Who is Melchizedek?

Christopher Ash kicks off our new 'Curious characters in the Bible' series by exploring questions around the mysterious Melchizedek.

Who is the greatest in the book of Genesis? Abraham? Wrong! The greatest man in Genesis is Melchizedek. ‘Who?’, you say. Even if you have been a Bible reader for a while, your knowledge of Melchizedek may be a little sketchy. Who was he? And why does he matter?

Melchizedek appears in three places in the Bible. We will take these in turn and see how they fit together.

Genesis 14

To understand Genesis 14 – which is for most of us rather a puzzling chapter, full of kings with unpronounceable names – we need first to read Genesis 11:27–13:18. There we meet Abram (later Abraham, 17:5). The LORD (the covenant God) blesses him and gives him a great promise (12:1-3). Just after Genesis 14 we read that Abram ‘believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness’ (15:6). Righteousness will be an important word in our study.

We also meet Abram’s nephew Lot, who separates from Abram and heads to the beautiful area of Sodom, with its neighbouring cities Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. It was near what we know as the Dead Sea, but was then an Eden-like paradise (Genesis 13:10-13). Significantly, we are told in advance what we later read in Genesis 18–19, that the Lord is going to destroy Sodom and that ‘the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD’ (Genesis 13:10,13). Before chapter 13 ends we hear God repeat his promise of blessing to Abram, and we leave him ‘by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron’ (Genesis 13:14-18).

Genesis 14:1-12 describes some alliances and campaigns in the broader region. (In this Tyndale House podcast my colleagues Caleb Howard and James Bejon give fascinating background about these kings, their names, and the places.) The punchline is verse 12: Lot is captured because he ‘was dwelling in Sodom.’ But Lot is related to Abram whom God blesses and Abram’s blessing will overflow to undeserving Lot.

Genesis 14:13-16 describe how Abram (‘living by the oaks of Mamre’, linking us back to 13:18) and his allies rescue Lot. And then, in 14:17-24, something fascinating happens: two contrasting kings come to Abram—the kings of Sodom and of Salem. We already know that Sodom is a place of great wickedness (13:13). The king of Sodom comes out to meet Abram (14:17), but the narrative ignores him until someone more important has appeared. In his place we see ‘Melchizedek king of Salem’. We are told five things about Melchizedek.

1. His name: He is the ‘melek’ (king) of ‘zedek’ (righteousness). (Compare the similar name Adonizedek, ‘lord’ of ‘righteousness’ in Joshua 10, although this one is scarcely righteous!). This is in contrast to Sodom, where there is no righteousness (see Genesis 18:23-28).

2. His place: ‘Salem’ is shorthand for ‘Jerusalem’ (lit. ‘city of Salem’, cf. Psalm 76:2). The word comes from the Hebrew root meaning ‘peace’. The next use of this root is in Genesis 15:15, where Abram is told ‘you will go to your fathers in peace.’ Melchizedek is a king marked by righteousness who comes from a city of peace, in sharp contrast with the king of Sodom, who comes from a place of great sinners (Genesis 13:13, see also 18:23-28).

3. His office: Melchizedek is ‘priest of God Most High’ (14:18). He is the first priest in the Bible and, as it turns out, the preeminent one in the Old Testament. The title ‘God Most High’ appears again in 14:19-20 (three times), and then on the lips of Abram in 14:22. This God, Melchizedek says, is the ‘possessor’ or ‘creator’ (qineh) of heaven and earth (the universe). The word can indicate possession as a word derived from the same root is used – significantly – in Genesis 13:2,7, where it is translated ‘livestock’ – that is, what Abram possessed. If Abram possessed any things, it is because God possesses all things. It is God who makes Abram rich! The word can also be translated ‘creator’, but there is perhaps not much difference between being creator of all things and possessor of all things. Perhaps the ambiguity is deliberate. Melchizedek is the priest-king of this Most High God. He mediates between people and God and brings them into God’s presence.

4. His action: Melchizedek blesses Abram, linking us back to God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3. In bringing Abram ‘bread and wine’ he makes this blessing visible. The phrase ‘bread and wine’ is an idiom (a merism, technically) meaning a full, rich, and perhaps royal, feast (compare with Proverbs 9:5). Melchizedek says that God Most High delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand (14:20). The word ‘delivered’ comes from the same root as ‘shield’ in 15:1, where the Lord says he is Abram’s shield.

5. His honour: Abram acknowledges Melchizedek’s priestly authority by giving him a tenth of the spoil.

Only after this does the king of Sodom reappear (14:21-24). He wants to be Abram’s benefactor (‘take the goods for yourself’), thus bringing Abram under obligation to him. But Abram will have none of it. He refuses to take any spoil, beyond his expenses (‘what the young men have eaten’) because he doesn’t want the king of Sodom to be able to say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ Abram snubs the king of Sodom.

