollogomor
- כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר
- King of Elam
According to the biblical account in Genesis 14, Chedorlaomer is mentioned as the leader of a coalition of four kings from the region of Mesopotamia. This coalition included:
- Amraphel, king of Shinar;
- Arioch, king of Ellasar
- Tidal, king of Goiim.
Chedorlaomer and his allies went to war against a group of five kings in the region of the Dead Sea, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The group of five kings inluded:
- Bera, king of Sodom
- Birsha, king of Gomorrah
- Shinab, king of Admah
- Shemeber, king of Zeboiim
- The king of Bela, also known as Zoar
This conflict, often referred to as the Battle of Siddim or the War of the Kings, occurred because the five kings of the Dead Sea region rebelled against Chedorlaomer’s rule after 12 years of subjugation. In the 13th year, they rebelled, and in the 14th year, Chedorlaomer and his allies attacked and defeated them.
In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim
Genesis 14:5 (ESV)
In Genesis 14:5, the nations defeated by Chedorlaomer and his allies in the 14th year, just before their battle against the five kings of the Dead Sea region, are mentioned. The verse lists several groups:
- Rephaim: A people believed to be giants, living in Ashteroth-Karnaim.
- Zuzim: A tribe residing in Ham.
- Emim: Another group of giants, dwelling in Shaveh Kiriathaim.
- Horites: Inhabitants of Mount Seir, later displaced by the descendants of Esau.
These nations are distinct from the five kings of the Dead Sea region who rebelled against Chedorlaomer. The narrative in Genesis 14 describes a campaign where Chedorlaomer and his allies first defeat these nations and then, in the same year, engage in battle against the rebellious kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (Zoar). The earlier victories over the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites demonstrate the might and reach of Chedorlaomer’s coalition before they confront the kings of the Dead Sea area.
Abraham and Lot
After the defeat of the Dead Sea kings, the victors took captives and plunder, including Abraham’s nephew, Lot, who was living in Sodom at the time. Upon hearing of Lot’s capture, Abraham gathered his own forces, pursued the victorious kings, and defeated them, rescuing Lot and the other captives.
And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Genesis 14:16 (KJV)
See Abram Rescues Lot for Genesis 14 verse by verse, and Sodom and Gomorrah for what happened to the cities afterwards.
The four kings in Genesis 14
The chapter opens with the names of the four kings, and later counts them against the five.
And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
Genesis 14:1 (KJV)
With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.
Genesis 14:9 (KJV)
Khudur-Lagamar in The Story of Chaldea
Zénaïde A. Ragozin identified Chedorlaomer with the Elamite king Khudur-Lagamar and dated him, by her own calculation, to about 2200 B.C. She read Amraphel as Amarpal, a king of Babylon, and Arioch as Eri-Aku, king of Larsam. See Zénaïde A. Ragozin: The Story of Chaldea and the book page.
Khudur-Lagamar marched an army (1,931 kilometers) across the desert into the fertile, wealthy and populous valleys of the Jordan and the lake or sea of Siddim, afterwards called the Dead Sea
Zénaïde A. Ragozin, The Story of Chaldea (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1886), p. 221
The giant killer
The page on the Anakim argues that Chedorlaomer fought three groups of giants, notes that the Septuagint renders Rephaim in Genesis 14:5 as “giants”, and calls Abraham’s victory a defeat of the giant killer. See also Rephaites, Zuzites, Emites, Horites and The Nephilim.
