Dear Donald, It is clear from the context that "leEl-elyon" is referring to the "the Most High God" or "God Most High" in connection to Melchi-zedek, King of Salem and Priest of God Most High. Abram had no problem offering tithes to him in worship. So, was Abram paying homage to a "pagan" deity or was he offering homage to God Most High? Did Abram believe that he was paying tithes to God (el) or to a pagan deity named el)? BTW, I am not bringing Hebrews into the discussion since that would be OFF-LIMITS.
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald Vance" <[email protected]> To: "George Athas" <[email protected]> Cc: "B-Hebrew" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 11:40 PM Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] El = God? > Darn tootin' it's debated. I don't see how Gen 14:18 can be anything but a reference to the Canaanite deity. > > Sent from my iPad > Donald R. Vance > [email protected] > [email protected] > > On Aug 9, 2011, at 8:05 AM, George Athas <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Karl is correct, that the word אל is a common noun for 'deity'. However, it is often used practically as a Proper Name for the president or father of the gods in the Canaanite pantheon. This is confirmed in Ugaritic, for example. However, in Hebrew, it is very rarely used that way, if ever (it's occasionally debated, though). > > > > > > GEORGE ATHAS > > Director of Postgraduate Studies, > > Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) > > Sydney, Australia > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > b-hebrew mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/696 - Release Date: 02/21/2007 3:19 PM _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
