The Fugitive Refugee: Saint or Sinner?

(1) Now, when King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim (2) made war on King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, (3) all the latter joined forces at the Valley of Siddim, now the Dead Sea. (4) Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. (5) In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim, (6) and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness. (7) On their way back they came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and subdued all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar. (8) Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, went forth and engaged them in battle in the Valley of Siddim: (9) King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against those five. (10) Now the Valley of Siddim was dotted with bitumen pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, in their flight, threw themselves into them, while the rest escaped to the hill country. (11) [The invaders] seized all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and went their way. (12) They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his possessions, and departed; for he had settled in Sodom. (13) A fugitive brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was dwelling at the terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, kinsman of Eshkol and Aner, these being Abram’s allies. (14) When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (15) At night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

What questions can you ask about this half of a verse?

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said in the name of Bar Kappara: Og was the fugitive mentioned here. And why was he called Og? Because he came and found Abraham sitting and busy with the mitzvah of cakes (u-gote).

Og did not intend [to inform Abraham of Lot’s capture] for the sake of Heaven. Rather, he said, “This Abraham is a zealous man. I will tell him now, ‘Your nephew has been taken captive,’ and he will go out to war and get killed; then I will take Sarai his wife.

The Holy Blessed One said to him, “By your life! You will receive reward for your footsteps, that you will live long days in the world. But because you thought to kill the righteous man… By your life! You will face thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads of his descendants, and the end of ‘that man’ will be none other than to fall by their hand.” As it is written, God said to me: Do not fear him, for in your hand [have I given him and hs entire people and his land] (Dt. 3:2).

What lesson(s) do you think the midrash is teaching?

(33) They marched on and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan, with all his people, came out to Edrei to engage them in battle. (34) But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I give him and all his people and his land into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon.” (35) They defeated him and his sons and all his people, until no remnant was left him; and they took possession of his country.

(1) We made our way up the road toward Bashan, and King Og of Bashan with all his men took the field against us at Edrei. (2) But the LORD said to me: Do not fear him, for I am delivering him and all his men and his country into your power, and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. (3) So the LORD our God also delivered into our power King Og of Bashan, with all his men, and we dealt them such a blow that no survivor was left. (4) At that time we captured all his towns; there was not a town that we did not take from them: sixty towns, the whole district of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan— (5) all those towns were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars—apart from a great number of unwalled towns. (6) We doomed them as we had done in the case of King Sihon of Heshbon; we doomed every town—men, women, and children— (7) and retained as booty all the cattle and the spoil of the towns. (8) Thus we seized, at that time, from the two Amorite kings, the country beyond the Jordan, from the wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon— (9) Sidonians called Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir— (10) all the towns of the Tableland and the whole of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salcah and Edrei, the towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. (11) Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaim. His bedstead, an iron bedstead, is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide, by the standard cubit!

The Gemara cites another case of a report that caused concern. Before the battle against Og, king of Bashan, it is stated: “And the Lord said to Moses: Do not fear him; for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon” (Numbers 21:34). The Gemara asks: Now, Sihon and Og were brothers, as the Master said: Sihon and Og were sons of Ahijah, son of Shamhazai. In what way is Sihon different from Og, that God found it necessary to warn Moses not to be afraid of Og, and in what way is Og different from Sihon, that there was no need for a warning not to be afraid of Sihon? Rabbi Yoḥanan says that Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: From the answer that God gave to that righteous one, Moses, you know what was in his heart, i.e., what gave Moses cause to fear. Moses said to himself: Perhaps the merit of our forefather Abraham will stand for Og and save him. Og was the one who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive by the four kings, enabling Abraham to rescue Lot. The Gemara cites the source of this claim. As it is stated: “And there came one that was saved, and told Abram the Hebrew, now he dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan” (Genesis 14:13–14). And Rabbi Yoḥanan said that the term “one that was saved” is referring to Og, who was saved from the punishment of the generation of the flood. For this reason, Moses was more afraid of Og.

(8) And all living things which were upon the face of the earth decayed, as it is said, "And every living thing was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground" (Gen. 7:23), except Noah and those who were with him in the ark, as it is said, "And Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark" (ibid.), except Og, king of Bashan, who sat down on a piece of wood under the gutter of the ark. He swore to Noah and to his sons that he would be their servant for ever. What did Noah do? He bored an aperture in the ark, and he put (through it) his food daily for him, and he also was left, as it is said, "For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the giants" (Deut. 3:11).

All existence on earth was blotted out—man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark (Genesis 7:23). In gematria, only Noah, אך נח is Og (79).

(13) And Og came, who had been spared from the giants that died in the deluge, and had ridden protected upon the top of the ark, and sustained with food by Noah; not being spared through high righteousness, but that the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord, and say, Were there not giants who in the first times rebelled against the Lord of the world, and perished from the earth? But when these kings made war, behold, Og, who was with them, said in his heart, I will go and show Abram concerning Lot, who is led captive, that he may come and deliver him from the hands of the kings into whose hands he has been delivered. And he arose and came, upon the eve of the day of the Pascha, and found him making the unleavened cakes. Then showed he to Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt in the valleys of Mamre Amoraah, brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner, who were men of covenant with Abram.

(2) Michael came and told Abraham, as it is said, "And there came one who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew" (Gen. 14:13). He is the prince of the world, he was the one who told, as it is said, "Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought;… he who hath wings shall tell the matter" (Eccles. 10:20). Why was his name called "Paliṭ" ("One who had escaped")? Because in the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, caused Sammael and his band to descend from heaven from their holy place, he caught hold of the wings of Michael to make him fall with himself, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saved him from his power; therefore was his name called "The one who had escaped." Concerning him Ezekiel said, "One who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is smitten" (Ezek. 33:21).

To Avram the Hebrew. Who came from Ever ha-nahar (across the river) and was a foreigner in the land, and was known by that name. The fugitive, who was from Sodom and Gomorrah, knew that Lot was a foreigner and a Hebrew, so he went to tell Abram the Hebrew, thinking that perhaps he was of Lot's family and would rise up to come to his aid. It may also be that since the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked and despised everyone, the fugitive knew that he would not find anyone willing to save them, so he went among the kindred of Lot, a non-native of Sodom, thinking that perhaps there were those who loved him and who would rise up to save him, and in so doing save the Sodomites as well.

Alternatively, perhaps (as per Rabbi Abraham Mainster) the fugitive came from among Lot's men, and for this reason he went to Abraham. this would also be the reason he was mentioned with the definite article, because he alone remained from among Lot's men.