Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

1.  YKL can mean “to overcome, vanquish, attain victory”.  Genesis 32: 28
 
CDQ can mean “righteous victory”.  Isaiah 41: 2
 
So YKL and CDQ can have similar meanings.
 
2.  KWL means “to protect, nourish”.  Genesis 45: 11
 
$LM means “peace, safety”, and can have the connotation of “protection”.
 
So KWL and $LM can have similar meanings.
 
3.  A Late Bronze Age temple and stele at Beth Shan honor an obscure 
Canaanite god whose name is MKL/Mekal.  Some scholars think the etymology of 
this 
west Semitic divine name is M + YKL = MKL and M + KWL = MKL.
 
Given that etymology, a high priest of the pagan god MKL might expect to 
have a double name that reflects the concepts of YKL and KWL, perhaps using 
the semi-synonyms CDQ and $LM.  If the high priest’s name said that the deity 
MKL was a “king”/MLK [where MLK transposes the last 2 consonants in MKL] 
with those two characteristics, then that priest’s name might be expected to 
be:
 
MLK-Y-CDQ MLK-$LM.
 
That’s exactly how the received text of Genesis 14: 18 begins.  [I see the 
interior yod/Y in the first half of this double name as being optional.  For 
example, the same person in the Bible at one place has an interior yod in 
his name, ’B-Y-$LWM at I Kings 15: 2, 10, but elsewhere in the Bible this 
same person’s name is spelled without the yod:  ’B-$LWM at II Chronicles 11: 
20, 21.]  
 
Perhaps the priest usually referred to as “Melchizedek” was a high priest 
of the Canaanite god MKL/Mekal at Beth Shan, whose double name means “(Mekal 
is) king of righteous victory, king of peace”.  Given the above etymology 
of the divine name MKL, that would be a perfect name for a high priest of MKL.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois