Elyon ( he, ''ʿElyōn'') is an
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
of the
God of the
Israelites
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 ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. ' is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
as ("God the highest").
The term also has mundane uses, such as "
upper" (where the ending in both roots is a
locative
In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
, not
superlative
Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages t ...
or
comparative), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket in
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 ...
40.17 or to a chamber in
Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
42.5).
Hebrew Bible
The compound ''ʼĒl ʻElyōn''
The compound name ʼĒl ʻElyōn 'God Most High' occurs in
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 as the God whose priest was
Melchizedek
In the Bible, Melchizedek (, hbo, , malkī-ṣeḏeq, "king of righteousness" or "my king is righteousness"), also transliterated Melchisedech or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem and priest of (often translated as "most high God"). He is f ...
, king of
Salem
Salem may refer to: Places
Canada
Ontario
* Bruce County
** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
* Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
. The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used by
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
in an oath to the king of
Sodom
Sodom may refer to:
Places Historic
* Sodom and Gomorrah, cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis
United States
* Sodom, Kentucky, a ghost town
* Sodom, New York, a hamlet
* Sodom, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Sodom, West Virginia, an ...
. In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to ʼĒl ʻElyōn in the
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
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
Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, he moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhausen contributed to t ...
that ʼĒl ʻElyōn was an ancient god of Salem (for other reasons understood here to mean
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
), 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
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
and earth" in
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 ...
14:19 and 22 reflects a Canaanite background. The phrasing in Genesis resembles a retelling of Canaanite religious traditions in
Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos ( grc, Φίλων Βύβλιος, ''Phílōn Býblios''; la, Philo Byblius; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for ...
's account of
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n history, in which ʻElyōn was the progenitor of
Ouranos
In Greek mythology, Uranus ( ), sometimes written Ouranos ( grc, Οὐρανός, , sky, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with w ...
("Sky") and
Gaia
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...
("Earth").
Genesis 14:18–20
''ʽElyōn'' standing alone
The name ''ʽElyōn'' 'Most High' standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms.
It appears in
Balaam
Balaam (; , Standard ''Bīlʿam'' Tiberian ''Bīlʿām'') is a diviner in the Torah (Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beo ...
's verse oracle in
Numbers 24:16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl.
It appears in
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
' final song in
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
32:8 (a much discussed verse). A translation of the Masoretic text:
Many Septuagint manuscripts have in place of "sons of Israel", ''angelōn theou'' 'angels of God' and a few have ''huiōn theou'' 'sons of God'. The
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
fragment 4QDeut
j reads ''bny ’lwhm'' '
sons of God
Sons of God ( he, בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm, literally: "sons of the Elohim") is a phrase used in the Tanakh or Old Testament and in Christian Apocrypha. The phrase is also used in Kabbalah where ''bene elohim'' ...
' ('sons of ’Elohim'). The
New Revised Standard Version
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.[Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...](_blank)
. 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
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...
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
The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...
. Both interpretations have supporters.
In
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
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
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
where the rebellious prince of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
is pictured as boasting:
But ’Elyōn is in other places firmly identified with Yahweh, as in
2 Samuel 22:14:
Also Psalm 97:9: "For you, Lord
HWH HWH may refer to:
*HWH, the Indian Railways code for Howrah railway station, West Bengal, India
*HWH, the National Rail code for Haltwhistle railway station, Northumberland, England
{{Disambiguation ...
are Most High
elyōnover all the earth; you are raised high over all the gods."
Non-biblical use
Sfire I Treaty
Outside of the Biblical texts the term "Most High" occurs seldom.
The most controversial is in the earliest of three Aramaic treaty inscriptions found at
al-Safirah
As-Safira ( ar, السَّفِيْرَة / ALA-LC: ''as-Safīrah''; Syrian Arabic, Aleppo dialect: ''Sfīre'') is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center for the as-Safira District. As S ...
southeast of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
.
[''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 "]
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
Sumerian or Sumerians may refer to:
*Sumer, an ancient civilization
**Sumerian language
**Sumerian art
**Sumerian architecture
**Sumerian literature
**Cuneiform script, used in Sumerian writing
*Sumerian Records, an American record label based in ...
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
Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921–2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 ''magnum opus'' ''Canaanite Myth and ...
(1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.
Sanchuniathon
In
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
' account of
Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos ( grc, Φίλων Βύβλιος, ''Phílōn Býblios''; la, Philo Byblius; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for ...
(c. 64–141 CE) record of
Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon (; Ancient Greek: ; probably from Phoenician: , "Sakon has given"), also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a Phoenician author. His three works, originally written in the Phoenician language, survive only in partial paraphras ...
's euhemeristic account of the Phoenician deities, ''Elioun'', whom he calls ''
Hypsistos'' 'the highest' and who is therefore possibly ʿElyōn, is quite separate from his Elus/
Cronus
In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or , from el, Κρόνος, ''Krónos'') was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and ...
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
Alalu or Alala was a primordial figure in Mesopotamian and Hurrian mythology. He is also known from documents from Emar. While his role was not identical in these three contexts, it is agreed that all three versions share the same origin.
Hurrian ...
who fathered Sky (and possibly Earth) and who was overthrown by his son Sky, who was in turn overthrown by his son
Kumarbi
Kumarbi was an important god of the Hurrians, regarded as "the father of gods." He was also a member of the Hittite pantheon. According to Hurrian myths, he was a son of Alalu, and one of the parents of the storm-god Teshub, the other being Anu ...
. 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
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
have both been suggested.
See also
*
Al-Ala
Al-Aʻlā ( ar, الأعلى, “The Most High”, “Glory To Your Lord In The Highest”) is the eighty-seventh chapter (''surah'') of the Qur'an, with 19 '' ayat'' or verses.
Al-A'la describes the Islamic view of existence, the Oneness of ...
*
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Bab ...
*
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
*
Hyperion
* 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
''Illiyin'', ''Illiyun'' or ''Elliyoun'' ( ar, عِلِّيِّين, عِلِّيُّون, ʿilliyyīn, -ūn literally: heaven, upperworld) is a Quranic term referring to either the "most high" and "supreme" places above Jannah, i.e. the Garden ...
*
Names of God in Judaism
Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim ("God," a plural noun), Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot (" fHosts"); some also include Ehyeh ("I Will Be").This is th ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
Cross, Frank Moore (1973). ''Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. .
* "The treaty between ''KTK'' and Arpad" (1969). Trans. Frans Rosenthal in ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts'', 3rd ed. with Supplement. Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN, 0-691-03503-2.
The Divine Council: "Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God", by Michael S. Heiser(PDF.)
Deities in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew words and phrases
Names of God in Judaism
Superlatives in religion
West Semitic gods
El (deity)