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Elyon orEl Elyon (Hebrew:אֵל עֶלְיוֹןʼĒl ʻElyōn), is anepithet that appears in theHebrew Bible.ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in theSeptuagint asὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος ("God the highest"). The titleʿElyōn is 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, notsuperlative orcomparative), "top", or "uppermost", referring simply to the position of objects (e.g. applied to a basket inGenesis 40:17 or to a chamber inEzekiel 42:5).
The compound nameʼĒl ʻElyōn 'God Most High' occurs inGenesis 14:18–20 as the God whose priest wasMelchizedek, king ofSalem.[1] The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used byAbraham in an oath to the king ofSodom. In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to ʼĒl ʻElyōn in theMasoretic Text but 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 Wellhausen that 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]was their 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 ofheaven and earth" inGenesis 14:19 and 22 reflects a Canaanite background.[2] The phrasing in Genesis resembles a retelling of Canaanite religious traditions inPhilo of Byblos's account ofPhoenician history, in which ʻElyōn was the progenitor ofOuranos ("Sky") andGaia ("Earth").[3]
The nameʽElyōn (Most High) standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms. It appears inBalaam's verse oracle inNumbers 24:16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl. It also appears inMoses' final song inDeuteronomy 32:8 (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", while a few others havehuiōn theou (sons of God). TheDead Sea Scrolls fragment 4QDeutj, however, readsbny ’lwhm, (sons of God, or sons of ’Elohim). TheNew Revised Standard Version translates 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 theUgaritic texts), each of these sons to be thetutelary deity 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 theTetragrammaton. Both interpretations have support,[5] although viewing ʽElyōn as a higher deity than Yahweh may be against mostmonotheistic standards of modern Abrahamic dogmas.
Michael Heiser argues 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]
InIsaiah 14:13–14, ʽElyōn is used in a very mystical context in the passage providing the basis for later speculation on the fall ofSatan where the rebellious prince ofBabylon is 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.
Outside of the Biblical texts, the epithet "Most High" occurs on several occasions.[7]
The most controversial of these uses outside the Bible is in the earliest of three Aramaic treaty inscriptions found atal-Safirah 16 miles (26 km) southeast ofAleppo.[8]
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
Frank Moore Cross (1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.[9]
InEusebius' account ofPhilo of Byblos (c. 64–141 CE) record ofSanchuniathon'seuhemeristic account of the Phoenician deities,Elioun, whom he callsHypsistos 'the highest' and who is therefore likely ʿElyōn,[10] is quite separate from his Elus/Cronus who 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 bornEpigeius 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. TheHittite theogony knows of a primal god namedAlalu who 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 Hebrewbərīt 'covenant' or with the city ofBeirut have both been suggested.[citation needed]
TheMishnah recounts thatHasmonean rulers used to identify themselves as "High Priest of El Elyon": "When the Hasmonean kingdom became strong and defeated the Greeks, they instituted that people should mention the name of Heaven even in their legal documents. And therefore they would write: In year such and such ofYoḥanan the High Priest of the God Most High."[12] Scholars have observed that the Hasmoneans used Melchizedek's example of monarch-priest to justify occupying both offices.[13][14][15]
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