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“For this Melchizedek– King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything; first, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace” (Hebrews 7:1-2 HCSB).
There are several points of similarity between Melchizedek and Christ that are worthy of a closer look. For example…
- Melchizedek was the king of Salem (a word that means “peace”). Romans 5:1 tells us, “…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- The name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” 1 Corinthians 1:30 says Jesus “…has become… our righteousness.”
- Melchizedek was a priest. As we read earlier in Hebrews 4:14, “we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.”
- When the Roman governor Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “It is as you say” (Matthew 27:11). So, like Melchizedek, Jesus is both a priest and a king as well.
- Melchizedek was a priest, but he fell outside the ancestral lineage of those who were called to serve God in that capacity. In a similar manner, Jesus’ human genealogy did not derive from the priestly tribe of Levi. The author of Hebrews will address that subject at greater length in verses 14-19.
- As we’ll see in the following verse, Melchizedek is seemingly “…without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” In much the same way, Jesus is the eternal Son of God who has no beginning of days nor end of life in regard to His divine nature.
- In Hebrews 7:4, our author will invite us to consider how great Melchizedek was. Titus 2:13 similarly references “…the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
- The following verse will also tell us that Melchizedek held a position that was superior to that of the famous Old Testament patriarch Abraham. This recalls the following exchange between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day: “Then the Jews said to Him… ‘Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?’ …Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'” (John 8:52-53, 58).
These comparative qualities will be helpful to remember as our author engages this subject throughout the rest of this chapter.