The Abraham Story Part 8: Melchizedek the Royal Priest

A Flood of Violence

What's happening in this story is Sodom and its five kings become engulfed in a metaphorical flood.

And the floodwaters represent these kings.

And these kings are heavily armed. They're out for blood. They're out for glory and honor. And these kings, these kings are actually so formidable they even slew the greatest warrior giants that existed in the land that God was gonna give to Abram. So you have to stop to say, okay, so this is like "Clash of the Titans." This is, this is war escalated to, we haven't even seen the likes of this so far in the storyline of the Bible.

And so all of what's happening in the valley is all in contrast to what's happening up on that hill with Avram and his buddies. 

Genesis 14:11–16 NASB95

11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed. 12 They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom. 13 Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16 He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

"So they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and their food." They took what was for eating.

The kings, took the forbidden food and they went away. "They also took Lot and his possessions. And you know who Lot was, the son of the brother of Avram.

And they went away. Now, if you don't remember, he was dwelling in Sodom." That's why he was taken captive and, with the food.

And so a refugee. There was a remnant. the fugitive in the above translation. Think of the flood.

The first time that the word "to remain over" or "to be a refuge from," was in the story of the flood when the waters rise and are doing their destructive work in the land. But Noah and those with him in the ark remained as a remnant.

"So a remnant, a refugee, came and reported all this to Avram the Hebrew.

Now he was dwelling, not in Sodom. He was up by those sacred trees, by the oaks of Mamre." Oh, you know who Mamre is? He's the Amorite. He's the brother of this guy named Eshcol, whose name means Grape Cluster. And he's the brother of Aner, whose name means donkey. And here's the thing, they were havin' a great time up there because they had entered into a covenant with Abraham, and they had no clue what was going down. It was only when Abraham heard that his brother had been taken captive.

So that's the scene. The Canaanites down below getting wiped out and defeated. But the Canaanites who are at peace with God's chosen one, they're up there in the ark. They're great.

But here's the thing is that, you know, "I'll bless those who bless you. Those who treat you as cursed and your family, it's not good for them."

"So Avram brought out his trained men, those born of his house. He had 318. And they went after those four Mesopotamian kings. They chased them all the way unto Dan," which is in the far northern, far north boundary.

"And it was night. And he divided himself," like a pincer movement

"So they divided himself by night, he and his servants, and he struck them." Remember, they were striking the giants. So you've got nine kings, five, and the Mesopotamian kings can take out giants, and they could take out Canaanite kings. And here's Avram with this little commando force of 300 home-trained heroes, and he does to them what they did to the giants.

How do you explain that?

"He chased them unto Hobah, which is way north up in Damascus. And he returned all the possessions, all that stuff. He returned Lot, his brother, and their possessions, he returned the women, the people. He got all of it back."

There's a million unanswered questions here. But I mean, this is remarkable.

The whole point is, you're supposed to be blown away that something like this could happen. 

So this is a twist on the ark, isn't it?

It's like while the flood is raging, our new Noah actually gets off the boat, and he's got a life jacket, or, like, scuba gear with 318, and they go swimmin' after, they go swimming after his brother and his family. So this is the new twist here.

He leaves the ark to go become an agent of deliverance. He delivers the people who were taken captive in the flood of violence of these kings, and he defeats them. So if Mesopotamian kings can slaughter giants and if they can defeat Canaanites, and if Avram can defeat Mesopotamian kings, do the narrative logic here.

Who's the real warrior in this scene?

It's Avram. But yet, he's so clearly like, he's not after it for his name. He's not after plunder, as we're gonna see. He's just doing it because he's loyal to his family.

And he loves his Nephew

So when Avram is drawn into battle, it's for a very different kind of motive. And as we're gonna see, God had his back.

Melchizedek the Royal Priest

Continuing in Genesis 14. Last Section there was an intense flood, a lot of bloodshed, a lot of king slaying.

Kings are a flood

When you go into the Prophets and into the Psalms, it's very often where the kings who are attacking the Israelites or coming against the mountain of Zion, they'll be depicted like the waters of the flood.

Isaiah 8:6–8 NIV

6 “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks 8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”

In Isaiah's time, the king from the line of David is a guy named Hezekiah, and they're living in Jerusalem. And the Assyrian empire, that was Nimrod's second building project. So Nimrod first went and built Babylon, and then we're told, then he went and built Assyria with Nineveh as its capital.

