I. Name

Heb. Ali or Eli (< ʿly) and Alu or Elu (< ʿlw) have been identified as the shorter and more ancient forms of the term Elyon (ʿlywn), ‘Most High’, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Elyon is a well documented divine name or epithet in biblical traditions and poetic passages like 2 Sam. 22.14 (= Ps. 18.14) and Ps. 21.8 unequivocally associate Elyon with the divine name YHWH (Yahweh). Nevertheless, modern scholarship has identified Elyon as originally the name of an ancient Canaanite deity or as a…