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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Letter to the King of Egypt

KTU 2.81

[To the Sun], the great king, the king of Egypt,
[the good king], the just king,⁠
[the king of kings], lord of all the land
of [Egypt], say: Message of
[Ammithtamru], your servant. At the feet
[of my lord I fall]. With my lord may it be well,
[with your house], with your people, with your land,
[with your horses], with your chariots,
[with your troops], with all that belongs
[to the Sun], the great king, the king of [Egypt],
[the good king], the [just] king, [the king]
[of kings] […]
[…]
[…]
[…] grain […]
[…] the Sun, the great king […]
[…] this message […] grain
[…] the land of Ugarit, and also
[…] with the Sun, the great king, the king of Egypt,
[the good king], the just king, the king of kings,
[…] your lord is good. And now
[…] great, my lord, good […]
[…] grain for me.
[…] my lord, good. Here is silver that […]
[…] before […] two thousand by its weight
[…] he asks […]
[…] Ugaritians […]
[…] he who is of the Ugaritians
[…] good is he, and also he
[…] and the Sun, the great king, the king
[of the land of Egypt], the good king, the just king.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 2.81:2 and Genesis 14:18

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Genesis 14, Melchizedek may be a title meaning just king, as in the Ugaritic letter, making his name a claim about the kind of ruler who blesses Abraham.

Passages

KTU 2.81:2

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
[To the Sun], the great king, the king of Egypt, [the good king], the just king, [the king of kings], lord of all the land of [Egypt], say: Message of [Ammithtamru], your servant. At the feet [of my lord I fall]. With my lord may it be well, [with your house], with your people, with your land, [with your horses], with your chariots, [with your troops], with all that belongs [to the Sun], the great king, the king of [Egypt], [the good king], the [just] king, [the king] [of kings] […] […] […] […] grain […] […] the Sun, the great king […] […] this message […] grain […] the land of Ugarit, and also […] with the Sun, the great king, the king of Egypt, [the good king], the just king, the king of kings, […] your lord is good. And now […] great, my lord, good […] […] grain for me.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Genesis 14:18

Hebrew Bible
15 Then, during the night, Abram divided his forces against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16 He retrieved all the stolen property. He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of the people. 17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) 19 He blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 Worthy of praise is the Most High God, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“... On the other hand, Melchizedek and Adoni- zedek may have been Canaanite royal epithets. E. A. Speiser has argued that Melchizedek is the Canaanite equivalent of the Mesopotamian title šar mēšarim, “the just king” (Speiser, 318 n. 24). This would suggest that Melchizedek is a royal title rather than a personal name. The use of mlk ṣdq as a descriptive title is at- tested a few times in the Northwest Semitic world. A fourteenth-century B.C. letter addressed to the king of Egypt discovered at Ras Ibn Hani (KTU 2.81) contains several royal epithets applied to the *Pharaoh. Included in this salutatory list are such titles as mlk rb (“great king”) and mlk mṣrm (“king of Egypt”), as well as the phrase mlk ṣdq (“just king”). The tenth-century B.C. inscription of Yeḥimilk, king of Byblos, claims that he is mlk ṣdq wmlk yšr, “a just and upright king.” Later in the fifth century B.C., the inscription of Yeḥawmilk, also king of Byblos, contains the phrase k mlk ṣdq hʾ, “for he is a just king.” ...”
T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003), 563.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 2.81:2 and Genesis 14:18

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