El Elyon

Elyon or El Elyon ( ''ʼĒl ʻElyōn''), is an epithet that appears in the Hebrew Bible as ("God the highest"). The title ' is a common topic of scholarly debate, sometimes interpreted as equal to the Abrahamic God, and otherwise theorized as a reference to a separate deity of its own kind, potentially above that of Yahweh.

Outside of biblical context, the term also has mundane uses, such as " upper" (where the ending in both roots is a locative, not superlative or comparative), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40:17 or to a chamber in Ezekiel 42:5).

Hebrew Bible

''ʼĒl ʻElyōn''

The compound name ''ʼĒl ʻElyōn'' 'God Most High' occurs in Genesis 14:18–20 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek, king of Salem. The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used by Abraham in an oath to the king of Sodom. In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to ʼĒl ʻElyōn in the Masoretic Text but is absent in the Samaritan version, in the Septuagint translation, and in Symmachus. Its occurrence here was one foundation of a theory first espoused by Julius Wellhausen that ʼĒl ʻElyōn was an ancient god of Salem (Jerusalem), later equated with God. The only other occurrence of the compound expression is in : "And they remembered that God �Ēlōhīm''was'' their rock, and the high God �Ēl ʻElyōntheir redeemer." The name is repeated later in the chapter, but with a variation: verse fifty-six says ʼElohim ʻElyōn.

It has been suggested that the reference to ʼĒl ʻElyōn, maker of heaven and earth" in Genesis 14:19 and 22 reflects a Canaanite background. The phrasing in Genesis resembles a retelling of Canaanite religious traditions in Philo of Byblos's account of Phoenician history, in which ʻElyōn was the progenitor of Ouranos ("Sky") and Gaia ("Earth").

''ʽElyōn''

The name ''ʽElyōn'' (Most High) standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms. It appears in Balaam's verse oracle in Numbers 24:16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl. It also appears in Moses' final song in Deuteronomy 32:8 (a much-discussed verse). A translation of the Masoretic text:

Many Septuagint manuscripts have ''angelōn theou'' (angels of God) in place of "sons of Israel", while a few others have ''huiōn theou'' (sons of God). The Dead Sea Scrolls fragment 4QDeut^j, however, reads ''bny ’lwhm, (''sons of God, or sons of ’Elohim). The New Revised Standard Version translates this as "he fixed the boundaries ... according to the number of the gods." However, the identification of ʽElyōn in the passage is disputed.

This passage appears to identify ʽElyōn with ’Elohim, but not necessarily with Yahweh. It can be read to mean that ʽElyōn separated mankind into 70 nations according to his 70 sons (the 70 sons of Ēl being mentioned in the Ugaritic texts), each of these sons to be the tutelary deity over one of the 70 nations, one of them being the God of Israel, Yahweh. Alternatively, it may mean that ʽElyōn, having given the other nations to his sons, now takes Israel for himself under the name of the Tetragrammaton. Both interpretations have support, although viewing ʽElyōn as a higher deity than Yahweh may be against most monotheistic standards of modern Abrahamic dogmas.

Michael Heiser argues that separating El and Yahweh is 'internally inconsistent' within the Book of Deuteronomy (e.g. , ). According to Heiser, it also raises the question on why the Deuteronomists would be so careless to introduce this error, especially a few verses later, and why they didn't quickly remove them as 'intolerant monotheists'.

In Isaiah 14:13–14, ʽElyōn is used in a very mystical context in the passage providing the basis for later speculation on the fall of Satan where the rebellious prince of Babylon is pictured as boasting:

In some cases, ʽElyōn is used in reference to Yahweh, such as in Psalm 97:9:

Non-biblical use

Outside of the Biblical texts, the epithet "Most High" occurs on several occasions.

Sefire I Treaty

The most controversial of these uses outside the Bible is in the earliest of three Aramaic treaty inscriptions found at al-Safirah southeast of Aleppo.

The "Sefire I" inscription ('' KAI'' 222.I.A.8–12; ''ANET'' p. 659), which dates to about 750 BCE, lists the major patron deities of each side, all of them in pairs coupled by "and", in each case a male god and the god's spouse when the names are known. Then, after a gap comes ''’l wʽlyn''
* This possibly means "’Ēl and ʽElyōn", seemingly also two separate gods, followed by further pairs of deities.
* It is possible also that these indicate two aspects of the same god.
* It might be a single divine name. The Ugaritic texts contain divine names like '' Kothar waḪasis'' "Skillful-and-Clever", '' Mot waShar'' "Death-and-Prince" (or possibly "Death-and-Destruction'), '' Nikkal-and-Ib'', which is in origin the name of the Sumerian goddess Ningal combined with an element of unknown meaning. Therefore, ''Ēl waʽElyōn'' might be a single name 'God-and-Highest' identical in meaning with Biblical ''ʼĒl ʽElyōn'', even though this would be unique.

Frank Moore Cross (1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.

Sanchuniathon

In Eusebius' account of Philo of Byblos (c. 64–141 CE) record of Sanchuniathon's euhemeristic account of the Phoenician deities, ''Elioun'', whom he calls '' Hypsistos'' 'the highest' and who is therefore likely ʿElyōn, is quite separate from his Elus/Cronus who is the supreme god Ēl. Sanchuniathon tells only:

In their time is born a certain Elioun called "the Most High," and a female named Beruth, and these dwelt in the neighbourhood of Byblos.

And from them is born Epigeius or Autochthon, whom they afterwards called Sky; so that from him they named the element above us Sky because of the excellence of its beauty. And he has a sister born of the aforesaid parents, who was called Earth, and from her, he says, because of her beauty, they called the earth by the same name. And their father, the Most High, died in an encounter with wild beasts, and was deified, and his children offered to him libations and sacrifices.

According to Sanchuniathon it is from Sky and Earth that Ēl and various other deities are born, though ancient texts refer to Ēl as creator of heaven and earth. The Hittite theogony knows of a primal god named Alalu who fathered Sky (and possibly Earth) and who was overthrown by his son Sky, who was in turn overthrown by his son Kumarbi. A similar tradition seems to be at the basis of Sanchuniathon's account.

As to Beruth who is here ʿElyōn's wife, a relationship with Hebrew ''b^ərīt'' 'covenant' or with the city of Beirut have both been suggested.

Hasmonean dynasty

The Mishnah recounts that Hasmonean rulers used to identify themselves as "High Priest of El Elyon": "When the Hasmonean kingdom became strong and defeated the Greeks, they instituted that people should mention the name of Heaven even in their legal documents. And therefore they would write: In year such and such of Yoḥanan the High Priest of the God Most High." Scholars have observed that the Hasmoneans used Melchizedek's example of monarch-priest to justify occupying both offices.

See also

* Al-Ala
* El
* Enlil
* Helios
* The Hypsistarians, worshippers of the Most High God (Theos Hypsistos), were a distinct non-Jewish monotheistic sect which flourished in Asia Minor and Greece from about 200 BC to about AD 400.
* Illiyin
* Names of God in Judaism

References

Citations

Bibliography

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* "The treaty between ''KTK'' and Arpad" (1969). Trans. Frans Rosenthal in ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts'', 3rd ed. with Supplement. Princeton: Princeton University Press. .
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External links

{{Middle Eastern mythology
Deities in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew words and phrases
Names of God in Judaism
Superlatives in religion
West Semitic gods
El (deity)