Lesson 11 Hebrews 7:1-3 New King James Version

7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” ³ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

First Impression?

The group discussed, compared to Christ, feels like high priest, Abraham’s faithfulness, no beginning or end, and something of worth to Abraham. I read past these three verses and was overwhelmed with the complexity of the passage and what Melchizedek meant to the whole of Christianity.

I moved on to the actual story of Melchizedek to dig deeper.

Genesis 14 18-20

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said:

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰ And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he gave him ^[f]a tithe of all.

 

I looked up Salem and found it only used once in Psalm 76:2, where it seems to just be short for Jerusalem.

 

So based on verse 2, I wonder if Melchizedek means King of Righteousness as King of Salem means King of Peace. Thoughts?

• The group seemed to see where I was pointing and thought it might be his title or his name or just one of his characteristics.

I have thought that Melchizedek was Christ in His godly form before He came to live with us.  Thoughts?

• I got both a yes and at least one no from the group on this one. We got sidetracked on the theory that Melchizedek was Shem who was the oldest living man at this point in time. The example of a father being the intercessor for his family leads some credence to this theory and as does the fact that Abraham was so ready to give this person honor and a tithe. To me this puts the parts of verse three as not literal, but that happens occasionally in scripture.

Priest of the Most High God – The Jews focused on God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I have always thought that Abraham’s God was the God of his people before Abraham’s father left Ur of the Chaldeans. Noah, Shem, …Abram. Did all the descendants of Noah and Shem worship God straight through to Abram?

• Obviously some sinned (since they all did), but the real question is whether the worship of God was practiced by each of the generational first sons and each was seen as a priest in their own time of leadership or if the worship of God was among all the sons of Noah through the time of Abraham or Babel, or if Abraham’s faith was unique in the time after Enoch.

Priest – Was there a priest before Melchizedek?

• I saw no record of one.

Was there a priest between Melchizedek and Aaron?

• I saw no record of one.

The Most High God. Is there another?

• I believe there is only one and the title is not God over other Gods, but Infinitely powerful God.

Blessed Abraham. Can you explain the importance of this blessing? (without reading the rest of the chapter)

• My goal was to point out the covenant that Abraham would be the father of all nations and his descendent would be the Messiah.

Made like the Son of God. What do you make of this phrase?

• I still think this phrase means Melchizedek being “made like the Son of God” is the same as saying Melchizedek was Christ. The oddity is that other versions do not have the phrase “made like the Son of God” or even a similar one that matches the meaning. I did not follow through a word by word study of this part of the verse, but I am reinforced that we should never rely on one translation to set theology.

Bread and wine – What does our high priest use bread and wine for?

• Our high priest being Christ, He uses it to remind us that He gave His life and body and blood for us to receive salvation. We did not know if the time of Abraham meant the bread and wine was just a normal thing to do when greeting one another, or the high priest, or if it was direct reference to the sacrifice that Christ would have to make and the symbols He would use to have us remember it by. I like to think it was a direct reference to Christ, but…

Tithe – Does this just mean 10% or does it have a more spiritual meaning?

• It is of course a spiritual thing and a 10% thing, and it is just a small part of our duty to thank God for our blessings.

These verses did not really set up an end to the lesson well, but time put this as a stopping point. We will continue this passage before finding many big conclusions.