Melchisedec

[KAdamW]

Does anyone have any thoughts on him?

I propose that he may have been the Holy Spirit in the flesh. Thoughts?

Eastons Bible Dictionary:
Melchizedek

King of righteousness, the king of Salem (q.v.). All we know of him is recorded in #Ge 14:18-20 He is subsequently mentioned only once in the Old Testament, in #Ps 110:4 The typical significance of his history is set forth in detail in the Epistle to the Hebrews, #He 7:1-28 The apostle there points out the superiority of his priesthood to that of Aaron in these several respects,
1. Even Abraham paid him tithes;
2. he blessed Abraham;
3. he is the type of a Priest who lives for ever;
4. Levi, yet unborn, paid him tithes in the person of Abraham;
5. the permanence of his priesthood in Christ implied the abrogation of the Levitical system;
6. he was made priest not without an oath; and
7. his priesthood can neither be transmitted nor interrupted by death: "this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
The question as to who this mysterious personage was has given rise to a great deal of modern speculation. It is an old tradition among the Jews that he was Shem, the son of Noah, who may have survived to this time. Melchizedek was a Canaanitish prince, a worshipper of the true God, and in his peculiar history and character an instructive type of our Lord, the great High Priest #Heb 5:6,7 6:20 One of the Amarna tablets is from Ebed-tob, king of Jerusalem, the successor of Melchizedek, in which he claims the very attributes and dignity given to Melchizedek in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Ge 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Ps 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Heb 5:6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Does anyone have any thoughts on him?
I propose that he may have been the Holy Spirit in the flesh. Thoughts?

I believe it was the same being who appeared to Moses and Joshua (and others).

 

[oldhermit]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]There have been many speculations as to who exactly this Melchizedek was. The speculations range for the possible to the absurd. Here is a list of some of those speculations.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]1. He was the pre-incarnate Christ. This is a popular notion.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]2. He was the Holy Spirit.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]3. He was an angel.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]4. He was Enoch. By the time Abraham meets Melchizedek, Enoch had been gone for more than a thousand years. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]5. He was Shem, the son of Noah.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]6. He was an extra-ordinary emanation of deity.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The only one of these speculation that bears any kind of merit is that he may have possibly been Shem the son of Noah. This is physically possible for Shem and Abraham are contemporaries. In fact Shem did not die until after Isaac married. As far as any of the rest of the speculation as to the manner of being Melchizedek was, the Hebrew writer leaves no room for speculation. He was a man. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
Melchizedek in not a proper name but a title. The ancient kings of pre-Israel Jerusalem were called the Tsedeks. Melchizedek is from Meleck meaning King and Tsedek meaning righteousness. Thus, king of
righteousness. He was the King of Salem meaning peace. This Salem would later be called Jerusalem meaning foundation of peace. In Joshua 10:1 we encounter another Tsedel of Salem called Adoni-Tsedek
meaning lord of righteousness. The difference between these to men in the deterioration of the worship from the time of Melch-Tsedek to Adoni-Tsedek.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The nature of Melchizedek - He was a man. "Now consider how great this man was... ." The word man is not represented in the text by either ἄνθρωπος nor ἀνήρ. It is provided by the gender of the pronoun οὗτος which is nominative masculine singular for "this one," thus, "this man."
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]1. The fact that he is a High Priest of God demands that he is of the human race. In 5:1 we learn that every High Priest is taken from among men.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]2. As a man, he had a genealogy. "Whose genealogy was not derived from them (the Levites)." This is in the
possessive which declares that he had a genealogy but, that his genealogy was not traced from the priestly tribe of Levi.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
A High Priest Without Genealogy, 3.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
"Without father, mother, or genealogy." Like Jesus, Melchizedek does not receive his priesthood from his a predecessor. In the Levitical system, the high priest was descended only through the line of Aaron. 1Chronicles 6:50-52. But, the office of the high priest was not passed on to Melchizedek by his father, nor did he in turn pass it on to his heir. In other words, his is a one-man-forever-priesthood.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
"Having neither beginning of days nor end of life." In this there are three possibilities.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]1. That this refers to the person of Melchizedek the man. Some argue from this that Melchizedek was not a man but some supernatural being who was neither born of human parents not had a beginning or end of life. But, as the text says, he was a man and as such, he had a past, 6. Some view this with the preceding statement as simply a Hebraism which stresses the obscurity of his genealogy and posterity. Perhaps.
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]2. That this refers not to the man himself but to his priesthood. This priesthood is unlike that of the Levitical system. We can look back at Sinai and see where the Levitical priesthood had its beginning of days with the anointing of Aaron and his sons, Exodus 28:1ff. We can then look forward from there to the cross and see where this priesthood saw its end of life. Now, a new and greater covenant is inaugurated in Jesus "according to the power of an endless life." But, this may not apply to just the priesthood apart from the man because this is a one man priesthood and apart from the man there is no priesthood. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]3. That this refers to the man as a high priest. As a man he had a beginning of days and an end of life. As high priest, he has neither but remains a priest continually. This contrasts the priests of the Levitical system whose "beginning of days" began at the age of twenty-five when they began to serve as priests. They reached their "end of life" at the age of fifty when they completed their appointed time of priestly service, Numbers 8:24-25. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
"But made like the Son of God." Here, the order is reversed. In 6:20, Christ is presented as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek is said to be a High Priest who was made like the Son of God. Like everything else that is type, Melchizedek is the shadow of the reality. This is like the building of the tabernacle in Exodus 25:40 being built according to the "pattern shown to you on the mountain." Everything that is shadow must be patterned according to the substance it represents. The substance ALWAYS precedes the type. It must reflect the reality.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He "remains a priest continually." His priesthood is uninterrupted even by death. He leaves his office to no one else. Although Melchizedek has been dead for many centuries, he is still the central figure in the one man forever priesthood. Like the Son of God, he carries his priest beyond the grave. His priesthood, in contrast to that of the Levites is not bound by the physical - "not according to the law of fleshly commandment," 15-16. This fleshly commandment says that the Levitical priest must end his days of service at the age of 50. The High Priest ended his days of service at his death. In contrast, the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater. He continues as the High Priest of his priesthood even though he is dead, 8.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]he is greater than Levi, 5-10.[/FONT]

