Mystifying character in Old Testament

Without a scriptural hint that a mysterious personage was about to make an appearance in scripture, he suddenly appeared in Genesis 14.  Abraham had just returned from a hard fought, but victorious battle against four Canaanite kings who plundered the land and captured Abraham’s nephew, Lot. In retaliation, Abraham and his fighting men overwhelmed the enemy kings and rescued Lot. 

Following the battle, the King of Sodom went out to greet the triumphant Abraham. At that moment, a mystifying figure appeared. He was identified as the ‘King of Salem’ (pre-Israelite Jerusalem) and the ‘Priest of the Most High God.’ This impressive priest- king presented bread and wine to Abraham and his weary warriors. Then, he bestowed a blessing on Abraham in the name of the Most High God and praised God for giving Abraham a victory in battle. To return the gesture, Abraham presented the priest-king with a tithe of his possessions. Abraham then returned all the confiscated food supplies and captives to the kings.

This priest–king who blessed Abraham later returned to scripture when an unknown author brought him back into focus in the Book of Hebrews. The Hebrews author refers to him as the ‘King of Righteousness’ and wrote that he had no father or mother, no birth, no death, and no genealogy. He was likened to the ‘Son of God.’ The king-priest was greater than Abraham because the scripture declares that “the one who blessed another is greater than the one who is blessed.”  

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Not only was the priest-king greater than Abraham, he was greater than Levi, the leader of tribe of Israel chosen to lead the Levites in the priesthood. The tithe that Abraham presented to the priest- king was a precursor to the tithe that was later instituted by the Law of Moses, which required the Levitical priests (descendants of Levi) to collect from the Israelites a tithe amounting to 10 percent of their crops and animals. This tithe was used to support the Temple and the tribe of Levites, who inherited no arable land in God’s division of Canaan. 

The mystery character who blessed Abraham was named Melchizedek, who was the prototype of the High Priest who was to come, namely Jesus Christ. No earthly priest can “remain a priest forever,” and no mere human is “without father or mother.” If Genesis 14 described a theophany—and some scholars believe it does–then the pre-incarnate Christ came in the person of Melchizedek to bless Abraham.  Centuries later, this same Jesus shed His sinless blood at Calvary to reconcile sinners back to God so that we might have an eternal home with Him—a place where there will be no sorrow, crying, pain, or death.