Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

It’s possible that “El Elyon” was understood in dramatically different ways 
by Melchizedek and Abraham.  

The Canaanite god Mekal was sometimes portrayed as a mountain goat with 
horns, so that in some sense Mekal was “God of the Mountain”.  That could be 
Melchizedek’s literal interpretation of “El Elyon”, “God of the Mountain”, as 
Melchizedek is a high priest of Mekal (who knows nothing of YHWH).

Abraham, on the other hand, of course thinks of “El Elyon” as being “God Most 
High”, referring to YHWH.

Moreover, at Beth-Shean, Mekal’s consort was Anath, who was sometimes said to 
be “Queen of heaven, mistress of all the gods”.  That is somewhat similar to 
the concept at Genesis 14: 19 of El Elyon being “possessor of heaven and 
earth”.

The two men both worship “El Elyon”, but one is a Canaanite high priest of 
the pagan god Mekal, a type of mountain god (or possibly a mountain goat 
god), whose consort is Anath, the Queen of heaven, mistress of all the gods.  
The other, Abraham, worships only the one true Deity.

At Genesis 14: 22, Abraham says to the princeling ruler of Rehov/ ‘Sodom’, 
and as such to all the assembled persons, that the real El Elyon, whom 
Abraham worships, is YHWH.  Abraham doesn’t press the point, and does not try 
to convert anyone, but Abraham does make the point.

Abraham is willing to interact with Canaanites, for example in the rescue of 
Abraham’s nephew Lot, and Abraham does not try to convert the Canaanites.  On 
the other hand, Abraham does not worship any Canaanite deities, a point that 
he diplomatically, but firmly, makes at Genesis 14: 22.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois