What does Genesis 14:5 mean?
For twelve years, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and three other kings of eastern city-states had ruled Canaan's city-states. In the thirteenth year, five of those city-states grouped at the southern end of the Dead Sea (including Sodom and Gomorrah) rebelled. Perhaps other city-states in the region also rebelled. In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the other three kings went to war against the Canaanite city-states. This demonstrates just how long war and politics could take in this era: more than a year passed between the initial rebellion and the resulting invasion.Their route took them south along a line east of the Jordan river, where they defeated peoples known as the Rephaim, the Zuzim, and the Emim. The following verses will describe how this path led the four eastern kings back up and around to the Dead Sea, then back northward.