This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness.” Then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time. Consider how great Melchizedek was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder.
After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High— and he blessed Abram and said: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek."
Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square8:22
Significance
Melchizedek's superiority to Levitical priesthood demonstrated: (1) Abraham gave him tithes, (2) blessed Abraham, (3) name meanings ("king of righteousness" and "king of peace"), (4) scriptural silence about genealogy taken as typological—"like the Son of God." Establishes basis for Christ's superior, eternal priesthood. The hermeneutical move is sophisticated—what Scripture doesn't say about Melchizedek (no genealogy, no beginning/end) is interpreted typologically to prefigure Christ's eternal priesthood. Since Levi "was still in the loin of his ancestor" when Melchizedek blessed him, even the Levitical priesthood acknowledged Melchizedek's superiority through Abraham's tithe-giving.
