Melchizedek (Heb. malki-sedeq), 'Sedeq is (my) king' or 'king of righteousness' (Heb.7:2), was the king of Salem (which later became Jerusalem) and cohen (priest) of El Elyon ('God Most High', 'the Most High God') who greeted Abram on his return from the rout of Chedoralaomer and his allies, presented him with bread and wine, blessed him in the name of El Elyon, and received from him a tenth part of the booty which had been taken from the enemy (Gen.14:18ff.). Abram thereafter declined the King of Sodom's offer to let him keep all the booty apart from the recovered prisoners, swearing by El Elyon that he would allow no man to have the honour of making him rich (v.22, where the Masoretic text, but not the Samaritan Pentateuch, LXX or Peshitta, adds 'Yahweh' before 'El Elyon', thus emphasising that the two names denote one and the same Elohim/God). The incident is probably to be dated to the Middle Bronze Age. Melchizedek's name may be compared with that of a later king of Jerusalem, Adoni-zedek (Josh.10:1ff.).
In Psalm 110:4 a Davidic king is acclaimed by divine oath as "a cohen (priest) forever after the order of Melchizedek"
. The background of this acclamation is provided by David's conquest of Jebus (renamed Jerusalem) around 1000 BC, by virtue of which David and his house became heirs to Melchizedek's dynasty of priest-kings. The king so acclaimed was identified by Yah'shua (Jesus) and His contemporaries as the Davidic Messiah (Mk.12:35ff.). If Yah'shua (Jesus) is the Davidic Messiah He must be the "cohen (priest) forever after the order of Melchizedek". This inevitable conclusion is drawn by the writer of Hebrews, who develops his theme of the Master's heavenly priesthood on the basis of Psalm 110:4, expounded in the light of Genesis 14:18ff. where Melchizedek appears and disappears suddenly, with nothing said about his birth or death, ancestry or descent, in a manner which declares His superiority to Abram and, by implication, to the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood from Abram. The superiority of Messiah and His new Order to the Levitical Order of Tanakh (Old Testament) times is thus established (Heb.5:6-11; 6:20-7:28).
The Jerusalem and Jonathan Targums identify Melchizedek with the patriarch Shem, the son of Noah, who is known to have been alive in Abraham's day and even outlived his wife Sarah. The Septuagint (LXX), the first Greek translation of the Tanakh (Old Testament) gives a different chronology, placing Melchizedek's time before Abraham's.
(5 March 2019)
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