🔼The name Adoni-zedek: Summary
- Meaning
- My Lord Is Righteous, Lord Of Justice
- Etymology
- From (1) the noun אדן ('adon), lord, mister or sir, and (2) the verb צדק (sadek), to be just or righteous.
🔼The name Adoni-zedek in the Bible
Adoni-zedek is king of Jerusalem at the time of the conquest under Joshua, and part of one of the most awesome battle scenes in the Bible (Joshua 10:1).
When Adoni-zedek learns about Israel sacking Jericho and Ai, and making peace with Gibeon, he invites his neighbors king Hoham of Hebron, king Piram of Jarmuth, king Japhia of Lachish and king Debir of Eglon to a pentad Amorite alliance. When the men of Gibeon send warning, Joshua marches all night from Gilgal, but it's YHWH who engages the enemy, slaughters them and pursues them, and at the ascent of Beth-horon, starts pelting large stones at them straight from heaven!
At Joshua's request, YHWH even stops the sun from moving out of the valley of Gibeon, so that the massacre of the Amorites can continue (this story is contained in the book of Jashar)
The five kings weasel away and hide in a cave at Makkedah. But they are discovered, retrieved, publicly humiliated and executed. Their bodies hang on five trees until the evening (Joshua 10:26).
🔼Etymology of the name Adoni-zedek
The name Adoni-zedek obviously consists of two elements. The first part of the name comes from the familiar Hebrew word אדן (adon), roughly meaning lord:
אדן
The verb אדן ('dn) means to provide support for a piece of superstructure: to be a base for something big to stand or rotate upon. The noun אדן ('eden) refers to the foundation, base or pedestal of pillars or panels and such, and this word features lavishly in the description of the tabernacle. The tabernacle, of course, was a prototype of the temple, which in turn became embodied by God's living human congregation, and the bases and foundations of that living temple became personified by the human foundation known as אדון ('adon) or אדן ('adon), roughly translatable with lord, sir or mister.
The word adon post-fixed by the letter י creates a possessive form: אדני (adoni), meaning my lord, or lord of, depending on the context.
The second part of the name Adoni-zedek comes from the root צדק (sadek), meaning to be just or righteous:
צדק
The verb צדק (sadeq) means to be just or righteous; to be efficient with social energy. Adjective צדיק (saddiq) means just or righteous, noun צדק (sedeq) means justice or rightness, noun צדקה (sadaqa) means righteousness.
🔼Adoni-zedek meaning
For a meaning of the name Adoni-zedek, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads My Lord Is Righteous. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Lord Of Justice, and BDB Theological Dictionary in an unequaled display of generosity offers Lord Of Righteousness, My Lord Is Righteous or My Lord Is Sidiq, where Sidiq may be an extra-Biblical (pagan) divine name.