Melchizedek, King and Priest

   So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was
   appointed by the one who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have
   begotten you"; as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever,
   according to the order of Melchizedek" (5:5,6).

      Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
      and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
      for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest
      according to the order of Melchizedek (5:8-10).

      We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that
      enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on
      our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according
      to the order of Melchizedek (6:19-20).

      Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood
      -- for the people received the law under this priesthood -- what further
      need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according
      to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of
      Aaron? (7:11).

      It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling
      Melchizedek, one who has become a priest not through a legal requirement
      concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible
      life. For it is attested of him, "You are priest forever according to
      the order of Melchizedek" (7:15-17).

Besides these repeated references to the order of Melchizedek, the writer goes back to the Genesis story with which we began this study. He retells the story, but he feels free to delete and to embellish. The retelling is loaded, and what we have is an interpretative recapitulation that further emphasizes both Melchizedek's priesthood and the mystery that surrounds his person.

   This "King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham
   as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him"; and to him
   Abraham apportioned "one-tenth of everything". His name, in the first
   place, means "king of righteousness"; next he is also king of Salem, that
   is "king of peace". Without father, without mother, without genealogy,
   having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of
   God, he remains a priest forever (7:1-3).

Melchizedek is greater than Abram because he blesses Abram and receives from him homage in the form of a tithe. By hindsight Melchizedek is now perceived as the forerunner of Christ. His importance is archetypal, and the unique typological role he played necessarily means that his place is prior to and his office more important than those of the man he blesses, who is destined to become Abraham, father of a multitude and patriarch par excellence. Neither Levi nor Aaron can be compared to Melchizedek. They and their priestly progeny were born, and they died as all mortals do. But not Melchizedek. He was, is, and will be. In fact, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews goes on an engaging flight of fancy, arguing that "one might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him" (7:9).