Nadene Goldfoot 
Abraham came to the aid of his nephew, Lot when Lot and the residents of Sodom were captured by an alliance of four Mesopotamian kings. Learning of the kidnapping, Abraham gathered a private force of 318 trained men, ambushed the army near Dan, and successfully rescued his nephew and the recovered goods. (Genesis) Here's how it happened:
The king of Sodom had gone with 4 other kings; of Gomorrah, Admah, Zebolim, and Bela-Zoar and fought them in battle in the Valley of Siddim against the king of 1. Chedorlaomer-king of Elam, 2.Tidal-king of Golim, 3. Amraphel-king of Shinar, and 4. Arioch-king of Eliasar---4 kings against 5.
The Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen wells. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into them while the rest fled to a mountain. They took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and they left. And then they captured Lot and his possessions---Abram's nephew-----and they left; for he was living in Sodom.
A fugative came and told 1. Abram, the Ivri-meaning the other side (Hebrew) who lived in the plains of Mamres, 2, the Amorite, 3, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of 4. Aner who were Abram's allies.
When Abram heard that his kinsman was taken captive, he armed his disciples, men who were born in his house---318 men---and they pursued them as far as the state of Dan. And he, with his servants deployed against them at night and struck them; he pursued them as far as Hobah which is to the north of Damascus (today's Lebanon). He brought back all the possessions. He also brought back his kinsman, Lot, with his possessions, as well as the women and the people. A soldier commanding 318 men would typically hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (O-5). This size group of troops usually makes up a military unit called a battalion. Abram had 318 men under him; making him today's Lieutenant Colonel, but not a general.
The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, to the Valley of Shaveh which is the king's valley.
But Malchizek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of G-d, the Most High. He blessed him saying, "Blessed is Abram of G-d, the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, and blessed be G-d, the Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand." and he gave him a 10th of everything.
The king of Sodom said to Abram: "give me the people and take the possessions for yourself." Abram said to the king of Sodom: "I lift up my hand to Hashem, A G-d, the Most High, maker of heaven and earth, if so much as a thread to a shoestrap; or if I shall take from anything of yours! So you shall not say, "It is I who made Abram rich. Far from me! only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who accompanied me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre---they will take their portion."
Hashem said to Abram, "Know with certainty that your offspring shall be aliens in a land not their own---and they will serve them, and they will oppress them---400 years, but also the nation that they will serve, I shall judge and afterwards they will leave with great wealth. As for you: you shall come to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And the 4th generation shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite shall not yet be full until then.
On that day Hashem (G-d) made a covenant with Abram: "To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: the Kennite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite; the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Rephaim; the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Gingashite, and the Jebusite.
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