combination of the kingly and priestly offices has been abundantly illustrated by Frazer from many quarters.[1] The existence of such priest-kings in Canaan in very early times is perfectly credible, though not historically attested (comp. the patesis of Babylonia). Šālēm is usually understood to be an archaic name for Jerusalem (Jos. Ant. i. 180; T[OJ], Jer. [Qu.], IEz. al.), as in Ps. 763, the only other place where it occurs. The chief argument in favour of this view is the typical significance attached to Melkiẓedeḳ in Ps. 1104, which is hardly intelligible except on the supposition that he was in a sense the ideal ancestor of the dynasty or hierarchy of Jerusalem.
Whether the name was actually in use in ancient times, we do not
know. The Tel Amarna Tablets have certainly proved that the name
Uru-Salim is of much greater antiquity than might have been gathered
from the biblical statements (Ju. 1910, 1 Ch. 114); but the shortened
form Salem is as yet unattested. It has been suggested that the cuneiform
uru was misread as the determinative for 'city' (see Sellin, 941).—The
identifications with other places of the name which have been
discovered—e.g. the Salim 8 R. m. from Scythopolis (where, according
to Je. [Ep. ad Evagr.], the ruins of Melkiẓedeḳ's palace were to be
seen)—have no claim to acceptance.
On the name (
Hebrew characters) (God Most High), see below, p. 270 f.—bread and wine] comp. 'food and drink' (akalî šikarî)
provided for an army, etc., in the TA Tablets: KIB, 5022
20716 20912f. 24216 (Sellin, 938).—19, 20. The blessing of
Arabian and Phœnician deity (Baudissin, Stud. i. 15; Baethgen,
Beitr. 128). That Ẓedeḳ was an ancient name for Jerusalem (see
Is. 121. 26, Jer. 3123 507, Ps. 11819) there is no reason to believe.—19. (Hebrew characters)
has two senses in the OT (if, indeed, there be not two distinct roots:
see G-B.14 s.v.): (a) 'create' or 'produce' (Ps. 13913, Pr. 822, Dt. 326
[? Gn. 41]); (b) 'purchase' or 'acquire by purchase' (frequent). The
idea of bare possession apart from purchase is hardly represented
(? Is. 13); and since the suggestion of purchase is here inadmissible,
the sense 'create' must be accepted. That this meaning can be
established only by late examples is certainly no objection so far as
the present passage is concerned: see on 41.—20. After (Hebrew characters), GL ins.
- ↑ Studies in the Kingship, 29 ff. "The classical evidence points to the conclusion that in prehistoric ages, before the rise of the republican form of government, the various tribes or cities were ruled by kings, who discharged priestly duties and probably enjoyed a sacred character as descendants of deities" (p. 31).
