KING OF GOIIM. Goiim like Elam¹ is the name of a state. Elam must be the name of a state because shushan ha-birah, which means Shushan the palace, was located in it.² (shushan ha-birah) which is in the province of Elam. We thus see that Elam was the name of the state and Shushan the name of the palace. On the other hand, king of Goiim³ in Hebrew means a nation. may be rendered as king of nations, Scripture not stating their names. The meaning of the verse is that Tidal was king over nations other than Shinar, Ellasar and Elam.

footnotes: ¹ Which is also mentioned in our verse. ² Dan 8:2 reads: I was in shushan the castle ³ Goy

ALL THESE CAME AS ALLIES. Chaveru (came as allies) is in the kal.

THE VALE OF SIDDIM. Siddim means the same⁴ means lime, whitewash or plaster. Hence the valley of Siddim means the valley of plaster. It was so called because of the plaster pits found there. as sid (plaster) in and plaster them with plaster (ba-sid)⁵. I.E.’s point is that siddim means the same as sid. However, they come from different roots. Sid in Deut. 27:2 comes from the root sin, vav, dalet. Siddim comes from sin, dalet, dalet, which is also the root of the word sad in Job 13:27. Siddim cannot be the plural of sid (Deut. 27:2) because it is spelled without a yod and has a dagesh in its dalet. I.E.’s point is that sad and sid mean the same although they come from different roots (Weiser). (Deut. 27:2) and sad (plaster) in Thou puttest my feet also in the plaster (ba-sad)⁶ is the plural of sad in Job. The sin and samach interchange. (Job 13:27). Sad, siddim, is like pat (morsel of bread), pittim.⁷ (Job. 13:27) to be saddim. I.E. points out that this is not necessarily so. Thus the plural of pat is pittim and not pattim. Similarly the plural of sad is siddim and not saddim (Krinsky and Cherez).

footnotes: ⁴ Sid ⁵ Spelled sin, yod, dalet ⁶ This is I.E.’s interpretation of the verse. In Job he explains the verse to mean God had plastered Job’s feet with whitewash so that He could follow Job’s every step. I.E. points out that siddim ⁷ We would expect the plural of sad

VALE. The word vale is to be understood as if written twice. It is like the word al (not) in O Lord, rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger; Neither (ve-al) chasten me in Thy wrath (Ps. 6:2).⁸ is to be read as if written twice. It should be noted that the word al does appear twice in our verse. I.E. probably had Ps. 38:2 in mind. There the text literally reads, O, Lord, rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger, chasten me in Thy wrath. I.E. says that the verse should be read, O Lord rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger, chasten me not (al) in Thy wrath. I.E. probably cited from memory and misquoted. Our verse should be read as follows: All these came as allies unto the vale of Siddim, the same is the vale of the Salt Sea.⁹.

footnotes: ⁸ Here, too, the word al ⁹ The text literally reads: the vale of Siddim, the same is the Salt Sea

[AND IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR THEY REBELLED.] U-shelosh esreh (and the thirteenth) should be interpreted u-ve-shelosh esreh (and in the thirteenth).¹⁰ (and thirteen years). I.E. says, u-shelosh esreh should be read as if a bet were prefixed to shelosh, i.e., u-ve-shelosh esreh. It is similar to the word sheshet (six) in for in six (sheshet) days the Lord made the heaven and earth (Ex. 20:11).¹¹. Thus sheshet is to be read as if written ve-sheshet (in six). However, the author of the Seder Olam did not interpret it this way. He combined the years mentioned in our verse.¹² I. The Seder Olam interprets u-shelosh esreh shanah to mean, and 13 years; i.e., they rebelled 13 years. It adds these 13 years to the 12 years mentioned previously in our verse and claims that the Bible deals with a 25-year period, 12 of service and 13 years of rebellion. His mind was greater than ours.

