It’s possible that “El Elyon” was understood in dramatically different ways by Melchizedek and Abraham.
The Canaanite god Mekal was sometimes portrayed as a mountain goat with horns, so that in some sense Mekal was “God of the Mountain”. That could be Melchizedek’s literal interpretation of “El Elyon”, “God of the Mountain”, as Melchizedek is a high priest of Mekal (who knows nothing of YHWH). Abraham, on the other hand, of course thinks of “El Elyon” as being “God Most High”, referring to YHWH. Moreover, at Beth-Shean, Mekal’s consort was Anath, who was sometimes said to be “Queen of heaven, mistress of all the gods”. That is somewhat similar to the concept at Genesis 14: 19 of El Elyon being “possessor of heaven and earth”. The two men both worship “El Elyon”, but one is a Canaanite high priest of the pagan god Mekal, a type of mountain god (or possibly a mountain goat god), whose consort is Anath, the Queen of heaven, mistress of all the gods. The other, Abraham, worships only the one true Deity. At Genesis 14: 22, Abraham says to the princeling ruler of Rehov/ ‘Sodom’, and as such to all the assembled persons, that the real El Elyon, whom Abraham worships, is YHWH. Abraham doesn’t press the point, and does not try to convert anyone, but Abraham does make the point. Abraham is willing to interact with Canaanites, for example in the rescue of Abraham’s nephew Lot, and Abraham does not try to convert the Canaanites. On the other hand, Abraham does not worship any Canaanite deities, a point that he diplomatically, but firmly, makes at Genesis 14: 22. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
