Melchizedek and Jesus
Introduction
Who is Melchizedek, this shadowy king who moves through the biblical story? He appears out of nowhere, blesses the father of the faithful, collects a tithe, lives at Mount Moriah, and then vanishes. Yet his name surfaces ten times across the Bible (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17). Those ten appearances fall into three places: Genesis, then Psalm 110 (which the New Testament quotes), and finally Hebrews. We will visit each site in turn, wrestle with what each passage says, and watch the portrait of Melchizedek come slowly into focus.
Read this way, the three texts are not three unrelated cameos but three stages of one revelation: Genesis shows us what Melchizedek does, Psalm 110 tells us who he is, and Hebrews discloses whom he resembles. We begin where he first appears on the stage.
Melchizedek in Genesis
In Genesis 13, Abram and Lot part ways and divide the land. In Genesis 14, trouble descends as Canaan is invaded by a coalition of four regional powers (Gen. 14:1). In response, a team of five kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, bands together to resist them (Gen. 14:2–3). The five are defeated, and Lot, dwelling near Sodom, is swept up and carried off as plunder (Gen. 14:12).
This is where Abram steps in. He arms his household, pursues the invading kings, defeats them, and brings Lot home (Gen. 14:14–16). Returning in victory, he is met by two kings bearing two very different proposals. One from the king of Salem; one from the king of Sodom (Gen. 14:17–21). Let’s take them one at a time.
First, who is the king of Salem? His name is Melchizedek, and he is not king only; he is also “priest of God Most High” (Gen. 14:18). This is before the law comes through Moses and before the Levitical priesthood associated with Aaron.
What is a priest of God for? A priest is one who brings people near to God (Heb. 5:1). The prophet moves from God toward the people, carrying the Word down to them. The priest moves from the people toward God, leading them up into his presence. So, when God sends Melchizedek out to meet Abram, the whole point of the meeting is to draw Abram near to God.
And what does the king of Salem offer (Gen. 14:19–20)? He offers bread and wine, and he pronounces upon Abram the blessing and reward of God Most High. Abram responds by honoring Melchizedek with a tithe. The only other figure in all of Scripture who is king and priest, and who is named King of Peace, is Jesus Christ. Melchizedek is the first to put flesh on Yahweh’s promise to bless Abram (Gen. 14:19). The last to confirm the blessing will be the Angel of Yahweh on the mountain (Gen. 22:15–19). The bracket is worth remembering.
Second, who is the king of Sodom? He is one of the five kings whom Abram has just delivered. His proposal is, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself” (Gen. 14:21). In other words, he offers Abram wealth.
The two proposals are a test of where Abram will look for his reward. Abram answers the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’” (Gen. 14:22–23). Notice the contrast. Sodom’s king offers possessions; Salem’s priest offers God Most High as Abram’s shield and very great reward. Abram refuses the lesser gift because he has already received the greater. He recognizes that wealth makes a wretched god, and he will not let it be said that the king of Sodom, rather than God Most High, made him great. The priest with bread and wine, not the king with plunder and pain, brings Abram to the One True Rewarder.
The next time Abraham crosses paths with Melchizedek is in Genesis 22, when God commands him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham is sent to the land of Moriah (Gen. 22:2). This is no anonymous wilderness. Moriah is where David will one day raise an altar (2 Sam. 24:18–24) and where Solomon will build the temple (2 Chron. 3:1). It is the high country of Jeru-salem, the very city over which Melchizedek reigns as king and priest (Gen. 14:18). Did the priest-king of that city know a sacrifice was being offered on his doorstep? As the priest in charge of sacrifice, surely he did. The reader can hardly avoid placing Melchizedek on the scene. And present too is the Angel of Yahweh (Gen. 22:11), who halts the knife and then pronounces upon obedient Abraham the promised blessing, the same blessing Melchizedek first spoke in Genesis 14:19, now spoken again.
