El Elyon: the Most High God

El Elyon is Hebrew for the Most High God. It first appears in Genesis 14, where a king named Melchizedek is called the priest of the most high God (Genesis 14:18). The name says one simple, powerful thing: there is nobody above Him. No king, no court, no army and no problem sits higher than El Elyon.

After the battle: Abram meets Melchizedek

Genesis 14 reads a little like a war report. Four kings from the east marched in and defeated five local kings near the Dead Sea, including the king of Sodom. They carried off the goods of the city and its people. One of the captives was Lot, Abram's nephew, who had moved to Sodom (Genesis 14:11 to 12).

When Abram heard the news, he did something bold for a man who lived in tents and herded animals. He gathered 318 trained men from his own household, chased the raiders far to the north, split his men up, and attacked at night. He won, and he brought back Lot, the other captives and all the goods (Genesis 14:14 to 16).

On the way home, two kings came out to meet him. One was the king of Sodom. The other appears in the story with no warning and no family tree:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Genesis 14:18-20

Notice who gets the credit. Abram had planned the attack and led it himself, but Melchizedek said the Most High had delivered the enemy into his hand. Abram agreed. He gave Melchizedek a tithe, which means a tenth, of everything.

Then the king of Sodom made an offer: keep all the goods, just give me back my people. Abram turned it down flat. He had already made a vow to the LORD, the most high God, and he would not take even a thread or a sandal strap, so no one could say the king of Sodom had made him rich (Genesis 14:22 to 23).

The Hebrew behind the Most High God

The name has two parts.

• El is a short, very old Hebrew word for God. Strong's Concordance says it carries the idea of strength and might.
• Elyon means high, upper or highest. Strong's lists it as coming from alah, the verb to go up. When it is used as a title for God, Strong's gives it as the Supreme.

What makes elyon so clear is that it is also an everyday word. Hebrew uses it for ordinary things that sit on top. In Joseph's prison, Pharaoh's baker dreamed about three baskets on his head, and it was in the uppermost basket that the birds came to eat (Genesis 40:17). Uppermost there is the same word. So when the Bible calls God Elyon, it is using a plain word in the biggest possible way: He is the top. There is no higher level.

One more detail in Genesis 14 matters. Melchizedek spoke of the most high God, and Abram answered by joining that title to God's personal name: the LORD, the most high God. Abram was making it clear that the Most High was not some unknown god. He was the LORD, the same God who had called Abram out of his homeland.

In the King James Bible, the words most high (with a small or a capital H) show up in 48 verses. Nineteen of them are in the Psalms, where worshipers lean on this title again and again. Twelve are in the book of Daniel, which tells about God's people living under a powerful foreign empire. (Those chapters of Daniel are written in Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew, which has its own word for the Most High.) That pattern makes sense. People reach for this name when someone else seems to be in charge.

Key King James verses about the most High

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

The highest One in the universe has a secret place, a hidden shelter, and you are invited to live there. To abide means to stay. This is probably the best known verse with this name.

I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

Psalm 57:2

The heading of this psalm says David wrote it when he fled from King Saul in the cave. From a hole in a rock, he called out to the God at the top of everything. Performeth means carries out or finishes.

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

Daniel 4:34

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, the strongest ruler of his day. Daniel 4 tells how his pride cost him his mind for a time. When his understanding came back, the first thing he did was bless the Most High. Dominion means the right to rule.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

Psalm 92:1

This psalm was a song for the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest. Thanking the Most High is called a good thing to do, not just a duty.

What El Elyon means for your life now

Everyone answers to someone. A student has a teacher, a teacher has a principal, a boss has a boss, and even a president faces voters and courts. Much of our worry comes from treating one of those people, or one bad report, as if it sits at the very top. El Elyon says it does not. Someone is higher.

This name helps on bad days, but Abram's story shows it also helps on good days. He had just won the biggest victory of his life, and he gave the credit to God. Then he turned down an easy fortune because of where it came from. Knowing the Most High kept him humble when he won and kept him from owing anyone but God.

• Name the person or problem that feels like it has the final word over you right now. Say out loud that the Most High is above it.
• After your next win, a good grade, a raise or a game, stop and thank God before anyone else.
• Ask whether any offer in front of you would tie you to the wrong people, the way Sodom's would have tied Abram.
• Read Psalm 91 before you sleep this week.

El Elyon is name 5 of the 70 in the book. Melchizedek's blessing had a second title tucked inside it, and that is where the next page goes: the Possessor of heaven and earth. For the other Hebrew titles that start with El, see the Hebrew names of God page.