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Implications of Melchizedek
- Thread starter Mojo
- Start date
I'm not opposed, but not all apocryphal works are created equally. As long as they are within reason, that seems fine. I look forward to it too.
I have to admit that Melchizadek gives me fits. I don't know how to deal with him or Him so I pretty much don't. I am also looking forward to what comes out of this though I have nothing to add. I'm leaning towards Christophany or Noah.
Here's what the Jewish encyclopedia says:
King of Salem and priest of the Most High in the time of Abraham. He brought out bread and wine, blessed Abram, and received tithes from him (Gen. xiv. 18-20). Reference is made to him in Ps. cx. 4, where the victorious ruler is declared to be "priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The story is neither an invention nor the product of a copyist's error, as Cheyne ("Encyc. Bibl.") thinks, but rests upon ancient Jerusalemic tradition (as Josephus, "B. J." vi. 10, affirms; comp. Gunkel, "Genesis," 1901, p. 261), "Zedek" being an ancient name of Jerusalem (probably connected with the Phenician Συδνκ = "Zedek" = "Jupiter"; comp. Shab. 156a, b; Gen. R. xliii.; Pesiḳ. R. 20; see Baudissin, "Studien zur Semitischen Religionsgesch." 1876, i. 14-15). Hence "'ir ha-ẓedeḳ" (Isa. i. 21, 26), "neweh ẓedeḳ" (Jer. xxxi. 23, l. 7), "sha'are ẓedeḳ" (Ps. cxviii. 19). The city's first king, accordingly, was known either as "Adoni Zedek" (Josh. x. 1 et seq. ; comp. Judges i. 5-7, where "Adonizedek" is the correct reading) or as "Malkizedek." The fact that he united the royal with the priestly dignity, like all ancient (heathen) kings, made him a welcome type to the composer of the triumphal song (Ps. cx.).
Type of Ancient Monotheism.
But to the Jewish propagandists of Alexandria, who were eager to win proselytes for Judaism without submitting them to the rite of circumcision, Melchizedek appealed with especial force as a type of the monotheist of the pre-Abrahamic time or of non-Jewish race, like Enoch. Like Enoch, too, he was apotheosized. He was placed in the same category with Elijah, the Messiah ben Joseph, and the Messiah ben David (Suk. 52b, where "Kohenẓedek" should be corrected to "Malkiẓedeḳ"). The singular feature of supernatural origin is ascribed to all four, in that they are described as being "without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of G-d abiding forever" (Heb. vii 2-3; comp. Ruth. R. v. 3, where the original text [see "Pugio Fidei," p. 125] referred also to Ps. cx. 4, Isa. liii. 2, and Zech. vi. 12, comp. Yalḳ., Reubeni Bereshit, 9d; Epiphanius, "Hæresis," lv. 3). According to Midr. Teh. to Ps. xxxvii., Abraham learned the practise of charity from Melchizedek. Philo speaks of him as "the logos, the priest whose inheritance is the true G-d" ("De Allegoriis Legum," iii. 26).
The Samaritans identified the city of Salem with their sanctuary on Mount Gerizim (see LXX., Gen. xxxiii. 18; comp. Eusebius, "Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 17).
The Melchizedekites.
