“This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means ‘king of justice,’ and king of Salem means ‘king of peace.’ There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.
“Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.
“The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.”
If you are wondering who Melchizedek is or what made him so great, I have bad news for you. We know very little about him besides what is in this passage and what we know from Genesis 14 and a brief mention in Psalm 110. Clearly the Jewish readers of this letter would have had a better understanding of him than we do. Today’s passage gives us hints. We know he was the first mentioned priest in the Bible, and it is also the first example of the concept of tithing (giving 10% to God). There are parallels drawn between him and Jesus, but the author does not seem to be saying that Melchizedek was Jesus in disguise.
Beyond the “Who is Melchizedek?” question, let’s ask ourselves what the author is getting at in bringing him up at all. It seems that today’s verses are a set up for what we will read as we continue on in the chapter. The set up uses well-known Jewish history to explore the role of priests and how this has played out over time. There’s mention of the humanity (and frailty) of human priests other than Melchizedek, and there’s mention of the power of priests to give supernatural blessing. It’s a unique role set up by God for a purpose, and we’ll find out more tomorrow about the significance of that.
If we ground ourselves in the earthly priesthood, we set ourselves to see what the Jewish readers of this letter would see: Jesus isn’t like anyone else. Humans fail. They can only do so much. Supernatural, eternal power has to come from someone greater. Remember that Jewish priests were the mechanism by which God’s people could fulfill the law. If Jewish priests are mere mortals, then what does that mean about their power to enact eternally significant change? Keep that in mind as we continue to explore.