Genesis 14:12

12 They also captured Lot—Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned.

Genesis 14:12 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 14:12

And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son
The son of Haran, his elder brother, who was now, as the Jews say ^F24, fifty years of age: who dwelt in Sodom,
or near it, in the country adjacent to it, see ( Genesis 13:12 ) ; and so being a neighbour of the men of Sodom, and a sojourner among them, he partakes of their punishment; and this was a just correction of him for choosing to dwell among such a people: and they took his goods, and departed;
as him and his family, so all his substance, his cattle, wealth, and riches of every sort, and went off with it: Eupolemus ^F25, an Heathen writer, makes mention of this circumstance in his relation of this war, and says, that the Armenians, as he calls the four kings, baring conquered the Phoenicians, carried away captive the brother's son of Abram.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 77. 1.
F25 Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 17. p. 418.

Genesis 14:12 In-Context

10 As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains.

11 The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies.

12 They also captured Lot—Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned.

13 But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.

14 When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan.