Name and titles
Melchizedek's name can be translated (from
Hebrew) either as
Zedek is my king or as
My king is righteous. The former, which treats
Zedek as a
proper noun, is the translation favoured by most
biblical scholars, and refers to a
Canaanite deity with that name. In Genesis, Melchizedek is also referred to as
king of Salem (generally believed to be ancient
Jerusalem), and
priest of El Elyon. Though traditionally
El Elyon is translated as
most high God, and interpreted as a reference to
Yahweh (by tradition) or
El (by some scholars), other scholars believe that it refers to Zedek - regarding
El Elyon as referring to
a most high god, and using Melchizedek's name as the indicator of who the deity was.
[1]
If the majority of scholars are right in taking the name as a reference to Zedek, then it would imply that Zedek was the main deity worshipped at Salem (i.e. Jerusalem) at that time. It is certainly the case that Jerusalem is plausibly referred to as
city of Zedek (
ir ha-zedek) in the
Book of Isaiah[2], as well as
home of Zedek (
neweh zedek) in the
Book of Jeremiah[3] and as
gates of Zedek (
sha'are zedek) in the
Book of Psalms[4], though it is also true that in each of these cases
zedek is traditionally translated as
righteous (as in
city of righteousness).
[5]
[edit] Biblical Narrative
In the
Tanakh, Melchizedek brought bread and wine to Abraham (then called Abram) after Abraham's victory over the four kings (led by
Chedorlaomer) who had besieged
Sodom and Gomorrah and had taken Abraham's nephew
Lot prisoner. Melchizedek is also described as blessing Abraham in the name of
El Elyon (see
name and titles section for identification of
El Elyon), and in return for these favours, Abraham gave Melchizedek a
tithe, from the spoils gained in the battle.
[6]
Textual scholars view the Melchizedek narrative (Genesis 14:18-20) as a fragment from a once independent tradition concerning Jerusalem, that the
Yahwist inserted awkwardly into the surrounding narrative concerning the battle. Scholars believe that it would be more historically realistic for Melchizedek himself, as the king of Jerusalem, to have been involved in the battle, and to have had a legitimate right to the portion of the spoils by virtue of this, rather than just by virtue of the favours given to Abraham as the Genesis narrative would have it. Scholars believe that the Yahwist inserted Abraham into this tradition to symbolically portray the king of Jerusalem as being inferior to Abraham, by it being Abraham who gives a portion of spoils to the king rather than the other way round.
[7] Of course, Abraham's actions could have indicated deference toward a superior; he apparently was not coerced into giving anything to Melchizedek.
