Commentary LibraryCommentaries on Genesis 14:21
Read verse in KJV Bible Reader
John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 14 This chapter gives an account of a war that was waged, and a battle fought between four kings on one side, and five on the other, and of the occasion and issue of it, who were the first kings, and this the first battle the Scriptures speak of, Genesis 14:1; Lot and his goods being taken and carried off, with those of Sodom, by the conquerors, Abram hearing of it armed...
John Gill
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram,.... After the conversation between him and Melchizedek was over: give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself; meaning by "persons" or "souls", as in the original, his own subjects that had been taken and carried away by the four kings, and were now brought back by Abram; and by "the goods", those of his own and his subjects, which their conquerors had...
Matthew Henry
We have four things in the story of this chapter. I. A war with the king of Sodom and his allies, ver. 1-11. II. The captivity of Lot in that war, ver. 12. III. Abram's rescue of Lot from that captivity, with the victory he obtained over the conquerors, ver. 13-16. IV. Abram's return from the expedition, (ver. 17), with an account of what passed, 1. Between him and the king of Salem, ver. 18-20....
Charles H. Spurgeon
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. It was according to the rule of war that, if persons who had made an invasion were afterwards themselves captured, then if the new captor gave up the persons, he was fully entitled to take the goods to himself.
Charles H. Spurgeon
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. They were all Abraham’s by right as the spoils of war.