Genesis 14:21 - Exposition

And the king of Sodom (who, though first coming, appears to have retired in favor of the greater personage, Melchisedeck, and to have witnessed the interview between him and Abram, but who now, on its termination, advances— said unto Abram ,—perhaps anticipating that like donations from the spoils might be made to him as to Melchisedeck, in which case he evinced a remarkable degree of generosity— Give me the persons —literally, the souls, i.e. those of my people whom you have recovered (cf. Genesis 12:5 , in which the term is employed to describe domestic slaves)— and take the goods to thyself (which, Michaelis observes, he was justly entitled to do by right of conquest).