Genesis 14 begins with an affiliation of Kings invading the kingdoms of the plain of Siddim,south of the Dead Sea.The kings were Amraphel,king of Shinar; Arioch,king of Allasar;Chedorlaomer,king of Elam and Tidal,king of Nations.All of the kings have been identified by archaeologists,and shown to have been real.They are dated to the same period as the patriarchs,and their presence in Canaan would not have been known by a ninth century BCE scribe,without having read the inscriptions,which was buried under ruins by that time.The Kings were raiding the Dead Sea for copper and bitumen,and after joining forces with the Hittites,they attempted to take over Canaan and control the mineral rich Siddim plain.They came from Elam,Shinar,Syria and Hatti (Hittites).They were from widespread kingdoms,and possibly used Syrian cities as a staging area.Elam was the older kingdom of Persia,east of Shinar,in southern Mesopotamia. Chedorlaomer has been identified as Kudur-Lagamar("the servant of the goddess Lagamar") king of Elam."Kudur,"has shown up in various names,some on inscriptions from neighboring kingdoms.By the ninth century BCE,the Hittite kingdom had been destroyed,and the palaces had been laying in ruins for almost 500 hundred years.Since the cities of the plain of Siddim,as well as the entire plain had vanished 1,000 years earlier,there would have had to be an eye witness to record these names,for anyone in the ninth century BCE to have known of them.It is beyond coincidence that anyone could have fabricated a history that just happened to accidentally be historically correct.At one time the kingdom of Elam took in most of Mesopotamia,and included the kingdoms of Ellisar(Larsa),Babylon(Shinar).Along with the kings Eri-Aku or Arioch and Ammi-rapaltu or Amraphel,they terrorized not only the Amurru(Amorites),but joined league with Tudhaliya(Tidal) of Gomer (Goiim)in the land of the Hittites,and attempted to take Syria and Egyptian held Canaan.Kudar-Mabug of Larsa had previously set himself up as "Lord of Amurru",until Khammu-rabi took the empire from Elam and united the two kingdoms into the Empire of Babylon.Texts and inscriptions from Babylonia and Assyria show that the affiliation of nations had indeed conducted raids into Canaan.History has shown that the Amorites were subject to Elam,and there is no reason to believe it could not have lasted for 12 years as Genesis 14:4 claims.
    Among the kingdoms and people that were placed under tribute by the four kings,were the Rephaims,the Zuzims,Emims and the Horites.Not all of these people can be identified,but the ones that can should be enough to verify the possibility of the Bible being correct.The Horites were cave-dwellers mentioned in the Bible inhabiting areas around Petra.They have been identified with Egyptian references to Khar which concern a southern region of Canaan.They were sometimes referred to as Hurru The location given in Egyptian texts is similar to the Biblical location of the Horites.They were known to the Mesopotamians as Hurri.They were referred to as Trogladytes by Josephus.The villages constructed by these people were entirely subterranean.They are composed of extensive caves dug straight down into the alluvial soil on the banks of the Wadi.This way the Horites could remain cave dwellers in a caveless part of the country.Amenhotep II boasted of having made 89,600 prisoners in his campaign in Palestine (around 1420 BC),including "127 princes and 179 nobles(?) of Retenu, 3600 Apiru, 15,200 Bedouin, 36,600 Horites,". It is believed by archaeologists that the Raphaims,Emins and the Zuzims are the same people.One of the Ebla tablets also mention the town of Salem,which was apparently the capital of a kingdom.The Bible calls the king of Salem,Melchizedec.It also mentions a Urusalima,proving that Jerusalem was also commonly used to refer to Salem.
   It was probably during the reign of Senusret I,or his son,Amenemhet II when Abram fought with the Amorites.There's not much in the way of written records about the situation in Canaan from the Egyptian point of view.The land was under the control of Egypt,although neither Senusret or Amenemhet left much about invading foreigners.We do know that Senusret made at least one campaign into Canaan and dramatically changed his policy toward Syria.Perhaps it was an effort to stop the raids into Canaan.Records also show that Amenhotep also campaigned against two unnamed Asiatic cities.There is a tale that speaks of an Egyptian going to Syria during a time of trouble.Sinhue left Egypt and went north to Syria.There He lived under the protection of a Syrian ruler and was made commander of his troops:
"When the Setiu waxed insolent to oppose the chieftains of the deserts,I counseled their movements; for this prince of Retenu caused me to pass many years as commander of his host.Every country against which I marched, when I made my assault it was driven from its pastures and wells.I spoiled its cattle, I made captive its inhabitants, I took away their food,I slew people in it;by my strong arm, by my bow, by my movements and by my excellent counsels.I found favour in his heart and he loved me, he marked my bravery and placed me even before his children,when he had seen that my hands prevailed.
Enshi son of Amu, prince of Upper Retenu,asked Sinhue about Egypt and was told that Amenemhet I had been killed.Enshi responded by saying:
"How shall yon land fare without him,the beneficent god,the fear of whom was throughout the lands like Sakhmet in a year of plague?"
Sinhue tells Enshi about the successor Senusret I:
"Of a truth his son has entered the Palace and has taken the inheritance of his father.
It is he who subdued the foreign lands while his father was within his Palace, and reported to him what was ordered him to do.Headlong is he when he falls upon the Easterners; his joy is to plunder the Ro-pedtiu.
The text leaves little doubt that there were invaders coming into Canaan during the time of the patriarchs.According to Sinhue and the Bible,they were opposing the local Rulers.It is apparent by the text that the land they were plundering belonged to the Egyptians,who controlled Canaan and the southern end of Syria at that time.There is no reason to believe that Abraham did not confront an army of the same countries that Sinhue had fought.The Bible does not make the claim that Abraham's army completely destroyed the affiliation.They continued to raid and plunder for many years.During the reign of Amenemhet I the raids from Canaan escalated to the point that Amenemhet built the wall of the ruler to keep them out.He built garrisons along the north east border of Egypt.The Egyptians allowed some Asiatics passage into the Nile Delta,especially those with something to offer the economy.In fact during the reign of Amenemhet there was a resurgence of Asiatic immigrants into Egypt to work as servants.It is believed that the plundering created a need for many of the citizens to seek refuge in Egypt.An obscure Muslim text,also tells of conditions in Canaan during the period of the patriarchs:
"And there came and ruled over them with might Bela the son of Joktan,Jobab of the sons of Keture.And after all these words,when Abraham heard that there was war between the people of Ashur and Joktan,he was seized with a great fear.”
Jokton was the brother of Peleg during whose time,the nations were divided.Jokton was the father of some of the Canaanite tribes,while Peleg would have been the other half of the division which gave rise to the Amorites and Ashur.Jobab is not to be confused with Joe Bob,who was from Oklahoma.
The Bible tells us Abram defeated the Amorites that had captured Lot.In spite of what many skeptics believe,Abraham was probably fully capable of winning a battle with the Amorites,who's numbers are not known.It has been noted in chapter concerning the Chaldeans that the Hebrews were well trained as military men and often hired out as mercenaries.Their reputation as fighting men was known throughout Mesopotamia.

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