In Friday's study we met a man named Melchizedek who was both a king and a priest. He came out to meet and to bless Abram after Abram and his men defeated the kings who had taken Lot and some of the other people of Sodom hostage. If Melchizedek were only mentioned this one time in the Bible, there would be no need for us to study him further. After all, the king of Sodom also came out to meet Abram in yesterday's passage, and we aren't concerned with his identity. But both King David and the Apostle Paul had important things to say about Melchizedek, things that link him inextricably with the kingship and the priesthood of the Messiah.
Moses, the author of Genesis, told us in yesterday's passage that Melchizedek was king of Salem (later called Jerusalem) and that he was a priest of God Most High. His name is derived from two Hebrew words. The first is "melek" which means "king". The second is "tsedeq" which means "righteousness". This gives him the title of "King Of Righteousness". In addition, the word "Salem" is a form of "shalom" which means "peace". This bestows the title of "King Of Peace" upon this mysterious man. I tend to think that "Melchizedek" was not this man's proper name but a title by which he was called, but we can't know for certain either way.
Now we are going to begin to consider what I feel are the top three theories regarding the identity of Melchizedek. There are far more theories in existence than just these three, but these three are the most logical and hold the most merit, in my own opinion and in the opinion of the mainstream scholars of our day. I'm no scholar, but some of the theories out there regarding Melchizedek are just bizarre, having no Biblical basis upon which to stand and having very little logic upon which to stand.
The first of the three theories is that Melchizedek is actually Shem, one of Noah's sons and the son through whom the Messiah will come. There is an ancient Hebrew story that puts forth this theory, so there is a basis from which to draw this conclusion. Shem lived to be 600 years old, and he would have still been alive during the lifetime of Abram, although he would have been well into his 400s.
There is a good reason for supposing this man may have been Shem, but there is a good reason for concluding he is not. The good reason goes like this: before the Levitical priesthood was established, the head of each family fulfilled the role of king and priest for the entire family. This man would perform sacrifices for the family and offer up prayers to the Lord on their behalf. In the first chapter of the book of Job, we find Job performing the duties of priest for his family. Job is believed to have been alive at around the same time as Abram, so we know this tradition existed in Abram's day. Out of Noah's three sons, Shem would have been the head of the family and the priest of the family. The oldest living member of each clan in those days was called a "king" over the clan, plus this same man interceded with the Lord on behalf of his clan; therefore, a man could be both a king and a priest in those days. After the priesthood was established, priests were forbidden to be kings and vice versa. Only men of the line of Levi could be priests. Only men of the line of Judah could be kings.
Speaking of family lines, this brings us to the reason why it's highly unlikely that Shem and Melchizedek are the same man. The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Hebrews that the family lineage of Melchizedek is not known. When he speaks of this mysterious man who suddenly stepped onto the pages of the Bible, he says Melchizedek was "without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God". (Hebrews 7:3) No one could accuse Shem of having no known genealogy. The identity of his parents were known. The identity of his descendant were known. The Bible will eventually provide us with Shem's family line all the way down to the Lord Jesus Christ. None of Shem's genealogy was lost due to the passage of time. I think Abram, and also Moses, would have known if Melchizedek were Shem and I believe they would have told us.
Tomorrow we are going to move on to the second theory, which is that Melchizedek was an Old Testament appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ. There are other appearances of Christ in the Old Testament, appearances in which He looks like a man to those with whom He is interacting, though He is generally referred to as "the angel of the Lord" in those instances. But tomorrow we are going to study this theory, which has a great deal of sound Biblical basis to back it up, and we are going to look at both the reasons for and against believing Melchizedek is Christ.
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