footnotes: ¹⁰ The verse literally reads: U-shelosh esreh shanah ¹¹ The verse literally reads: for six days the Lord made heaven and earth ¹² Cf. Seder Olam

THE REPHAIM. They were called Rephaim (ghosts) because their appearance was so terrifying that whoever saw them died and was considered to be one of the Rephaim, one of the dead.¹³ because those who saw them were frightened to death. Rephaim were thus considered to be death-inducing.

footnotes: ¹³ Rephaim has the meaning of dead, shades or ghosts. Cf. Is. 14:9. They were called Rephaim

THE EMIM. They were so called because they were frightening.¹⁴ means fear.

footnotes: ¹⁴ Emah

IN THEIR MOUNT SEIR. Be-hareram (in their mount) is in the pi’el. Its meaning is: when they went up to Mount Seir.¹⁵ is not a noun with a pronominal suffix meaning their mountain. He holds that it is a verb with the pronominal suffix. It is like the word be-dabberam (when they spoke) (Ex. 7:7).¹⁶ verb with a pronominal suffix.

footnotes: ¹⁵ I.E. explains that be-hareram ¹⁶ Which is a pi’el

AGAINST CHEDORLAOMER. With Chedorlaomer.¹⁷. Et usually indicates the object, hence I.E.’s comment that et here has the meaning of im (with).

footnotes: ¹⁷ The Hebrew has et Chedorlaomer

PITS. Be’er (pit) in the Bible means a bubbling well. Its (pits) vocalization is exceptional because it is in the construct.¹⁸ (slime). Be’er is vocalized sheva tzere. In our verse it is vocalized segol, chataf segol. I.E. points out that this is so because the word is in the construct with chemar (slime). In other words, when be’er refers to live wells it is vocalized sheva tzere; when it refers to pits it is vocalized segol, chataf segol (Krinsky, Netter, Cherez). Or what I.E. means is that the word’s vowels change because it is in the construct (Filwarg).

footnotes: ¹⁸ With chemar

AND THEY FELL THERE. They deliberately fell there, in their desire to escape.¹⁹ And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face (Num. 16:4) is similar.²⁰

footnotes: ¹⁹ That is, they hid themselves. ²⁰ Moses willingly fell on his face.

FLED TO THE MOUNTAIN. The phrase herah nasu is to be rendered: fled to the mountain. The word herah (to the mountain) is an irregular form.²¹ (Weiser).

footnotes: ²¹ We would expect he-harah

WHO DWELT IN SODOM. Lot was dwelling in Sodom on that day.²² (dwelt; literally, dwells) is in the present when all the verbs pertaining to this incident are in the past. I.E.’s point is that “dwelling” is to be understood as: was dwelling.

footnotes: ²² His tent was usually outside of Sodom, cf. Gen. 13:12 (Weiser). Krinsky suggests that I.E. intends to say that Lot’s tent was close to Sodom on that day, or by that day he had become a dweller in Sodom. On the other hand, Filwarg suggests that I.E. is trying to explain why yoshev

[AND THERE CAME ONE THAT HAD ESCAPED.] Palit (one that had escaped) refers to a Sodomite who escaped and saved himself. Palit in one that had escaped (palit) out of Jerusalem came unto me (Ezek. 33:21) is similar. There is a Midrashic interpretation concerning the escapee.²³ 42:8.

footnotes: ²³ The Midrash identifies the escapee as Og, King of Bashan, the same individual who escaped the flood by hanging on to Noah’s ark. Cf. Bereshit Rabbah

HE LED FORTH HIS TRAINED MEN. He armed them.²⁴ (he led forth) means he armed. Compare, ve-harek (arm) in, Arm (ve-harek) with the spear (Ps. 35:3).²⁵ Others say that va-yarek refers to the unsheathing of the sword. Compare, They empty themselves (yariku) upon the earth (Eccles. 11:3), and emptied (merikim) their sacks (Gen. 42:35).²⁶ (he led forth his trained men) means, he gave his trained men unsheathed swords (Krinsky). A spear also has a sheath.²⁷ (Ps. 35:3) may be rendered as unsheath the spear.

