One of the great unsolved mysteries of the Bible is the identity of Melchizedek, the priest king of Salem (which will later be called Jerusalem). We’ve seen it before, as with Nimrod, that when the Bible and history don’t tell us anything about someone in the Bible, there are a lot of crazy stories trying to fill in those gaps. However, what we really can know about Melchizedek is still very important and very interesting.
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Hi! I’m Miss Tyler and welcome the 100th episode of Context for Kids where I have been teaching you guys stuff most adults don’t even know. If this is your first time hearing or if you have missed anything, you can find all the episodes archived at contextforkids.podbean.com, which has them downloadable, or at contextforkids.com, where I have transcripts for readers or on my Context for Kids YouTube channel. (Parents, all Scripture this week comes from the MTV, the Miss Tyler Version, which is the Christian Standard Bible modified a bit to make it easier for kids to understand the content and the context).
Well, if you guys have been with me since the very beginning in 2020, then you have learned an awful lot about the Bible. I’ve had a lot of fun and I hope you have too. This week we are going to talk about one of the most mysterious figures in the Bible—maybe even more mysterious than Nimrod. And if you remember when we learned about Nimrod, when someone shows up in the Bible, and the Bible doesn’t say much about them and neither does history, then people like to fill in the blanks with a lot of “what if” stories. Although there aren’t nearly as many strange “what if” stories about Melchizedek as there were about Nimrod, people did still come up with some pretty interesting ideas about who he might be. One thing for sure, at some point he must have been a pretty famous guy because the Bible talks about him like we are expected to be familiar with who he is. And when this story was first told, it was probably one of those situations where people heard his name and went, “Oh yeah, that guy!” because maybe there were stories about him that they knew but never got told in the Bible. Sometimes we forget that the Bible doesn’t tell us much of anything about people like Adam, Eve, Noah, Abram, or Sarai. Just the parts where they have something really dramatic happen. Well, Melchizedek was the priest-King of the great city-state of Yeru Shalem, which would someday be conquered by David (many hundreds of years later) but the legends about him that we can read today didn’t pop up until almost 2000 years later. Some were written when the Greeks ruled over the Land of Israel, right before the life of Jesus, and a great many were written by Jews and Christians hundreds of years after Jesus. You guys know how much we love a good “what if” story and we have even come up with some on Context for Kids. But first, let’s talk about Melchizedek’s story in the Bible. It’s pretty short!
After Abram got back from defeating the Big Cheese (my nickname for Chedarlaomer because his name begins with “Cheddar”) and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine for Abram; Melchizedek was a priest to God Most High. He blessed him and said: “Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creatorof heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you.” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything that they had taken from the kings. (Gen 14:17-20)
If you remember from last week, Abram and his allies Mamre, Eschol and Aner had chased the four kings all the way out of the Land of Canaan and had taken back everything that those kings had stolen, not only from his nephew Lot but from everyone else too. God had promised to bless those who blessed Abram and to curse those who cursed him and so they were even able to win the battle against those mighty kings and all their soldiers! And that was good news for Abram’s friends. But now they have returned home (or pretty close to home!) and have come to the great valley to the southeast of Salem—a place where the three valleys that wrapped around and between Mt Zion and Mount Moriah all met. In those days, Salem would have been a fortress on a hill and very difficult to attack—which is probably why the four kings left it alone. Many kings all through history have tried to take the city of Salem for themselves but most failed because it was a city on a hill surrounded by walls.
Now the weird thing, and we will talk about him next week, is that the king of Sodom—one of the five kings who got the snot beaten out of them by the four kings—he goes out to meet Abram. If you remember, that slippery guy went and hid in the abandoned and empty asphalt pits along with the king of Gomorrah, while the people of his city were led away to be slaves. So, right off, we know he is not okay. We already knew that his city was a very wicked place, and that Lot lived in that city anyway, but he decided to hide instead of protect the people. What do you think he wants? Is he going to thank Abram? We will have to wait until next week to find that out. But I do want to talk about one thing before we talk about the King of Salem—how could there be so many kings in such a small area? I mean, when we think of Kings and Queens, we look at history and see that big countries like England and France and Germany and Spain all had one of their own. Now, if you look at England, you can fit all of Israel into it eleven times, and you could fit twenty-five Israels into France. And the part of the Land of Canaan (which would be Israel someday) that these five kings plus Melchizedek ruled over was just a little bit. There were many more cities and many more kings. And so, we can’t think of these kings the way we would think of King Charles or Queen Elizabeth or Louis the VI or Queen Isabella of Spain. Those were like kings and queens with a capital K or Q but the kings in the Land of Canaan were more like lowercase k kings. They really just ruled over cities that seemed huge to them but wouldn’t seem like kingdoms to us at all.