So when Assyria shows up in Israel, and this is actually a famous battle that the kings of Assyria themselves recorded in their archives, they surrounded Jerusalem and besieged it for a while. And so Hezekiah is freaking out. And Jerusalem survived, was not sacked and destroyed. And so the book of Isaiah tells that whole story. But in Isaiah chapter 8, what Yahweh tells Isaiah to tell the people is he depicts the people as "rejecting the gentle flowing waters that God wants to provide for them," they're called the waters of Shiloah. It's a whole bunch of details we don't have time to get into. But the whole thing is, you guys rejected the stream that I wanted to provide for you, so let me tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna bring the strong waters of Mesopotamia, of the Euphrates, the king of Assyria in all of his glory, and it's gonna rise up over the channels, rise up, flood over the banks, sweeping on into Judah, overflowing, passing through, reaching right up to the neck.

So very clearly, Assyria, which is in the same region as Babylon is depicted as this rising flood. And then Zion, the city on the hill, is the only thing left. And then it's there that Hezekiah is gonna go into his refuge, his little ark, which is the temple. And he folds out his hand, and he prays for God to deliver. His prayer is riddled with language from the flood story. And the angel of Yahweh spreads a plague among the army overnight. And they wake up, and there's just dead soldiers everywhere. And the king of Assyria retreats.

So God both allows the flood to come, and then God is the one who causes the flood waters to recede in that story. So it's a cool example of how in the book of Isaiah, just assumes that you've been following this and that it'll just, and you can go through the Psalms, violent kings are often likened to the floodwaters. And what you're watching in Genesis is the birth of these connections.

In the Bible’s portrait, the nations at war are like a flood—a lethal, violent force, out of control. - Tim Mackie The Bible Project

Read it through

Genesis 14:17–24 NASB95

17 Then after his return from the defeat of 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). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all. 21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” 22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 “I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

So the king of Sodom, here comes Abram with all of his loot. 

I mean, he's got all this, remember the emphasis on all the plunder and the possessions and the people, he's loaded. And last time Avram was loaded with possessions, it was like, yeah, it's not that great, remember.

So the king of Sodom crawls out of a pit to go meet him. "This was after Avram returned from striking Chedorlaomer and the kings with him. And so he went out into the valley of the plain."

(Oh, dear reader, "this is the Valley of the King." You are not gonna get this till you read the book of 1 and 2 Samuel, but the Valley of the King is the valley right outside of Jerusalem.)

So the king of Sodom goes out to meet him and they meet in this valley that's right by the hill that will later be called Jerusalem.

Now, at that very same moment, Melchizedek, My King Is Righteous, and he's the king of Salem. It's the last few letters of the word "Jerusalem," and it is also the same letters as the Hebrew word for "shalom," peace.

So the king of Righteousness and Peace comes out of the city. And how was there, just all of a sudden there's a city there? Well, yeah, 'cause this is taking place in the Valley of the King.

"And the king of Righteousness and Peace, he comes out, oh, and he's got a feast, he's got bread and he's got wine." And here's the thing, you guys, "he was a royal priest, the priest of El, the Most High God.

And he pronounced a blessing over Avram. And he said, 'May Avram be blessed by El Most High, the possessor of what's up high and what's down low.

And may El Most High be blessed, because here's what El Most High just did, he's the one who delivered your adversaries into your hand.'" How do you explain a homegrown, 318-person force who strikes the most powerful kings of the world? And you didn't do that, Avram, El Most High, yeah, he's the one who did that.

So the king of Righteousness and Peace comes out, bringing a feast. He pronounces blessing in the name of the creator.

Here we see Some more on what blessing means. Blessing in Abram’s life has been about fruitfulness and abundance, fertility. Now comes in this new element to the blessing, which is protection and deliverance in God, empowering you over violent, greedy enemies, delivering his people from their enemies. 

End of Verse 20 - So in Hebrew, what it says here, what follows is, "And he gave to him one-tenth of everything." So it doesn't actually mark who the he and the him are explicitly. Most of our translations are going to solve the puzzle for you and just put, "and Avram gave to him or gave Melchizedek everything," that's not what it says. 

