Elyon
Encyclopedia
Elyon is an epithet
of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible
. is usually rendered as English "God Most High".
The Septuagint translation is "highest". It derives from the Hebrew root "go up, ascend".
The term also has mundane uses, referring simply to the position of objects, e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40.17, or to a chamber in Ezekiel
42.5.
The critical scholar and Reform
rabbi
Abraham Geiger
asserted that Elyōn was a word of late origin, dating it to the time of the Maccabees
. However, its use in the Ugarit
(modern Ras Shamra, Syria
) tablets has proven it to be pre-Mosaic (Hertz 1936)
Elyon is also used by writers, including Patrick Carman
in his "Land of Elyon" Series, to refer to the Creator God of the world they are writing about without specifically saying "God". Elyon is also used by writer Ted Dekker
, which is a character who symbolizes God in The Circle Series
ʿElyōn 'God on High' occurs in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek
king of Salem. The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used by Abraham
in an oath to the King of Sodom
. In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to Ēl ʿElyōn in the Masoretic text
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
that Ēl ʿElyōn was an ancient god of Salem (for other reasons understood here to mean Jerusalem), later equated with God.
The only other occurrence of the compound expression is in Psalm
78.35:
It has been suggested that the reference to 'Ēl
ʿElyōn maker of heaven and earth' in Genesis 14:19 and 22 reflects the belief that ʿElyōn was progenitor of Ouranus
and Gê
, as suggested in Philo of Byblos's
account of Phoenician History.
=ʿElyōn standing alone
The name ʿElyōn 'Most High' standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms.
It appears in Balaam
's verse oracle in Numbers
24.16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl. It appears in Moses
' final song in Deuteronomy
32.8 (a much discussed verse). A translation of the Masoretic text:
However 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
fragment 4QDeutj reads bny ’lwhm 'sons of God', 'sons of the gods'. The NRSV translates this as "he fixed the boundaries according to the number of the gods" Interestingly, the following verse speaks of God using the tetragrammaton:
This passage appears to identify ʿElyōn with Elohim, but not necessarily with Yahweh. It can be read to mean that ʿElyōn 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 god over one of the 70 nations, one of them being the God of Israel, Yahweh. Alternatively, it may mean that ʿElyōn, having given the other nations to his sons, now takes Israel for himself under his name of God
. Both interpretations have supporters.
In Isaiah
14.13–14 ʿElyōn is used in a very mystical context in the passage providing the basis for later speculation on the fall of Satan
where the rebellious prince of Babylon
is pictured as boasting:
In this context it would be natural to avoid the name Yahweh and use a more general term for the high god.
But ’Elyōn is in other places firmly identified with Yahweh, as in 2 Samuel
22.14:
Also Psalm 97.9:
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 16 miles southeast of Aleppo
.
The "Sfire I" inscription (KAI. 222.I.A.8–12; ANET p. 659) dates to about 750 BC 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 wʿlyn
Frank Moore Cross
(1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.
Sanchuniathon
In Eusebius' account of Philo of Byblos
(c. 64-141 CE) record of Sanchuniathon
'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
who is the supreme god Ēl. Sanchuniathon tells only:
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
who fathered Sky (and possibly Earth) and who was overthrown by his son Sky, who was in turn overthrown by his son Kumarbi
. 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 bərīt 'covenant' or with the city of Beirut
have both been suggested.
See also
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term 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, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. is usually rendered as English "God Most High".
The Septuagint translation is "highest". It derives from the Hebrew root "go up, ascend".
The term also has mundane uses, referring simply to the position of objects, e.g. applied to a basket in Genesis 40.17, or to a chamber in Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
42.5.
The critical scholar and Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...
asserted that Elyōn was a word of late origin, dating it to the time of the Maccabees
Maccabees
The Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel and reducing the influence...
. However, its use in the Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
(modern Ras Shamra, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) tablets has proven it to be pre-Mosaic (Hertz 1936)
Elyon is also used by writers, including Patrick Carman
Patrick Carman
Patrick Carman is an American author of the The Land of Elyon series, the Atherton series, the Elliot's Park series, the Skeleton Creek Saga, and the fifth 39 Clues book. His books have been translated into approximately two dozen languages.-Biography:Patrick Carman was born on February 27, 1966,...
in his "Land of Elyon" Series, to refer to the Creator God of the world they are writing about without specifically saying "God". Elyon is also used by writer Ted Dekker
Ted Dekker
Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling Christian author best known for mystery and thriller novels, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans. Early in his career he wrote a number of books that would best be categorized as Religious thrillers...
, which is a character who symbolizes God in The Circle Series
The compound Ēl ʿElyōn
The compound name ĒlEl (god)
is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
ʿElyōn 'God on High' occurs in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek
Melchizedek
Melchizedek or Malki Tzedek translated as "my king righteous") is a king and priest mentioned during the Abram narrative in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis....
king of Salem. The form appears again almost immediately in verse 22, used by Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
in an oath to the King of Sodom
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
. In this verse the name of God also occurs in apposition to Ēl ʿElyōn in the Masoretic text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
but is absent in the Samaritan version, in the Septuagint translation, and in Symmachus
Symmachus
Symmachus can refer to several different people of Roman antiquity:*Symmachus the Ebionite , was the author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament;*Pope Symmachus, pope from 498 to 514....
.
Its occurrence here was one foundation of a theory first espoused by Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen
Julius Wellhausen , was a German biblical scholar and orientalist, noted particularly for his contribution to scholarly understanding of the origin of the Pentateuch/Torah ....
that Ēl ʿElyōn was an ancient god of Salem (for other reasons understood here to mean Jerusalem), later equated with God.
