Genesis 14:17¶ And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the
slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the
valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. 18 And Melchizedek king of
Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most
high God. 19 And he blessed him, and
said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and
earth: 20 And blessed be the most high
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes
of all.
In verse 10 the king of Sodom fell along with the
king of Gomorrah. But this second king, which I mentioned earlier, met Abram as
he returned with the people and goods that he rescued from the invading kings.
The word slaughter is used here
underscoring the complete and utter destruction of the invading forces.
Certainly, back in those kingdoms they would have realized that they needed to
send a larger army to subdue their former tribute ‘cities’ in Canaan but then,
the most important of these cities are about to be destroyed by God, which we
will learn in a few chapters.
Melchizedek, king and priest (remember what I said
before about ancient kings) of the most high God, rather than one of the minor
deities, gods, or demons of the Canaanite cities, blesses Abram publicly as
God’s man doing God’s work belonging to God. He does this in the name of the
God who owns all things. He also acknowledges that it was God who delivered
Abram’s enemies into his hand. Abram gave him a tithe or a tenth of what he had
taken. Most Jewish commentators, according to Strong, say Salem is the
same as Jerusalem, with Salem meaning peace.
I want to insert here that there are several
things mentioned early on in the Bible that show that the true worship of God
was known but was becoming corrupted. Abram built an altar, Job offered
sacrifices for sin, Abimelech knew adultery was a sin against God worthy of
death, Noah brought clean and not clean
animals on the Ark long before the Law given to Moses was made apparent. God
must have had a standard that the ancients knew but as religion became more and
more corrupted He renewed the understanding of what it was and who He is in the
Law given to Moses as He separated a people to Himself out of the mass of
leavened humanity, leavened with the corruption of false religion. Some of
these things are yet to come in our narrative as God’s ministry of reconciliation
continues.
In Psalm 110, a prophecy of Christ who is to come,
the psalmist speaks of Melchizedek as a special priest of God of which the
Messiah to come will be.
Psalm 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Paul quotes and alludes to this in his argument in
the Book of Hebrews in chapter 5, 6, & 7 to point out how Christ was of the order of Melchisedec. Here is
Melchizedek, in a world that has moved away from the worship of God the Creator
to worship of the devils of paganism, a high priest and king who still holds
onto the worship of the true God. Here is a king and a priest who is true and
faithful to God and is honored as such. Christ is our king and our high priest,
offering up Himself as a righteous sacrifice to God, yet king over all as well.
Paul recognizes the authority of this righteous
king of Salem in a special way in his letter to the early church, predominantly
Jewish. Read Hebrews, chapter 7. Paul uses this typology, or similitude (Hebrews 7:15) to explain to
the Hebrews that Christ is God, having neither beginning or ending, neither
mother or father, without descent, God in the flesh (Hebrews 7:3). This would
be important to reinforce to a people whose belief system was rooted in the
temporal existence, blessings, and judgments of an earthly life, some who may
have seen Christ in the flesh. They needed the reassurance that Christ was who
He said He was and Paul pinned this to an historic personage they all
understood. Paul’s argument is clever, subtle, and very deep and certainly a
lengthy treatise can be written on it, but not here. It is not necessary and
even dangerous to assert that Melchizedek was himself immortal or that he was
Christ as God only came one time in the form and flesh of a man. Unless you are
arguing that Melchizedek was an angel, or appearance, of God, which the text
does not say, do not contradict the Bible, as Christ was the only begotten Son which refers to Him as
God born in the flesh, not Alexander the Great who claimed to be the son of God
or the emperor Augustus who signed his orders in that way or many of the other
various leaders who claimed that honor.
Here is also mention of a tithe, or tenth, given
to God through His high priest. This is a custom and it is also found under the
Law given to Moses. This rule or custom is not found in the New Testament
passages given to we Gentile Christians. Once a great many of the church were
driven from Jerusalem by persecution they met in people’s homes in small groups
and the only indication we have of collections taken up were special ones for
the physical needs of their own widows and fatherless and the needs of other
churches suffering want for various reasons. Pastors often use the tithe as a
way of forcing their congregations back under the Law and making the less
fortunate members of their church feel guilty. Certainly, one of the most
prominent arguments that people, even believers, have against attending modern
churches is their constantly placing a collection plate under their noses. Were
churches to stop this practice and simply place a box in the rear of the church
for voluntary donations, not forcing people already living on credit to feel
like parasites, perhaps attendance to hear God’s word would go up. But,
conservative churches are often run on an early twentieth century business
model rather than the Bible so it is not likely that such a thing will happen.
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