Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #11 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to read Genesis 14:5-12:

And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; 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. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

I will stop reading there. We have seen that this historical battle points to the time of the end, spiritually, when Satan was loosed and came against the camp of the saints. The battle was engaged between the four kings that represent Satan and the five kings led by Sodom and Gomorrah that represent the corporate church. We discussed that and we spent some time discussing the numbers the Lord gave us.

Now we are going to move on and look at the battle itself. One of the first things we see is that the battle is greater than we originally thought. It was not just four kings against five kings and their city states, but we read that Chedorlaomer, a type of Satan, and the other three kings that represent the kingdom of Satan also smote several other peoples, as it says in Genesis 14:6-7:

… and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.

Following this, we read that the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah went out and joined the battle. So, we see that Chedorlaomer and his forces appear to be carrying out a “scorched earth” policy; they are doing battle with many more nations than just the five kings led by Sodom and Gomorrah. This would agree with what the Bible tells us about the end-time assault of Satan (the beast) during the Great Tribulation period, in Revelation 13:7-8:

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This chapter goes on to speak about the image of the beast. In the Book of Daniel, which this image is drawn from, King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image and he commanded all the people in the provinces that Babylon had conquered to bow down and worship it. That is a figure of Satan’s worldwide rule during the Great Tribulation period. He ruled the corporate churches, as the Lord turned over the churches to him and Satan ruled there as the man of sin, but he also ruled the nations of the world in their increasing wickedness and abounding iniquities. God lifted His hand of restraint, permitting the unsaved population of the earth to engage in sin like never before in history. Whenever man sins (like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden), he is not doing service to God. Remember, it says in Romans 6 that you are serving the one whom you obey, so iniquity abounds as the unsaved people of the earth increase in their transgressions and sinful lifestyles and increased service to sin and Satan. As Romans, chapter 1 says, they were given over to gross sin at the time of the end and mankind is doing service to Satan and in that way Satan ruled in a greater manner than ever before over the people of nations or the kingdom of darkness through this increase of iniquity. We also read in Jeremiah 27:1-7:

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from JEHVOAH, saying, Thus saith JEHOVAH to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

Again, Chedorlaomer is synonymous with Nebuchadnezzar in picturing Satan coming at the time of the end of the world. The nations mentioned in our verse are Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and the Amalekites and the Amorites. We also see a reference to the Horites that dwelt in Mount Seir, which would later be taken over by Edom (Esau). Edom and Mount Seir are also related to the corporate church, so it is a picture of Satan coming against the churches and congregations of the world and Chedorlaomer smote them all. He smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth and he smote the country of the Amalekites and the Amorites and he won the battle against Sodom and Gomorrah.

One thing I should point out in verse 5 is that Chedorlaomer smote the Rephaims and the Zuzims and the Emims and these are all related to “giants.” Each of these names identify with giants. For instance, in the case of the Emims, it says in Deuteronomy 2:9-11:

And JEHOVAH said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.

So, Emims are giants. Another name referenced is Rephaims and it is Strong’s #7497 and the Hebrew word is also translated as “giants.” As a matter of fact, it is in the same verse in Deuteronomy 2:11 where it speaks of the Anakims, “which also were accounted giants.” That word “giants” is also Strong’s #7497, which was translated as “Rephaims.” Also, it says in Deuteronomy 22:19:

And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

Zamzummims is the same name as in our verse where it referred to “the Zuzims in Ham,” but we can see the relationship between the Zamzummims and the Zuzims. The word is slightly different, but there is relationship between them and given that the Rephaims were giants and the Emims were giants, it would figure that the Zuzims were also giants.

Chedorlaomer came and smote the land of the giants and I am not too sure what the spiritual meaning is, as it is a different word for giant than we saw earlier in the Book of Genesis. I think it was Genesis, chapter 6 where it said that there were giants in the land. That was a different Hebrew word. This word that speaks of giants is speaking of giants in the land of Canaan and the Emims, for example, is the Hebrew word that is Strong’s #368. It is derived from Strong’s #367 which means “fear” or “terror.” Remember, when Israel came out of Egypt and they approached Kadesh, they sent spies to search out the land (of Canaan) and the spies came back with what the Bible calls an “evil report.” What was their evil report? Their evil report included information that there were men of great stature in the land, as it says in Numbers 13:28-33:

Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

The word “giants” is the same word translated in our verse as “Rephaims.” Then it said in Numbers 14:1-3:

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath JEHOVAH brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

You see, as soon as they heard about the giants, they were afraid. They were fearful of the giants. Remember, when David went to fight Goliath, Goliath had come into the valley and challenged the men of Israel for forty days and they all shuddered with fear because a giant was an imposing and frightening figure. They could have been as tall as 9 or 10 feet and most men of that day were not even 6 feet tall. The average may have been 5’7” or 5’8” or a little taller, but a giant would have been almost twice that size. How fearful that would be and it was the giants that caused the spies to fear and give an evil report. The giants were a sort of defense for the land of Canaan, so one thing we can see regarding Chedorlaomer and the other three kings (his allies) is that as they went to put down the rebellion the first thing they did was to smite the giants: “…and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim.” Certainly, word would have spread quickly. It would have been very intimidating to all other people to hear that Chedorlaomer came with such a tremendous army that he even defeated the giants of the land: “If he defeated the giants, what chance would we have to fight against him?” You can see how disheartening and discouraging it would be to the people, like when Joshua led the forces of Israel across the river Jordan forty years after the spies gave their evil report. Israel entered the land and began by destroying Jericho with a miraculous destruction as the walls came tumbling down and the whole city was destroyed. The news spread quickly to all the other city states about what had happened to Jericho and that God was fighting for them.

It is similar in a way to our verse, which is indicating that Chedorlaomer possessed great strength. That is one thing we can see that is in view, spiritually, when we consider the assault of Satan and his forces upon the churches and congregations of the world. Satan possessed great strength after he was loosed and it said in Revelation 13 that the people of the world wondered at him because his deadly wound was healed. Let us go back there. We can see their awe and wonder, in Revelation 13:3-4:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

You see, he was able to defeat everyone. Satan has come back from the “dead” after receiving that death blow at the cross and being bound for a thousand years, but now look at his power and look at his strength. It is restored. It is not only restored, but it is greater than ever. Who can make war with him? He is overcoming church after church and congregation after congregation and the world is finally serving him as never before, as the restraints upon the hearts of men have been lifted. Now mankind cares nothing about a Sabbath Day. They do not care about abortion. They do not care about gay marriage or homosexual activity. They do not care anything about any Law of God or about any morality. They are free to do service to the beast and free to serve Satan in an unparalleled manner never seen before in the history of the world. Certainly, he is most mighty and strong and will defeat anyone that comes against him.

That is what we see in this historical battle that Chedorlaomer and the other three kings engage in. There are four kings representative of the four beasts that picture Satan and his assault at the time of the end of the world. They begin with the land of the giants and they smote the giants. If the giants could not stand before them, then who can?