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Name of God #4 of 15 – El Elyon – God Most High  (Pg.#1)

[Quote from Megan Allen Ministries – El Elyon – God Most High – This name of God means the Lord Most High. He is the most high God! God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (present everywhere). He is the almighty God who is sovereign over the affairs of heaven and earth. 

— That man may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. (7) I am the Lord, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these. – Isaiah 45:6-7

— So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” (11) Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” – John 19:10-11…end of quote.]

 

Taking scripture in context, see Isaiah 45:1-7 (ERV) This is what the LORD said to Cyrus, his chosen king: “I took you by your right hand to help you defeat nations, to strip other kings of their power, and to open city gates that will not be closed again. (2) I will go in front of you and make the mountains flat. I will break the city gates of bronze and cut the iron bars on the gates. (3) I will give you the wealth that is stored in secret places. I will give you those hidden treasures. Then you will know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. (4) I do this for my servant, Jacob. I do it for my chosen people, Israel. Cyrus, I am calling you by name. You don’t know me, but I know you. (5) I am the LORD, the only God. There is no other God except me. I put your clothes on you, but still you don’t know me. (6) I am doing this so that everyone will know that I am the only God. From the east to the west, people will know that I am the LORD and that there is no other God. (7) I made the light and the darkness. I bring peace, and I cause trouble. I, the LORD, do all these things.

— Vs. 1-5 of this scripture yields a partial understanding of how ‘El Elyon – God Most High’, will use anyone of any race, or any nation that He chooses to… like a foreign king Cyrus.

— Cyrus God’s “chosen king”, was a Mede, descended from a king of the Median empire. He defended his country against the attack of Croesus king of Lydia and then took Sardis, which gave him rule over the kingdom of Lydia (modern-day Turkey), and the surrounding area. Nearly ten years later Cyrus joined his uncle king Darius I of Persia, in making a successful attack upon Belshazzar the king of Babylon, which is noted in Daniel chapter 5.

                Cyrus is recorded in history as ‘Cyrus the Great’, and he gave Darius I the rule over the conquered kingdom of Babylon. It is this Darius who was responsible for promoting Daniel to great power in that kingdom. (See Daniel and the lion’s den. – Daniel 6:1-28.)

 

Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary – “Now that which God here promised to do for Cyrus he could have done for Zerubbabel, or some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and power of this world God has seldom seen fit to entrust his own people with much of, so many are the snares and temptations that attend them; but if here has been occasion, for the god of the church, to make use of them, God has been pleased rather to put them into the hands of others, to be employed for them, than to venture them in their own hands. Cyrus is here called God’s anointed, because he was both designed and qualified for this great service by the counsel of God…” (See Luke 18:23-25 – KRK)

Name of God #4 of 15 – El Elyon – God Most High  (Pg.#2)

Q1. What does the account of Cyrus from Isaiah 45:1-7 tell us about our God Most High?

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Q2. How do these verses from John 19:10-11 relate to the idea of El Elyon, God Most High?
— So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” (11) Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

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*(Further discussion: If Jesus says this about life, does it shape our perspective on our own lives?)

Comparing Isaiah 45:7 from the English translations below… 

(ERV)  I made the light and the darkness. I bring peace, and I cause trouble. I, the LORD, do all these things.

(ESV) … I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.

(KJV)  … I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Q.3 Do you find any difficulty with the KJV? – (Discuss your reasoning.)

…(from Bible dictionary, KRK) — “create evil” as KJV translates is from the Hebrew, ra‛ râ‛âh (pronounced – rah, raw-aw’) used as a noun meaning: bad or evil (naturally or morally). And can also be used as in the second form as an adjective or noun meaning: – adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, distress, great, grief, harm, mischief, misery, sorrow, trouble, or wretchedness.

 

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— As a correction for this study, these verses explain the idea of ‘El Elyon’ (God most High), however, they do not contain this Hebrew phrase naming God, ‘El Elyon’. (…KRK)

— El Elyon is found in the Hebrew text In the Old Testament El Elyon occurs 28 times. It occurs 19 times in Psalms.

El ‘Elyon’ means God ‘most high’. – As underlined in these scriptures below…

Genesis 14:18-20 (ERV) Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, also went to meet Abram. He brought bread and wine.  (19)  He blessed Abram and said, “Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.  (20)  And we praise God Most High, who helped you defeat your enemies.” Abram gave Melchizedek one-tenth of everything he had taken during the battle.

Q4. Do you see here that (El Elyon) was God Most High, before there was a nation of Israel?

 

In Psalm 97:9 (KJV) For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.

Q5. Can you think of a song that Psalm 97:9 might bring to mind?

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Any further discussion? – (Let’s sing that song when we move to our time of prayer.) …KRK