Melchizedek

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Melchizedek
     king of righteousness, the king of Salem (q.v.). All we know of
     him is recorded in Gen. 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, ch. 7. 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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Melchizedek, king of justice