The rabbis of later generations, rather antagonistic to the cosmopolitan monotheism of Alexandria, identified Melchizedek with Shem, the ancestor of Abraham (Ned. 32b; Pirḳe R. El. xxiii.; Targ. to Gen. xiv. 4). A singular story is told of Melchizedek in the Ethiopian Book of Adam and Eve, which, before it was turned into a Christian work, seems to have presented a strange combination of Jewish and Egyptian elements emanating from a sect afterward known as the Melchizedekites. There (iii. 13-21) Noah tells his son Shem before his death to take "Melchizedek, the son of Canaan, whom G-d had chosen from all generations of men, and to stand by the dead body of Adam after it had been brought from the ark to Jerusalem as the center of the earth and fulfil the ministry before G-d." The angel Michael then took away Melchizedek, when fifteen years of age, from his father, and, after having anointed him as priest, brought him to (Jerusalem) the center of the earth, telling his father to share the mystery only with Shem, the son of Noah, while the Holy Spirit, speaking out of the ark when the body of Adam was hidden, greeted Melchizedek as "the first-created of G-d." Shem went, carrying bread and wine, and, assisted by the angel, brought the body of Adam to its destination. Melchizedek offered the bread and wine upon the altar they built near the place where Adam's body was deposited, and then Shem departed, leaving the pure lad in his garment of skins under the sole protection of the angel, no one on earth knowing of his whereabouts until, at last, Abraham met him. Compare also "Die Schatzhöhle" (Bezold's transl. 1883, pp. 26-28), where the father of Melchizedek is called "Malki" and the mother "YoẒedeḳ"; and see the notes to Malan's "Book of Adam and Eve" (1882, pp. 237-238). Against the opinion of Roensch (Das Buch der Jubiläen," 1874, p. 502), that the story of Melchizedek has been intentionally omitted from the Book of Jubilees, see Charles in his Commentary to Jubilees (xiii. 25). A remnant, probably, of these Melchizedekites appears in early Christian literature as a heretic sect which regarded Melchizedek as a great heavenly power and as a son of G-d, superior to Yeshua (Epiphanius," Hæresis," lv. 1-9; Hippolytus, "Refutatio Hæresium," vii. 36, x. 20; pseudo-Tertullian, 48; Augustinus, "De Hæresibus," 34; see also Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." s.v. "Monarchianismus").
Psalms 110: 4
The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever because of the speech of Malchizedek.
King of Salem and priest of the Most High in the time of Abraham. He brought out bread and wine, blessed Abram, and received tithes from him (Gen. xiv. 18-20). Reference is made to him in Ps. cx. 4, where the victorious ruler is declared to be "priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The story is neither an invention nor the product of a copyist's error, as Cheyne ("Encyc. Bibl.") thinks, but rests upon ancient Jerusalemic tradition (as Josephus, "B. J." vi. 10, affirms; comp. Gunkel, "Genesis," 1901, p. 261), "Zedek" being an ancient name of Jerusalem (probably connected with the Phenician Συδνκ = "Zedek" = "Jupiter"; comp. Shab. 156a, b; Gen. R. xliii.; Pesiḳ. R. 20; see Baudissin, "Studien zur Semitischen Religionsgesch." 1876, i. 14-15). Hence "'ir ha-ẓedeḳ" (Isa. i. 21, 26), "neweh ẓedeḳ" (Jer. xxxi. 23, l. 7), "sha'are ẓedeḳ" (Ps. cxviii. 19). The city's first king, accordingly, was known either as "Adoni Zedek" (Josh. x. 1 et seq. ; comp. Judges i. 5-7, where "Adonizedek" is the correct reading) or as "Malkizedek." The fact that he united the royal with the priestly dignity, like all ancient (heathen) kings, made him a welcome type to the composer of the triumphal song (Ps. cx.).
Type of Ancient Monotheism.
But to the Jewish propagandists of Alexandria, who were eager to win proselytes for Judaism without submitting them to the rite of circumcision, Melchizedek appealed with especial force as a type of the monotheist of the pre-Abrahamic time or of non-Jewish race, like Enoch. Like Enoch, too, he was apotheosized. He was placed in the same category with Elijah, the Messiah ben Joseph, and the Messiah ben David (Suk. 52b, where "Kohenẓedek" should be corrected to "Malkiẓedeḳ"). The singular feature of supernatural origin is ascribed to all four, in that they are described as being "without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of G-d abiding forever" (Heb. vii 2-3; comp. Ruth. R. v. 3, where the original text [see "Pugio Fidei," p. 125] referred also to Ps. cx. 4, Isa. liii. 2, and Zech. vi. 12, comp. Yalḳ., Reubeni Bereshit, 9d; Epiphanius, "Hæresis," lv. 3). According to Midr. Teh. to Ps. xxxvii., Abraham learned the practise of charity from Melchizedek. Philo speaks of him as "the logos, the priest whose inheritance is the true G-d" ("De Allegoriis Legum," iii. 26).
The Samaritans identified the city of Salem with their sanctuary on Mount Gerizim (see LXX., Gen. xxxiii. 18; comp. Eusebius, "Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 17).
The Melchizedekites.