 

[WeStand]

Reeds blowing in the wind

 

[JaumeJ]

Melchisedek meaning King of Righteousness, while He is the King of Peace. These are titles reserved for the Only Begotten Son. So, I believe He is Yeshua, Jesus. Of course the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One, so, yes, He is the Holy Spirit. My chief, but not only, reference to support this is Isaiah chapter 9...........Yahweh bless all in the Body, amen.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

melchizedek was a jebusite king...the jebusites were the canaanite nation that originally controlled jerusalem...later jebusite kings had similar names to melchizedek...such as adonizedek and adonibezek...

i would say it is very possible that melchizedek was originally an orphan...so that he would have no parents or genealogy or 'beginning of days'...it is also possible that he may have voluntarily abdicated or gone into exile...so that he would also be said to have no 'end of life'...he just disappeared instead of dying on the throne and leaving a successor...

 

[Starcrash]

Melchisedek meaning King of Righteousness, while He is the King of Peace. These are titles reserved for the Only Begotten Son. So, I believe He is Yeshua, Jesus. Of course the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One, so, yes, He is the Holy Spirit. My chief, but not only, reference to support this is Isaiah chapter 9...........Yahweh bless all in the Body, amen.

But you're cherry-picking descriptions of Melchisedek. Hebrews 7:3 describes him as "without father or mother, without geneology...", and these descriptions don't fit. Furthermore, that same chapter goes on to describe how Jesus is "like" Melchisedek (a "type" for Jesus, if you will), and "in the order of" Melchisedek, when it could have just as easily said that he "was" Melchisedek.

To the OP, it's as good a guess as any if you have to reconcile these verses. There isn't a passage (that I know of) that says that Melchisedek was the Holy Spirit, nor is there one that proposes that the Spirit could exist "in flesh"... but to be fair, there aren't any passages saying that it couldn't happen, either. I would suggest skepticism in the face of lacking evidence, but at the same time this character does need an apology of some sort.

 

[nathan3]

[video=youtube;q-IYCwLB11w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-IYCwLB11w&list=PL7EE1B53D37C16628[/video]

 

[JaumeJ]

Some of the responses are not taking into consideration the writings on Melchisedek in the Word. Abraham gave this King of Peace offerings, not to be offered up, to Melchisedek. Studies from outside the Word will not influence what I believe, but thank you all for your input.

 

[LT]

oldhermit presented a lot of great information. I hope it was not ignored.

Read the whole section of Hebrews for the context, and you will clearly see that the author is making a point about how the Old Testament points to Christ as Messiah and Lord. It is not trying to say that Jesus, or the Holy Spirit incarnate was on earth during the time of Abraham.

The author of Hebrews is using Old Testament figures, whose lives or actions were parallels of Jesus, to show that the Bible is a coherent whole.
Melchizedek was a priest before the law was given. The Levites weren't around yet, and the Hebrew priesthood had not been established yet.
In the same way, Christ knew the ways of God, even above what was written in the Law. Christ is our High Priest (our way of making atonement to God) and He doesn't need the Temple or the Levitical priesthood to do this.

Melchizedek, was only a man, but he was an exemplary man, and the mention of him in the Old Testament is actually a prophecy of Jesus and the way salvation would actually come.
The book of Hebrews is very hard for Christians to understand if they are not well versed in the Old Testament, especially the Torah.

