Melchizedek

• Who is/was Melchizedek?
  • A person who encountered Abraham only once, in a very brief story of the OT (Gen 14:17-20)
    • He is said to be "King of Salem" (i.e. the city of Jeru-salem! see Gen 14:18; Heb 7:1-2)
    • Etymologically, the two parts of his name (melchi + zedek) mean "king of righteousness" (Heb 7:2)
    • But since "Salem" or "shalom" means "peace," he is also called "king of peace" (Heb 7:2)
  • He is called a "priest of God Most High" (Heb. El Elyon; Gen 14:18; 7:1)
    • Note: He is not a Jewish priest, since he lived prior to the establishment of any priesthood in Israel (recall that all Jewish priests are members of the tribe of Levi, who was a great-grandson of Abraham, while Moses and Aaron lived centuries later).
    • Since he has no genealogy or descendants recorded in the OT, he could be considered "a priest forever" (Ps 110:4; Heb 7:3)
  • In the OT story, he offers Abraham bread and wine, rather than sacrificing any animals, as priests might normally do (Gen 14:18)
    • This is later interpreted as a foreshadowing of the Christian Eucharist
  • He also blesses Abraham with a prayer addressed to "God Most High" (Gen 14:19-20; Heb 7:1)
    • In turn, Abraham gives him a tithe (10%) of everything he had captured in the recent battle (Gen 14:20)
• According to Hebrews, this encounter shows that Abraham recognizes the superiority of Melchizedek:
  • Logically, the inferior is blessed by the superior, and the inferior offers a tithe to the superior, not vice versa (Heb 7:2)
• Thus the priesthood of Melchizedek must be superior to that of Levi and Aaron (7:4-10), descendents of Abraham who lived generations later
• Thus also the priesthood of Jesus, a new and different type "according to the order of Melchizedek," is superior to the Jewish priesthood, based on the tribe of Levi and the order of Aaron.

The first time he is mentioned is in Genesis 14. Abraham had just returned from his defeat of king Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him; and having rescued his nephew Lot and his possessions, he met with the king of Shalem in the King's Valley (the valley of Shaveh). Here is the account:

And Melchizedek king of Shalem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tenth of all. (Genesis 14:18-20)

Hebrew Bible presents Melchizedek as (apparently) a mortal man who is both the king of Jerusalem and a priest of God Most High. He was seen as the model for the Israelite kingship ideology, and the Davidic kings were likewise seen as both king of Jerusalem and priest of God Most High. Besides the passages in Genesis and Psalm 110, Melchizedek is not mentioned again in the Hebrew Bible