Melchizedek: The Mysterious High Priest of God

A Call To Study
Sometimes I write blogs to compel others to study and research for themselves, the things that I believe, or find interesting. The topic here and characters related are often easily overlooked, but ultimately significant in establishing our view of Christ, and His many roles fulfilled in His life and now, even as we speak.

A Priest Not of Man
There is an interesting Biblical figure, mentioned only three times (2 OT, 1 NT), who appears at the very least to be a righteous priest of a non-levitical priesthood and possibly is an archetype of Christ or Old Testament Christophany. His name is written in our English Bibles as "Melchizedek." His first appearance is in Genesis 14:18-20.

Interestingly, the Hebrew breakdown of his name, Malki Tzedek is translated as "King is Righteousness." When we consider as well that the elements used to minister to Abram after his battle in Genesis 14 are bread and wine, it is difficult not to connect this character with Christ.

Melchizedek comes to Abram as the King of Salem (which is in what would become Jerusalem-site of Christ's future kingdom). Salem in Hebrew is transliterated to "Shalom" which is peace. So we could also rightly call him the "King of Peace." "Shalem" is another Hebrew transliteration meaning perfect or whole.

King David Prophesies
When David writes Psalm 110:4, we see another prophetic mention of Melchizedek. David is prophesying about Christ, the coming messiah, and says that He will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The context of Psalm 110:1-4 is that David moves into the realm of prophesy in the midst of writing, and becomes predictive of Christ before transferring thought back to his normal writing. This occurs many times in the Old Testament, as Christ is gradually revealed through the kings and prophets' writings as they are Holy Spirit inspired. We know that the Old Testament's purpose is the revealing of Christ, so this fits well within that context.

New Testament Mention
Finally, we see in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 5:6, that God has set Christ as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The reason this is interesting is that based on even a simple look at the Old and New Testaments, the Levites were God's chosen priests to minister to Him. The Levitical priesthood was not even established until Moses' time. So, when we see Abram (prior to God renaming him Abraham), meeting a priest of the most high God, long before Moses and the Levitical priesthood, it should cause us to examine closely.

The Old Testament is filled with appearances that can be considered Christophanies or Archetypes of Christ. The entirety of the Old Testament is to prophesy and establish Christ as Messiah for God's people, and to look to the time (in the New Covenant) where the peoples' sins would be wiped clean, not just covered (as they were with the sacrificial system).

Christ is our great prophet, priest and King, and this is a great place to reference his God-given high priesthood. He is not in a priesthood of men (Levitical) but in this mysterious order based on Melchizedek.

Closing
Was Melchizedek literally Christ? It is hard to say. We can see the interesting nature of this mysterious Biblical character, and certainly draw a significant connection to Christ. Though his name is mentioned only three times Biblically, Melchizedek is an important figure pointing to Christ.

Christians serve a living God, who is active in Heaven even now on our behalf, and who understands even our most terrible temptations, as he suffered under every temptation in the fullest, yet did not give in to sin.

Related Verses (NIV-Emphasis Mine)
I will close with some verses related to this discussion, and encourage everyone to investigate for themselves this wonderful preview of Christ found in the Old Testament writing. We see that even as far back as Genesis (beginning with Genesis 3:15 and the first prophesy about Christ) that God's plan for salvation, was in place.

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was [is] the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram to the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand". And he (Abram?) gave him (Melchizedek?) tithe from all." Genesis 14:18-20


"The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.'" Psalm 110:4


"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,  Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16

" Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
'You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.'
And he says in another place,
'You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.' 
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 5:1-10