Day 309

Ezekiel 12:1–14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:3

IN THE BOOK of Hebrews today, we read of a man named Melchizedek. Since the writer of Hebrews made a direct correlation between Melchizedek and Jesus, we should probably explore who he was. Melchizedek first appears in the book of Genesis with Abram:

And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

The only other time Melchizedek is mentioned in the Old Testament is in Psalm 110 —which was composed by David:

The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

Since we know that there was significant time between Abraham and David, and then significant time between David and the book of Hebrews, we can deduce that Melchizedek certainly captured the imagination of the Hebrew people over thousands of years extrabiblically. However, outside of Hebrews, we’ve just read the entirety of his appearance in the Bible.

Who he was and why he is important has been the topic of spectacular conjecture over millennia, and we could spend massive amounts of time following all of the differing ideas. Since we can’t do that, we can say a few things that will bring context to why he appears to be a prototype of Jesus in Hebrews.

The name Melchizedek, or Malki-tzedek,* means “king of justice (or righteousness).” He was the king of Salem, which means “king of peace,” according to Hebrews (Hebrews 7:2). He is the very first priest of the Most High God (or El Elyon) who appears in the Bible. Therefore, we could say that Melchizedek was the first righteous priest of God Most High, and a man who was also the king of Salem, or the king of peace.

Melchizedek is fascinating because he was a priest of the Most High God, but he was not a Levite, the tribe of Israel that God appointed under Moses to be his priests. Melchizedek couldn’t have been a Levite, because Levi had not yet been born; his priesthood couldn’t have been contrary to Mosaic law, because Moses had not yet been born.

If we jump forward about a millennia, we come to King David’s reference in Psalm 110. In David’s time, the Mosaic law had in fact been given and priests were indeed Levites. However, David was from the tribe of Judah. Why did he get to be a “priest forever in the order of Melchizedek”?

As we just said, Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God who was also the king of Salem —a priestly king. David was king in Jerusalem —the very same city. In Psalm 110, it appears that David was being set apart to be a priestly king like Melchizedek, regardless of tribal affiliation or Mosaic law. In this interpretation, David’s role was a special exception —the order of Melchizedek. Jesus came from the line of David and, according to Hebrews, closed the loop —Jesus is a priestly king in the order of Melchizedek, a king of peace. Or as the writer of Hebrews put it,

Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

There are certainly more nuances to the story and mythology surrounding Melchizedek. But this gives us a basic context for what we are reading in Hebrews and how this matters to our understanding of Jesus as our great High Priest.

MEDITATION:

He split open a rock, and water gushed out to form a river through the dry wasteland. For he remembered his sacred promise to his servant Abraham. So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy, his chosen ones with rejoicing.