Chedorlaomer's Coalition

“…In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim.” — Genesis 14:5

Chedorlaomer's Coalition names the four eastern kings of Genesis 14 who, under the leadership of Chedorlaomer of Elam, dominated the cities of the Jordan Valley for twelve years. Alongside Chedorlaomer stood Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, and Tidal king of Goiim — a bloc drawn from Mesopotamia, Elam, and beyond that projected power westward across the ancient Near East.

When the five kings of the plain — including Sodom and Gomorrah — rebelled in the thirteenth year, the coalition swept south, defeated the Rephaim and other peoples along the way, and crushed the rebel kings in the Valley of Siddim. In the aftermath they carried off the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and, with them, Abram's nephew Lot.

That single act pulled Abram into the story. Arming his 318 trained men and joined by his Amorite allies, he pursued the coalition as far as Dan, routed them by night at Hobah, and recovered both the captives and the plunder. Chedorlaomer's Coalition thus stands at a pivotal moment: the first military campaign in Scripture, the introduction of the priest-king Melchizedek, and Abram's first exercise of the covenant promise that he would be a blessing to the nations.