Those who go on to read Psalm 110, Matthew 22, and Hebrews 7 find themselves wondering why Melchizedek and Jesus are ongoingly compared with each other. But we are taking this one passage at a time. In Genesis, Melchizedek is the priest who meets Abram with bread, wine, and blessing, who names Yahweh as the only true reward, and who stands at the hinge of the covenant promise. What Genesis leaves open, Psalm 110 begins to name.
Melchizedek in Psalm 110
In Psalm 110 the Holy One swears two oaths. In verse 1 he promises to make the enemies of “my Lord” a footstool. That is, he grants “my Lord” worldwide rule, with every enemy laid beneath his feet. In verse 4 he promises someone an eternal priesthood.
Two oaths. To whom are they sworn?
Take the first oath. To whom is the promise of Psalm 110:1 given?
“The Lord (YHVH) says to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’”
Yahweh makes a vow to “my Lord.” But who is “my Lord”? Jesus presses exactly this question on the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41–46:
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”
Jesus points out five things about Psalm 110. First, the psalm is David’s, spoken in the Spirit (Mt. 22:43). Second, “my Lord” is the Messiah (Mt. 22:42). Third, Yahweh swears an oath to this Messiah (Mt. 22:44). Fourth, the Messiah cannot be merely David’s son, for David calls him “Lord” (Mt. 22:45). Fifth, the Messiah is greater than David himself. This raises a question. What mortal son outranks his royal father? Only one who is no mere mortal. To call the Messiah “Lord” is to confess him as more than a man.
The Pharisees evidently granted that David spoke of the Messiah, for they had not a word of rebuttal (Mt. 22:46). Nor was Psalm 110 the only place they could have looked. The Old Testament already knew of a divine-human figure enthroned beside God:
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14)
Daniel envisions a heavenly throne room. The Ancient of Days presides while a figure rides the clouds of heaven, the action of deity in Scripture, and yet this same figure is “one like a son of man.” A divine-human being is granted a place beside God and given everlasting dominion over all the earth. When Daniel 7 is placed beside Psalm 110, a portrait emerges of a man enthroned next to God, a man who conquers the earth, a man who is somehow divine.
So what is Jesus claiming in Matthew 22? He is claiming to be the Messiah, the one David called “my Lord,” the divine man sent from the Father, the very figure Daniel saw coming on the clouds. This is no isolated outburst. Across the Gospels Jesus makes the claim of Messiahship in creative ways (Mt. 16:15ff; Mark 8:29; 14:61f; Jn. 4:25f). And in Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus makes this claim by referring to Psalm 110 and Melchizedek. So, the first oath of Psalm 110 belongs to the Son of God.
Now the second oath. To whom is the promise of Psalm 110:4 given?
“The Lord (YHVH) has sworn and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”
Here a difficulty emerges. Yahweh appoints someone a priest forever “after the order of Melchizedek.” What does that assume? Melchizedek’s priesthood must itself be everlasting, or there would be no eternal order to be ranked within. And if Melchizedek is already an eternal priest, how can Yahweh now install a second eternal priest beside him? Are we to imagine two rival everlasting priesthoods running side by side forever?
David Mitchell has argued that the Hebrew is better rendered, “You are a priest forever according to my decree, O Melchizedek.” This makes sense of the difficulty. There are not two eternal priests but one. And verse 4 supplies a name for the nameless “my Lord” of verse 1. It is Melchizedek to whom both oaths are sworn: universal dominion in verse 1, eternal priesthood in verse 4.
This clarifies what Genesis told us. Melchizedek is no random tribal king who happens to cross Abram’s path. He is the eternal priest-king who blessed Abram in Genesis 14:19 and met him again in Genesis 22. Genesis showed his office. Psalm 110 gives him an eternal throne and a name. How can an apparently mortal man receive such things? Hebrews takes up that question.
Melchizedek in Hebrews
“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 Abraham 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, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” (Hebrews 7:1–3)
Notice five things the author of Hebrews says.
