I. Name

The West Semitic deity Zedek, ‘Righteousness’, is found in the Bible only in the personal names Melchizedek (Gen. 14.18; cf. Ps. 110.4; Heb. 5.6; Heb. 6.20–7.17) and Adonizedek (Josh. 10.1, Josh. 3), both Canaanite kings of pre-Israelite Jerusalem. Zedek is probably to be identified with the deity known as Išar among the Amorites and Kittu in Babylonia, and thus a hypostasis or personification of the sun god Shamash’s function (Shemesh) as divine overseer of justice. The cult of Zedek appears …