Melchizedek from Genesis to the Qumran Texts and the Epistle to the Hebrews

MELCHIZEDEK FROM GENESIS TO THE QUMRAN TEXTS AND THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

M. DELCOR Toulouse

The character Melchizedek appears in Genesis in a very episodic fashion. He crosses the sky like a meteor, nobody knowing where he comes from or where he is going to. We know only that he was king of Salem, priest of the god'el `Elyon who was identified with Yahweh, that to the father of the faithful he takes bread and wine after the latter's victory over the pagan kings. At about the time of the Christian era and the first centuries A.D. various speculations were made about this mysterious personnage. We will examine the various stages of this.

1. MelchiZedek, a Canaanite prie,rt-king The pericope of Genesis 14, 18-20 has not ceased to intrigue the historians of Israel. First of all, how is the name Melchizedek to be interpreted? At first sight, the form of this anthroponym would seem to indicate that we are in the presence of a theophoric name. But where is the divine name? In the first element Mlk, or in the second $dq? In fact, Mlk is known as a divine name particularly in anthro- ponyms at Assur, Mari and also at Ugarit. It has been assimilated to Nergal and is thus an infernal god 1). More generally, a divine name is now seen to be present in $o§q, the second element. In fact it appears in composition in the theophoric names at Ugarit: Adnsdq (PRU II, no. 140,8), 'Ilsdq (PRU II, 37,4; 131,1); B`lsdq (PRU II, no. 46,6; 125,5). In the Punic onomastic of Carthage, we find Spny§dq 2) and in the Amorite names may be found A-hi-sa-du-uq; I-li-sa-du-uq,

1) On the god Malik, cf. CAZELLES,art. Moloch, SDB col. 1344-1345. K. L. TALLQUIST,Götterepitheta no. 359; Franke GRONDAHL,Die Personennamender Texte aus Ugarit (Studia Pohl, 1), Rome 1967, p. 158. It also appears in isolation in the pantheon of Ugarit, cf. Ugaritica V, Paris 1968, p. 60. 2) Cf. Gisèle HALFF, 'L'onomastique punique de Carthage', Karthago XII (1965), p. 140. 116

[A]t-ta-ri-sa-du-u[q] etc.'). In Philo of Byblos, the god Eu3ux, Ea8uxoq appears in isolation: "From Sdq come the Dioscures or the Cabires or the Corybantes or the Samothraces". In another passage, one reads: "After those, Misor and Sdq, that is easy and just; they invented the use of salt". LAGRANGE makes this comment on the passage: "Sydyk was doubtless the Phoenician Sedeq, but this name has so far only been found as the name of an individual; a god Sedeq has not yet appeared in Phoenician inscriptions" 2). Since the publication of LAGRANGE'S book, things have changed. Specialists now admit the existence of a god Sdq. Besides HUFFMON 3), SCHMID 4), WIDENGREN 5) etc., one may mention in particular ROSENBERG who recently devoted a complete monography to this divinity 6). Consequently the name of Melchizedek can be explained in this way, as also names of similar form: my king is Sdq, my lord is Sdq, 'El is Sdq etc. Other writers do, it is true, prefer to understand: my king is justice, my lord is justice etc. on the analogy with Yahweh is justice 1), i.e. Jehozadak (1 Chron. 6, 14). In support of the first explanation, some exegetes have drawn attention to the name of Sadoq which appears at the time of David- Solomon at Jerusalem as a priest (2 Sam. 8) 8). His name is undoubtedly a hypocoristic abridged from the type Ahisaduq, Adonisaduqa. He must have been one of the staff of the Jebusite temple, before the time of David, as a priest of the god Sdq. In the Biblical text, Melchizedek is the priest of 'El 'Elyon. In the Jewish monotheistic perspectives this god had been identified neces- sarily with Yahweh. 'Elyon, translated by the Most High,

1) Herbert B. HUFFMON,Amorite perronalnames in the Mari texts, Baltimore 1965, pp. 256-257. 2) Cf. Etudes sur les religionssémitiques, 2e édition, p. 421. 3) Op. cit. 4) Cf. Hans Heinrich SCHMID,Gerechtigkeit als Weltordnung,Tiibingen 1968, pp. 75-77. 5) Cf. Geo WIDENGREN,The Accadian and Hebrew Psalms of Lamentation,Stock- holm 1937, p. 322. 6) Cf. Roy A. ROSENBERG,'The god Sedeq', HUCA 35 (1965), pp. 7) Cf. Aubrey JOHNSON,Sacral Kingshipin Ancient Israel, Cardiff 1955, p. 33 and E. DHORME,L' évolutionreligieuse d'Israel, t. I, La religion des Hébreux nomades, Bruxelles 1937, pp. 330-331. 8) Cf. H. H. ROWLEY,'Zadok and Nekustan', JBL 58 (1939), p. 123.