When Abram heard that his kinsman’s [household] 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.
'שמנה עשר וגו THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN — Our Rabbis said, “It was Eliezer alone whom he armed and it (318) is the numerical value of his name” (Nedarim 32a).
The Torah states that he took “eighteen and three hundred” (Genesis 14:14) men to war. Rabbi Ami bar Abba said: Eliezer was equivalent to all of them. There are those who say: Only Eliezer is referred to here, as the numerical value of the letters of his name is this amount, i.e., 318.
Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi Elazar said: For what reason was Abraham our Patriarch punished and his children enslaved to Egypt for 210 years? Because he made a draft [angarya] of Torah scholars, as it is stated: “He led forth his trained men, born in his house” (Genesis 14:14). These trained men that he took to war were actually his disciples, who were Torah scholars.
And Shmuel said: Because he greatly examined [hifriz] the characteristics of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8). And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He was punished because he distanced people from entering under the wings of the Divine Presence, as it is stated that the king of Sodom said to him: “Give me the people and take the goods to yourself” (Genesis 14:21), but Abraham refused to take any goods either. If he had not listened to the king of Sodom and had allowed the people to remain with him, he would have brought the prisoners under the wings of the Divine Presence.
Up, walk about the land, through its length and its breadth, for I give it to you.”
ARISE, WALK THROUGH THE LAND IN THE LENGTH AND IN THE BREADTH OF IT. It is possible that this is a matter of option, depending on his will. The Eternal thus told Abraham, “Go wherever you wish to go in the land for I will be with you and guard you from the evil of the nations, for unto thee will I give it, that is to say, the land will be yours.” And if it be a command that Abraham should traverse the length and breadth of the land in order to take possession of his gift, as I have explained, he was not commanded to do this immediately. He did so ultimately for he was now in the east, and afterwards he went to the land of the Philistines which is in the west, and thus he fulfilled the command during his lifetime.
The meaning of the expression, to thee… and to thy children, is that you are to take possession of the gift now, in order to transmit it to your children, even as our Rabbis have said: “The land of Israel is an inheritance to the people of Israel from their patriarchs.”
By way of the plain meaning of Scripture, it is possible that the meaning of the verse is that Abraham was to be a ruler over the land and a prince of G-d in its midst, wherever he will go in this land.
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Rava further taught: As reward for that which our Patriarch Abraham said to the king of Sodom: “That I will not take a thread nor a shoe strap nor anything that is yours” (Genesis 14:23), distancing himself from anything not rightfully his, his children merited two mitzvot: The thread of sky-blue wool worn on ritual fringes and the strap of phylacteries.
V. 17.—18. These two verses show a striking contrast. The King of Sodom, who must have felt very humiliated, and still more deeply indebted towards Abraham, not only had allowed him to undertake the pursuit alone with his little band without joining him, but after the victory had been won, comes out to meet him entirely as a King, thinks it is already a sufficient honour for Abraham to be met on equal terms as King to King “in the valley שוה״. And still he comes to beg. To ask for favours, to “demand”, is what a King of Sodom understands, but to refresh the worn-out famished victors with a piece of bread, with a drink of wine, does not enter the head, forms no part of the code of manners of His Majesty of Sodom! On the other hand, Melchizedek, King of Salem, who really had nothing at all to do with the affair, had bread and wine brought out, but then he was also a priest to the Highest God. So that even amongst the polytheistic nations the conception of an All-highest God, אלקא דאלהא, a God of gods had not become entirely lost.