Archaeologists have dug up quite a few cities in that area, cities where people had lived for about a thousand years before Abram came to the Land of Canaan. These cities had walls and gates (gates were buildings in the wall and not metal bars like in the movies), and they grew a lot of food even though you would never know it now—things like barley, wheat, grapes, figs, lentils, and flax but sometimes they even grew chickpeas, peas, broad beans, dates and olives! The houses weren’t much bigger than your living room and maybe they weren’t nearly as big—just about 16’x10’. And the cities had cemeteries outside. You might wonder how many people lived in cities like this and the answer is somewhere around a thousand people. They didn’t have tall skyscrapers or anything and their houses were side by side so when archaeologists do the math of how many people could have lived in each of these city-states while still having enough food to eat and water to drink and space to have a home, a thousand people is a lot and that would be a lot of people for a small king to have to deal with. I will tell you one thing, I wouldn’t want to have to be queen over a hundred people, much less a thousand! Or even ten. No sir. And also, if you think about it, that was a lot of people for the four kings to take along with them to have to feed and all that. Probably they only took the ones young and healthy enough to be able to travel. The rest they probably left behind in the cities. What we don’t know is how big Melchizedek’s Salem was because it’s been built over so many times that archaeologists would have to destroy buildings from the time of Jesus and also the time of David to find them! Sometimes, it just isn’t worth it to find out everything!!
So, the King of Sodom comes to meet Abram but Melchizedek meets up with him first. And this Melchizedek is a really interesting guy. We have no idea who he is. Is he one of the Canaanites? When David captures the city about eight hundred years from now, the Jebusites are living there. We just have no idea. What we do know is that he has a very interesting name—in Hebrew, which is very similar to the language of the Canaanites, Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” That’s a pretty good name! I mean, my name means “doorkeeper first light of the morning rose-twig” so I am kinda jealous. He is described not only as the king of Salem but also as the priest of that city. And that was normal in ancient times, for a king to also be in charge of taking care of the gods of the city. They didn’t always do the same exact job as the regular priests who did the hard work in the temples, but they often led worship. King David also did this and in 2 Sam 8:18 it says that he even made his sons priests, which is the Hebrew word cohen. That doesn’t mean they were offering sacrifices in the Temple but it does mean that they were doing something religious or at least they had the titles. There’s a lot of surprising little tidbits in the Bible.
But when Melchizedek came out of the city to see Abram, he brought bread and wine with him. Now why did he do that? The Bible doesn’t tell us but there are a few reasons he might have done this. The first reason is plain old hospitality, which was one of the most important virtues of the ancient world. If you sat down and ate bread and wine with someone and there was salt in the bread, that meant that you were offering them protection and you weren’t allowed to ever hurt them. The two people were connected by what is called a Covenant of Salt. And even the worst of the worst sort of people wouldn’t usually go back on that. When we read ancient histories, sometimes a bad guy will get tricked into eating salt with someone and then they are upset because they can’t rob them or hurt them and neither can any of their friends. And that might seem very strange to us but it made perfect sense to them—all cultures and societies need to have rules for behavior or else it will be like it was before the flood when all the world was so evil that no one could trust anyone else. Maybe that’s why they made rules like this. Even in our own world today, there are things that even most murderers and robbers would never do because they are so hateful to us that even thinking about it makes us angry and upset. So maybe Melchizedek wanted to be a friend of Abram, and if they ate and drank together then Abram would protect his city too. Could be. But what else?