First, Melchizedek is “without father or mother or genealogy” (v. 3). In a nation that prizes bloodlines, to have no recorded line at all is to stand outside the ordinary order of creatures.
Second, he has “neither beginning of days nor end of life” (v. 3). It’s not that Melchizedek’s birth and death go unrecorded. He says Melchizedek has neither birth nor death, which is the language of immortality.
Third, he “continues a priest forever” (v. 3). Mortal priests die and hand their office to a successor. This priest never vacates his office. The one who received Abram’s tithe is one “of whom it is testified that he lives” (Heb. 7:8), holding office “by the power of an indestructible life” (Heb. 7:16).
Fourth, he is “resembling the Son of God” (v. 3). That is, he is “having been made like the Son of God.” So Melchizedek appeared to Abram in the very likeness of the Son of God, bearing the Son’s own image. Curious minds want to know: who could resemble the Son of God with such exactness except the Son himself? Could it be that the Second Person of the Trinity manifested to Abram as Melchizedek, made for that hour in the likeness of the Son he eternally is?
Fifth, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, for the lesser is blessed by the greater and the patriarch paid him tithes (Heb. 7:4–7). But who outranks Abraham? Not Moses, Aaron, Joseph, or David. They all came from Abraham’s loins, and in a sense paid the tithe in him (Heb. 7:9–10). Not an angel, for angels are servants sent out for the elect (Heb. 1:14). The one greater than Abraham must be greater than the whole house that came from him. And that narrows the field to someone divine.
Gathered together, a single figure stands out. Melchizedek on earth is a divine man on earth. He brings salvation to Abram in the war of the kings (Gen. 14:17), sets before him bread and wine (Gen. 14:18), and presides over the mountain where a ram is provided to redeem Isaac (Gen. 22:12–14).
Recall that Jesus claims to have seen Abraham (Jn. 8:57f). When did this occur, if not in Genesis 14 through 22? This is why the writer of Hebrews can apply Psalm 110:4 to Jesus (Heb. 7:20–22), measuring the eternal salvation Jesus secures by the pattern of the priest-king who came before (Heb. 5:5–10).
Jesus is a priest forever (Heb. 4:14ff); so is Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20; 7:3). Neither holds’ office by genealogy, but by the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Each is made priest by a divine oath (Heb. 7:21). So unless we are prepared to confess two simultaneous eternal high priests, the question presses itself upon us: Is Melchizedek the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity? John Henry Newman believed so, saying, “Who is Melchizedek but our Lord and Saviour, and what is the Bread and Wine but the very feast which He has ordained?”
Three passages, one figure. Genesis gave us the priest with bread and wine. Psalm 110 gave him an eternal throne and the name “my Lord.” Hebrews names whom he resembles, the Son of God, because he is the Son of God. It appears the Son of God has been in the story all throughout the Old Testament, from the beginning.
Conclusion
The witness of Scripture is of a continual, visible manifestation of the divine Lord. God speaks the same yesterday, today, and forever, with the same authority, the same fresh breath, and the same vital power. His Word, unlike man’s word, emanates from the background of eternity.
The Second Person of the Trinity appears on earth under various other titles, including the Angel of Yahweh, or the Angel of Elohim, who is so closely identified with Yahweh that he speaks as Yahweh and receives the worship due to Yahweh alone. In passage after passage the Angel of the Lord simply is Yahweh present in person (Gen. 16:7–14; 21:17–19; 31:11–13; 32:24–30; Judg. 13:3–22; Mal. 3:1). Hosea names this Angel as Elohim (Hos. 12:3–4), and so does Jacob (Gen. 48:3–4, 15–16). In Genesis 15:1 “the word of Yahweh” (Hint hint, the Logos of John 1:1–2) comes to Abram in a vision. A vision is something seen: the Word leads him out, shows him the stars, and cuts covenant with him. In Genesis 18 three men appear at the oaks of Mamre; two are angels (Gen. 19:1), but the one who speaks with Abraham is Yahweh himself in human form (Gen. 18:1, 13, 22).
