Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 10:40 AM 8/19/2002 -0500, David Stabnow wrote:
>
>Ian Goldsmith wrote:
>
>"I'm just curious really as to whether or not there
>could have been a building given to the worship of
>YHWH before Abraham's lifetime."
>
>Well, in Gen 14:18 Melchizedek was "a priest of the Most High God."  But
>this doesn't say, one way or the other, whether a building was used as a
>place of worship.
>

As we now know, "`Elyon" was an epithet of El (Illu), the Ugaritic
creator-god. So despite Jewish and Christian tradition's understanding
Melchizedek as "a priest of the Most High God" meaning YHWH, he may have
been a Canaanite priest of El, which is why Abraham refuses to accept his
gifts. Notice Abraham's answer: "I lift may hands to YHWH, Most High God..."


As far as their being a cult structure at the site, as far as I know the
excavations there (way back) did not uncover one. 

By the way, Jewish, Samaritan and Christian tradition, recognizing the
problems, diferenciated between the town of Bethel in the territory of
Benjamin where Jeroboam set up his calf, and the "House of God" of Abraham
and Jacob, assuming it to refer to the site of the Temple, in Jerusalem or
Mount Gerizim. In fact, the modern Samaritan village on top of Mount
Gerizim is called "Kiryat Luza", named after the "old" name of Beth-el.


Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.