of the High Priesthood a Canaanitish priest-king, and that all possible
pretensions of the Jerusalem hierarchy were covered by the figure of
Aaron (253). It is more probable that M. is, if not a historical figure,
at least a traditional figure of great antiquity, on whom the monarchy
and hierarchy of Jerusalem based their dynastic and priestly rights.[1]
To the writer of Ps. 110, M. was "a type, consecrated by antiquity, to
which the ideal king of Israel, ruling on the same spot, must conform"
(Dri. 167); and even if that Ps. be not pre-Exilic (as Gu. supposes),
but as late as the Maccabæan period, it is difficult to conceive that
the type could have originated without some traditional basis.—Some
writers have sought a proof of the historical character of Melkiẓedeḳ
in a supposed parallel between the (
Greek characters), (Greek characters), (Greek characters) of
Heb. 73 and a formula several times repeated in letters (Tel Amarna)
of Abdḫiba of Jerusalem to Amenophis IV.: "Neither my father nor
my mother set me in this place; the mighty arm of the king established
me in my father's house."[2] Abdḫiba might have been a
successor of Melkiẓedeḳ; and it is just conceivable that Hommel is
right in his conjecture that a religious formula, associated with the
head of the Jerusalem sanctuary, receives from Abdḫiba a political
turn, and is made use of to express his absolute dependence on the
Egyptian king. But it must be observed that Abdḫiba's language is
perfectly intelligible in its diplomatic sense; its agreement with the
words of the NT is only partial, and may be accidental; and it is
free from the air of mystery which excites interest in the latter. This,
however, is not to deny the probability that the writer to the Hebrews
drew his conception partly from other sources than the vv. in Gen.
'Ēl 'Elyôn.—'El, the oldest Semitic appellative for God, was
frequently differentiated according to particular aspects of the divine
nature, or particular local or other relations entered into by the deity:
hence arose compound names like (Hebrew characters) (171), (Hebrew characters) (2133), (Hebrew characters)
(3320), (Hebrew characters) (357), and (Hebrew characters) (here and Ps. 7835).[3] (Hebrew characters) (= 'upper,'
'highest') is not uncommonly used of God in OT, either alone
(Nu. 2416, Dt. 328, Ps. 1814 etc.) or in combinations with (Hebrew characters) or (Hebrew characters)
(Ps. 718 (?), 473 573 etc.). That it was in actual use among the
Canaanites is by no means incredible: the Phœnicians had a god
(Greek characters) (Eus. Præp. Ev. i. 10, 11, 12); and there is
nothing to forbid the supposition that the deity of the sanctuary of
Jerusalem was worshipped under that name. On the other hand,
there is nothing to prove it; and it is perhaps a more significant fact, and the first founder of Jerusalem (BJ, vi. 438).]
- ↑ Gu. instances as a historical parallel the legal fiction by which the imperial prestige of the Cæsars was transferred to Charlemagne and his successors.—Josephus had the same view when he spoke of M. as [Greek: **
- ↑ Homm. AHT, 155 ff.; Sayce, Monn. 175; EHH, 28 f.; Exp. Times, vii. 340 ff., 478 ff., 565 f., viii. 43 f., 94 ff., 142 ff. (arts. and letters by Sayce, Driver, and Hommel).
- ↑ See Baethgen, Beitr. 291 f.—Comp., in classical religion, Zeus Meilichios, -Xenios, Jupiter Terminus, -Latiaris, etc.
