Elyon

ElyonorEl Elyon(Hebrew:אֵל עֶלְיוֹן‎ʼĒl ʻElyōn), is anepithetthat appears in theHebrew Bible.ʾĒlʿElyōnis usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in theSeptuagintasὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος( "God the highest" ). The titleʿElyōnis a common topic of scholarly debate, sometimes interpreted asequal to the Abrahamic God,and otherwise theorized as a reference to a separate deity of its own kind, potentially above that ofYahweh.

Outside of biblical context, the term also has mundane uses, such as "upper"(where the ending in both roots is alocative,notsuperlativeorcomparative), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket inGenesis40:17 or to a chamber inEzekiel42:5).

Hebrew Bible

ʼĒl ʻElyōn

The compound nameʼĒl ʻElyōn'God Most High' occurs inGenesis14:18–20 as the God whose priest wasMelchizedek,king ofSalem.^[1]The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used byAbrahamin an oath to the king ofSodom.In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to ʼĒl ʻElyōn in theMasoretic Textbut is absent in the Samaritan version, in the Septuagint translation, and inSymmachus.^[2]Its occurrence here was one foundation of a theory first espoused byJulius Wellhausenthat ʼĒl ʻElyōn was an ancient god of Salem (Jerusalem), later equated with God.^{[citation needed]}The only other occurrence of the compound expression is inPsalms 78:35:"And they remembered that God [ʼĒlōhīm]wastheir rock, and the high God [ʼĒl ʻElyōn] their 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 ofheavenand earth "inGenesis14:19 and 22 reflects a Canaanite background.^[2]The phrasing in Genesis resembles a retelling of Canaanite religious traditions inPhilo of Byblos's account ofPhoenicianhistory, in which ʻElyōn was the progenitor ofOuranos( "Sky" ) andGaia( "Earth" ).^[3]

ʽElyōn

The nameʽElyōn(Most High) standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms. It appears inBalaam's verse oracle inNumbers24:16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl. It also appears inMoses' final song inDeuteronomy32:8 (a much-discussed verse). A translation of the Masoretic text:

When the Most High (ʽElyōn) divided nations,
he separated the sons of man (Ādām);
he set the bounds of the masses
according to the number of thesons of Israel

Many Septuagint manuscripts haveangelōn theou(angels of God) in place of "sons of Israel" and while a few others havehuiōn theou(sons of God). TheDead Sea Scrollsfragment 4QDeut^j,however, readsbny ’lwhm, (sons of God,or sons of ’Elohim). TheNew Revised Standard Versiontranslates this as "he fixed the boundaries... according to the number of the gods."^[4]However, the identification of ʽElyōn in the passage is disputed.

This passage appears to identify ʽElyōn with ’Elohim, but not necessarily withYahweh.It can be read to mean that ʽElyōn separated mankind into 70 nations according to his70 sons(the 70 sons of Ēl being mentioned in theUgaritictexts), each of these sons to be thetutelary deityover 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 theTetragrammaton.Both interpretations have support,^[5]although viewing ʽElyōn is a higher deity than Yahweh may be against mostmonotheistic standards of modern Abrahamic dogmas.

Michael Heiserargues that separating El and Yahweh is 'internally inconsistent' within the Book of Deuteronomy (e.g.Deuteronomy 4:19–20,Deuteronomy 32:6–7). 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'.^[6]

InIsaiah14:13–14, ʽElyōn is used in a very mystical context in the passage providing the basis for later speculation on the fall ofSatanwhere the rebellious prince ofBabylonis pictured as boasting:

I shall be enthroned in the mount of the council in the farthest north [orfarthest Zaphon]
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.

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

For you, Lord [YHWH],
are Most High [ʽelyōn] over all the earth;
you are raised high over all the gods.

Non-biblical use

Outside of the Biblical texts, the epithet "Most High" occurs on several occasions.^[7]

Sefire I Treaty

The most controversial of these uses outside the Bible is in the earliest of three Aramaic treaty inscriptions found atal-Safirah16 miles (26 km) southeast ofAleppo.^[8]

The "Sefire I" inscription (KAI222.I.A.8–12;ANETp. 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. TheUgaritictexts contain divine names likeKothar waḪasis"Skillful-and-Clever",Mot waShar"Death-and-Prince" (or possibly "Death-and-Destruction'),Nikkal-and-Ib,which is in origin the name of theSumeriangoddessNingalcombined with an element of unknown meaning. Therefore,Ēl waʽElyōnmight be a single name 'God-and-Highest' identical in meaning with BiblicalʼĒl ʽElyōn,even though this would be unique.

Frank Moore Cross(1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.^[9]

Sanchuniathon

InEusebius' account ofPhilo of Byblos(c. 64–141 CE) record ofSanchuniathon's euhemeristic account of the Phoenician deities,Elioun,whom he callsHypsistos'the highest' and who is therefore likely ʿElyōn,^[10]is quite separate from his Elus/Cronuswho is the supreme god Ēl. Sanchuniathon tells only:

In their time is born a certain Elioun called "the Most High," and a female namedBeruth,and these dwelt in the neighbourhood ofByblos. And from them is bornEpigeiusor 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. TheHittitetheogony knows of a primal god namedAlaluwho fathered Sky (and possibly Earth) and who was overthrown by his son Sky, who was in turn overthrown by his sonKumarbi.A similar tradition seems to be at the basis of Sanchuniathon's account.^[11]

As to Beruth who is here ʿElyōn's wife, a relationship with Hebrewb^ərīt'covenant' or with the city ofBeiruthave both been suggested.^{[citation needed]}

References

Citations

^McLaughlin 2000,p. 515.
^^a ^bElnes & Miller 1999,p. 297.
^John Day (2010).Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan.Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 21.ISBN 978-0-567-53783-6.
^Deuteronomy 32:8 (NRSV)
^Elnes & Miller 1999,p. 296.
^Heiser, Michael (2006)."Are Yahweh and El Distinct Deities in Deut. 32:8-9 and Psalm 82?".HIPHIL Novum– via Liberty University.
^Elnes & Miller 1999,p. 295.
^The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures,p305. James B. Pritchard, Daniel E. (FRW) Fleming - 2010 "The block of basalt on which the portion of the treaty designated Sfire I is inscribed was broken horizontally into two parts, with the loss of a few lines in between. In addition to the text inscribed upon the front and the back of the"
^Cross 1973,p. 51.
^Zernecke 2022,p. 80.
^Zernecke 2022,pp. 81–82.

Bibliography

McLaughlin, John L. (2000)."God in the Old Testament, names of".In Freedman, David Noel; Myer, Allen C. (eds.).Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible.Eerdmans.ISBN 9789053565032.
Cross, Frank Moore(1973).Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel.Harvard University Press.ISBN 0-674-09176-0.
Elnes, E. E.; Miller, P. D. (1999)."Elyon".In Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter (eds.).Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible.Brill.ISBN 9780802824912.
"The treaty betweenKTKand Arpad "(1969). Trans. Frans Rosenthal inAncient Near Eastern Texts,3rd ed. with Supplement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.ISBN 0-691-03503-2.
Zernecke, Anna Elise (2022)."Nomina nuda tenemus: The God Elyon (ʿlyn)".In Galoppin, Thomas; Guillon, Elodie; Luaces, Max; Lätzer-Lasar, Asuman; Lebreton, Sylvain; Porzia, Fabio; Rüpke, Jörg; Rubens Urciuoli, Emiliano; Bonnet, Corinne (eds.).Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean: Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries.De Gruyter. pp. 71–88.doi:10.1515/9783110798432-004.ISBN 978-3-11-079843-2.

External links

[FOOTNOTEMcLaughlin2000515-1] McLaughlin 2000,p. 515.

[FOOTNOTEElnesMiller1999297-2] Elnes & Miller 1999,p. 297.

[Day2010-3] John Day (2010).Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan.Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 21.ISBN 978-0-567-53783-6.

[4] Deuteronomy 32:8 (NRSV)

[FOOTNOTEElnesMiller1999296-5] Elnes & Miller 1999,p. 296.

[6] Heiser, Michael (2006)."Are Yahweh and El Distinct Deities in Deut. 32:8-9 and Psalm 82?".HIPHIL Novum– via Liberty University.

[FOOTNOTEElnesMiller1999295-7] Elnes & Miller 1999,p. 295.

[8] The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures,p305. James B. Pritchard, Daniel E. (FRW) Fleming - 2010 "The block of basalt on which the portion of the treaty designated Sfire I is inscribed was broken horizontally into two parts, with the loss of a few lines in between. In addition to the text inscribed upon the front and the back of the"

[FOOTNOTECross197351-9] Cross 1973,p. 51.

[FOOTNOTEZernecke202280-10] Zernecke 2022,p. 80.

[FOOTNOTEZernecke202281–82-11] Zernecke 2022,pp. 81–82.

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