Genesis 14:5-7 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

The punitive expedition, instead of going straight for the rebel cities, makes a tour of conquest. It moves down the E. side of Jordan through Bashan and Moab to Edom and the Gulf of Akabah, then turning W. and N. it reaches Kadesh and the Negeb, Then at last the attack on the five kings is delivered. The apparent uselessness of much of these operations in the mountains and desert, not to speak of the difficulties and dangers, suggests that the narrator's object is to enhance the glory of Abraham's victory over such conquerors. The Rephaim (Job 26:5 *) were a race of giants, but of questionable historicity. The name is used for the shades of the dead (Isaiah 14:9 *), also also connected with the Nephilim (cf. Deuteronomy 2:11 with Numbers 13:33). The Zuzim are probably the same as the Zamzummim of Deuteronomy 2:20 f., a branch of Rephaim so called by the Ammonites; the Emim is the name given by the Moabites to another branch (Deuteronomy 2:10 f.). The Horites were the original inhabitants of Edom. Ashteroth-karnaim was presumably in Bashan, but two places may be intended; Ham is unknown, but perhaps Rabbath-Hammon, the capital city of the Ammonites; Kiriathaim is in Moab. El-Paran is perhaps Elath, the well-known port on the Gulf of Akabah, an arm of the Red Sea. En-mishpat is Kadesh-barnea, a sacred spring now known as Ain Kadish, famous as the headquarters of the Hebrews after the Exodus. The Amalekites lived in the Negeb; the name Amorites (p. 53) is used sometimes for the people ruled by Sinon on the E. of Jordan, sometimes, as here, for the predecessors of the Hebrews in Canaan. Hazazon-tamar is identified with En-gedi in 2 Chronicles 20:2. The route this would involve is almost impossibly difficult; the descent to the Dead Sea from it is 1950 ft. and precipitous. Kurnub, 20 miles SW. of the Dead Sea, would provide an easier approach, but the identification is dubious.