I don’t think any other topic of Bible study makes us cringe as much as this one. After all, his name is really hard to say; what if we have to read it out loud in front of a class? Plus, the Bible says some really weird, hard to understand stuff about him.
It’s easier if we just don’t go there.
Except, I have a couple problems with that.
First, earlier, the author of Hebrews accused the recipients of his letter as being “too lazy to understand” because they weren’t ready to dig through the hard stuff of Melchizedek’s priesthood (Hebrews 5:11). I don’t know about you, but I’m not a lazy person. I have to prove the author of Hebrews wrong; I don’t want him to find me too lazy to understand God’s Word.
Second, I’ve learned something about Bible study – sometimes the good stuff is hardest to get. Some passages are simple… and beautiful… and amazing… right on the surface. Others, though, require some digging and meditating and questioning and searching before we see their beauty. However, our investment of some extra effort often reveals an even more brilliant nugget of truth.
So, we’re not going to skip over Melchizedek. We’re going to dig in to his story and ask God to shine the brilliance and depth of His Word into our lives, even when it’s hard. We’re even going to learn how to say his name – Mel-khee-se’-dek ☺
 |
| Click picture for a printable handout for this section |
Melchizedek – Who is he? (7:1)
Let’s start by reading the verses for this section – Hebrews 7:1-3.
King of Salem
OK, this isn’t too hard yet. Melchizedek is a king; specifically, the king of Salem. Salem is an ancient name for the city that later became known as Jerusalem. God had His man in place over that holy region even before He called Abraham.
Priest of the Most High God
This may seem pretty simple on the surface but Melchizedek’s priesthood raises some questions we must consider. How could he be priest of the Most High God if God hadn’t even given the Law yet? How could he be both priest and king?
The author of Hebrews first mentioned Melchizedek in Hebrews 5:5-9. We studied that passage in Jesus, Our Priest. That section introduced a comparison between the priesthoods’ of Aaron and Melchizedek; it also revealed that Melchizedek’s was superior. The author of Hebrews also showed us more specifically what it meant that Jesus was a priest in the order of Melchizedek rather than the order of Aaron.
The Old Testament priesthood primarily refers to priests from the tribe of Levi, the great-grandson of Abraham (Numbers 1:47-54). If we stop to think about it, it’s a little confusing to read Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God. After all, only Yahweh is God Most High and He didn’t establish the Levitical priesthood until many years later.
A key theme of Hebrews is a call to see the whole picture. The first-century Jews who received the letter focused on their Jewish traditions, history, and faith – and understandably so. However, the first century was a time of transition from Old Covenant Law to New Covenant grace. The author of Hebrews wanted them to look past their strictly Jewish Law sacrificial system and begin to see the whole picture of God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. God had a new plan to reach humanity after the Law, just as He had a different plan before the Law. As we struggle to see the whole picture ourselves, we must remember God has a plan to reach all people in all times – not just us in our time.
Before God cut covenant with Abraham and gave the Law to Moses, He had a covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:8-17). We know a lot about how the Law later impacted the people in their daily lives; we don’t know nearly as much about Noah’s covenant. We do know, however, that Melchizedek was a priest under that covenant. Since Scripture repeatedly refers to Melchizedek as a priest of the Most High God, we can safely assume that he operated under God’s plan for that time period which was the covenant with Noah.
Under Jewish Law, one man couldn’t serve as both priest and king. This is our first connection of Jesus with the superior priesthood of Melchizedek wherein one man served as both priest and king.
Melchizedek – What did he do? (7:1-2)
Let me set a little context for this situation. Abraham and Lot, his nephew, had come together from Ur but had since part ways. Lot settled in one region to the east while Abraham settled further west. In time, a group of kings from further east came over to defeat the kings in Lot’s region. In today’s geographical names, the kings of the east were from Iraq and Lot’s region was southern Israel and Jordan, specifically around the Dead Sea. The kings from the east defeated the kings of the west, plundered them, and took them back to their eastern kingdom.
However, someone escaped and let Abraham know what happened. Maybe they went to Abraham because they knew of Abraham’s devotion to Lot. Maybe they went because Abraham was from that eastern region originally. Remember, God had called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, which was in modern-day Iraq. Regardless of the reason, Abraham set out to defeat the kings of the east and was successful. Read the full story in Genesis 14.
Before we move on, let’s think about this story in the context of a male ego. Abraham was now what we might call “top man on the totem pole.” He had defeated the 5 kings of the east who had in turn defeated the 4 from the west. He was in control over all that area and people, should he have chosen to exert his power and position. I think that’s important to remember as we look at the actions of the two men.
Melchizedek blessed Abraham
Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, acknowledged God’s blessing on Abraham. Maybe Melchizedek knew God had already spoken words of blessing over Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) and that God was about to cut a new covenant with him (Genesis 15). Either way, Melchizedek seemed to know Abraham was a man of God. Melchizedek could have clung tight to his position but instead he obediently blessed Abraham and allowed God to continue His plan for the redemption of all mankind. His was a blessing humbly given.
Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the plunder
A look at the physical happenings shows Abraham to be a man in control of the whole volatile region. Abraham, however, was learning to look at the spiritual, not the physical. His would become a life of faith in the unseen God, not in his own power. Through spiritual eyes, Abraham saw Melchizedek’s superiority. He humbly acknowledged as much by giving Melchizedek a tenth of all the plunder as an offering.