Since the New Testament tells us plainly that it is the Second Person of the Trinity whom the Father sends (Gal. 4:4–6), it stands to reason that the same Son is the one the Father sent in the Old. Who, then, is it that speaks with Abram across Genesis 14–22 (Jn. 8:57f)? Who speaks with Moses face to face (Ex. 33:11, 17)? Who appears at Shiloh (1 Sam. 3:21)? In each case the answer is the same.
Jesus was put to death because he claimed to be the Messiah. And that claim reached back through the whole of redemptive history. He claimed to be Melchizedek who blessed Abram (Mt. 22:41–46; Jn. 8:57f). He was the Angel-Messenger who led Israel out of Egypt in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21; 14:19; 23:20–23), the Rock that gave water (Ex. 17:6; Num. 20:11; 1 Cor. 10:4), and the one who appeared to Moses at the tent of meeting (Ex. 33:9–11). It raises questions all throughout the Old Testament. Who appeared to Joshua outside Jericho (Josh. 5:13–15)? Who stood in the sanctuary before Samuel (1 Sam. 3:21) and David (1 Chron. 21:16)?
We must not forget that the Second Person of the Trinity doesn’t show up for the first time in Matthew 1. He is the Logos sent from God, present at the very beginning of the story:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1–5)
And the line does not stop at Christ. In him the church is made “a kingdom and priests” (Rev. 5:10), a royal priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Pt. 2:5). Since Christ’s priesthood is the priesthood of Melchizedek, the church’s priesthood is no independent thing. It is a sharing in this. The priest who met Abram with bread and wine still meets his people at a table, still blesses, still draws them near to God. Melchizedek is not a random detour in the story. He was the Son of God, stepping for a moment into Abram’s road. And he has been walking it with his people ever since.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
Bibliography
David C. Mitchell, Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word (Campbell Publishers, 2021), 1-20, 51-71.
John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 7 (Hardpress, 2019), 172.
Who is Melchizedek, this shadowy king who moves through the biblical story? He appears out of nowhere, blesses the father of the faithful, collects a tithe, lives at Mount Moriah, and then vanishes. Yet his name surfaces ten times across the Bible (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17). Those ten appearances fall into three places: Genesis, then Psalm 110 (which the New Testament quotes), and finally Hebrews. We will visit each site in turn, wrestle with what each passage says, and watch the portrait of Melchizedek come slowly into focus.
Read this way, the three texts are not three unrelated cameos but three stages of one revelation: Genesis shows us what Melchizedek does, Psalm 110 tells us who he is, and Hebrews discloses whom he resembles. We begin where he first appears on the stage.
Melchizedek in Genesis
In Genesis 13, Abram and Lot part ways and divide the land. In Genesis 14, trouble descends as Canaan is invaded by a coalition of four regional powers (Gen. 14:1). In response, a team of five kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, bands together to resist them (Gen. 14:2–3). The five are defeated, and Lot, dwelling near Sodom, is swept up and carried off as plunder (Gen. 14:12).
This is where Abram steps in. He arms his household, pursues the invading kings, defeats them, and brings Lot home (Gen. 14:14–16). Returning in victory, he is met by two kings bearing two very different proposals. One from the king of Salem; one from the king of Sodom (Gen. 14:17–21). Let’s take them one at a time.
First, who is the king of Salem? His name is Melchizedek, and he is not king only; he is also “priest of God Most High” (Gen. 14:18). This is before the law comes through Moses and before the Levitical priesthood associated with Aaron.
What is a priest of God for? A priest is one who brings people near to God (Heb. 5:1). The prophet moves from God toward the people, carrying the Word down to them. The priest moves from the people toward God, leading them up into his presence. So, when God sends Melchizedek out to meet Abram, the whole point of the meeting is to draw Abram near to God.