The rabbis of later generations, rather antagonistic to the cosmopolitan monotheism of Alexandria, identified Melchizedek with Shem, the ancestor of Abraham (Ned. 32b; Pirḳe R. El. xxiii.; Targ. to Gen. xiv. 4). A singular story is told of Melchizedek in the Ethiopian Book of Adam and Eve, which, before it was turned into a Christian work, seems to have presented a strange combination of Jewish and Egyptian elements emanating from a sect afterward known as the Melchizedekites. There (iii. 13-21) Noah tells his son Shem before his death to take "Melchizedek, the son of Canaan, whom G-d had chosen from all generations of men, and to stand by the dead body of Adam after it had been brought from the ark to Jerusalem as the center of the earth and fulfil the ministry before G-d." The angel Michael then took away Melchizedek, when fifteen years of age, from his father, and, after having anointed him as priest, brought him to (Jerusalem) the center of the earth, telling his father to share the mystery only with Shem, the son of Noah, while the Holy Spirit, speaking out of the ark when the body of Adam was hidden, greeted Melchizedek as "the first-created of G-d." Shem went, carrying bread and wine, and, assisted by the angel, brought the body of Adam to its destination. Melchizedek offered the bread and wine upon the altar they built near the place where Adam's body was deposited, and then Shem departed, leaving the pure lad in his garment of skins under the sole protection of the angel, no one on earth knowing of his whereabouts until, at last, Abraham met him. Compare also "Die Schatzhöhle" (Bezold's transl. 1883, pp. 26-28), where the father of Melchizedek is called "Malki" and the mother "YoẒedeḳ"; and see the notes to Malan's "Book of Adam and Eve" (1882, pp. 237-238). Against the opinion of Roensch (Das Buch der Jubiläen," 1874, p. 502), that the story of Melchizedek has been intentionally omitted from the Book of Jubilees, see Charles in his Commentary to Jubilees (xiii. 25). A remnant, probably, of these Melchizedekites appears in early Christian literature as a heretic sect which regarded Melchizedek as a great heavenly power and as a son of G-d, superior to Yeshua (Epiphanius," Hæresis," lv. 1-9; Hippolytus, "Refutatio Hæresium," vii. 36, x. 20; pseudo-Tertullian, 48; Augustinus, "De Hæresibus," 34; see also Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." s.v. "Monarchianismus").
Psalms 110: 4
The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever because of the speech of Malchizedek.
Great, long post @Kevin. I had heard of only some of this. A lot of this is mystical, as I alluded to.
What's your opinion so far?
He's just so hard to pin down. I would avoid the "mystery" of him, but he plays such a significant role in the descriptions and legitimacy of Jesus. Melchizedek actually gets more air time in the NT than in the OT. Would his legend have been better understood or studied by the contemporaries of Jesus and the Apostles, but mysyerious to us after the passage of time?
What's your opinion so far?
He's just so hard to pin down. I would avoid the "mystery" of him, but he plays such a significant role in the descriptions and legitimacy of Jesus. Melchizedek actually gets more air time in the NT than in the OT. Would his legend have been better understood or studied by the contemporaries of Jesus and the Apostles, but mysyerious to us after the passage of time?
The Essenes were pre and post Christ and some link them to John the Baptist. Would any (maybe even Paul) have been linked to this Melchezedekites group, maybe like a Knights Templar group. I'm just throwing stuff out there. I'm not pretending to know something.
I lean more Christophany as he was priest and king...but he could have just been a regular dude.
I lean more Christophany as he was priest and king...but he could have just been a regular dude.
