Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar. – Genesis 14:5-6

Today's Scripture Reading (August 12, 2021): Genesis 14

In November 1944, the United States began a bombing campaign against Tokyo, Japan. The bombing would continue until Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. When we think of the bombing of Japan during World War II, our thoughts often turn to the first use of nuclear weapons on the cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945). But while the destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened instantly, the damage done to Tokyo during the almost year of bombing prior to the nuclear attack on Japan was maybe even more extensive. Because Tokyo was a larger population center than either Hiroshima (345,000) or Nagasaki (263,000), the casualties in Tokyo were greater than in either of the nuclear blasts. Over 100,000 people died in the bombing campaign over Tokyo, but more than 1 million people were seriously injured in the bombing of the city. And it is probably that last number, combined with the ten-month campaign of fear waged by the bombers, that ranks Tokyo as one of the most devasting bombing campaigns of World War II. It also raises the question, given the damage to Tokyo, Osaka, and other Japanese targets during 1945, whether the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was really necessary. Is it possible that Japan was on the cusp of surrender before the devastation of the two Japanese cities by the bombs we know of as Little Boy and Fat Man?

The author of Genesis tells part of the story of Kedorlaomer (or Chedorlaomer), an Elamite King during the days of Abraham. His name, like many ancient names, is made of components of the dominant language. In the case of Kedorlaomer, the first part of the name is Kedor or kudur, which simply indicates "a servant." The second part of the king's name was laomer or Lagamar, and Lagamar was a high goddess on the Elamite pantheon. The meaning behind the king's name was that he was a servant of the goddess, Lagamar.

In the tale that Genesis relates about Kedorlaomer, Kedorlaomer plays the role of the bully on the block. There is little doubt that Kedorlaomer felt that he was entitled as a servant of the god Lagamar to whatever was in his view on which he could lay his hands. And in the process, he became the oppressor of the cities of the plain, which included the infamous cities of Gomorrah and Sodom, the home of Lot. And in the thirteenth year of his reign, after twelve years of the oppression over the plains, these oppressed cities rose up against Kedorlaomer.

In the fourteenth year of his reign, Kedorlaomer responded, gathering an alliance and beginning to take back the land and influence lost in the rebellion, which would lead to a significant conflict between Kedorlaomer and his allies against Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. The American rabbi and archaeologist Nelson Glueck summarizes the devastation of this campaign of Kedorlaomer. 

I found that every village in their path had been plundered and left in ruins, and the countryside was laid waste. The population had been wiped out or led away into captivity. For hundreds of years thereafter, the entire area was like an abandoned cemetery, hideously unkempt, with all its monuments shattered and strewn in pieces on the ground (Nelson Glueck).

It was going to be this devastating conflict into which Abraham, because of the presence of his nephew Lot in Sodom, was about to be drawn.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 15