So it raises a little puzzle here. Who's got a lot of stuff at this moment in the story? Well, I guess, Melchizedek, he's a king of a city. He just brought out a bunch of stuff. However, we were just told that Avram's loaded right now too, loaded with stuff.

So it's this interesting puzzle.

Remember how we were saying that the king of Sodom was approaching him, but then Melchizedek like, he's like, hey buddy, let me get in here first and bring the feast. So the moment the feast was over and the little blessing scene, then the king of Sodom kinda like butts his way back in. And here's what he has to say to Avram. He says, "Gimme all these people, you take all these possessions. Yeah, just take it for yourself." So the king of Righteousness and Peace, he comes out giving, generous, giving a feast, giving blessing.

And remember his name, My King Is Righteous, the king of Peace.

The king of Sodom, do you remember his name? In Evil. So here comes the king of Evil. And what does he, comes saying, "Gimme, gimme," he wants to take. So one king comes to give, one king comes to take. And notice, so here we're back at what's Avram gonna do?

Did he collect ill-gotten gain from a king once before?

What's he gonna do with the possessions from this king? 

Avram said to the king of Sodom, "I lift up my hand to Yahweh, El Most High," which is shorthand for I make a covenant oath right here, "I swear by Yahweh, El Most High, the possessor of skies and land, not a strap or the sole of a sandal will I take from all that's yours so that you won't be able to say, 'I made Avram wealthy.' Just what the young men ate, and the portion of the men who were with me, my buddies, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, they're good people. So they can take what they ate and the portion they get. But I don't want anything." And that's the end of the story, it's like literally how the chapter ends. 

do you see there's this contrast here between the king of Sodom, he wants the loot. And you're like, yeah, that's how the kings are. They're after the profit. 

And notice the change in Avram.

He could get so rich right now. And what he says is, "No, you know what, El Most High said he's gonna bless me. And if I take all that stuff, you'll always be able to say, 'You know why Avram's wealthy? It's because of me.'" And so Avram doesn't want that. So here's what's interesting, that word "wealth" is spelled with the same exact letters as the word "tenth".

Two Kings

This is a tale of two kings, you got a greedy king and you got a generous king. 

And to the generous king, the generous king gives to Avram. And Avram says, "Wow, wow." And so he gives in return, he takes a tenth of all this stuff that he has, and it's like a giving fest. Generosity begets generosity. 

So up in the city of Salem, which is the Hebrew word "peace," there's like a giving fest going on up there. Whereas down in Sodom, so to speak, you've got the seizing and taking fest. And what they want is to take the possessions and the food, taking the food, take what is to be eaten.

It's representing our first narrative of transformation in Avram where he's learning how to trust. And instead of securing his goods for himself, he's gonna not take what could be his and even more, he's gonna give away what belongs to him, to the king of Righteousness. 

Avram can defeat the kings who defeat the giants. So he's clearly, like, the most significant one here. But then look what Avram does, he meets this king of Righteousness and he honors him by giving him a 10th of all in the little giving fest they're having. So the king of Righteousness and Peace comes out as like the top of the status chain in this narrative, where he's so great that even Avram honors him.

We have gone through the flood and there is the redemption of the Noah moment, where Noah had his surrendering through the sacrifice. And now what is Avram doing? So this 10th that he gives,

“It is perfectly natural that a returning hero, whose victory has also benefited the entire region, should be officially greeted by a distinguished personage. But the intrusive nature of the report here, interrupting the smooth sequence of verses 17 and 21, is obvious, and was noted by Rashi, Abravanel, and Ḥ izkuni. Its position, which is original and not a later insertion, heightens the tension produced by the sudden appearance of the king of Sodom, whose very name is redolent of evil. It also transforms into a spiritual experience what was up to now a secular incident. Victory in war is not attributed to Abram’s skill and valor but to the will of God, who is the ultimate arbiter of human destiny. It is inconceivable that the biblical Narrator would not have introduced such a note into the story. The artfulness with which the Melchizedek episode is integrated into the narrative is proven by the priest-king’s mention of Abram’s victory and by reference to the ‘Valley of the King’ (v. 17), which smooths the way for the appearance of the ‘king of Salem,’ the first element of whose name—Melchizedek—also means ‘king.’ There is a subtle contrast in the uses of the verb y-tsʾ , ‘to go out.’ The king of Sodom ‘came out’ empty-handed to meet his benefactor, and the first word he uttered was ‘give!’ The king of Salem ‘brought out’ bread and wine and offered a blessing, even though he may have come to collect his tithe. The name of Melchizedek’s city—Salem (Heb. shalem)—is suggestive of shalom, the peace that Abram’s intervention brought to the region. Finally, the extraordinary title of God used by Abram in his colloquy with the king of Sodom is the name just used twice by Melchizedek.” Sarna, Nahum M. (2001). The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis. Jewish Publication Society. 109.

Who is Melchizedek

So both in the history of Judaism after this, people were super into Melchizedek. Who Is He?

With Melchizedek, we come to the 10th king in the story! In contrast to the king of Sodom, whose name is “Evil” (ערב), we now have the “King of Righteousness” (קדצ־יכלמ)! The contrast in their names symbolizes their characters and what they want for or from Avram.

If we compare the Kings in this story

Bera King of Sodom

Sodom / Evil

He demands that Avram give (ןתנ) him the war captives, but Avram can take (חקל) the plunder.

He wants to have Avram in his debt by making him wealthy (רשע) .

Melchizedek King-Priest of Salem

Salem (= Jerusalem) / Righteousness

He offers food and blessing to Avram and demands nothing in return.

He gives generously to Avram, so Avram happily gives (ןתנ) one-tenth (רשעמ) as a gift in return.

A Royal Priest Who Blesses the Blessed One

Melchizedek is the first explicit “royal priest” in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve are implicitly royal priests, but Melchizedek is clearly a royal priest, and not from the line of Seth, Noah, or Shem (or at least, not in the text).

He rules Salem (lit. shalem / םלש), which later in the Hebrew Bible is identified as JeruSALEM (see Ps. 76:1-2, where “God’s tent is in Salem, his dwelling is in Zion”). It will later be called “Jebus” when it is in the possession of the Canaanites (Josh. 18:28; Judg. 19:10-11; 2 Sam. 5:6-7).

Melchizedek pronounces a blessing on Avraham in the name of El-Elyon, the creator/possessor of skies and land. This divine title, and Avraham’s statement in 14:22 that El-Elyon is Yahweh, links Melchizedek’s God to “Yahweh Elohim” of Genesis 1-2. He is a genuine priest of the God of Israel, but before Israel ever existed, and before Yahweh was known by that name (see Exod. 3:12-15). This connects him to the line of genuine worship that stems back to Seth in Genesis 4:26.

Melchizedek’s blessing on Avram links back to God’s promise in Genesis 12:1-3. Thus, we can expect that Melchizedek and the city he rules will experience God’s blessing some time in the future.

 His name appears only twice in the Old Testament (Gen 14:17-20 and Ps 110:4) and only in some passages of Hebrews within the New Testament (Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20-7:28).

Psalm 110:4 CSB

4 The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110 is a famous one quoted most by the New Testament authors, especially regarding Christology (Matt 22:41-43; Heb 6:20-7:28) Psalm 110 was one of Jesus Favorite Psalms

Hebrews 7:3 CSB

3 Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Talking of Melchizedek what does that mean? -Depends on who you think Melchizedek is. If you believe he is a person it means we don’t know who is family is it isn’t Shem like its supposed to be, or could be something else

Shem

 The earliest reference to Shem being Melchizedek is the Seder Olam Rabbah in 160 AD, that I could Find.

Some will say that this thinking was adopted as part of an Anti-Christian movement.

This chart here is taken from the Masoretic Text. which is what we use most commonly when translating the Hebrew. And before things like Qumran it was the only thing we had.

Some however will say this is wrong, or altered. According to some if you look at the years from Sem to Abrahm. The Septuagint (LXX) will put the years at 1230, where the Masoretic (MT) only Puts it at 450, the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) puts it at about 1100 years. If shem lives 600 years only with the Masoretic text can shem be Melchizedek.

Historical Figure

A small king from a city that has it figured out

Heavenly Being

In the Melchizedek scroll found in Qumran, Melchizedek is depicted as a Heavenly Redeemer Figure, identified with the archangel Michael, who plays eschatological roles in defeating Belial (11QMelch 2.22-26; 3.7; 4.3) and in delivering the sons of light even though the archangel Michael does not appear in this document.

