The Bible is full of different characters, some of whom are well known and some of whom would be called “supporting actors” in Hollywood parlance. We see a lot of different people who actually fulfilled very important roles, even though not a lot of words are written about them. How important these people are is determined by the impact their lives made, not by the number of words written about them.
But there are some of these seemingly minor characters who appear in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, who are important enough that they are talked about in the New Testament as well. One such person in Enoch. He appears in the genealogy recorded in Genesis, chapter five, and other than one thing it says about him, he would be no more significant than anyone else in that list of names. Nevertheless, it is this one thing that makes him important.
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him. – Genesis 5:24
There are only two people talked about in the Bible who left this world without dying. Enoch here is the first of them and the prophet Elijah, who was carried up to heaven in a flaming chariot, was the second. Enoch was the father of the oldest man in the Bible, Methusaleh, who lived 969 years. Yet, while Enoch only lived 365 years on this earth, he is still alive today, in heaven.
The other significant thing about Enoch, is that he was talked about in three books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke (Luke 3:37), the book of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:5 – in the great “hall of faith”), and Jude (Jude 1:14). There aren’t too many “minor” Old Testament players who are so honored.
Another such “supporting character” is Melchizedek. It would be easy to ignore his place in the Old Testament, if it wasn’t for what is said about him in the New Testament. That changes everything, making him into a rather important character after all. We even find a connection between him and Jesus, although they walked on the earth roughly 2,000 years apart from each other.
Melchizedek in the Old Testament
When we look in the Old Testament, we find only one small reference to Melchizedek. That is found in Genesis, chapter 14, when Abraham came back from rescuing Lot, after he was captured by King Chedorlaomer along with the people of Sodom, as Lot was living in Sodom at that time. It is relevant to note that this was before God changed Abram’s name to Abraham.
As Abraham returned, Melchizedek went out to greet him, meeting him in the Valley of Shaveh (the King’s Valley), just outside Jerusalem. These three verses are all that it says about Melchizedek in the Old Testament, other than a reference in the book of Psalms. But there’s a lot contained in those brief verses.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And blessed him and said: “Blessed by Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed by God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. “And he (Abram) have him (Melchizedek) a tithe of all. – Genesis 14:18-20
First, we find out who Melchizedek is; both the king of Salem and a priest of God. The fact that he was both is unusual in its own right; but there’s something more important we see there; that is, there were people worshiping Jehovah God before Abraham came along. Although the Bible doesn’t tell us who these people were, the fact that they needed a priest and that the priest was important enough to be king is significant.
So, how did he hear about God? If we look at the genealogy found in the Old Testament, we find that Abram was 10 generations removed from Noah. That would apply pretty much equally to Melchizedek. So, it is quite possible that the knowledge of Jehovah God was passed down through those generations. While it was lost in some branches of the family tree, it was retained in Abraham and Melchizedek’s family lineage.
Other than this, we know nothing about Melchizedek’s family tree. The Bible doesn’t tell us who his parents were, nor his descendants. He springs to life for this singular event, then seems to disappear into Biblical history. Even so, he was important due to this one event.
Right in the middle of learning about who Melchizedek was, we see what he was there to do. He “brought out bread and wine.” That might not seem significant to most people; but while bread and wine were a normal part of the people’s diet in those days, when they are mentioned in this manner, they signify the covenant meal. That’s the same covenant meal that Jesus shared with His disciples, in what we call the Last Supper and celebrate in the church as Holy Communion.
Melchizedek wasn’t just there to greet Abram and congratulate him on his victory; it appears that he was there to enter into a covenant with him. We don’t really know that for sure, because this is the only element of the covenant ceremony that is mentioned; none of the other things which are normally included in a covenant ceremony are mentioned. Nonetheless, this is significant, as we look at how Melchizedek was referred to in the New Testament.
We also see that Melchizedek blessed Abram, in the name of the God Most High. This reinforces the idea that he was a priest of God and not a priest of some pagan god or false god. He declares quite clearly that Abram is blessed by God. Again, this has significance in the future, as we see Abram enter into a covenant with God and have his name changed to Abraham, as well as when we see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ.
Finally, Abram validated Melchizedek as a priest of God by giving him the tithe. This is the very first mention of the tithe in the Bible and it happened over 1,000 years before God gave the law to Moses. Since Abram didn’t have the Law available to him, it seems that God’s Holy Spirit impressed this upon him, as sort of a forerunner to the commandment to tithe in the Law.
The Aaronic Priesthood
Before talking about where Melchizedek appears in the New Testament, it is important to understand a few things about the priesthood that God established in the time of Moses. Moses himself wasn’t a priest, but he consecrated the first of them; those being his brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons.
The Bible gives no real reason why God chose Aaron and his descendants to be the priests of Israel. Aaron was Moses’ brother and as such, was given to Moses as his assistant and mouthpiece, after Moses complained to God that he was not an eloquent speaker (Exodus 4:14). This alone doesn’t seem like much of a reason to be selected to fulfill such a crucial role, but we have no further clue. We only know that God chose them and appointed them to be priests, throughout their generations.
