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The
Righteous Priest of EL A remarkable story may have been lost to English-only readers of the Bible. English translators may have unknowingly covered up the existence of a very famous Canaanite figure - EL. The significance of the following story is completely unrecognizable to almost every American Bible reader. The Canaanites Long before the children of Israel arrived in the land that would become their future home, it was occupied by a people who referred to the land as "ca-na-na-um." They had been living there from as early as the mid-third millennium B.C.E. The word "ca-na-na-um" appears to have two possible etymologies. The first comes from the Hebrew "cana’ani" which means "merchant," an occupation for which the Canaanites were well known. The second comes from the Akkadian "kinahhu," the word which referred to the red-colored wool which may have been an export of the region. Canaan was a crossroads of foreign empires. The region never truly had a chance to unify under a single native rule. Archaeological discoveries include scattered statues and conflicting listings of deities carved in shrines of the neighboring city-states of Gubla (Byblos), Sidon, and Tyre. They serve as the source for information about the local deities. The city of Ugarit, now known as Ras Shamra, Syria, was the place where the Canaanite myth cycle was recovered. It dates back to about 1400 B.C.E. in its written form. However, there are other deity lists and statues which date as far back as the third millennium B.C.E. The Canaanite Gods There were many deities in the Canaanite pantheon. Various cities had different concepts of not only which gods were ranked where in the pantheon, but also of which gods were included. However, one god, EL, was the chief god of Canaan. EL was also called Latipan, and possibly Dagon.
Little is certain about the cosmology of the Canaanites and we have to rely on Greek sources for this information.
Yahweh Gives Abram EL’s Land The story of the nation of Israel began with a divine call from hwhy (translated as LORD or Yahweh) to a man named Abram who lived in the city of Haran in Mesopotamia.
Abram obediently followed Yahweh’s instructions and departed from his homeland. Where did Yahweh take him to give him this new land?
According to traditional sources, Abram arrived in Canaan about 1850 B.C.E. Bible readers often picture Abram’s journey in Canaan much like that of an American frontiersman traveling into an uninhabited wilderness. The truth is that the Canaanites had already been living there for almost a thousand years. The foreign visitor, Abram, encountered well-established cities and a population who knew nothing about Yahweh’s plan. There was also a long-established religious system with sacred places and their resident priests. However, the average reader of an English translation will be completely unaware of this because the original story is concealed behind a translator’s veil. Below is Genesis 12:7-8 from the King James Bible.
Doesn’t sound too exciting, does it? Abram builds an altar on one mountain, then travels past a town and builds another altar on the other side of a place called Bethel. Probably some little "spot" in the road. Now, let’s take another look at the Hebrew words behind the English translation. This time we will take into consideration the earlier information about the land of Canaan.
Bible translators always have two options when they examine a Hebrew or Greek word. The first option is to translate the word. To translate means to "bring the meaning from either the Hebrew or Greek languages over into English." The second option is transliteration. Transliteration means to simply substitute English letters which are equivalent to the Hebrew or Greek letters in the word. Basically, this brings the sound of the Hebrew or Greek word into English. Transliteration does not transport the meaning from one language to another. Translating, instead of transliterating, two Hebrew words found in verse eight opens the door that allows us to view the story in Genesis through the eyes of its ancient author. The two words are la-tyB.
The King James translators simply transliterated the two words and then combined them into a single word - Bethel. Their translation is "House of EL," which would probably have been understood to mean the "Temple of EL" by the local residents. Now let’s take another look at the verses:
Did you see a different picture in your mind? I know you did if you remembered that one of the chief Canaanite deities was EL. Now it becomes clear that the author wants you to be aware of the existence of two deities in Canaan -Yahweh and EL. Let’s reconstruct the scene. Abram, an unknown foreigner, has entered Canaan at the direction of Yahweh. He is then told by Yahweh that his descendants will be given this land. Of course, from Abram’s perspective, the gift of the land may be secondary. Abram is childless at this point in the story and he desperately wants a son. So Yahweh’s promise of a son may be significantly more important to him. This may explain his immediate response of building the altars. But please don’t miss the fact that he is building altars to Yahweh in the land of EL. The people who first heard this story told orally around the camp fires were probably scooting toward the edge of their seats at this point. They would have immediately picked up on the approaching conflict between Yahweh and EL. However, making the modern reader aware of this situation might open up a theological can-of-worms. This, therefore, may be part of the motivation behind the decision of most modern translators to take the safe route - simply connect the two Hebrew words and transliterate. But when we remove the veil of transliteration to experience the author’s words from the ancient Hebrew texts we discover a much more exciting story: Yahweh reveals Himself to a Mesopotamian named Abram and tells him to leave his home and his homeland for an unknown destination. Abram does exactly what Yahweh tells him to do and ultimately finds himself in the land of Canaan. The unknown foreigner from Mesopotamia stands on Canaan’s soil and Yahweh reveals Himself again. This time He informs Abram that He is going to give this land to Abram’s descendants, none of whom have been born yet. Now as he stands in EL’s land he builds his first altar and calls out to Yahweh. Next he travels right past the House of EL, builds a second altar, and calls out to Yahweh again. Canaan now has both the House of EL and the two altars to Yahweh. The line has been drawn in the sand. Do you feel the tension mounting? Will Abram’s descendants really get the land? What will happen when the Canaanites find out what’s going on? How will the priests of EL react to the foreigner? Are you getting a feel for what those ancient listeners must have experienced? The Plot Thickens 
A few chapters later, in Genesis 14, we come upon another key part of Abram’s story. If chapter 12 contained a theological can-of-worms, this chapter contains a theological A-bomb. The words which contain the interesting information are in bold italics. Again we will use the King James Version.
