Tidal was king of Gojim (the nations) and one of the four kings who formed an alliance under the leadership of Kedorlaomer, king of Elam. He participated in the war against the five kings in the Valley of Siddim, where Lot, Abram's nephew, was taken captive. Tidal is mentioned only in connection with this military campaign in Genesis 14.
Événements clés
The Alliance of Four Kings
Tidal was one of four kings who formed a military alliance under the leadership of Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, to suppress a rebellion among vassal kings in the Jordan Valley.
Tidal and the three other allied kings went to war against the five kings in the Valley of Siddim, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, who had rebelled after twelve years of subjugation.
2these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
The four kings, including Chedorlaomer, defeated the five kings in the Valley of Siddim. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into tar pits in the valley.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, marched out and drew up their battle lines against them in the Valley of Siddim—
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, while the rest escaped to the hills.
After the victory, Chedorlaomer and his allies plundered Sodom and Gomorrah, taking all their goods and food supplies, and also captured Lot, Abram's nephew.
When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been taken captive, he gathered 318 men and pursued Chedorlaomer and the other kings as far as Dan and then to Hobah, north of Damascus, and defeated them.
14When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his trained men, born in his household, three hundred eighteen of them, and pursued as far as Dan.