Mechizedek, King of Salem

There is much speculation about Melchizedek, including a widely held notion that He was an incarnation of God, a view advanced by thirteen fragments found with the dead sea scrolls of Qumran. There is no theological support for this idea, but no one doubts that He was a myserious and significant figure.

Our best record of Melchizedek is found in Hebrews 7, which declares Jesus as a priest of an "order", the order of Melchidekek. This has precedence over the Levitical order and was esteemed by Abram.

We know from Hebrews 6 that Melchizedek was the king of Salem, the original king of peace. Hebrews 7 compounds the mystery surrounding the man, by indicating that he was without father or mother (which arguably meant there was merely no record of his lineage) and without beginning or end of days (alluding to his sudden appearance and disappearance in biblical records).

Abram esteemed Melchizedek so highly that he worshipped Him and paid a trubute (tithe) to Him of the spoils taken from Chedarloamer. This implies that He worshipped the true God, something which was probably fairly commonplace at the time. He was also the original King of Jerusalem and a type of Christ, the last and ultimate king and priest of the same city.

Finally the priest, whose name means "My King is righteous", served bread and wine to Abram and then blessed him. Jesus instituted the same covenant meal, but the fact that Melchizedek blessed Abram suggests a very significant person, for biblically, the less is blessed by the greater.