In the version below we will translate all of the "interesting words" more accurately. Do you notice any differences?
Salem The Encyclopedia Judaica provides us with an important piece of information that will help us develop a culturally correct model for Salem during the Canaanite period.
More About the Canaanite Religion Gerald Larue provides additional information in his book Old Testament Life and Literature:
How Did EL Become GOD in Our English Translations? "EEl Elyon, EL the Most High, was a well-known Canaanite deity," according to the Encyclopedia Judaica. It puzzles me that so many of our English Bible translators did not seem to be aware of this well-known information - even the Jewish translators of the JPS Tanakh. Had they known that EL the Most High was a "well-known Canaanite god," there is no way that they could have translated EL ELYON as "God Most High." If they had insisted on using the generic word "g-o-d," they should have written it with a small "g" - "god Most High," so that their readers wouldn’t get a Canaanite "god" confused with the "God of Israel." EL was known as the Father of the gods, the father of mankind, the Bull, and the Creator of creatures. He was gray-haired and bearded and lived at Mt. Lel. He was also known as a heavy drinker and had even gotten extremely drunk at his banquets. As a young god, he went out to sea and, spying two ladies, one of whom is presumably Athirat, becomes aroused, roasts a bird, and asks the two to choose between being his daughters and wives. They became his wives and in due course gave birth to Shachar (Dawn), Shalim (Dusk), and possibly other gracious gods, who could be Athirat’s seventy children and/or much of the rest of the pantheon. Athirat is also known as Asherah, Ashtartian, the Lady of the Sea, and Elat (the goddess). Little is certain about the cosmology of the Canaanites and we have to rely on Greek sources for this information.
Yahweh Gives Abram EL’s Land The story of the nation of Israel began with a divine call from hwhy (translated as LORD or Yahweh) to a man named Abram who lived in the city of Haran in Mesopotamia.
Abram obediently followed Yahweh’s instructions and departed from his homeland. Where did Yahweh take him to give him this new land?
According to traditional sources, Abram arrived in Canaan about 1850 B.C.E. Bible readers often picture Abram’s journey in Canaan much like that of an American frontiersman traveling into an uninhabited wilderness. The truth is that the Canaanites had already been living there for almost a thousand years. The foreign visitor, Abram, encountered well-established cities and a population who knew nothing about Yahweh’s plan. There was also a long-established religious system with sacred places and their resident priests. However, the average reader of an English translation will be completely unaware of this because the original story is concealed behind a translator’s veil. Below is Genesis 12:7-8 from the King James Bible.
Doesn’t sound too exciting, does it? Abram builds an altar on one mountain, then travels past a town and builds another altar on the other side of a place called Bethel. Probably some little "spot" in the road. Now, let’s take another look at the Hebrew words behind the English translation. This time we will take into consideration the earlier information about the land of Canaan. Translation and Transliteration Bible translators always have two options when they examine a Hebrew or Greek word. The first option is to translate the word. To translate means to "bring the meaning from either the Hebrew or Greek languages over into English." The second option is transliteration. Transliteration means to simply substitute English letters which are equivalent to the Hebrew or Greek letters in the word. Basically, this brings the sound of the Hebrew or Greek word into English. Transliteration does not transport the meaning from one language to another. Translating, instead of transliterating, two Hebrew words found in verse eight opens the door that allows us to view the story in Genesis through the eyes of its ancient author. The two words are la-tyB.