And what does the king of Salem offer (Gen. 14:19–20)? He offers bread and wine, and he pronounces upon Abram the blessing and reward of God Most High. Abram responds by honoring Melchizedek with a tithe. The only other figure in all of Scripture who is king and priest, and who is named King of Peace, is Jesus Christ. Melchizedek is the first to put flesh on Yahweh’s promise to bless Abram (Gen. 14:19). The last to confirm the blessing will be the Angel of Yahweh on the mountain (Gen. 22:15–19). The bracket is worth remembering.
Second, who is the king of Sodom? He is one of the five kings whom Abram has just delivered. His proposal is, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself” (Gen. 14:21). In other words, he offers Abram wealth.
The two proposals are a test of where Abram will look for his reward. Abram answers the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’” (Gen. 14:22–23). Notice the contrast. Sodom’s king offers possessions; Salem’s priest offers God Most High as Abram’s shield and very great reward. Abram refuses the lesser gift because he has already received the greater. He recognizes that wealth makes a wretched god, and he will not let it be said that the king of Sodom, rather than God Most High, made him great. The priest with bread and wine, not the king with plunder and pain, brings Abram to the One True Rewarder.
The next time Abraham crosses paths with Melchizedek is in Genesis 22, when God commands him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham is sent to the land of Moriah (Gen. 22:2). This is no anonymous wilderness. Moriah is where David will one day raise an altar (2 Sam. 24:18–24) and where Solomon will build the temple (2 Chron. 3:1). It is the high country of Jeru-salem, the very city over which Melchizedek reigns as king and priest (Gen. 14:18). Did the priest-king of that city know a sacrifice was being offered on his doorstep? As the priest in charge of sacrifice, surely he did. The reader can hardly avoid placing Melchizedek on the scene. And present too is the Angel of Yahweh (Gen. 22:11), who halts the knife and then pronounces upon obedient Abraham the promised blessing, the same blessing Melchizedek first spoke in Genesis 14:19, now spoken again.
Those who go on to read Psalm 110, Matthew 22, and Hebrews 7 find themselves wondering why Melchizedek and Jesus are ongoingly compared with each other. But we are taking this one passage at a time. In Genesis, Melchizedek is the priest who meets Abram with bread, wine, and blessing, who names Yahweh as the only true reward, and who stands at the hinge of the covenant promise. What Genesis leaves open, Psalm 110 begins to name.
Melchizedek in Psalm 110
In Psalm 110 the Holy One swears two oaths. In verse 1 he promises to make the enemies of “my Lord” a footstool. That is, he grants “my Lord” worldwide rule, with every enemy laid beneath his feet. In verse 4 he promises someone an eternal priesthood.
Two oaths. To whom are they sworn?
Take the first oath. To whom is the promise of Psalm 110:1 given?
“The Lord (YHVH) says to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’”
Yahweh makes a vow to “my Lord.” But who is “my Lord”? Jesus presses exactly this question on the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41–46:
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”
Jesus points out five things about Psalm 110. First, the psalm is David’s, spoken in the Spirit (Mt. 22:43). Second, “my Lord” is the Messiah (Mt. 22:42). Third, Yahweh swears an oath to this Messiah (Mt. 22:44). Fourth, the Messiah cannot be merely David’s son, for David calls him “Lord” (Mt. 22:45). Fifth, the Messiah is greater than David himself. This raises a question. What mortal son outranks his royal father? Only one who is no mere mortal. To call the Messiah “Lord” is to confess him as more than a man.
The Pharisees evidently granted that David spoke of the Messiah, for they had not a word of rebuttal (Mt. 22:46). Nor was Psalm 110 the only place they could have looked. The Old Testament already knew of a divine-human figure enthroned beside God:
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14)
Daniel envisions a heavenly throne room. The Ancient of Days presides while a figure rides the clouds of heaven, the action of deity in Scripture, and yet this same figure is “one like a son of man.” A divine-human being is granted a place beside God and given everlasting dominion over all the earth. When Daniel 7 is placed beside Psalm 110, a portrait emerges of a man enthroned next to God, a man who conquers the earth, a man who is somehow divine.
