Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 14:17) translates a forgotten geographical name into a vivid picture. The Hebrew Bible calls the location the Valley of Shaveh, which is the King's Valley. The Aramaic renders it the plain of Mephana, which was the king's race-course.
The king of Sodom, fleeing a defeat so thorough that his hired allies had been dragged into bitumen pits (Genesis 14:10), comes out to meet Abram on a running track. The image is almost embarrassing. A place where the king once held chariot games, where he displayed his wealth to his court, has become the site of his diplomatic begging.
The Targumist does not moralize. He simply names the ground. A race-course is a place where you demonstrate speed, power, and prestige. The king of Sodom walks onto it stripped of all three. His army is dead. His people are captives now restored by a stranger. His city is still standing only because Abram has ridden through the night to restore what Kedarlaomer took.
And here the plain verse begins a delicate dance. The king of Sodom will meet Abram on this track, and so will Malkizedek — king of Salem, priest of the Most High God (Genesis 14:18). Two kings, one moral, one bankrupt, meeting Abram at the same location. The Targumist places them on a racetrack, and you can almost feel the theological allegory: two sovereigns running side by side, and only one of them is holding the winner's prize.
The Targum teaches a subtle lesson about status. The places we built to display our power sometimes become the places we show our failure. A race-course turned into a negotiation is its own kind of verdict.