Category:Melchizedek

Melchizedek is sometimes spelled Melchisedek.

'''Genesis 14:18 - 14;20

'''14:10. Now the woodland vale had many pits of slime. The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah turned their backs, and were overthrown there: and they that remained, fled to the mountain.'''

Of slime. Bituminis. . .This was a kind of pitch, which served for mortar in the building of Babel, Genesis 11:3, and was used by Noah in pitching the ark.

14:11. They took all the substance of the Sodomites, and Gomorrahites, and all their victuals, and went their way:

14:12. Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and his substance.

14:13. Behold one, that had escaped, told Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt in the vale of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner: for these had made a league with Abram.

14:14. Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, well appointed: and pursued them to Dan.

14:15. Dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night, and defeated them: and pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

14:16. He brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with his substance, the women also, and the people.

14:17. The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him in the vale of Shaveh, which is the king's vale.

14:18. But Melchizedek, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God,

14:19. Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created Heaven and earth.

'''14:20. Blessed be the most high God, by Whose protection, the enemies are in your hands. He gave him the tithes of all.'''

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Melchizedek - King of righteousness, the king of Salem (q.v.). All we know of him is recorded in Genesis 14:18. He is subsequently mentioned only once in the Old Testament, in Psalms 110:4. The typical significance of his history is set forth in detail in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 7. The apostle there points out the superiority of his priesthood to that of Aaron in these several respects, (1.) Even Abraham paid Melchizedek tithes; (2.) Melchizedek blessed Abraham; (3.) Melchizedek is the type of a Priest who lives for ever; (4.) Levi, yet unborn, paid Melchizedek tithes in the person of Abraham; (5.) the permanence of his priesthood in Christ implied the abrogation of the Levitical system; (6.) Melchizedek was made priest not without an oath; and (7.) Melchizedek's priesthood can neither be transmitted nor interrupted by death: "this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." The question as to who this mysterious personage was has given rise to a great deal of modern speculation. It is an old tradition among the Jews that he was Shem, the son of Noah, who may have survived to this time. Melchizedek was a Canaanitish prince, a worshipper of the true God, and in his peculiar history and character an instructive type of our Lord, the great High Priest (Hebrews 5:6, Hebrews 5:7; Hebrews 6:20). One of the Amarna tablets is from Ebed-Tob, king of Jerusalem, the successor of Melchizedek, in which he claims the very attributes and dignity given to Melchizedek in the Epistle to the Hebrews.