MELCHIZEDEK mĕl kĭz’ ə dek (מַלְכִּי־צֶ֨דֶק׃֙; LXX Μελχισεδεκ; meaning king of righteousness). This priest-king is mentioned in Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4; and Hebrews 5:6-11; 6:20-7:28.
1. Genesis 14:18-20. He is the king of Salem and priest of El Elyon, who brought Abram bread and wine, blessed him and received a tithe from him after Abram had defeated Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.
Salem is best identified with Jerusalem on the basis of (1) Psalm 76:2, (2) the early mention of the city in the Tell el-Amarna letters (14th cent. b.c.) and Assyrian inscrs., long before it became an Israelite city, as Uru-salem, Uru-salimmu, (3) the Targumim, and (4) the Genesis Apocryphon.
It is noteworthy that the author of Hebrews does not mention any typology in connection with the bread and wine. By offering these refreshments Melchizedek expressed his friendship and perhaps his religious kinship with Abram.
Most critics regard Melchizedek as a Canaanite priest because both elements of the name he serves, El Elyon, occur as names of specific deities, the first in Ugaritic (M. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts) and the second in Phoen.; the Aram. inscr. from Syria combines the two into a compound (E. A. Speiser, Anchor Bible: Genesis [1964], 104). In addition, many critics regard both Genesis 14:18-20 and Psalm 110:4 as a piece of syncretism whereby the pre-Davidic kingship and this Canaanite worship of El Elyon were linked with Yahwism and the founding of the Davidic dynasty to foster the emergence of Jerusalem as Israel’s cultic center. These views, however, must be rejected for they presuppose that Scripture is deceptive and that man’s hypothetical historical reconstructions are more trustworthy than the inspired Word of God.
On the contrary Scripture equates El Elyon with Yahweh. Melchizedek regarded El Elyon as the creator of matter, the cosmos (Gen 14:19), a concept foreign to the polytheistic religions of the ancient Near E which did not distinguish spirit from matter and therefore worshiped the elements of the cosmos. Moreover, it is clear that Abram regarded Melchizedek as worshiping the same God as he. By unhesitatingly giving Melchizedek a tithe of everything (v. 20) the Yahwist, Abram, not only showed his support of this priest-king and his sanctuary but also publicly demonstrated that he recognized him as a person of higher spiritual rank than he, a patriarchal priest. By contrast Abram declines a gift from the king of Sodom to indicate publicly that he has no theological or spiritual affiliation with him. Also, by calling Yahweh (v. 22; found in MT, but not in Samaritan, LXX or Pesh.) El Elyon, Abram emphasized to the king of Sodom that his God and Melchizedek’s are one and the same. Finally, the OT elsewhere uses this name as an epithet for Yahweh (Pss 7:17; 47:2; 57:2; 78:56).
2. Psalm 110:4. Here a Davidic king is acclaimed by divine oath “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” F. F. Bruce stated that the background for this acclamation is provided by David’s conquest of Jerusalem c. 1000 b.c., by virtue of which David and his house became heirs to Melchizedek’s dynasty of priest-kings (NBD, 806). Be that as it may, it is sure that David had in view the One greater than himself when he called Him lord in v. 1 (cf. Mark 12:35ff.). The acclaim must refer to the Lord Jesus who was Son of God as well as son of David.
3. Hebrews 5:6-11; 6:20-7:28. In order to demonstrate that Christ superseded the Aaronic priesthood the writer of Hebrews first demonstrated that Melchizedek is a type of Christ by noting that both are a king of righteousness as well as a king of peace, both are unique (“without descent”), and both abide a priest continually (Heb 7:1-3). He then proceeded to demonstrate that the order of Melchizedek is superior to the order of Aaron: (1) because Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, the father of Levi, for he blessed Abraham and received tithes from him (vv. 4-10); (2) because David predicted that the order of Melchizedek would replace the Levitical priesthood, showing that the latter was imperfect (vv. 11-19); (3) because of the divine oath behind it (vv. 20-22); (4) and because of its permanence (vv. 23-25).
Attempts to identify Melchizedek with the patriarch Shem, an angel, a power or virtue or influence of God, the Holy Ghost, the Son of God, the Messiah, etc. are unauthorized additions and irreconcilable with the argument of Hebrews. It is an essential part of this argument that Melchizedek is given no pedigree and that he was a man made like unto the Son of God (cf. W. Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible, II [1863], 315).
Melchizedek is used by Philo and in a pesher found in Qumran Cave 11 in a way different from the typological exegesis of Hebrews.
Bibliography Commentaries on Genesis, Psalms and Hebrews; for ancient works see W. Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible, II (1863), 315; for extensive bibliography on Hebrews see M. de Jonge and A. S. van der Woude, “11Q Melchizedek and the New Testament from Qumran Cave 11,” NTS, XII (1966), 318, n. 3; for bibliography on 11Q Melchizedek see H. H. Rowley, “Melchizedek and Zadok,” Festschrift für A. Bertholet, ed. W. Baumgartner et alii (1950), 161ff.; A. R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel (1955), 31-46, 120-122; O. Cullmann, The Christology of the New Testament (1959), 38ff.; Merrill P. Miller, “The Function of Isa 61:1-2 in 11Q Melchizedek, JBL, LXXXVIII (1969), 467.