Chedorlaomer

Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer (; Hebrew: כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר, Tiberian: ''Kəḏorlā'ōmer''; Vat. Χοδολλογομορ), is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, campaigning against five Canaanite city-states in response to an uprising in the days of Abraham.

Etymology

The name Chedorlaomer is associated with familiar Elamite components, such as ''kudur'', meaning "servant", and Lagamar, who was a high goddess in the Elamite pantheon. The 1906 ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' stated that, apart from the fact that Chedorlaomer can be identified as a proper Elamite compound, all else is matter of controversy and "the records give only the rather negative result that from Babylonian and Elamite documents nothing definite has been learned of Chedorlaomer".

Background

Chedorlaomer's reign

After twelve years of being under Elamite rule, in the thirteenth year, the Cities of the Plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar) rebelled against Chedorlaomer. To put down the rebellion, he called upon three other allies from Shinar, Ellasar, and Tidal "nations" regions. (Genesis 14:9)

Chedorlaomer's campaigns

The following allies fought as allies of Chedorlaomer in the fourteenth year of his rule.
*King Amraphel of Shinar (possibly Sumer)
*King Arioch of Ellasar
*King Tidal of "nations" – possibly the Hittites

The purpose of Chedorlaomer's campaigns was to show Elam's might to all territories under Elamite authority. His armies and allies plundered tribes and cities, for their provisions, who were en route to the revolting cities of the Jordan plain.

According to , these are the cities plundered by Elam:
* The Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim
* The Zuzim in Ham
* The Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim
* The Horites in Mount Seir as far as El-paran near the wilderness
* The Amalekites in Kadesh at En-mishpat
* The Amorites in Hazezontamar
* The Canaanites of the cities of the Jordan plain

Chedorlaomer's defeat

After warring against the cities of the plain at the Battle of Siddim, Chedorlaomer went to Sodom and Gomorrah to collect bounty. At Sodom, among the spoils of war, he took Lot and his entire household captive. When Lot's uncle, Abram, received news of what happened, he assembled a battle unit of 318 men who pursued the Elamite forces north of Damascus to Hobah. Abram and one of his divisions then proceeded to defeat Chedorlaomer. ()

While the King James Version verse 17 translated the Hebrew word in question as "וַיַּכֵּם" as ''slaughtered'' (), Young's Literal Translation uses the term ''smiting.'' ()

Identifying the Kings

Genesis 14:1 gives a list of four names: "It was in the time of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim..." Traditionally these have been taken as four separate kings:.

*Amraphel has been thought by some scholars such as the writers of th
Catholic Encyclopedia
and th
Jewish Encyclopedia
to be a corruption of the name of the famed ''Hammurabi''. The name is also associated with Ibal Pi-El II of Esnunna. Some also identify him as Aralius, or Amar-Sin, or deny his historical existence at all.
Arioch
has been thought to have been a king of Larsa (''Ellasar'' being a corruption of this.) It has also been suggested that it is ''URU KI'', meaning "this place here". Others identify Ellasar with Ilan-Sura which is a city known from second millennium BC Mari archives in the vicinity of north of Mari, and Arioch with Arriwuk who appears in Mari archives as a subordinate of Zimri-Lim.
*Following the discovery of documents written in the Elamite language and Babylonian language, it was thought that ''Chedorlaomer'' is a transliteration of the Elamite compound ''Kudur-Lagamar'', meaning ''servant of Lagamaru'' - a reference to Lagamaru, an Elamite deity whose existence was mentioned by Assurbanipal. However, no mention of an individual named ''Kudur Lagamar'' has yet been found; inscriptions that were thought to contain this name are now known to have different names (the confusion arose due to similar lettering). In the so-called Chedor-laomer texts, from the Spartoli tablets collection in the British Museum, Kutir-Nahhunte II is represented by Kudur-lagamar. Kutir-Nahhunte I of Sukkalmah dynasty, who was contemporary with Hammurabi, might be represented by Kudur-lagamar(Chedor-laomer) as well.
*Tidal has been considered to be a corruption or transliteration of ''Tudhaliya'' - either referring to the first king of the Hittite New Kingdom ( Tudhaliya I) or the proto-Hittite king named '' Tudhaliya''. With the former, the title ''king of Nations'' would refer to Anatolian vassal states, and allies of the Hittite empire such as the Amurru and Mitanni; with the latter the term "goyim" has the sense of "them, those people". ''al'' ("their power") gives the sense of a people or tribe rather than a kingdom. Hence ''td goyim'' ("those people have created a state and stretched their power").

References

{{reflist

Book of Genesis people
Elamite kings
Lech-Lecha
Torah monarchs