So what is Jesus claiming in Matthew 22? He is claiming to be the Messiah, the one David called “my Lord,” the divine man sent from the Father, the very figure Daniel saw coming on the clouds. This is no isolated outburst. Across the Gospels Jesus makes the claim of Messiahship in creative ways (Mt. 16:15ff; Mark 8:29; 14:61f; Jn. 4:25f). And in Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus makes this claim by referring to Psalm 110 and Melchizedek. So, the first oath of Psalm 110 belongs to the Son of God.
Now the second oath. To whom is the promise of Psalm 110:4 given?
“The Lord (YHVH) has sworn and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”
Here a difficulty emerges. Yahweh appoints someone a priest forever “after the order of Melchizedek.” What does that assume? Melchizedek’s priesthood must itself be everlasting, or there would be no eternal order to be ranked within. And if Melchizedek is already an eternal priest, how can Yahweh now install a second eternal priest beside him? Are we to imagine two rival everlasting priesthoods running side by side forever?
David Mitchell has argued that the Hebrew is better rendered, “You are a priest forever according to my decree, O Melchizedek.” This makes sense of the difficulty. There are not two eternal priests but one. And verse 4 supplies a name for the nameless “my Lord” of verse 1. It is Melchizedek to whom both oaths are sworn: universal dominion in verse 1, eternal priesthood in verse 4.
This clarifies what Genesis told us. Melchizedek is no random tribal king who happens to cross Abram’s path. He is the eternal priest-king who blessed Abram in Genesis 14:19 and met him again in Genesis 22. Genesis showed his office. Psalm 110 gives him an eternal throne and a name. How can an apparently mortal man receive such things? Hebrews takes up that question.
Melchizedek in Hebrews
“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 Abraham 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, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” (Hebrews 7:1–3)
Notice five things the author of Hebrews says.
First, Melchizedek is “without father or mother or genealogy” (v. 3). In a nation that prizes bloodlines, to have no recorded line at all is to stand outside the ordinary order of creatures.
Second, he has “neither beginning of days nor end of life” (v. 3). It’s not that Melchizedek’s birth and death go unrecorded. He says Melchizedek has neither birth nor death, which is the language of immortality.
Third, he “continues a priest forever” (v. 3). Mortal priests die and hand their office to a successor. This priest never vacates his office. The one who received Abram’s tithe is one “of whom it is testified that he lives” (Heb. 7:8), holding office “by the power of an indestructible life” (Heb. 7:16).
Fourth, he is “resembling the Son of God” (v. 3). That is, he is “having been made like the Son of God.” So Melchizedek appeared to Abram in the very likeness of the Son of God, bearing the Son’s own image. Curious minds want to know: who could resemble the Son of God with such exactness except the Son himself? Could it be that the Second Person of the Trinity manifested to Abram as Melchizedek, made for that hour in the likeness of the Son he eternally is?
Fifth, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, for the lesser is blessed by the greater and the patriarch paid him tithes (Heb. 7:4–7). But who outranks Abraham? Not Moses, Aaron, Joseph, or David. They all came from Abraham’s loins, and in a sense paid the tithe in him (Heb. 7:9–10). Not an angel, for angels are servants sent out for the elect (Heb. 1:14). The one greater than Abraham must be greater than the whole house that came from him. And that narrows the field to someone divine.
Gathered together, a single figure stands out. Melchizedek on earth is a divine man on earth. He brings salvation to Abram in the war of the kings (Gen. 14:17), sets before him bread and wine (Gen. 14:18), and presides over the mountain where a ram is provided to redeem Isaac (Gen. 22:12–14).
Recall that Jesus claims to have seen Abraham (Jn. 8:57f). When did this occur, if not in Genesis 14 through 22? This is why the writer of Hebrews can apply Psalm 110:4 to Jesus (Heb. 7:20–22), measuring the eternal salvation Jesus secures by the pattern of the priest-king who came before (Heb. 5:5–10).