footnotes: ²⁴ Thus va-yarek ²⁵ I.E.’s translation of this verse. ²⁶ According to this interpretation va-yarek et chanikhav ²⁷ Hence ve-harek chanit

HIS TRAINED MEN. Abraham had trained them many times for battle. This is the meaning of the term chanikhav (his trained men) even though Scripture does not previously note that Abraham trained young men for war. Those who identify Abraham’s trained men with his servant Eliezer on the basis of the numerical value of the latter’s name are indulging in Midrash,²⁸ 43:2, 44:9. as Scripture does not speak in gematria (numericals). With this type of interpretation one can interpret any name as he wishes, both in a positive and a negative manner. Eliezer is to be taken literally.²⁹

footnotes: ²⁸ Interpreted numerically, Eliezer comes to 318. Hence the Midrash identifies him with the 318 men mentioned in our verse. Cf. Bereshit Rabbah ²⁹ It is a proper name and not to be interpreted numerically.

AND MELCHIZEDEK. He was so called because he was king (melech) over a righteous (tzedek) place.³⁰ (Is. 1:26). Some identify Melchizedek with Shem.³¹ 56; Nedarim 32b.

footnotes: ³⁰ Salem is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is known as the city of righteousness ³¹ Bereshit Rabbah

SALEM. This is Jerusalem. In Salem also is set His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion (Ps. 76:3) is proof of this.

AND HE WAS PRIEST. This is be rendered as Onkelos does.³² Similarly, every time the word “priest” (kohen) is found in Scripture.³³ That they may minister unto Me (ve-khihanu li) (Ex. 28:41) is proof of this. The meaning of al divrati Malkitzedek (after the manner of Melchizedek) (Ps. 110:4) will be found in my commentary on Psalms.³⁴ Melchizedek spoke properly and did the right thing in first blessing Abraham³⁵ because he volunteered to rescue the captives.³⁶ 32b, Melchizedek acted improperly in blessing Abraham before God and was punished for it by having the priesthood taken away from his descendants. The Talmud derives this from al divrati Melchizedek, which it interprets to mean because of the improper words spoken by Melchizedek. I.E. hints that the latter phrase cannot be explained this way because Melchizedek spoke and acted properly. He then blessed God for aiding Abraham and delivering Abraham’s adversaries into his hands.

footnotes: ³² He ministered. ³³ It means ministers (Cherez). ³⁴ Ibn Ezra in Ps. 110:4 explains that God promised David that Israel would wage war and David would receive a tithe of the spoils as Melchizedek did (i.e., after the manner of Melchizedek). ³⁵ Before blessing God. ³⁶ According to the Talmud Nedarim

HATH DELIVERED. Miggen (hath delivered) means handed over. Temaggeneka (will she bestow on thee) in A crown of glory will she bestow on thee (temaggeneka) (Prov. 4:9) is similar. The mem of miggen is a root letter. Abraham gave a tithe out of respect for God. He found no one worthier than Melchizedek to bestow his tithe on.

I HAVE LIFTED UP MY HAND. This indicates an oath. It is like, For I lift up my hand to heaven, etc. (Deut. 32:40).

[GOD MOST HIGH.] For behold, I have used the same name for God in my oath as this priest (Melchizedek) when he blessed me.³⁷ (El Elyon). He did this out of respect for Melchizedek, who used the term El Elyon in referring to God.

footnotes: ³⁷ Ibn Ezra explains why Abraham referrred to the Lord as God Most High

THAT I WILL NOT TAKE A THREAD. That with which garments are sewn.

A SHOE-LATCHET. A strap used to tie a shoe.

SAVE ONLY. Save only that which the young men took. This refers to what Abraham’s servants ate.³⁸ thus refers to Abraham’s servants (Weiser).

footnotes: ³⁸ Young men