Genesis 14:10

full of slime pits i.e. bitumen pits. Bitumen, or asphalt, is found in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. Josephus speaks of the bitumen floating upon the surface of its waters. Here we are to suppose that the bitumen came out of large holes or pits in the earth, into which the confederates fell in their flight.

"Full of slime pits." The Hebrew idiom gives be'erôth be'erôth ḥêmar, "pits, pits of bitumen" = "all bitumen pits." Cf. 2 Kings 3:16, "trenches, trenches" = "nothing but trenches."

The narrative is so fragmentary, or condensed, that only the rout is recorded.

they fell Referring to the fugitive troops generally. The king of Sodom appears again in Genesis 14:17. It is implied that those who fell into the pits were lost.

to the mountain i.e. to the mountains of Moab, the chain of hills on the east side of the Dead Sea.