Well, Melchizedek might have been a bit worried because the four kings hadn’t bothered him—probably because a fortress on a hill was too difficult to bother with and they had enough stuff already and wanted to go home before the rainy season hit the Land of Canaan and traveling could get dangerous with flash floods in the deep canyons called Wadis. That’s what happens where there is rain up high and all of a sudden these canyons can fill with water and anything in them will be swept away and dashed on the rocks and die. About fifteen hundred years after this meeting, when Alexander the Great rode up to Jerusalem with all of his armies, the leaders came out and met with him and invited him to eat with them and surrendered the city to him because they saw what he did with the mighty city of Tyre after they fought with him a long time and he trashed the place because he was so angry. The leaders of Jerusalem in those days were very wise and surrendered to him and he was friendly to them and left the city alone and didn’t kill anyone either. Maybe Melchizedek wasn’t so sure what kind of a man Abram was, but when he saw that Abram and his friends had beaten the four kings that had been raiding the Land of Canaan—maybe Melchizedek wanted to make peace with Abram so that his city and the people in it would be safe. That could be too.
Or, and this is the one I like. I think that Melchizedek was grateful to Abram for what he did. The Land of Canaan was in chaos because of the armies of the four kings. Nobody knew who was going to get attacked next and everyone was in danger—and even if those armies went home, they might come back next year to get everything and everyone they left behind! That would be really scary! But Abram chased them back toward home and they wouldn’t have anything. No food, no money, no people to sell as slaves. They had a long trip back and nothing to show for it and they would be very, very ashamed. You know what else? I bet those other three kings aren’t going to want to follow the Big Cheese anymore and give him so much stuff. He just got his butt kicked by a bunch of sheep herders. The Big Cheese was a much smaller cheese now and he would go home and the people will probably make someone else their king instead. He lost five cities and all that gooey asphalt for their buildings and so they probably wouldn’t really respect him at all anymore. Abram didn’t just win a battle, he won an entire war and none of those people were ever coming back. And Melchizedek knew that he didn’t have to be worried next year. I would sure be grateful. But we don’t know for sure. The Bible doesn’t have nearly as many details as we want it to have and so a lot of people have made a lot of guesses. Maybe you think something entirely different and that’s okay too.
The Bible says that Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, El Elyon. El is how you say God in Hebrew and Elyon is how you say ‘most high.’ And here is another mystery. Melchizedek lived with the Canaanites, and the Canaanite god Ba’al Hadad was someone they called El Elyon too. So, did Melchizedek worship the gods of the Canaanites or did he worship Abram’s God? It’s a mystery and it doesn’t really say so you know what we need to do when we don’t have the answers—let’s keep reading! Abram must have been wondering what was about to happen! Was this bread and wine that had been offered to another god? But then Melchizedek opened his mouth and said something wonderful, “Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creatorof heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you.” In fact, the Bible says this was a blessing from Melchizedek to Abram! And that’s three blessings. Melchizedek blessed Abram, Melchizedek said that Abram was blessed by God, and Melchizedek blessed God! That’s a whole lot of blessings!
Now, what exactly did Melchizedek say about Abram and about God and why is it important? First of all, Melchizedek is saying that he has seen that God has blessed Abram and cursed Abram’s enemies—just like God promised when Abram left his home in Haran. Then, Melchizedek called God the Creator of heaven and earth—which doesn’t describe any Canaanite god at all! Remember that we’ve talked about how puny and pathetic the Canaanite gods were. They weren’t creators, they were created. They weren’t outside the universe creating it, they were inside the universe and could only control tiny parts of it. Like Ba’al Hadad, all he could really do is to make it rain and so he was the one who made plants grow. He was just like a part in a big machine. He didn’t build the machine, and he couldn’t turn it on or off. All he could do is just his job. Melchizedek isn’t talking about a puny god like that, he’s talking about one big enough to create everything and everyone. Somehow, Melchizedek knew Abram’s God (who is also our God). You know, it makes sense that God would be talking to more people than just Abram, even though Abram was God’s choice to make a new nation. That doesn’t mean that He wasn’t also talking to Melchizedek. And maybe God told Melchizedek all about Abram and maybe that’s one of the reasons why he came out of the city to meet him. The Land of Canaan has always been God’s special place, and so until Abram’s family gets big enough, it makes sense that someone like Melchizedek would be there to make sure things don’t get too crazy. That’s just the way I look at it.
