Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.”
(Genesis 14:18)

One of the great mysteries of the Old Covenant scriptures. Who exactly was this guy? Scholars are divided. He could be just a guy. A king. He could be a Messianic type and shadow: doing things that represent what Messiah (Jesus) would and will do for us. Or he could be a pre-incarnate Jesus, one of the many times Jesus appeared in person to interact with someone in scripture before His incarnation. Melchizedek is written about in three places in scripture other than here: Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6 & 7:1-10.

Why Jesus? The book of Hebrews tells us he had no mother or father and in fact has no genealogy at all (Hebrews 7:3). He is named the King of Righteousness, the king of peace (Hebrews 7:2; Isaiah 9:6). And he is a bringer of communion (bread and wine – Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). He accepts a tithe from Abram and blesses Abram as his superior.

Why a man? He is named as a king of a specific city (Salem, which eventually becomes Jerusalem). Pre-incarnate Jesus would not be a physical king in a physical place. That is in our future still when He comes as conquering Messiah. And just because we don’t know his parents’ names or his genealogy isn’t unusual. He is only in scripture for a brief time.

Why a type/shadow of Jesus? He is called a priest, but not of the Aaronic/Levite line. This is a priesthood outside the Law – just like Jesus. He brings communion – just like Jesus. He has a name like Jesus – ‘king of Salem’ means ‘king of peace’. He is interceding with Abram, between Abram and the king of Sodom – Jesus is our interceder. He accepts a tithe – Jesus accepts our offerings and tithes. He blesses Abram as his superior – Jesus blesses us.

Melchizedek is mentioned as a king of a city that was not god-following. It was unusual in the extreme to have a priest of God (Yahweh) being a king, much less king over a pagan city. This has led some scholars and traditions to claim that Melchizedek was a pseudonym for someone else. After all, this was NOT far from the time of the Flood. For example, this may have occurred within Shem’s lifetime (Shem was 525 when Abram was called out of Ur and didn’t die until he was 600). Anyone who was a follower of God could have taken up this role. There were certainly enough known followers of God still around.

The sage Ramban writes: ‘AND MELCHIZEDEK KING OF SALEM. This is Jerusalem, just as it is said, In Salem is set His tabernacle. In the days of Joshua, its king was also called Adoni-zedek. Since time immemorial the nations knew that this place, which was the choicest of all places, is in the center of the inhabited region. Or perhaps they knew of its superiority by tradition, i.e., that it is exactly opposite the Heavenly Sanctuary, where the Divine Glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, who is called Tzedek (Righteousness) abides.
In Bereshith Rabbah [we find that Jerusalem is called Tzedek because] “this place makes its inhabitants righteous. And Melchizedek means ‘the lord of Zedek.’ Jerusalem is called Tzedek, as it is said, ‘Tzedek’ (Righteousness) lodged in it.” AND HE WAS PRIEST OF G-D THE MOST HIGH. This is stated in order to inform us that Abraham would not give a tithe to the priest of other gods, but since he knew that he was a priest of G-d the Most High, he gave him the tithe as an honor to G-d. He alluded to Abraham through this episode that the House of G-d will be there, and there his descendants will bring the tithe and the Heave-offering, and there they will bless the Eternal. Now according to the opinion of our Rabbis who say that Melchizedek was Shem, the son of Noah, we must say that he left his country in the east and came to Jerusalem to worship the Eternal. He became the people’s priest of G-d the Most High since he was the honored one among their father’s brothers, as Jerusalem was ever in the boundary of the Canaanites. Now Rashi wrote above, “And the Canaanite was then in the land. They were gradually conquering the land of Israel from the descendants of Shem, the ancestor of Abraham, for it had fallen to the share of Shem when Noah apportioned the earth among his sons, as it is said, And Melchizedek king of Salem.” This is not correct because the boundary of the Canaanite was from Sidon, which includes all of the land of Israel. The boundary of the children of Shem, on the other hand, was to the east of Mesha, far from the land of Israel. But if Noah apportioned the countries among his sons and gave Shem the land of Israel, it would be similar to the case of a person who apportions his goods by word of mouth. Meanwhile, the children of Canaan, [who were the descendants of Ham], settled there until the time came when G-d caused the seed of His friend Abraham to inherit it, as I have already mentioned. AND HE WAS PRIEST OF G-D THE MOST HIGH. Since there were, among all nations, priests serving the angels called eilim (the mighty ones) — even as it is said, Who is like unto Thee ‘ba’eilim’ (among the mighty) — the Holy One, blessed be He, is called G-d the Most High, the purport thereof being “the Mighty One, Who is Supreme over all,” as in the verse, It is ‘le’eil’ (the power of) my hand. Now Melchizedek did not mention the Eternal, whereas Abraham said, the Eternal, G-d of the Most High.’

The sage Kitzur Ba’al HaTurim writes: ‘”מלך שלם” (“King of Salem”) The initial letters of these words spell the name Shem. This teaches that Malchizedek was Shem, the son of Noah’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘And Malkitzedek king of Shalem, another name for Jerusalem, brought out bread and wine, a customary ritual performed as a festive greeting. In this manner Malkitzedek, who was from a different region than the king of Sodom, also sought to honor Abram as a great hero after his victory over the kings of the north. And he, Malkitzedek, was not only a king, but also a priest of God, the Most High. Although he lived among the local pagans, he was one of the few who worshipped the one God, referred to as El, the Most High. El is translated here as simply God. Thus Malkitzedek, who is identified by rabbinic tradition as Shem son of Noah was one of a small group of individuals who did not worship idols, and whose faith was close to that of Abram.’

The sage Tur HaAroch writes: ‘Rashi derives from this verse that the land of Israel had originally been part of Shem’s heritage, but that the Canaanite had gradually deprived him of much of his heritage by force. He identifies Malki Tzedek as Noach’s son Shem. Nachmanides claims that this is not correct, and that the legal boundaries of the heritage of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north, comprising practically all of the land of Israel as we know it, whereas the heritage of Shem was located further to the east. If Noach had indeed allocated the surface of the globe to his several sons, then the return of the land of Israel to the descendants of Avraham, a descendant of Shem, the son of Noach, did not really represent a reallocation of lands which had once legally belonged to the descendants of Cham, the Canaanites. The Canaanites merely acted as safe-keepers of these lands until Avraham had sufficient descendants to populate them. According to our sages who say that Malki Tzedek was identical with Shem, the latter had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to serve the Lord there, and the local population had accepted him as their priest.’