To emphasize Abraham’s submission to and trust in God, he didn’t even keep the remaining 90% of the plunder. He could have; the king of Sodom even thought he would. However, Abraham gave it all back and declared, “I have raised my hand in an oath to Yahweh, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you can never say, ‘I made Abram rich’” (Genesis 14:22-23).
Humility and submission marked this moment of transition from Noah’s covenant to Abraham’s covenant. As such, we see another connection between Melchizedek’s priesthood and that of Jesus. Both priesthood’s marked a time of transition from one covenant to the next – Melchizedek marked the change from Noah to Abraham while Jesus marked the change from the Law to the New Covenant. Both transitions were moments of humility (Philippians 2:5-8), rather than prideful human conquest.
Melchizedek – What was he like? (7:2-3)
Wow – so much to understand when we look at the whole picture! Who knew these brief verses of introduction would include so much?
Things are about to get a little more complicated in our quest to understand Melchizedek. Five phrases in these verses can cause a lot of confusion but we’ll break them down, one by one.
King of righteousness
Melchizedek may have been a title rather than a name since it means “king of righteousness.” I tend to agree but whether it’s a title or a name isn’t the key point. The focus is people called him that. Noah’s covenant, under which Melchizedek served, was a covenant distinguished by righteousness. It was because of Noah’s own righteousness that God rescued him and his family from the worldwide flood (Genesis 6:8-9).
Here we see another connection between Melchizedek and Jesus - both were known for righteousness (Isaiah 53:11, 1 John 2:1, Revelation 15:3).
King of peace
Salem isn’t only an early name for Jerusalem; it’s also a form of the word shalom which means peace. Melchizedek was also the king of peace. Peace didn’t reign during Noah’s time as the world experienced global upheaval. However, it did come through his descendant Melchizedek.
Here we see a fourth connection between Melchizedek and Jesus. Jesus is the “Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Even more, Melchizedek’s priesthood came after a time of worldwide upheaval to usher in a time of peace. Likewise, Jesus’ first coming didn’t bring worldwide peace. Instead, His second coming will bring in peace after a devastating period of worldwide destruction known as the tribulation.
Without father, mother, or genealogy
We must view these remaining descriptions in the context of Melchizedek’s priesthood, not his humanity. The remaining three qualities describe him as a priest, not as a person. The Complete Jewish Bible communicates this more clearly in its translation. It says, “There is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth, or death; rather, like the Son of God, he continues as a cohen [priest] for all time” (Hebrews 7:3 CJB).
Except Jesus, everyone since Adam and Eve has a mom and dad. It’s the biological process God created – it’s just the way it works. Melchizedek had a mom and dad. The significance is we don’t know who they were.
Genealogy and lineage were crucial in the Levitical priesthood. No man could serve as priest unless he could prove his ancestry within the tribe of Levi. Therefore, the priests kept very meticulous records of the priestly line. However, with Melchizedek, we have no records of his lineage. We are unable to trace his ancestry. Even more, he had no lineage to Aaron or Levi as they hadn’t even been born!
Here we see the fourth connection between Jesus and Melchizedek’s priesthood – both were based on a calling by God rather than a lineage through the tribe of Levi.
Neither beginning of days nor end of life
Melchizedek isn’t hanging out in a cave in the Middle East somewhere having never died. His priesthood continues forever, not his actual life. This isn’t that odd if you also consider that we as believers in the New Covenant will also reign with Jesus as priests forever (Revelation 1:5-6) and therein lies our fifth connection.
Resembles the Son of God
Melchizedek isn’t the Son of God; he resembles Him. Big difference. Also, Jesus doesn’t resemble Melchizedek; Melchizedek resembles Jesus. Simply put, Melchizedek is a type – or an Old Testament picture – of the Messiah to come. Looking at the life of Melchizedek tells us something of what to look for in the fulfillment of the Messianic priesthood.
Why do I care?
As I began, Melchizedek isn’t a favorite topic for Bible study. His existence is even harder than his name. Yet, understanding his story is part of understanding God’s plan to redeem all of humanity.
Part of growing up is when we realize not everything revolves around us. I think this is just as true spiritually as it is mentally. God has reached out to all people at all times but it looked a little different in the past than it does now. Like the Jews of the first-century, it’s important to not think our covenant is the only covenant. Seeing how God’s plan flowed from one era to the next helps us see His awesomeness but even more, see how great His desire to restore our relationship with Him.
We also can learn from the humility of all the men involved in this story. Sometimes God brings us to a place of transition. He calls us away from one area and brings in someone new. That’s OK; Melchizedek is our example to bow out gracefully and humbly as God begins a new work in the life of someone else. Or, we may be the one God brings in to a transition as was Abraham. Again, we come in to a time of transition with humility.
The final reason we care about Melchizedek today is that God gave us his story to teach us about the Messiah. All of Scripture points to Jesus as the Messiah; our intimacy with Him grows as we find Him hidden in the difficult passages.
Maybe you can think of more… why else might we care to study someone as complex and overwhelming as Melchizedek today?
← Previous Section: Certainty of Hope, Part 2
Next Section: Melchizedek Superior to Abraham →
No comments:
Post a Comment