El-paran

Biblical Text

El-paran appears only once, in Genesis 14. Before fighting the kings of Sodom and four other cities, the coalition of four kings led by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, struck several peoples east of the Jordan and in the regions to the south. The text describes the route of this campaign as follows: "And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness" (Genesis 14:6). The coalition then turned back, came to En-mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and struck all the country of the Amalekites and the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon-tamar (Genesis 14:7).

El-paran marks the farthest point of the coalition's southward march. The narrative goes on to relate how Lot was taken captive at the end of this campaign, how Abraham (then called Abram) rescued him, and how Abram met Melchizedek on his return.

Name and Location

The second element of the name, "Paran," refers to the wilderness that stretches across the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, south of Canaan and west of Edom. The first element, "El," is commonly understood to mean "great tree" or "terebinth." On this reading, El-paran means "the great tree of Paran." The Septuagint is reported to have rendered the term in the sense of "the terebinth of Paran."

The exact location is unknown. On the basis of the phrase "by the wilderness" and the route leading south from Mount Seir (the hill country of Edom), some scholars associate the site with the vicinity of Elath (Deuteronomy 2:8), the port at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Others go no further than identifying it as an unnamed oasis or a site marked by a tree at the edge of the Wilderness of Paran.

Significance in the Bible as a Whole

The name El-paran does not appear again. "Paran," however, occurs in a number of passages:

• It is where Ishmael, the son of Hagar, grew up (Genesis 21:21).
• It is the wilderness where Israel stayed after leaving Mount Sinai during the Exodus (Numbers 10:12).
• It is the place from which the twelve spies were sent out (Numbers 13:3, 26).
• In poetry it is celebrated as a place where God appears: "he shined forth from mount Paran" (Deuteronomy 33:2) and "the Holy One from mount Paran" (Habakkuk 3:3).

The New Testament does not mention El-paran or Paran directly. However, the Melchizedek narrative of Genesis 14, the chapter in which El-paran appears, is used in Hebrews 7 to explain the priesthood of Christ.

Interpretation and Issues

Some Korean readers equate "El" with the word for God (El, Elohim) and read the name as something like "Paran of God." Standard lexicons and commentaries, however, take the word to mean a tree. Interpretations that assign theological significance to the name itself are therefore not supported by the text.

The four kings of Genesis 14 have not been securely identified in extrabiblical records, and scholarly opinion is divided over the historicity and route of the campaign. Conservative scholars regard the account as a record of an actual campaign in the time of Abraham and seek to reconstruct its route geographically. Other scholars hold different views of the chapter's character and date of composition.