One thing we know for sure is that Abram took Melchizedek’s blessing and his words very seriously because Abram gave him a tithe of everything he had taken back from the four kings. Tithe is a word that means for, say, every ten sheep Abram rescued, he gave one sheep to Melchizedek. And he did that with everything that had belonged to the people of the five cities. Abram was giving all that to Melchizedek because he saw that Melchizedek served his God as a priest and when Abram gave all that stuff to him, he was actually giving it to God and thanking God that everything went well with the battle and that he got his nephew back safe along with all the people from the cities. He did this to show Melchizedek and everyone with him that God won that battle and they were just pretty much along for the ride. Remember last week when I told you that the Bible loves to mention how small the armies are so that it’s a miracle they didn’t all die? Gideon will have a super tiny army too! Well, when God makes something amazing happen like that, He deserves all the credit and Melchizedek would have taken all of that stuff—the animals and the loot—and he would have offered burnt sacrifices and they would have held a great feast in God’s honor. God loves it when we celebrate Him! Even though we don’t offer sacrifices anymore, we can still have parties celebrating the amazing things He does for us so that the world can see how grateful we are and how awesome we know He is.
And just like that, Melchizedek disappears and we don’t see him ever again. King David wrote a psalm talking about him, and the author of Hebrews talks about how Melchizedek is like Jesus but we never actually have anything to do with him again. So, who was Melchizedek? Is there archaeology that tells us or do we come up with a great big zero like we did when we tried to find out who Nimrod was? Does the Bible give us any clues at all? Sadly, the answer is no. Melchizedek is a mystery and so that means a lot of people have had a lot of opinions for thousands of years about him. Some people say that he was Noah’s son Shem, but if that was true then he was the granddaddy of like a third of the people in the world and like everyone would know him and they could just call him Shem. Even though that would explain how he knows Abram’s God, it leaves a whole lot more questions than it answers. Some people think that Melchizedek was actually Jesus because of what the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, but that’s reading it out of context. We do know that Abram considered Melchizedek to be his superior, meaning that Melchizedek had a higher rank in the world. Abram didn’t think he was equal to Melchizedek the way he was equals with Mamre, Eschol, and Aner. Abram wouldn’t have given all that stuff to just anyone—he saw Melchizedek as somehow greater than he was.
What did David have to say about Melchizedek? Well, David wrote a Psalm that was all about Jesus. It’s called Psalm 110. It starts out with David talking about God, and God is talking to someone whom David calls his Master! But wait, David was the king and no one could be his master, right? Who is King over the king? And God tells David’s King to sit down beside Him, at His right hand side as the most important person in the universe. God tells David’s King that He will defeat all of his enemies and that He will give him a scepter (which is what a King carries) and that he will rule over everyone all around. Kinda sounds like what God told Abram except like a million times better. But here is the super cool part, God says this:
“The Lord (God) has made a forever promise and won’t ever take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.” Wow! So, you’ve probably guessed by now that the only King that is greater than David (besides God) is Jesus the Messiah! And just like we see in the Book of Acts, after Jesus rose from the dead and returned to God, He sat at His right hand just like David said he would a thousand years earlier. And God has been conquering his enemies ever since—not by killing them but by turning them into believers for Jesus to rule over as King! But why does God tell Jesus that he will be a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek? Melchizedek was a special kind of priest that doesn’t show up anywhere else in the Bible. Melchizedek was a priest and a king—not like David and his sons, where David was a king and only sort of a priest. Melchizedek was totally a king and totally a priest. We know that Jesus is both of those too. In Hebrews, it says he is our High Priest. Not just any old priest, but the head honcho biggest priest there ever has been and ever will be.
In Hebrews, it says that Jesus is like Melchizedek but way better. Better for so many reasons—every priest except Jesus has sinned and so they need to be saved! Not only that but every priest dies—except Jesus! And none of those priests are sitting at the right side of God—which means that we have a priest who is always there for us, all day and all night and not just when the Temple is open. And unlike human priests, He always hears our prayers and love us and cares for us and He even talks to the Father about us! Did you know that Jesus talks to God about you? So, the next time your ears are burning, that might be why. And you know that Jesus wouldn’t ever say anything mean or unfair about you. In fact, I bet that even when you do something wrong they are talking about how to help you do better next time.
I love you. I am praying for you. And one more thing, Jesus once told His disciples that children have angels who are always able to talk right to God because they are so close that they can see His face. That means you aren’t ever forgotten about, even when it seems like you are all alone.