Tanach · Acharonim on Tanach · Or HaChaim · Torah
Or HaChaim on Genesis 14:23/אור החיים על בראשית י״ד:כ״ג
אוְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי וְגוֹ׳. וְקָשֶׁה אֵיךְ יֻצְדַּק לוֹמַר שֶׁהוּא הֶעֱשִׁיר וְכוּ׳, וַהֲלֹא הָאָדוֹן ה׳ צְבָאוֹת הוּא מִגֵּן צָרָיו?
1ולא תאמר אני העשרתי את אברם, "so that you will not be able to claim credit for enriching me." Why would it have occurred to anyone to give credit to the king of Sodom for enriching Abraham? Was it not obvious that the Lord Himself had protected Abraham all the way?
באָכֵן לְפִי מַה שֶׁפֵּרַשְׁנוּ בְּדִבְרֵי מֶלֶךְ סְדוֹם, כִּי חוֹשֵׁב שֶׁהַנְּכָסִים אֵלָיו נוֹגְעִים, אֶלָּא שֶׁמִּתְרַצֶּה לָתֵת לוֹ הָרְכוּשׁ כְּאָמְרוֹ ״וְהָרְכוּשׁ קַח לָךְ״, לָזֶה אָמַר שֶׁזֶּה עוֹשֶׂה לְצַד דַּעְתּוֹ, שֶׁהוּא חוֹשֵׁב שֶׁהַנְּכָסִים שֶׁלּוֹ, שֶׁלֹּא יְמַלֵּא פִיו לוֹמַר ״אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת אַבְרָם הֲרִימוֹתִי וְגוֹ׳ אִם״ וְגוֹ׳. וּבָזֶה, לֹא תֹאמַר אַתָּה וְגוֹ׳, וּלְעוֹלָם כְּפִי הַדִּין נְכָסַי הֵם אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לִי אֱלֹהִים, וְלָזֶה נָתַתִּי מַעֲשֵׂר מִכֹּל, וּכְמוֹ שֶׁהוֹכַחְנוּ בְּפֵרוּשׁ (בראשית יד:כא) ״תֶּן לִי הַנֶּפֶשׁ״ וְגוֹ׳. וּבָזֶה יְדֻיַּק אָמְרוֹ וְלֹא תֹאמַר שֶׁהָיָה לוֹ לוֹמַר ״וְלֹא אֶתְעַשֵּׁר מִשֶּׁלְּךָ״ וְהָבֵן.
2Abraham wanted it clearly understood that the whole loot was legally his, the king had in no way given up one iota of something that was legally his, even if Abraham had consented to share the loot. Abraham chose his words carefully when he said: "you shall not say 'I have made Abraham rich.'" If there had been even a semblance of truth to what the king of Sodom had suggested, Abraham would have had to say: "I do not want to become enriched by you." The very most the king would have been able to do was to claim that he had given up something of his own; such a claim would not have been legal anyways.