Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear Jim,

KJV:
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the
priest of the most high God.

Hebrew Text (MT);
וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ שָׁלֵ֔ם הֹוצִ֖יא לֶ֣חֶם וָיָ֑יִן וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן
לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֹֽון׃

Greek OT (LXX):
18 καὶ Μελχισεδεκ βασιλεὺς Σαλημ ἐξήνεγκεν ἄρτους καὶ οἶνον, ἦν δὲ ἱερεὺς 
τοῦ
θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου.

In the Hebrew and Greek Melchizedek is the King (noun- NOT VERB) of SALEM; 
even
if, for the sake of argument, you read the Hebrew without the Massoretic
pointing. Context is being ignored. You are arguing from silence and from not
knowing Hebrew. Both the Law of Moses, ca. 1400 BC and LXX, ca. 250 BC are
ancient texts.

Back to square one.

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>
To: <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>; <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] El = God?


>
> Yigal Levin wrote:  “Up until the 20th century, it was assumed that Gen. 14
> meant to say that Melchizedek was a king-priest of God, the same God
> worshipped by Abraham. This is certainly the interpretation picked up by the
> Psalmist in 110, and in later Jewish and Christian literature. But now we 
> know
> that there's another possibility - that Gen. 10 meant to contrast
> Melchizedek's "most high god" with Abraham's "YHWH el-'elyon" in verse 22.
Possible. But
> which interpretation makes more sense in the context of Gen. 14. If you ask
> me, I'd go for the "old" interpretation, that the whole point of the story
> is to claim that (Jeru-)Salem was a place of "YHWH el-'elyon" worship even
> in the days of Abraham. If the author had any knowledge of the Ugaritic (and
> Canaanite) "el-'elyon", he was subverting the title for his own use.”
>
> 1.  Jerusalem is never referred to in any ancient source, whether Biblical
> or non-biblical, as “Salem” or anything similar.  Melchizedek has nothing
> to do with Jerusalem.  The ruler of Jerusalem at the time was the 
> “Perrizite”
> , PRZY, namely the Hurrian princeling ruler IR-Heba.  PR-Z-Y means “Blessed
> Teshup (is) Lord” in Hurrian.
>
> 2.  This is reinforced when we consider Melchizedek’s full name, a priestly
> Canaanite name that is a sentence name:
>
> MLK-Y-CDQ MLK $LM
>
> The second MLK is a verb, as at Genesis 37: 7, where MLK means “to reign”.
>  The sentence name of this Canaanite priest means:
>
> “(the) Righteous (divine) King Reigns (in) Peace”
>
> The first MLK is a noun, meaning “king”.  But in a priestly name, “king”
> implies “divine king”, being a divine reference.
>
> CDQ is an adjective (though it may be a noun functioning as an adjective),
> meaning “righteous”.
>
> The interior yod/Y clarifies that this is a noun-adjective [or noun-noun]
> pattern, rather than the first MLK being a verb.  So the meaning of the 
> first
> half of the name is “Righteous King” or “King of Righteousness” or more
> literally, “King – Righteous”.  Although that interior yod/Y has virtually
> no meaning of its own, it’s nevertheless helpful here.  It clarifies (for a
> text that for well over a millennium had no pointing for guidance) that the
> first MLK is a noun, while simultaneously implying that the second MLK, 
> which
> is not followed by a yod/Y, is being used here as a verb.
>
> The second MLK is a verb, meaning “to reign”.
>
> $LM is a noun meaning “peace” or “safety”.  $LM, with no express
> preposition, can mean “in peace” or “safely”.
>
> This Canaanite priest is not stated in the text to be the king of
> Jerusalem.  $LM does not mean Jerusalem, and as to the MLK that precedes 
> $LM,
it’s
> being used here as a verb, and in any event it relates to a deity, 
> referencing
> a divine king.  So instead of “Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem”, the actual
> meaning of these Hebrew letters is a single Canaanite priestly sentence
> name:  “(the) Righteous (divine) King Reigns (in) Peace”.
>
> On this analysis, Genesis 14: 18 says in its entirety [using the KJV except
> for this name]:
>
> “And [the Canaanite priest named] The-Righteous-Divine-King-Reigns-in-Peace
> brought forth bread and wine: and he [was] the priest of the most high god.”
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
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>


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