At Abram's triumphant return from his victory over the eastern invaders, he was met by Melchizedek, who was both king of Salem and "priest of God Most High." Melchizedek blessed both Abram and God Most High and provided food and drink for Abram's men. Abram expressed his thanks to God by giving to Melchizedek a tenth of the wealth that he had brought back (Gen 14:18-20).
It is generally agreed that Salem in Gen 14:18 is another name for Jerusalem. We see this name used, for example, in Ps 76:2. Also, there was later a ruler of Jerusalem with the name Adoni-zedek, a name very similar to Melchizedek (Joshua 10).
Despite the similarity of their names, Adoni-zedek did not have the connection with God Most High that Melchizedek had had. In fact, Adoni-Zedek organized a coalition to oppose Israel's ally Gibeon and was later executed by Joshua.
Adoni-zedek translates to something like "my lord is Zedek" or "my lord is righteous." Since Adoni-zedek was a king, his lord may well have been a deity. Scholars believe that there was a Canaanite deity named Zedek who was considered to be a champion of righteousness. (For further discussion, check out episodes 166-167 of the Naked Bible Podcast).
Melchizedek translates to "my king is Zedek" or "my king is righteous." In Melchizedek's case, his king was apparently God Most High, and he may have known God as "the righteous one."
Gen 14:18-20 tells us just enough to arouse our curiosity. Here was an early Canaanite king of Jerusalem who was also acknowledged by Abram as a priest of the true God. Josephus (at the end of War 6) would later write that Melchizedek was the founder of Jerusalem and served at a temple there.
Melchizedek is mentioned once more in the Old Testament, in Ps 110:4. In Psalm 110 David records words spoken by God to someone he refers to as "my lord". Jesus would later identify David's lord as the promised Messiah (Matt 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44) and used Psalm 110 to explain to the sages of his day that the Messiah was much more than just a human descendant of David. Hebrews 1:13 cites Ps 110:1 as one of a number of instances in the Psalms in which God is addressing Jesus the Messiah.
In Ps 110:4, the LORD, still addressing David's lord, says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
It is interesting to consider how David might have thought about Ps 110:4. It may be that after David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he thought of himself as following in the footsteps of Melchizedek. For example, during the celebration that accompanied the bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David king of Salem took on a kind of priestly role and "blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins (1 Chron 16:2-3).
The author of the book of Hebrews builds on Ps 110:4 in Heb 5,7 to bring out what it means for the Messiah to be a priest "according to the order of Melchizedek". He argues that Melchizedek's priesthood didn't depend on Melchizedek's ancestry. Melchizedek was a priest of God because God said that he was. The Bible says nothing about his ancestry, or about anyone succeeding him in his priesthood. So Jesus, even though he was from the tribe of Judah rather than the priestly tribe of Levi, could be this type of priest---again, because God proclaimed him to be in Ps 110:4.
Furthermore, the author of Hebrews argues that Melchizedek comes before Levi, so his priesthood is in fact superior to the Levitical priesthood. This kind of priesthood is therefore appropriate for the Messiah.
In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 6, 2020, David Waddle reflected further on this subject.
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