Winner, Winner Chichen diner. The Essene had particular veiws that Barnabas and Paul shared, such as men should be dedicated to G-d and abstain from marriage. I've been doing alot of studying about Paul and have been wondering about when he disappeared into the wilderness for 3 years where did he go. The Essenes had a comounities out in The wilderness. Many of the Essene were Levites who seperated themselves from what they saw as a corrupt preisthood in Jerusalem. I was reminded recently of how often we can overlook things that are very central because we look for themes rather than for details. And I say that in light of how I don't know why I never caught the fact that Barnabas, the same man who sponsored Paul before the apostles/trained him up (in Essene ways?) and worked with him building up the church, was a Levite. The Essenes were one of three major Torah schools; the other two were the Pharisees, who were mostly lay people, and the Sadducees, the aristocratic and powerful priestly class of Jerusalem. The nucleus of the Essene movement was made up of Zadokite kohanim, or priests. From the time of Solomon, the Temple's high priests had come from the house of Zadok, a son of Aaron, from whom the founders of the Essenes descended. After the successful second-century B.C.E. revolt of the Maccabees and the reestablishment of an independent Jewish state, the Hasmonean kings (from the Maccabee family) assumed not only the kingship but also the high priesthood. The king and high priest were one. The Zadokites among the Essenes considered the non-Zadokite priests usurpers and declared their Temple sacrifices illegal. The Essenes refused to take part in Hasmonean sacrificial offerings and adhered to purity rules far stricter than those the Temple authorities were enforcing.
I got off track sorry and lost where I was going.
I used to get my *ss whipped in paintball by a guy named "Zed"... so yeah, fairly bad ass.
But before you use it, you may want to know that Ṣedek (English Zedek) is the name of a god in the Canaanite pantheon.
@ZecAustin don't kill me for this:
In fact, one of the possible translations for the Hebrew/Canaanite name: Malḳī·Ṣedek is:
"My King is Ṣedek" i.e. that god with that name. I know it sux; I'm not saying that's the proper interpretation just that it's one of them. It's also possible to translate the name as "my king is just/righteous"; it is not, however, proper Hebrew grammar to say the name means "my king of righteousness".
Even if his name did mean "my king is Zedek", it can be a case where his parents were pagans and he was stuck with the name and he was righteous (like Abram and his idolatrous father). I'll go more into this if there's interest.
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Paintball!! I own two dozen paintball rifles; back in the day we did retreats with Christian groups (including training our own group) to teach followership, teamwork, and leadership. Good times....
ב"ה
Some of the content in that article you shared may be hard to digest, I'm gonna call out a few of the things to clarify some claims, and to call attention to some issues which may be unclear.
Are you sure that quote is right brother? Zedek doesn't mean Jerusalem, Šālem likely does does: later yerū + Šālem gets us YerūŠalaīm (Jerusalem).
Unless Zedek was the power over Shalem at one time?
I love that word, apotheosized. Does anyone remember the apotheosis?
It was used in Caprica, the prequel series to Battlestar Galactica referring to how the polytheists would provide a sort of heaven for their people within a computer construct when they died.
Different Salem than Shalem for those paying attention...it's the Samaritans leaning on the old name to try to milk the holiness over to their lesser mountain.
TO this day the orthodox position is that Malchizedek is Shem; this position is not tenable and was likely presented in opposition to early Christian appeals to the "priesthood of Malchizedek" as an answer to how Yeshua could be a Priest and a King when he wasn't of the Aaronic lineage. We can investigate further why the position of Shem as Malchizedek has some serious flaws to it.
Wow! I wanna know more about that. Has anyone heard about that heresy before? Very interesting find @Kevin !
This is why it's good to look to pseudepigraphal works for insight as the New Testament writers were aware of a lot of that stuff.
I say all that stuff is relevant when we talk about Malchizedek. (sorry just touch and go now, kinda late here and I'm avoiding finishing some work; I'll definitely contribute to this thread more soon).
That .... is .... FANTASTIC!!!!
In highschool we had a team "the silver death brigade" we used silver paint, haha. All our guns sucked though because we were just highschool kids, no budget.
I had a "splatmaster"; you had to lean the gun back when you loaded the chamber so the ball could gravity feed properly into place. Those things were so slow.
One time I snuck up behind "Zed" and shot him in the tuchus. The ball bounced off him not breaking, no kill. I turned and ran and he nailed me 3 times in my leg with his semi-auto.
Need to add this to the agenda for the Father / Son event.
They don't. I just find this character fascinating. It will be impossible to solve at this point in history, but just like Messianic or Torah followers are digging deeper into the Law and prophets more and more to glean the OT references for better understanding of the NT, I want to try and know more of why Melchizedek gets such a lofty position in NT. Just like there seems to be specific portions of scripture intended to refute Gnosticism, maybe Melchizedek was included to attract a sect that would be predisposed to following Jesus, but needed more convincing. That's all.Why do all mysteries have to be solved?
That was a word for word.