View source for Adonizedek

{{Short description|King of Jerusalem in the Book of Joshua}}
{{Infobox noble
| name = Adonizedek
| succession = [[King of Jerusalem]]
| reign = {{Circa|1350 [[Common Era|BCE]]}}
}}

According to the [[Book of Joshua]], '''Adonizedek''' ({{Langx|he|אֲדֹנִי־צֶדֶק}} ''ʾĂḏōnī-ṣeḏeq'', also transliterated '''Adoni-zedec''') was king of [[Jerusalem]] at the time of the [[Israelite]] invasion of [[Canaan]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|10:1–3|HE}}</ref> According to Cheyne and Black, the name originally meant "Ṣedeḳ is lord", but this would likely have been read later as meaning "lord of righteousness" or "my lord is righteous".<ref name="cb adoni-zedec">W. Robertson Smith and George F. Moore (1899), "Adoni-zedec" in Cheyne and Black, eds. ''Encyclopaedia Biblica.'' [https://archive.org/stream/Encyclopaedia_Biblica_Vol_I_to_IV/EncyclodaediaBiblica_Vol_I#page/n62/mode/1up]</ref><ref>Geoffrey W. Bromiley ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994, entries Melchizedek, Adoni-zedek</ref>

Adonizedek led a coalition of five of the neighboring [[Amorite]] rulers ([[Hoham]], king of [[Hebron]]; [[Piram]], king of [[Jarmuth]]; [[Japhia]], king of [[Lachish]]; and [[Debir]], king of [[Eglon, Canaan|Eglon]]) in resisting the invasion, but the allies were defeated at [[Gibeon (ancient city)|Gibeon]], and suffered at [[Beth-horon]], not only from their pursuers, but also from a great hail storm. The five allied kings took refuge in a cave at [[Makkedah]] and were imprisoned there until after the battle, when [[Joshua]] commanded that they be brought before him; whereupon they were brought out, humiliated, and put to death.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|10:22-19|HE}}</ref>

According to the [[Midrash]], the name Adoni-zedek is translated as "Master of Zedek"—that is, "of Jerusalem", the city of righteousness.<ref>[[Genesis Rabbah]] xliii. 6. For an English translation, see {{cite book |editor1=H. Freedman|editor2=Maurice Simon |date=1961 |origyear=1939 |title=Midrash Rabbah: Translated into English with Notes, Glossary, and Indices |url=https://archive.org/stream/RabbaGenesis/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n403/mode/1up |location=Hertford, England |publisher=Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd. |page=356}}</ref>

[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 14:18-20 records that, some 600 years prior to Adoni-zedek, there was another ruler of Jerusalem named [[Melchizedek|Melchi-zedek]]. It may be possible that ''Zedek'' was a dynastic name/title for the rulers of Jerusalem before David.

M. G. Easton, in the 1894 ''[[Easton's Bible Dictionary]]'', identifies Adonizedek with a king of Jerusalem called `[[Abdi-Heba]] ("servant of Heba"), who around 1350 BC wrote several letters to the [[Pharaoh]] of [[Egypt]]. Six of his letters to the king of Egypt are included in the [[Amarna letters]],<ref>EA 285-290 (Amarna letters numbered 285-290)</ref> and he is mentioned in a seventh.<ref>EA 280 (Amarna letter number 280)</ref>

==Popular culture==
'''Adonizedek''' was portrayed by actor [[Mário Frias]] (once [[Jair Bolsonaro]]'s Secretary of Culture) in the Brazilian soap opera ''[[A Terra Prometida]]''. In it, Adonizedek is portrayed as an arrogant king later revealed to be sadistic; further, he keeps the skeletons of his mother and his wife, and talks to them.

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=A&artid=850|article=Adoni-zedek}}
* {{Eastons|Adoni-zedec}}
[[Category:Monarchs in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Executed monarchs]]
[[Category:Jebusites]]
[[Category:Book of Joshua people]]
[[Category:14th-century BC monarchs]]