Other Kings Identities:

“Now it came to pass in the days of Amraphel the king of Shinar, Arioch the king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Tidal the king of Goyim.” Genesis 14:1

While known as Amraphel, Nimrod makes an alliance with three other kings named Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal and declares war on Abraham and his alliance of rulers. Their nations are listed as Ellasar, Elam, and Goyim respectively with the final term “Goyim” being obviously equivalent to the Hebrew term “nations”. The rulers siding with Abraham are all located within the valley of Siddim and are less national leaders and simply rulers of individual city states. We will dig into each of these names one by one, but there may actually be a couple other names part of Nimrod’s military alliance.

One such figure was none other than Abraham’s father Terah, where in the Sefer HaYashar it tells us “And God was ‎with Abram. And Terah his father, was still commander-in-chief of Nimrod's army in those days, and he was yet addicted to worshiping strange gods.”¹ Not only is Terah part of Nimrod’s army but he is ‘commander-in-chief’ - this likely being less of a unified commander of the entire army and more of a specific leader, similar to modern generals having command of differing sections of the armed forces. It even goes on to say that Terah had yet to become ‘addicted’ to worshiping strange gods, lining up with this period occurring prior to the building of the Tower of Babel when Nimrod began to enforce collective polytheistic worship.

Curious readers might ask, what was the reason for this war in the first place? Let us go through Legend of the Jews for a collection of Midrashic stories that put together a somewhat cohesive order of the events. Starting off we actually find out this “war” between Abraham and Nimrod was part of a larger series of wars that unfolded around the region, potentially triggered by Lot. “The departure of Lot had a serious consequence, for the war waged by Abraham against the four kings is intimately connected with it. Lot desired to settle in the well-watered circle of the Jordan, but the only city of the plain that would receive him was Sodom, the king of which admitted the nephew of Abraham out of consideration for the latter.”²

The story starts off with Lot settling in the plains of the Jordan valley due to their access to fresh water, and fertile soil, and then tells us that the only city willing to accept him was none other than Sodom. The Midrash claims that the impetus for the King’s acceptance of Lot was actually at the behest of his uncle Abraham.

The story continues: “The five impious kings planned first to make war upon Sodom on account of Lot and then advance upon Abraham. For one of the five, Amraphel, was none other than Nimrod, Abraham's enemy from of old.”³ While there is first confusion due to the numbering of kings at ‘five’ this is actually in reference to the kings of the plain, five in total, including Sodom. However, in this instance they are waging war against Sodom, with Amraphel (Nimrod) joining them in their war - likely due to his hatred for Abraham.

The story starts to get confusing from here, so stay with it, but the actual cause of that war, between the kings of the plain and Sodom - who was supported by aid of Lot - was actually a series of political forces triggering a chain reaction of conflicts. From the Midrash: “The immediate occasion for the war was this: Chedorlaomer, one of Nimrod's generals, rebelled against him after the builders of the tower were dispersed, and he set himself up as king of Elam. Then he subjugated the Hamitic tribes living in the five cities of the plain of the Jordan, and made them tributary. For twelve years they were faithful to their sovereign ruler Chedorlaomer, but then they refused to pay the tribute, and they persisted in their insubordination for thirteen years.”⁴

Opening off, the events are all occurring after the builders of Babel were dispersed, in other words after the unified Kingship of Nimrod and during the period of early nation state formation. It goes on to say that Chedorlaomer - who sets himself up as King of Elam - was one of Nimrod’s generals, the same as Terah, hinting at a deeper political contention between rival military factions within Nimrod’s army. The text continues by saying Chedorlaomer subjugates, interestingly, the “Hamitic tribes” in the plain of the Jordan, making them pay tribute despite their begrudging allegiance setting up their later rebellion.

These groups faithfully paid this tribute for twelve year's, after which they rejected paying this tribute collectively, showing that these five kings had potentially been scheming to rebel against Chedorlaomer this entire time. For thirteen more year's these kings are in open rebellion of Chedorlaomer, each time being asked to pay tribute, rejecting to do so, eventually necessitating a forceful subjugation of the region. Ancient empires often lived off this cycle of invasion, forced subjugation, period of tribute, and eventually rejection of tribute necessitating another conquest. This was nearly the same as the relationship between the Jews and Babylon in later eras showing how our patriarchs' lives cyclically reflect in later periods.

Legends of the Jews doesn’t stop there: “Making the most of Chedorlaomer's embarrassment, Nimrod led a host of seven thousand warriors against his former general. In the battle fought between Elam and Shinar, Nimrod suffered a disastrous defeat, he lost six hundred of his army, and among the slain was the king's son Mardon.” The story begins making sense now that we see Nimrod and Chedorlaomer as competing kings for unified rule, with most of these wars and battles lining up exactly with how ancient near eastern kings would be forced to war often against their own generals, sons, brothers, or alliance members. Friends could quickly turn into enemies, and vice versa. We even see that in this conflict Nimrod loses his son Mardon showing the weight of these battles.

“Humiliated and abased, he returned to his country, and he was forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of Chedorlaomer, who now proceeded to form an alliance with Arioch king of Ellasar, and Tidal, the king of several nations, the purpose of which was to crush the cities of the circle of the Jordan.” Interestingly, Nimrod loses this war to Chedorlaomer, being forced to himself pay tribute and serve as his master. Chedorlaomer then organizes his allies for the ensuing war against the cities of the Jordan valley.

Finishing off the narrative: “The united forces of these kings, numbering eight hundred thousand, marched upon the five cities, subduing whatever they encountered in their course, and annihilating the descendants of the giants. Fortified places, unwalled cities, and flat, open country, all fell in their hands. They pushed on through the desert as far as the spring issuing from the rock at Kadesh, the spot appointed by God as the place of pronouncing judgment against Moses and Aaron on account of the waters of strife. Thence they turned toward the central portion of Palestine, the country of dates, where they encountered the five godless kings, Bera, the villain, king of Sodom; Birsha, the sinner, king of Gomorrah; Shinab, the father-hater, king of Admah; Shemeber, the voluptuary, king of Zeboiim; and the king of Bela, the city that devours its inhabitants. The five were routed in the fruitful Vale of Siddim, the canals of which later formed the Dead Sea. They that remained of the rank and file fled to the mountains, but the kings fell into the slime pits and stuck there. Only the king of Sodom was rescued, miraculously, for the purpose that he might convert those heathen to faith in God that had not believed in the wonderful deliverance of Abraham from the fiery furnace.”⁵

Very little from the rest of this story is useful to identify these figures, or order the series of events, but there is the small clue that this war stretched as far as the rock at Kadesh where Moses struck it to produce water. This would imply that this empire, or kingdom, was exerting influence as far as Sinai, but had not conquered anything in Egypt proper. An example of this supposed border comes from the Neo-Babylonian Empire from the period of Kings, pictured below. Seemingly a simple throw away line, this would provide clues to associating which era, or empires, these events are discussing. Let us turn to identifying the figures in these stories one by one.

1. Sefer HaYashar Noach 18

2. Legends of the Jews 1:5:112, Louis Ginsberg 1909

3. ibid.

4. ibid.

5. ibid.