The only other occurrence of the compound expression is in Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
78.35:
And they remembered that God (’elōhīm) was their rock,
and God Most High (’ēl ʿelyōn) their redeemer.
It has been suggested that the reference to 'Ēl
El (god)
is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
ʿElyōn maker of heaven and earth' in Genesis 14:19 and 22 reflects the belief that ʿElyōn was progenitor of Ouranus
Uranus (mythology)
Uranus , was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus. In Ancient Greek literature, according to Hesiod in his Theogony, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth...
and Gê
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
, as suggested in Philo of Byblos's
Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history assembled from the writings of Sanchuniathon.-Life:...
account of Phoenician History.
=ʿElyōn standing alone
The name ʿElyōn 'Most High' standing alone is found in many poetic passages, especially in the Psalms.
It appears in Balaam
Balaam
Balaam is a diviner in the Torah, his story occurring towards the end of the Book of Numbers. The etymology of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beor, though Beor is not so clearly identified...
's verse oracle in Numbers
Book of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
24.16 as a separate name parallel to Ēl. It appears in Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
' final song in Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
32.8 (a much discussed verse). A translation of the Masoretic text:
When the Most High (ʿElyōn) divided nations,
he separated the sons of man (Ādām);
he set the bounds of the masses
according to the number of the sons of IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
However 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
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
fragment 4QDeutj reads bny ’lwhm 'sons of God', 'sons of the gods'. The NRSV translates this as "he fixed the boundaries according to the number of the gods" Interestingly, the following verse speaks of God using the tetragrammaton:
For God's (yhwh) portion is his people;
JacobJacobJacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
is the lot of his inheritance.
This passage appears to identify ʿElyōn with Elohim, but not necessarily with Yahweh. It can be read to mean that ʿElyōn 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 god over one of the 70 nations, one of them being the God of Israel, Yahweh. Alternatively, it may mean that ʿElyōn, having given the other nations to his sons, now takes Israel for himself under his name of God
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
. Both interpretations have supporters.
In Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
14.13–14 ʿElyōn is used in a very mystical context in the passage providing the basis for later speculation on the fall of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
where the rebellious prince of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
is pictured as boasting:
I shall be enthroned in the mount of the council in the farthest north [or farthest Zaphon]
I will ascend about the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.
In this context it would be natural to avoid the name Yahweh and use a more general term for the high god.
But ’Elyōn is in other places firmly identified with Yahweh, as in 2 Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
22.14:
God (yhwh) thundered from heaven,
and the Most High (ʿelyōn) uttered his voice.
Also Psalm 97.9:
For you, God (yhwh), are Most High (ʿelyōn) over all the earth;
you are raised high over all the gods.
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 16 miles southeast of Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
.
The "Sfire I" inscription (KAI. 222.I.A.8–12; ANET p. 659) dates to about 750 BC 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 wʿlyn
- This possibly means '’Ēl and ʿElyōn', seemingly also two separate gods, followed by further pairs of deities.
- It is possible also that these indicate two aspects of the same god.
- Or it might be a single divine name. The Ugaritic texts contain divine names like Kothar-wa-Khasis 'Skilful-and-Clever', Mot-wa-Shar 'Death-and-Prince' (or possibly 'Death-and-Destruction'), Nikkal-and-Ib which is in origin the name of the Sumerian goddess named NingalNingalNingal was a goddess of reeds in the Sumerian mythology, daughter of Enki and Ningikurga and the consort of the moon god Nanna by whom she bore Utu the sun god, Inanna, and in some texts, Ishkur...
combined with an element of unknown meaning. Therefore Ēl-wa-ʿElyōn might be a single name 'God-and-Highest' identical in meaning with Biblical Ēl ʿElyōn even though this would be unique.
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross, Jr. is 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 Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy...
(1973) accepts all three interpretations as possibilities.
Sanchuniathon
In Eusebius' account of Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos
Philo of Byblos was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history assembled from the writings of Sanchuniathon.-Life:...
(c. 64-141 CE) record of Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea...
'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
Cronus
In Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
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 ByblosByblosByblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
.
And from them is born Epigeius or AutochthonAutochthonAutochthon , or the anglicized adjective autochthonous or abstract noun autochthony may refer to:* The indigenous peoples of a place...
, 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
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
theogony knows of a primal god named Alalu
Alalu
Alalu is a god in Hurrian mythology. He was identified by the Greeks as Hypsistos. He is also called Alalus.- Myth :Alalu was a primeval deity of the Hurrian mythology. After nine years of reign, Alalu was defeated by his son Anu and went down in the underworld. Anu's son Kumarbi also defeated his...
who fathered Sky (and possibly Earth) and who was overthrown by his son Sky, who was in turn overthrown by his son Kumarbi
Kumarbi
Kumarbi is the chief god of the Hurrians. He is the son of Anu , and father of the storm-god Teshub. He was identified by the Hurrians with Sumerian Enlil, and by the Ugaritians with El....
. 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 bərīt 'covenant' or with the city of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
have both been suggested.
See also
- El (god)El (god)is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "deity", cognate to Akkadian and then to Hebrew : Eli and Arabic )....
- The names of God in Judaism
- SanchuniathonSanchuniathonSanchuniathon is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea...
- HeliosHeliosHelios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
- The HypsistariansHypsistariansHypsistarians, i.e. worshippers of the Hypsistos , is a term appearing in documents dated about 200 BC to about AD 400, referring to various groups mostly in Asia Minor and on the South Russian coasts of what is today known as the Black Sea.Some modern scholars identify the group, or groups, with...
, worshippers of the Most High God, were a distinct non-Jewish monotheistic sect which flourished from about 200 B.C. to about A.D. 400