The King James translators simply transliterated the two words and then combined them into a single word - Bethel. Their translation is "House of EL," which would probably have been understood to mean the "Temple of EL" by the local residents. Now let’s take another look at the verses:
Did you see a different picture in your mind? I know you did if you remembered that one of the chief Canaanite deities was EL. Now it becomes clear that the author wants you to be aware of the existence of two deities in Canaan -Yahweh and EL. Let’s reconstruct the scene. Abram, an unknown foreigner, has entered Canaan at the direction of Yahweh. He is then told by Yahweh that his descendants will be given this land. Of course, from Abram’s perspective, the gift of the land may be secondary. Abram is childless at this point in the story and he desperately wants a son. So Yahweh’s promise of a son may be significantly more important to him. This may explain his immediate response of building the altars. But please don’t miss the fact that he is building altars to Yahweh in the land of EL. The people who first heard this story told orally around the camp fires were probably scooting toward the edge of their seats at this point. They would have immediately picked up on the approaching conflict between Yahweh and EL. However, making the modern reader aware of this situation might open up a theological can-of-worms. This, therefore, may be part of the motivation behind the decision of most modern translators to take the safe route - simply connect the two Hebrew words and transliterate. But when we remove the veil of transliteration to experience the author’s words from the ancient Hebrew texts we discover a much more exciting story: Yahweh reveals Himself to a Mesopotamian named Abram and tells him to leave his home and his homeland for an unknown destination. Abram does exactly what Yahweh tells him to do and ultimately finds himself in the land of Canaan. The unknown foreigner from Mesopotamia stands on Canaan’s soil and Yahweh reveals Himself again. This time He informs Abram that He is going to give this land to Abram’s descendants, none of whom have been born yet. Now as he stands in EL’s land he builds his first altar and calls out to Yahweh. Next he travels right past the House of EL, builds a second altar, and calls out to Yahweh again. Canaan now has both the House of EL and the two altars to Yahweh. The line has been drawn in the sand. Do you feel the tension mounting? Will Abram’s descendants really get the land? What will happen when the Canaanites find out what’s going on? How will the priests of EL react to the foreigner? Are you getting a feel for what those ancient listeners must have experienced? The Plot Thickens A few chapters later, in Genesis 14, we come upon another key part of Abram’s story. If chapter 12 contained a theological can-of-worms, this chapter contains a theological A-bomb. The words which contain the interesting information are in bold italics. Again we will use the King James Version.
In the version below we will translate all of the "interesting words" more accurately. Do you notice any differences?
Salem The Encyclopedia Judaica provides us with an important piece of information that will help us develop a culturally correct model for Salem during the Canaanite period.
More About the Canaanite Religion Gerald Larue provides additional information in his book Old Testament Life and Literature:
How Did EL Become GOD in Our English Translations? "El Elyon, EL the Most High, was a well-known Canaanite deity," according to the Encyclopedia Judaica. It puzzles me that so many of our English Bible translators did not seem to be aware of this well-known information - even the Jewish translators of the JPS Tanakh. Had they known that EL the Most High was a "well-known Canaanite god," there is no way that they could have translated EL ELYON as "God Most High." If they had insisted on using the generic word "g-o-d," they should have written it with a small "g" - "god Most High," so that their readers wouldn’t get a Canaanite "god" confused with the "God of Israel." EL was known as the Father of the gods, the father of mankind, the Bull, and the Creator of creatures. He was gray-haired and bearded and lived at Mt. Lel. He was also known as a heavy drinker and had even gotten extremely drunk at his banquets. As a young god, he went out to sea and, spying two ladies, one of whom is presumably Athirat, becomes aroused, roasts a bird, and asks the two to choose between being his daughters and wives. They became his wives and in due course gave birth to Shachar (Dawn), Shalim (Dusk), and possibly other gracious gods, who could be Athirat’s seventy children and/or much of the rest of the pantheon. Athirat is also known as Asherah, Ashtartian, the Lady of the Sea, and Elat (the goddess). Little is certain about the cosmology of the Canaanites and we have to rely on Greek sources for this information.
The Melchizedek Problem A person who will play an important role in both later Judaism and Christianity also made his appearance in this section - Melchizedek. We will run into him again in the Psalms and in the New Testament book of Hebrews.
The writer of the
above Psalm declares that "the King of Israel is a priest after the order of
Melchizedek." This is the verse that the author of the book of Hebrews used to
base his words upon - "Jesus’ priestly status as the replacement for the
Levitical priesthood." There seems to be quite a jump from "the King of
Israel" in Psalms to the book of Hebrew’s "Jesus as a priest."
The logical assumption is that the author viewed Jesus as "the King of Israel,"
which would fit well within the teachings of the Synoptic Gospels. Why would a Priest of the Canaanite Deity
El By now, you can probably see the problems that connecting EL to either the kings of Israel or Jesus could cause for both Jewish and Christian theologians and translators? How would they justify such an association? Surprisingly, the answer is very simple and it is at the heart of the story of Abram.
Yahweh spoke those words to Abram at the very beginning of his trip. When Melchizedek blessed Abram, Yahweh blessed Melchizedek. Let’s take a little deeper look at Melchizedek so we can understand exactly what is taking place. First, keep in mind that the word "Melchizedek" is a transliteration, not a translation. The translation is "Righteous King." The Hebrew word translated as "righteous" has only appeared two times earlier in the Bible, Genesis 6:9 and 7:1 - both in connection with Noah. Abram will not be described as "righteous" until the next chapter, Genesis 15:6. Melchizedek had not joined with the other kings, whom we shall also learn much more about later - Sodom, Gomorrah, etc. He also demonstrated an act of hospitality to the stranger Abram, which none of the other kings offered. And, as I pointed out above, Melchizedek blessed Abram. So how did Yahweh bless Melchizedek? One way was to make his peaceful actions a model for all future Israelite kings, as stated in the Psalms. Another way was to make Melchizedek’s kingdom the location of the Temple in the future land of Israel. Yahweh responds to the acts of men, especially acts of righteousness. Please don’t forget that Melchizedek was created in the image and likeness of the same God as Abram. They both came from the same common ancestors. Both were connected to Noah’s covenant. Both were men acting out of their personal faith in an unfriendly environment. And finally, almost
4,000 years later,
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