the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Most High
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or MOST HIGH ( Elyôn ) occurs as an epithet of El , ‘God’ ( Genesis 14:18 f., Genesis 14:20; Genesis 14:22 , Psalms 78:35 ), o r Jahweh ( Psalms 7:17 ); or it stands by itself as a title of God ( Numbers 24:16 , Deuteronomy 32:8 , Psalms 21:8 etc.). We find it first in a somewhat mysterious chapter ( Genesis 14:1-24 ) which cannot be traced to any identified source; the date is also uncertain. In this chapter Melchizedek is described as ‘priest to the Most High God’ ( El Elyon ), and since in later times the Salem where he lived was generally identified with Jerusalem, the double function of priest and king ascribed to him caused him to be regarded by the Jews as a type of the ideal king, and by the Christians as the type of Christ. Hence the name of the God whom he worshipped ( El Elyon ), which may possibly, in the first instance, have had reference merely to the lofty situation of Jerusalem, became in later generations a mysterious and exalted title of Jahweh. At the same time there is the possibility that the title Elyon came originally from the PhÅ“nicians: Philo of Byblus (quoted by Driver, Genesis , p. 165) mentions a deity of this name in the PhÅ“nician theogony, and the corresponding Greek word is frequent in inscriptions of the Græco-Roman period, especially in the neighbourhood of the Bosporus. Whatever the origin of the title Elyon , it never occurs in strictly prose passages of the OT, though we find it in the Songs of Balaam ( Numbers 24:16 ), Moses ( Deuteronomy 32:8 ), and David ( 2 Samuel 22:14 ). The Aramaic equivalents are fairly frequent in Daniel.
The uses of the Greek rendering in the NT are instructive. In the story of the Annunciation it is ordained that the child whom Mary is to bear shall be called Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32 ); and a little later on ( Luke 1:76 ) John the Baptist is spoken of as prophet of the Most High. The contrast is completed in the Ep. to the Hebrews, where Melchizedek is brought forward as priest of the Most High (cf. Hebrews 7:1 with Hebrews 7:28 ). It is worth noting, too, that the title is twice found in the mouth of demoniacs ( Mark 5:7 = Luke 8:28 , Acts 16:17 ). The word, then, does not belong to the language of everyday life: it is reserved for poetry and elevated style, and it seems by its origin to have suggested something archaic and mysterious, whether it referred to the lofty dwelling-place or to the majestic nature and attributes of God.
H. C. O. Lanchester.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Most High'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/m/most-high.html. 1909.
