According to the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

, Adonizedek ( ''ʾĂḏōnī-ṣeḏeq'', also transliterated Adoni-zedec) was king of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

at the time of the

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

invasion of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

. According to Cheyne and Black, the name originally meant "Ṣedeḳ is lord", but this would likely have been read later as meaning "lord of righteousness" or "my lord is righteousness".W. Robertson Smith and George F. Moore (1899), "Adoni-zedec" in Cheyne and Black, eds. ''Encyclopaedia Biblica.'

/ref> Adonizedek led a coalition of five of the neighboring

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

rulers ( Hoham, king of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

; Piram, king of

Jarmuth Jarmuth, Hebrew: Yarmut (יַרְמוּת), was the name of two cities in the land of Canaan.Lemche (2010), p160 The Douai-Rheims version of the Bible has an alternative spelling, Jaramoth. Jarmuth near Beit Shemesh Jarmuth was an Amorite ci ...

; Japhia, king of

Lachish Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...

; and

Debir A Biblical word, dvir () may refer to: __NOTOC__ Names * Debir King of Eglon, a Canaanite king of Eglon, slain by Joshua (). Aided by miracles, Joshua's army routed the Canaanite military, forcing Debir and the other kings to seek refuge in a cave ...

, king of Eglon) in resisting the invasion, but the allies were defeated at Gibeon, and suffered at

Beth-horon Bethoron ( he, בֵית־חוֹרֹ֔ן, lit=house of Horon; grc, Ὡρωνείν), also Beth-Horon, was the name of two adjacent ancient towns strategically located on the Gibeon-Aijalon road, guarding the "ascent of Beth-Horon". The towns are ...

, not only from their pursuers, but also from a great hail storm. The five allied kings took refuge in a cave at

Makkedah This is a list of places mentioned in the Bible, which do not have their own Wikipedia articles. See also the list of biblical places for locations which do have their own article. Ænon, A Abana Abana, according to 2 Kings 5:12, was one of the ...

and were imprisoned there until after the battle, when

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

commanded that they be brought before him; whereupon they were brought out, humiliated, and put to death. According to the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

, the name Adoni-zedek is translated as "Master of Zedek"—that is, "of Jerusalem", the city of righteousness.

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

14:18-20 records that, some 600 years prior to Adoni-zedek, there was another ruler of Jerusalem named Melchi-zedek. It may be possible that ''Zedek'' was a dynastic name/title for the rulers of Jerusalem before David. M. G. Easton, in the 1894 ''

Easton's Bible Dictionary The ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', better known as ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', is a reference work on topics related to the Christian Bible, compiled by Matthew George Easton. The first edition was published in 1893, and a revised editi ...

'', identifies Adonizedek with a king of Jerusalem called ` Abdi-Heba ("servant of Heba"), who around 1350 BC wrote several letters to the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Six of his letters to the king of Egypt are included in the

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

, and he is mentioned in a seventh.EA 280 (Amarna letter number 280)

References

* * {{Eastons, Adoni-zedec Monarchs of the Hebrew Bible Ancient history of Jerusalem Executed monarchs Jebusites Book of Joshua 14th-century BC people