And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same [is] Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;
Ver. 8. And there went out the king of Sodom, &c.] These five neighbouring kings were combined against the four kings that invaded them. It was not then a civil dissension, that worst of wars, such as was that of France (and is now, alas, of England), wherein the sons fought against their fathers, and brothers against brothers; and even women took arms on both sides for defence of their religion. a That was not more monstrous, that the Suevian women threw their young children at the Romans, their enemies, instead of darts, b than that other was piteous between the Romans themselves, those that were for Vitellius, and the other for Vespasian; that, when the women brought the Vitellians food by night, into the camp, they not only refreshed themselves, but their adversaries also, with food and drink. Each man called to his adversary by name, and said, Accipe, mi commilito, ede: Non enim tibi gladium proebeo, sed panem. Accipe rursum et bibe: Non enim tibi scutum, sed poculum trado: ut, sive tu me interficias, sive ego te, moriamur facilius: atque ut ne me, enervata atque imbecilla manu occidas, aut ego te. Hae nostrae sunt exequiae, nobis adhuc viventibus. c Thus they greeted over night, and the next day despatched one another; they gave wounds, and took wounds; they slew, and were slain, as the same author hath it. d Which as oft as I think on, I cannot but highly commend that speech of Otho the Emperor to his soldiers, a little before he took his end: I hate civil wars, though I were sure to overcome. e I know not why any Englishman should love it, that shall call to mind, that in the civil dissensions between the houses of York and Lancaster, there were slain (ere the quarrel ended) fourscore princes of the blood royal, and twice as many natives of England as were lost in the two conquests of France. f War is easily taken up, saith the wise historian, g but not so easily laid down again; neither is the beginning and the end of a war in any one man's power. If the Scots should come in on the one side, and the French or Irish on the other, what an Aceldama should we soon become! what an Ireland, a seat of wrath, because a seat of war! It is never to be forgotten by us, that the dissension between England and Scotland consumed more Christian blood, wrought more spoil and destruction, and continued longer than ever quarrel we read of did between any two people of the world. Our Edward I adjured his son and nobles, that, if he died on his journey into Scotland, they should carry his corpse about Scotland, and not suffer it to be interred, till they had absolutely subdued the country. A desire more martial than Christian; a design of revenge beyond his life. Such spirits are raised in men "that delight in war". Psa 68:30 "Oh! pray for the peace of Jerusalem." So saith David. Psa 122:6 And so doth David in the next verse, "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." The Athenians, when they had gotten the better at sea of the Lacedemonians, were so overjoyed, that they then first set up altars to the public peace; and appointed a cushion to be laid thereon, for that goddess to rest upon. h Oh, would the Lord but once more grant us, that "righteousness and peace might kiss each other, and mercy and truth meet" in our land, Psa 85:9-10 how happy should we hold ourselves; how infinitely obliged to sing, Servati sumus, ut serviamus ! Luk 1:74 How should we prize our restored peace, and improve it as Abram did here, to the paying of tithes, in token of thankfulness; yea, to the setting up of altars, not to public peace, as those heathens, but to the God of peace, as Abram after this did, when he had concluded a peace with King Abimelech, and his general, Phichol! Gen 21:32-33
a Hist. of Counc. of Trent, 647.
b Heyl. Geog., p. 289.
c Dio in Vita Vitellii.
d ετιτρωσκον ετιτρωσκοντο: εφονευον, εφονευοντο. - Dio.
e Mισω πολεμον εμφυλιον, καν κρατων. - Dio in Vita Othonis.
f Daniel's Chron. continued by Trussel., fol. 249.
g Omne bellum sumitur facile, caeterum aegerrime desin it. Non enim in eiusdem potestate est initium belli, eiusque finis. - Salust, in Jug.
h Tum primum arae Paci publicae sunt factae, eique Deae pulvinar institutum. - Cornel. Nepos.