“The refugee came and told Abram the Hebrew, and he was dwelling in the plains of Mamre the Emorite, brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner, and they were allies of Abram” (Genesis 14:13). “The refugee came” – Reish Lakish in the name of bar Kappara: This is Og; he is the “refugee.” Why is he called Og? Because he came and found Abram sitting and engaging in the mitzva of baking [unleavened] loaves [ugot] [for Passover].71See Exodus 12:39.
His intentions [in informing Abraham] were not to act for the sake of Heaven. Rather, he said: ‘This Abraham is a zealot. If I say to him now: Your nephew has been taken captive, he will go out to war and be killed, and I will take his wife Sarai.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘By your life, you will receive reward for your strides that you walked [to travel to Abraham], in that you will live long in the world.72He was ultimately killed by Moses, centuries later (Numbers 21:35).
But because you thought to kill that righteous man, by your life, you will see thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of his descendants, and the end of that man73You, Og. will be only to fall into their hand,’ as it is stated [by Moses]: “The Lord said to me: Do not fear him, as [I have delivered him]…into your hand” (Deuteronomy 3:2). “And told Abram the Hebrew [Ivri]” – Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Neḥemya, and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yehuda says: The entire world was on one side and he was on the other side [ever].74In an ideological sense.
Rabbi Neḥemya said: Because he was among the descendants of Ever. The Rabbis say: It is because he is from the other side [ever] of the river,75Abraham came to the land of Israel from the other (eastern) side of the Euphrates. and he spoke the Hebrew [Ivri] language. “He was dwelling in elonei Mamre” – Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda said: [This means] in the plains of Mamre. Rabbi Neḥemya said: In the palace of Mamre.
According to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, it is a place whose name is Mamre. According to the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, it is a person whose name was Mamre. And why was he called Mamre? Rabbi Azarya in the name of Rabbi Yehuda in the name of Rabbi Simon: It is because he was brazen-faced regarding Abraham.76He was bold in his support of Abraham, as the Midrash goes on to relate.
When the Holy One blessed be He told Abraham to circumcise himself, he went and consulted with his three friends.77Listed in Genesis 14:24. Aner said to him: ‘You are already one hundred years old and you are going to bring pain upon yourself?’ Eshkol said to him: ‘What, are you going to put an end to yourself in the midst of your enemies?’78People will say that you have castrated yourself. Mamre said to him: ‘[This is] your God who stood by you [during your ordeal] in the fiery furnace, and during [your war with] the kings, and during the famine, and in this matter that He has said to you, to circumcise yourself, you do not heed Him?’
The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘You gave him counsel to circumcise himself; by your life, I will not appear to him in Aner’s palace, nor in Eshkol’s palace, but only in your palace.’ That is what is written: “The Lord appeared to him in the palace of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1).