 

[KAdamW]

oldhermit presented a lot of great information. I hope it was not ignored.

yes i liked his post. a bit of speculation but what else do we have? it will be interesting to learn more about Him when Christ gathers us.

 

[Apostol2013]

some of my rabbi friends went as far as saying that when melchisedek blessed isaac that Melchisedek had mentored possibly and bestowed the priesthood to Abraham and his descendants in oreder that Jesus would be the Final heir

 

[Rickee]

Does anyone have any thoughts on him?

I propose that he may have been the Holy Spirit in the flesh. Thoughts?

Eastons Bible Dictionary:
Melchizedek

King of righteousness, the king of Salem (q.v.). All we know of him is recorded in #Ge 14:18-20 He is subsequently mentioned only once in the Old Testament, in #Ps 110:4 The typical significance of his history is set forth in detail in the Epistle to the Hebrews, #He 7:1-28 The apostle there points out the superiority of his priesthood to that of Aaron in these several respects,
1. Even Abraham paid him tithes;
2. he blessed Abraham;
3. he is the type of a Priest who lives for ever;
4. Levi, yet unborn, paid him tithes in the person of Abraham;
5. the permanence of his priesthood in Christ implied the abrogation of the Levitical system;
6. he was made priest not without an oath; and
7. his priesthood can neither be transmitted nor interrupted by death: "this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
The question as to who this mysterious personage was has given rise to a great deal of modern speculation. It is an old tradition among the Jews that he was Shem, the son of Noah, who may have survived to this time. Melchizedek was a Canaanitish prince, a worshipper of the true God, and in his peculiar history and character an instructive type of our Lord, the great High Priest #Heb 5:6,7 6:20 One of the Amarna tablets is from Ebed-tob, king of Jerusalem, the successor of Melchizedek, in which he claims the very attributes and dignity given to Melchizedek in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Ge 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Ps 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Heb 5:6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec

Melchesedec is a Theopony ( Instant Manifestation in Human Form) He was God in that Body, but was not Jesus.
Jesus never appeared until Mary gave birth unto him by The Holy Spirit.

Another Example of A Theopony is found in Genesis 18 when The Lord.and two of his Angels sat, and ate with Abraham on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

[KAdamW]

Melchesedec is a Theopony ( Instant Manifestation in Human Form) He was God in that Body, but was not Jesus.
Jesus never appeared until Mary gave birth unto him by The Holy Spirit.

Another Example of A Theopony is found in Genesis 18 when The Lord.and two of his Angels sat, and ate with Abraham on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jesus did not appear until birth since that was His name when born in flesh, but Christ has appeared many times as well as His angels.

 

[BananaPie]

Melchesedec is a Theopony ( Instant Manifestation in Human Form) He was God in that Body, but was not Jesus.
Jesus never appeared until Mary gave birth unto him by The Holy Spirit.

Another Example of A Theopony is found in Genesis 18 when The Lord.and two of his Angels sat, and ate with Abraham on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Goodness! Where do y'all get these words from anyway? Did you mean to say "theophany"?

Well, God is holy (Leviticus 20:26); God is Spirit (John 4:24), and the eyes of God are too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13). The few times God has revealed Himself to a human, God has made it clear Who He is, but that's not the case with Melchizedec, is it?

 

[nathan3]

Goodness! Where do y'all get these words from anyway? Did you mean to say "theophany"?

Well, God is holy (Leviticus 20:26); God is Spirit (John 4:24), and the eyes of God are too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13). The few times God has revealed Himself to a human, God has made it clear Who He is, but that's not the case with Melchizedec, is it?

Yes He is Christ himself. Christ said Abraham got to see Him; written in the NT. This is the same Melchizedek.

 

[LT]

You guys need to be careful who you call God. I'm not saying you can't entertain the ideas, but don't state it like fact if it isn't explicit in scripture.

 

[nathan3]

You guys need to be careful who you call God. I'm not saying you can't entertain the ideas, but don't state it like fact if it isn't explicit in scripture.

It is written. Christ is Melchizedek. Since Christ is God The Almighty also. Then its fair to say Melchizedek was also God. Much like all the appearances of The Angel of the Lord.

 

[oldhermit]

You guys need to be careful who you call God. I'm not saying you can't entertain the ideas, but don't state it like fact if it isn't explicit in scripture.

This is what happens when one moves away from the grammatical structure of the text.

 

[overcomer2]

I believe Jesus made an appearance a couple times in the Old Testament this is one of them one other was the 4th man in the fire with Meshach, Shadrack, Obendigo (Don't think spelling correct on those names.) I think his appearance was different. I know a few who believe the same.