My grandmother always used to say you must have “mazal” — or good fortune — for everything. I think that even the stories we tell, and those we hear, need a little luck to get our attention. Some of the weekly Torah readings are so full of big drama that “minor” stories get little or no notice. This week, Parshat Lech Lecha is packed with interesting and gripping stories, to the extent that the war of the four kings and five kings in chapter 14 gets short shrift. In addition to containing what sometimes seems like a laundry list of names and places, the very mention of God’s name and Abraham’s name do not appear until midway though the story. The reader is left to wonder what the purpose of the chapter is.
The midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 42:1) uses the verse in Psalms 37:14 to explain the entire incident of the war. The whole motivation of the warriors in capturing Lot was just to kill Abraham the “upright.”
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow;
to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as are upright in the way;
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent the bow (Psalms 37:14) — this alludes to Amraphel and his companions. To cast down the poor and needy (ibid.) — to Lot. To slay such as are upright in the way (ibid.) — to Abraham. Their sword shall enter into their own heart (ibid. v. 15), as it is written, And he fought against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, etc. (Genesis 14:15).