Jesus is a priest forever (Heb. 4:14ff); so is Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20; 7:3). Neither holds’ office by genealogy, but by the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Each is made priest by a divine oath (Heb. 7:21). So unless we are prepared to confess two simultaneous eternal high priests, the question presses itself upon us: Is Melchizedek the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity? John Henry Newman believed so, saying, “Who is Melchizedek but our Lord and Saviour, and what is the Bread and Wine but the very feast which He has ordained?”
Three passages, one figure. Genesis gave us the priest with bread and wine. Psalm 110 gave him an eternal throne and the name “my Lord.” Hebrews names whom he resembles, the Son of God, because he is the Son of God. It appears the Son of God has been in the story all throughout the Old Testament, from the beginning.
Conclusion
The witness of Scripture is of a continual, visible manifestation of the divine Lord. God speaks the same yesterday, today, and forever, with the same authority, the same fresh breath, and the same vital power. His Word, unlike man’s word, emanates from the background of eternity.
The Second Person of the Trinity appears on earth under various other titles, including the Angel of Yahweh, or the Angel of Elohim, who is so closely identified with Yahweh that he speaks as Yahweh and receives the worship due to Yahweh alone. In passage after passage the Angel of the Lord simply is Yahweh present in person (Gen. 16:7–14; 21:17–19; 31:11–13; 32:24–30; Judg. 13:3–22; Mal. 3:1). Hosea names this Angel as Elohim (Hos. 12:3–4), and so does Jacob (Gen. 48:3–4, 15–16). In Genesis 15:1 “the word of Yahweh” (Hint hint, the Logos of John 1:1–2) comes to Abram in a vision. A vision is something seen: the Word leads him out, shows him the stars, and cuts covenant with him. In Genesis 18 three men appear at the oaks of Mamre; two are angels (Gen. 19:1), but the one who speaks with Abraham is Yahweh himself in human form (Gen. 18:1, 13, 22).
Since the New Testament tells us plainly that it is the Second Person of the Trinity whom the Father sends (Gal. 4:4–6), it stands to reason that the same Son is the one the Father sent in the Old. Who, then, is it that speaks with Abram across Genesis 14–22 (Jn. 8:57f)? Who speaks with Moses face to face (Ex. 33:11, 17)? Who appears at Shiloh (1 Sam. 3:21)? In each case the answer is the same.
Jesus was put to death because he claimed to be the Messiah. And that claim reached back through the whole of redemptive history. He claimed to be Melchizedek who blessed Abram (Mt. 22:41–46; Jn. 8:57f). He was the Angel-Messenger who led Israel out of Egypt in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21; 14:19; 23:20–23), the Rock that gave water (Ex. 17:6; Num. 20:11; 1 Cor. 10:4), and the one who appeared to Moses at the tent of meeting (Ex. 33:9–11). It raises questions all throughout the Old Testament. Who appeared to Joshua outside Jericho (Josh. 5:13–15)? Who stood in the sanctuary before Samuel (1 Sam. 3:21) and David (1 Chron. 21:16)?
We must not forget that the Second Person of the Trinity doesn’t show up for the first time in Matthew 1. He is the Logos sent from God, present at the very beginning of the story:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1–5)
And the line does not stop at Christ. In him the church is made “a kingdom and priests” (Rev. 5:10), a royal priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Pt. 2:5). Since Christ’s priesthood is the priesthood of Melchizedek, the church’s priesthood is no independent thing. It is a sharing in this. The priest who met Abram with bread and wine still meets his people at a table, still blesses, still draws them near to God. Melchizedek is not a random detour in the story. He was the Son of God, stepping for a moment into Abram’s road. And he has been walking it with his people ever since.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
Bibliography
David C. Mitchell, Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word (Campbell Publishers, 2021), 1-20, 51-71.
John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 7 (Hardpress, 2019), 172.
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