The Aaronic priesthood was given specific responsibilities in the Bible, especially in regard to the offerings made to God. Only the priests could make those offerings on behalf of the people. This included required sacrifices for the nation of Israel, sacrifices to be offered on holy days, and individual sacrifices, whether given in atonement for sin or as freewill offerings to God.
Basically, the work of any priests, regardless of the religion, is to represent the people to their God and God to their people. This is no different in the Aaronic priesthood, which not only made the sacrificial offerings that God required, but also taught the people the Word of God, His Laws and prophecy. They prayed for the people, acting as intercessors. In a few cases, priests were also given the calling of being prophets, receiving messages directly from God, for the people.
From the Jewish perspective, there were no other priests, outside of the descendants of Aaron. This attitude continues today, as Jews in the modern nation of Israel are preparing to rebuild the temple and reestablish temple worship. The priests in training for this work are all from the lineage of Aaron.
Yet the offerings that the priests of the Aaronic priesthood gave to God did not make the people of Israel holy. Rather, all their offerings did was to cover up their sins, not remove them. It is like the sins were written on the pages of a book and the blood of the animals sacrificed on the altar was spread on the page, covering up the writing and making it illegible. The record of that sin hadn’t gone away, but was hidden.
This is not to say that the Law, and the sacrificial system contained in the Law, were worthless. They were given for a purpose; not to make the people holy; but as a teacher, to show them (and us) their own unrighteousness and need for a Savior.
Therefore the law was out tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. – Galatians 3:24
The law teaches us, in that it shows us our own unrighteousness; how we are not holy. Without it defining sin for us, there is no knowledge of sin. We could even say, there is no sin. But since God defined sin through the law, we now know that we fall short of fulfilling it and in fact are incapable of fulfilling every detail of it, throughout our entire lives. The Aaronic priesthood and the word that they did was only a temporary solution to this problem, until the Savior came.
Melchizedek in the New Testament
While Melchizedek’s parents and children aren’t mentioned in Scripture, he was not forgotten. There are several references to him in the book of Hebrews, all of which make reference to the same verse in the book of Psalms, using the phrase “the order of Melchizedek.”
Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? – Hebrews 7:11
So, just what is this order of Melchizedek and what is its significance? How can such an order even exist, if there is only one reference to him in the Old Testament and we see no other priests mentioned in Scripture that were members of this order. Yet there are several references in Hebrews to Jesus being “of the order of Melchizedek.”
This priestly order was not an organization as we know it today; but rather, this reference is made in reference to the type of priesthood that Melchizedek had. His priesthood had nothing to do with the Law, as spelled out in the first five books of the Old Testament, even though we read above that he was a priest of the “Most High God;” in other words, a priest of Jehovah. It was not part of the Aaronic priesthood.
Abraham had a relationship with God before the time of Moses and the existence of the Law. It is recorded in both the Old and New Testaments that “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). His relationship with God was totally apart from the Law and the Aaronic priesthood. Likewise, Melchizedek’s office of priest predates Moses and the Law, yet is legitimized by God making reference to it in the book of Genesis and Abraham giving the tithe to him; a tithe, which is defined later in the Law as belonging to the priests.
So, why is this important?
We’ve already seen that Abraham’s relationship with God could exist before the time of Moses and his righteousness could exist before Christ died on the cross. With that being the case, then it is just as likely that Melchizedek’s priesthood would be valid. Perhaps even more importantly, it is valid, without the restrictions associated with the Aaronic priesthood. This allowed Jesus to be part of the order of Melchizedek, without being a descendant of Aaron.
Since the Bible talks about Melchizedek not having a beginning or end (Hebrews 7:3), there is no reason why the order of Melchizedek has to have one either. Even without there being an unbroken line of priests from Melchizedek to Jesus, the order can and apparently did continue. Jesus, as our High Priest, had to belong to some priestly order and He couldn’t belong to the Aaronic priesthood.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:14-15
It is significant that this was written in the book of Hebrews and not in another book of the New Testament. This book was written to Jewish converts to Christianity. Establishing Jesus as a member of the priestly order of Melchizedek gave Him legitimacy in the ecumenical-legal sense. That would be an important argument to the Jews, in establishing that they were not just following a religious upstart, but one who had a legitimate priesthood. More than anything, it was a strong argument for those Jewish converts to use when talking to family and friends who accused them of joining a cult.
Melchizedek Today
Although the Bible doesn’t say so, we can say, in a sense, that all Christian ministers today are members of the order of Melchizedek, having received our ministry through Jesus Christ. By church tradition, ordination comes from the hands of one minister to another. The original apostles were ordained by Jesus Himself and they in turn ordained others.
This is not to say that the Catholic doctrinal point that one is only a legitimate priest if they can trace their ordination in an unbroken line back to Peter or one of the other apostles. When we receive Christ as our Savior, He becomes our connection to God, as well as our connection to the Body of Christ. If He calls us, He ordains us, giving us legitimacy. So, even without another ordained minister ordaining us, we are ordained by Jesus Christ, who is of the order of Melchizedek.