biblical battles

Mesopotamia's Palestinian campaign circa 1500 b.c.

Genesis chapter 14 is the first battle described in the bible.

Abraham and Lot were wealthy herdsmen of the day.
Wealthy herdsmen of the day had things that needed protecting from thieves, wild animals and the such. So they had an armed force to protect their interest. The bible refers to these armed men as "trained men" which in the original Hebrew is hānīk, or "armed retainer."

Biblical historian Victor P. Hamilton notes"the term is applied to a slave or servant whose major function is to provide military assistance. They are not shepherds who grabbed a spear or a sling and headed north for some 125 miles. They are individuals capable of making a successful attack against imposing odds."

When Abraham learns his nephew Lot was captured and all his belongings taken by these foreign armies. Abraham calls together all the men of his house to arms, which the bible says was 318 men. Abraham "called out the 318 trained men born in his household...".

The bible says he formed alliances with other local herdsmen, but does not specify if they gave loaned additional men to the purpose or not. Nevertheless, Abraham and his 300 plus army goes after the invaders and plunderers. He finds he enemy camp and decides one two interesting and important things of military interest.
1. He splits his force to attack from different angles and, (Genesis 14:15-16)
2. He attacks at night in a guerrilla fashion.

It was a complete rout. The surprise attack causes the soldiers to flee for their lives. Abraham's men chase them for 50 miles to north of Damascus. However, Abraham's objective is not to destroy the enemy army, but only to rescue Lot, the other captives, and the property seized by the Mesopotamians. Abraham achieves his objective.

This is a limited military engagement with limited objectives... very much in line with tribal values and capabilities.

Since this is the first battle referenced in the bible, this offers us a unique glimpse into the military capabilities and tactics of the ancient Hebrews. Unfortunately, there is a lot we do not know and can only guess.

We do not know the size of the enemy force. Whether Abraham and his men were attacking a rear element force, perhaps one returning to a base camp or Mesopotamia itself with their spoils and wounded, or the main force. Why did the enemy force run for 50 miles before giving up Lot and Lot's belongings? Traveling on foot with prisoners and possibly animals, the army would be good to make 10 to 15 miles miles per day on open terrain. Perhaps as much as 25 miles a day without wounded or animals. That means they still would have had to been pursued for at least two days by Abraham's forces. The only engagement the bible tells us of is the attack on the one night, and then pursuing them. Abraham has a force of about 300. It doesn't sound likely that he was attacking a much larger element than the size of his own force. We can speculate that it was in fact a rear element he attacked, or perhaps more Hebrews joined the fight. Where was the enemy army going? Were they trying to catch up with a larger element or get to a defensible area? And what was it that finally caused the Mesopotamian army to turn Lot over.

Likely, this army was more of a show of force than an actual combat force to be reckoned with. Why do I say that? Well, if we go back a little earlier in chapter 14 of Geniuses, we learn that the Mesopotamian kings had mounted this expedition into Palestine to punish vassal cities that stopped paying. When the Army arrived at the gates of the cities who had not paid their taxes, the cities would quickly pay up as opposed to go to war and have their cities potentially sacked. Along the way, the Army took what it needed from the land and from the nomads in the area as far as slaves, animals, and other property. Lot was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got swept up by this army.

The Mesopotamia army's objective was to get the city-states to pay up, and having accomplished this, were on their way home having shed relatively little blood with a lot of treasure to show for it. When they were attacked by Abraham, this was indeed an unexpected surprise. The Mesopotamia kings had two choices obviously, stand and fight Abraham and his force of 300 or find out what this pesky herdsman wants. Since Lot was not critical to their military and political objectives, it was likely easier to just give Lot and his stuff back. We simply do not know any details on how Abraham was able to work out getting Lot and his property back.

From other sources, we know a little about the weapons. The Mesopotamians used the spear and sickle sword. The Hebrews had spears and clubs, but likely did not have swords, at least not in large numbers. This probably had a lot to do with the tactics Abraham chose.

There is much more than can be discussed and inferred from this event, and it would be interesting to look at this event and compare it to something like the Art of a War.

The History Channel has an interesting show which goes into a lot more of this event as well as others. Once I find the link to the episode, I'll add it to this post or a later post. Interesting stuff.