That topic is fascinating to me and it’s crossed my mind to create something like it - but time just always gets away from me.
Regarding Noah, I’ve wondered the same. It would be interesting to know those facts.
I’m still trying to figure out who Melchizedek is.
Is he Shem?
Is he the Pre-Incarnate Christ?
Somebody else?
Melchizedek has got to be THE most enigmatic of all Biblical figures.
The New English Translation (which I like because of its COPIOUS footnotes) tags Melchizedek with this entry in Genesis 14:18:
“Salem is traditionally identified as the Jebusite stronghold of old Jerusalem. Accordingly, there has been much speculation about its king. Though some have identified him with the preincarnate Christ or with Noah’s son Shem, it is far more likely that Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative.”
Descriptions in Hebrews 7 deepen the matter:
“Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time.”
— Heb. 7:3
“But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise.”
— Heb. 7:6
The lack of shared ancestry — that couples very intriguingly with the lack of known pedigree.
I have heard ONE detailed teaching that zeroed in on the word translated “like” in Hebrews 7:3 noting that it is Greek for “similar to” NOT “the same as.” So the phrase “like the son of God” would not have been understood by Greek readers to be a claim of identity with “the son of God”; that is to say, Greeks familiar with “the son of God” as a referent to Jesus would clearly understand that the author of Hebrews was saying Melchizeidek is LIKE Jesus, not that he IS Jesus.
I think it was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPJFjk4qw5Q
Whatever else she may be, Melissa Scott is a very able linguist, and her explanation in this video seems pretty solid. I hope you enjoy it as I did.