The contrast between the king of Salem and the king of Sodom is striking:

• The king of Sodom ‘comes out’ to Abram, bringing no gift of friendship.
• The king of Salem ‘brings out’ (the same verb, but in a different form – lit. ‘causes to come out’) to Abram a banquet.
• The king of Salem speaks a blessing to Abram.
• The king of Sodom speaks a grudging and self-interested word to Abram (even the tone is discourteous in the Hebrew).

By contrast, Abram accepts blessing from Melchizedek, gives him a tithe (a ‘tenth of everything’), and thus acknowledges his kingship and priesthood. Melchizedek is God’s priest-king to Abram, ruling God’s people as their king, bringing them into God’s presence as their priest.

Psalm 110

After Genesis 14, Melchizedek disappears from the Bible story until Psalm 110. Psalm 110 comes in Book Five of the Psalter where it concludes one of two very important collections of Davidic psalms (108–110 and 138–145). Book Five (Psalms 107–150) seems to have been compiled after the Babylonian exile. By placing collections of David’s psalms close to the opening (after 107) and near the end (before 146–150), the compilers hint, at the very least, that they want us to look forward to a greater David.

Psalm 110:1 echoes around the New Testament, including the use of the phrase ‘sit at my right hand’ (used by Jesus of himself, and used of Jesus by Peter, Paul, and the writer to the Hebrews), and the enemies being made a ‘footstool’ (1 Corinthians 15:25-27). As Jesus pointed out, David says that ‘the LORD’ (the covenant God) says something to ‘my’ – that is David’s – ‘Lord.’ This figure must therefore be greater than David (Matthew 22:41-45; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44).

To this ‘greater David’, God says, in a solemn and irrevocable oath, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek’ (110:4). When David conquered Jerusalem, he sat on Melchizedek’s throne and inherited his office. And so we learn that the priesthood of Melchizedek in Genesis 14 points forward to another and greater priest-king who is also the greater David.

Hebrews 5-7

Melchizedek comes up a third time in the letter to the Hebrews. One of the great themes of Hebrews is that Jesus is the great high priest who can bring us into the presence of God forever. The Levitical priests of the old covenant could never do more than foreshadow this great salvation. The motif of Jesus’s priesthood is introduced in Hebrews 2:17–3:1 and then taken up emphatically from Hebrews 4:14 all the way to 10:39.

In particular, the writer contrasts the Levitical priesthood with the eternal priesthood in the order of Melchizedek. After citing Psalm 110:4, the writer opens up this theme in Hebrews 5:6-10. He then breaks off from 5:11–6:12 (bracketed by the word translated ‘dull’ or ‘sluggish’) to chide his readers for not being more interested in, or knowledgeable about, Melchizedek! In 6:13, he speaks of God’s promise to Abraham, thus taking us straight back into the world of Genesis 12–14. How can we be sure that this promise will be kept? Because ‘Jesus has gone [into the inner place beyond the curtain, into the very presence of God] as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest after the order of Melchizedek’ (6:20). Because Jesus is our priest in the order of Melchizedek, we can be confident that God keeps his promises to Abraham, and therefore to us, as Abraham’s seed. This is why Melchizedek matters so much!

In Hebrews 7:1-3, the writer now explains how Genesis 14 shows us all this. He mentions several things we have seen above. Melchizedek is priest of the Most High God. Abraham pays him a tithe. He is ‘king of righteousness’. He is king of Salem, which means peace.

And then he adds something we might not have seen: Melchizedek ‘is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.’ This needs to be read carefully. Presumably the writer is not saying that Melchizedek didn’t have a human father or mother. The addition of ‘or genealogy’ is the clue. No doubt he had ancestors. But in Genesis 14 he just appears out of nowhere. No genealogy is given. Similarly, it is reasonable to assume that the historical Melchizedek did have a beginning of his days on earth and an end of his life. The point is, in Genesis 14 we are not told any of this. He breaks into the story from outside. And he never explicitly goes away. And in this rather mysterious way he resembles one who is genuinely eternal, the Son of God who ‘continues a priest forever.’ Melchizedek is a type or shadow of Christ our eternal great high priest.

Hebrews 7:4 exclaims, ‘See how great this man was!’ Hebrews 7:4-10 develops this and deduces that the Levitical priesthood, deriving from a descendant of Abraham, is inferior to Melchizedek’s priesthood, just as Melchizedek who gives the blessing is superior to Abraham who receives it (7:7). Hebrews 7:11-28 develops this contrast between a temporary priesthood, with many priests who all died, and an eternal priesthood, with one priest who never dies because in him is ‘the power of an indestructible life’ (7:16).

So Melchizedek matters because of the priest-king he foreshadows. Greater than Abraham, he appears out of nowhere as the great king of righteousness and peace, the eternal priest who blesses Abraham and – in Abraham – all the church of God.