 In the Babylonian Talmud (see Hag. 12b, Zebah. 62a, Menah. 110a) the archangel Michael is described as a heavenly high priest, and in a medieval Jewish source (Yalqut had. f. 115, col.3, no.19) he is identified with Melchizedek, who is called ‘the priest of El Elyon.’

Pre-incarnate Christ

That is Christ before Christ.

Melchizedek as a Type of Christ

Orthodox Protestants and traditional Roman Catholics usually hold the view that Melchizedek is a type of Christ. 

this view does not refer to the identification of Melchizedek, but to his function or role.

Hebrews presents Melchizedek as one who is ‘likened to but not equated with’ Christ

We don’t know

So who knows? The text doesn't say anything about that.

the way the author to the letter of the Hebrews brings it up is that here you have Avram honoring a priest king as greater than himself. And so there's something going on here before Israel even has a priesthood. And by the way, the priesthood is gonna come in for loads of criticism throughout the Hebrew Bible, it's one of the most corrupt institutions of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. But yet, here's the story of Israel's ancestor, coming to Jerusalem, honoring a priest king who's even greater than Avram. And Avram is the exalted father, that's what his name means. And so isn't it interesting that when David unites all the brothers, all the tribes, and he declares this same hilltop to be the new capital city and the city that's there. And when he brings the temple up, and he holds this huge feast, and they make seven sacrifices, he dresses up like he's the high priest.

And he takes up a Melchizedek-like priesthood. 

Jesus himself claimed to be a David Melchizedek-like figure.

So this isn't a class on Melchizedek, but you can follow the thread from Melchizedek on through the rest of the Hebrew Bible and into the New Testament. And he's not a minor player, even though he's on the stage for just three verses. This is a little scene that gets picked up and refracted here.

He's a narrative image of an image of God, a human image of God, a royal priest, ruling and reigning, representing God's generosity and blessing to Avram who's the chosen one. And he's able to help Avram see something that apparently Avram wasn't able to see, that his stuff and even his victory was a gift of God's blessing. And Avram walks away from his encounter with Melchizedek changed, different relationship to his stuff.

Tenth

Could it have been because Melchizedek is the 10th king and he gives them the 10th? Probably

Tenth rimes with the word for "wealth."

This is what the Israelites will be called to give to honor the priestly staff in the temple.

Royal Priest

But the whole point here is that this is not a priest from the line of Levi, 'cause Levi doesn't exist yet. And so it's a way of acknowledging the whole Israelite priesthood was itself a corrupt image of the ideal priesthood. The only ideal priesthood in the whole Hebrew Bible is this guy, all the other priests are not good people. And the rest, isn't that fascinating to think about? So it's kinda, what's the story doing here? It's an image of the ultimate royal priesthood. as being a source of blessing to the blessed one.

I'm curious, with the mention of bread and wine and you talking about how Jesus himself identified as a Melchizedek figure or as this priest king, and then also this idea of being delivered from your adversaries coming into play with the idea of blessing, how would you speak to that?

How Abraham and Melchizedek Point Forward to Jesus • The Royal Priest Series (Episode 2) - https://youtu.be/KlZjA-3hiys

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/abraham

Middleton, J. Richard. Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021.

Cotter, David W. Genesis. Edited by Jerome T. Walsh, Chris Franke, and David W. Cotter. Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003.

Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987.

Richard N. Longenecker, “The Melchizedek Argument of Hebrews: A Study in the Development and Circumstantial Expression of New Testament Thought,” in Unity and Diversity in New Testament Theology: Essays in Honor of George E. Ladd (ed. Robert Guelich, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 161.

https://bible.org/article/melchizedek-covenantal-figure-biblical-theology-eschatological-royal-priesthood#P8_421

Anders Aschim, “Melchizedek and Jesus: 11QMelchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism: Papers from the St. Andrews Conferences on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus (eds. Carey Newman, James Davila, and Gladys Lewis, JSJSup. 63; Leiden: Brill, 1999), 130.

Paul J. Kobelski, Melchizedek and Melchiresa (CBQMS 10; Washington DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1981), 126-7.

https://bible.ca/manuscripts/Septuagint-LXX-Shem-was-Melchizedek-Masoretic-chronology-Messiah-Jesus-Christ-priesthood.htm