From: Genesis 14:18-20
Melchizedek, King and Priest
“”Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
[20] and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
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Commentary:
14:18-20. After the account of Abraham’s victory over the kings of the North,
there is this little insertion, apparently, that records a piece of tradition which
shows Abraham’s connexion with Jerusalem and its king. In the context of the
story of the patriarchs, this episode implies recognition by the local nations (Sa-
lem, Sodom) of the blessing they receive through Abraham (cf. 12:3). In the spe-
cific case of Salem, we get a glimpse of the fact that the true God, the Creator
of heaven and earth, was worshipped there, under the name of El-Elyon, or God
Most High, and also that he is acknowledged by Abraham as the Lord himself,
“maker of heaven and earth” (cf. 14:22). The bread and wine are first-fruits of the
land, offered in sacrifice as a sign of recognition of the Creator. In the name of
El-Elyon Abraham receives Melchizedek’s blessing, thereby making Jerusalem
the place from where the Lord imparts his blessing (cf. Ps 134:3). It is also sig-
nificant that Abraham gives the king of Jerusalem a tenth of everything, implying
that he had a right to receive it.
In Jewish tradition the city of Salem and the figure of Melchizedek acquired a
special meaning. It identifies Salem with Jerusalem or Zion, where the Lord
dwells: “His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion,”
Psalm 76:3 acclaims. Melchizedek is regarded as having a priesthood earlier
and greater than that of Aaron; cf. when the King Messiah is praised: “You are
a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). In the New Testament,
the mysterious priestly figure of Melchizedek is portrayed as a type of the priest-
hood of Christ, for Christ is truly the eternal priest even though he (like Melchize-
dek) does not belong to the priesthood of Aaron. “For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings and blessed him; and to him apportioned a tenth part of everything.
He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also
king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy,
and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God
he continues a priest forever” (Heb 7:1-3).
In the light of all this, Christian liturgy has seen a prefiguring of the Eucharist in
the bread and wine offered by Melchizedek (cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Pra-
yer I); tradition sees him as a figure of priests of the New Law.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.