A King with Bread and Wine
Genesis 14 is a war story. Four kings from the east, led by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, came against the kings of the cities of the plain. Sodom and Gomorrah fell, and the raiders carried off their goods and their people. Among the captives was Lot, Abram's nephew, who had first pitched his tent toward Sodom and then moved inside it (Genesis 13:12; Genesis 14:12).
When the news reached Abram, he armed three hundred and eighteen trained servants, born in his own house, and pursued the invaders all the way to Dan. He divided his men by night, struck, and chased the enemy beyond Damascus. He brought everything back: Lot, his goods, the women, and the people (Genesis 14:14–16).
On the way home two kings came out to meet him. The king of Sodom came to bargain. But before he could say a word, the story turns to another king, one we have never heard of and will never meet again in Genesis.
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”GENESIS 14:18–20 · KJV
That is all Genesis tells us. Melchizedek was king of Salem, the city Psalm 76 sets beside Zion, the place that became Jerusalem (Psalm 76:2). He was the priest of the most high God. He brought bread and wine to a weary army, blessed Abram in the name of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed God for the victory. And Abram, the man who had the promises, gave him a tenth of all.
Then Abram turned to the king of Sodom, who offered him the goods if he could have the people back. Abram refused to take so much as a thread or a shoelatchet: I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth (Genesis 14:22–23). Notice what Abram did with Melchizedek's name for God. He joined it to the covenant name, the LORD. The God Melchizedek served was Abram's God.
Then Melchizedek disappears. About a thousand years later, David names him in a psalm about the Messiah (Psalm 110:4). About a thousand years after that, the writer of Hebrews gives him most of three chapters (Hebrews 5 to 7).
Melchizedek is a type the New Testament itself names. Hebrews applies Psalm 110:4 to Jesus again and again (Hebrews 5:6; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:17; Hebrews 7:21) and says Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God (Hebrews 7:3). We state it plainly: we are not guessing at a likeness but following an inspired writer. One detail is different. Hebrews never mentions the bread and wine, so we present that likeness as a picture, and we build no doctrine on it.
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For Deeper Study
- Typology: Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped PatternsAmazon James M. Hamilton Jr.A careful recent study of how Old Testament patterns point to Christ, and the source of this series' definition of typology. The author writes as a Calvinistic Baptist.
- Exploring Hebrews: An Expository CommentaryAmazon John PhillipsA warm, outlined exposition for teachers and students, helpful on Hebrews 5 to 7.
- Be Confident (Hebrews)Amazon Warren W. WiersbeAn accessible chapter-by-chapter guide to Hebrews, with questions for personal or group study.
- The Study of the TypesAmazon Ada R. HabershonA classic 1898 introduction to the Old Testament types by a writer who loved to find Christ in all the Scriptures.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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What Is Typology?
God filled the Old Testament with pictures of His Son: real people, events, and institutions He designed to point forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfills and surpasses them all.
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