Genesis 14: 1-24
Our reading today, Genesis 14, sketches an ancient war between two coalitions of city-states in the area (now Palestine) where Abram was living. It is very early, even before Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. Of all the kings and places listed, only a few mean much to us. We know about Sodom, which was defeated, and Abram’s nephew Lot, who lived there and was taken captive. When Abram heard this, he took 318 of his trained men and went and rescued Lot, retrieving his possessions and those of Sodom. But how can history of an ancient, local war like this be relevant to us millennia later?
From verse 17 the chapter takes a more interesting but mysterious tone. We meet Melchizedek, whose name means King of Righteousness, who was King of Salem, that is Peace, and who is called “priest of God Most High.” Melchizedek, with these titles, is even more important than Abram, who honors him with a tenth of everything his men retrieved. But this great Melchizedek immediately drops out of the biblical account until, much later, he appears momentarily in Psalm 110:4, where God calls the coming Messiah “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” What is this strange order of priesthood, originating with someone greater than Abraham, hundreds of years before the Levitical priesthood God ordained through Moses? It’s a mystery!
By the time of Christ, interest in Melchizedek had grown greatly, with many different opinions and much mystery. Melchizedek appears in early rabbinic writings and is prominent in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the New Testament, the Book of Hebrews, especially chapter 7, expounds Genesis 14 and Psalm 110:4 at length, showing how Melchizedek prefigures Christ and how Christ is our great high priest, made perfect and living forever, who “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
In later centuries church leaders continue to praise Melchizedek. Today is the feast day of St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407), one of the greatest preachers of the church. Indeed, his name means “golden mouthed”. Three of Chrysostom’s great homilies (numbers 12, 13, 14) present Melchizedek as a type and forerunner of Christ, expounding Hebrews 7 and 8. Other church leaders did likewise. Let us conclude with yet another mystery these leaders proposed: Genesis 14:18 states that Melchizedek brought bread and wine to share with Abram. Does this gift prefigure and anticipate our Lord’s consecration of the bread and wine, the mystery of communion and the invitation sometimes given, “The gifts of God for the people of God”? We cannot know.
History is certainly important in the Bible and in our faith, but mystery is often even more important, for it is in mystery that we experience, but cannot prove, spiritual insight and the glorious celebration of God’s presence with us through the Holy Spirit. In this age, our knowledge is distorted and incomplete, but in mystery we can anticipate the great and joyous Day of Christ when it will all be perfected (1 Cor. 13:12).
-Robert Kruse
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