Who the Heck.... was Melchizedek?

The letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament compares Jesus to a little-known biblical character named Melchizedek. It states that “he [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” The letter writer goes on to say, “About this we have much to say that is hard to explain…” (Heb 5:8-11) In fact, it is a little hard to explain. Who was this Melchizedek, and was Jesus really a high priest “according to his order”? What does that mean? To get the answers, we have to look back in time to the earlier appearances of Melchizedek in the Bible. This mystery takes us from the New Testament all the way back to the book of Psalms, and finally clear back to the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis. This one strange character ties together writings which spanned more than a thousand years.

Before we are ready to see what the writer of Hebrews means about Jesus, we have to look at the beginning of Psalm 110, a famous Psalm of David that Christians believe talks about the Messiah. Here is the text: “The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” […] The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:1-4) In this Psalm, King David seems to be describing what God (“The LORD”) is saying to the Messiah (“my lord”). God appoints the Messiah to be a priest forever. “According to the order of Melchizedek” is a phrase meaning, “just like Melchizedek.”

So far, so good. We’ve found the passage in Psalms that the writer of Hebrews was referring to. But we still don’t know who this Melchizedek was. For that, we have to look at Genesis 14, the story of Abram (Abraham). When an alliance of various kings attacks the city of Sodom, Abram’s nephew Lot is captured there as a prisoner of war. Genesis explains that “When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot with his goods, and the women and the people. After his return from the defeat of [king] Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.” (Gen 14:14-20)

The passage above is the only personal appearance of Melchizedek in the entire Bible. His name means “King of Righteousness”, and he seems to be two things; one, a priest of the same God Abram worships, and two, the King of the city of Salem (“City of Peace” - probably an ancient name for Jerusalem.) Upon Abram’s victorious return from battle, Melchizedek meets Abram, blesses him, and accepts a tithe from him. At first glance, it seems to be an unimportant incident. Genesis quickly moves on to describe the much more important matter of the Covenant God makes with Abram, and the promise of descendants and a land for them to live in. Melchizedek is not mentioned again. So why is he important enough to be associated with the Messiah in Psalm 110? Why is Jesus compared to him at length in Hebrews? We’ve come all the way back to Genesis, and now that we know who Melchizedek was, it is hard to understand what was so special about him.

The answer lies in the fact that Melchizedek’s story is found in the Torah, the five books of Moses. These books were so incredibly important to later Jewish and Christian writers that even a small character in them became very important, or even larger than life. When you look at Melchizedek from the perspective of a later biblical writer like the author of Hebrews, some very strange things start to emerge. First, it appears that the man has ‘no beginning and no end.’ We’ve all seen the many genealogies in the Bible – long lists of who begat who, from father to son (or daughter) down through the ages. But the brief story of Melchizedek does not list any parents or any children for him. It does not say when he was born or when he died. It may sound very illogical to the modern person, but it was believed back then that if something was not written in the Torah, a book dictated to Moses by God himself, then it did not exist. In other words, because the death of Melchizedek is not mentioned in the Torah, he therefore never died!

Another strange thing about the man is that he blesses Abram, not the other way around. The idea is that if someone blesses you, then they are by definition greater than you, so Melchizedek must have been greater than Abram. And another thing – Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High – the same God Abram worshipped – but this was generations before God established the priesthood of the tribe of Levi, the one “after the order of Aaron,” so to speak. If the priesthood of Melchizedek came before the Levitical priesthood, well… you guessed it – the earlier priesthood must have been superior. So now we see more clearly what was special about Melchizedek. He never died, and he was part of an older priesthood that was greater than the normal one that ran the Temple sacrifices. Now perhaps we can see why the Psalmist said the Messiah would be part of Melchizedek’s priesthood and not the regular one. The Messiah was a special case, and had to be in a special category all his own.

The letter of Hebrews discusses Jesus and Melchizedek in chapters 5-8, as part of an effort to convince fellow Jews of the first century that they should accept Jesus as the Messiah. The writer compares Melchizedek to Jesus in order to argue to reluctant readers that the then-current Temple and Priest system has been replaced. There is a new High Priest, his name is Jesus, and everything that was believed and prophesized about old Melchizedek now applies to Jesus. Here are the main points the writer makes:

1. Jesus has been appointed as the new High Priest by God, and the passage in Psalm 110 is talking about Jesus specifically, therefore Jesus’ priesthood is the same kind as Melchizedek’s was. Jesus is like Melchizedek, in several ways. They are both “Kings of Righteousness”, and “Kings of Peace”. They both have neither beginning of days nor end of life. They both remain Priests forever.
2. Melchizedek, who was greater then Abraham, blessed the inferior Abraham and took tithe money from him. It follows that Abraham’s descendants, namely the Priests, the sons of Levi, are also inferior to Melchizedek. Therefore the law given under the Levite Priests is also inferior. There is a superior Priesthood, namely the Melchizedek kind, a superior law, and a superior Priest, namely Jesus. Jesus is a High Priest of the superior type, because of his resurrection and eternal life. He wasn’t born to the tribe of Levi, so he cannot be of the inferior type.
3. Like Melchizedek, whose death was not written, Jesus continues forever, the only High Priest we will ever need to make intercession for sin. Levite priests have to sacrifice over and over for sin, but Jesus only had to do it once and forever, with his death on the cross.
4. Jesus has the more excellent ministry, the better sanctuary in Heaven, and the better Covenant: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Heb 8:10-12)

So now we know who Melchizedek really was, and as a character in the Bible, he will always remain vague, mysterious and controversial. Because so little is really known about him, scholars will always argue over his true nature. But one thing is very clear. The ideas and concepts which were built up around him can tell us a lot about our Messiah, Jesus, and teach us fundamental things about our Lord, as shown in the letter to the Hebrews. It is okay to let Melchizedek remain a mystery, as long as we continue to learn about Christ.