And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is the first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever (Hebrews 7:2-3 ESV).

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“I don’t understand what you don’t understand.” This is a sentence I have said in repetition to a child standing in front of me dumbfounded by a command, as if I were speaking another language. Hebrews 7 feels like this to me, only I’m the kid and the author of Hebrews is saying, “What don’t you get here?” Hebrews chapter 7 is one of those moments that requires a little pause and a bit more digging; because, by all indications, this is speaking of Jesus, right?  

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The Scriptures above are describing a King/Priest Melchizedek. The parallels are astonishing enough to wonder if this is Jesus by a different name. I don’t have the space here to dive into whether Melchizedek is really a Christophany, but we can draw so much from this reference found in Genesis 14.  Abram had rescued his nephew, Lot, and defeated kings. Melchizedek seems to have appeared out of nowhere, brought bread and wine, and blessed Abram. Verse 19 says, “Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” The only information we have about him is that “He was a priest of the God Most High.” After this blessing, we see Abraham give him a tenth of everything. Why would Abraham give a king/priest a tenth of everything? Why is he a king and a priest? Aren’t priests from the tribe of Levi? The questions start accumulating, and we can quickly end up in the weeds and miss the bigger picture God is providing.  

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According to Hebrews 7, Melchizedek was the king of righteousness, High Priest forever, and King of Salem, which means peace. He had no noted beginning or end, brought out bread and wine, spoke blessing over Abram with the message that God had delivered his enemies into his hand, and was given a tenth of everything. Additionally, Melchizedek’s appearance pre-dates God’s assignment of the tribe of Levi to be priests.  

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Each statement provided about Melchizedek can be and was said of Jesus. He is “Filled with the fruit of righteousness...” according to Philippians 1:11, and “On his robe … he has a name written, King of Kings…” (Revelation 19:16). Hebrews references calling Jesus the High Priest forever several times. Isaiah 9:6 says, “…and his name shall be called… Prince of Peace.” Revelation 22:13 tells us, in reference to Jesus, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” In the gospels Jesus gives bread and wine to his disciples representing his body and blood, the sacrifice He gave for all sin. Lastly, Jesus descended from the tribe of Judah, not the God-established family of priests, the tribe of Levi.  

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We could talk endlessly about any one of these parallels, but I think one overarching theme is that God is incredibly consistent from the beginning of His Word to the end. Melchizedek is, at the very least, a preview of all that was to come and be fulfilled in Jesus. God set in motion the hierarchy of proper worship and sacrifice. Even Abraham understood worshipping God through tithe, long before the tithe was established in Levitical law. Melchizedek held the position to receive such offerings, not by blood, but by appointment, laying a foundation that his described characteristics would foreshadow Jesus. Later, Jesus was appointed high priest by God, not by bloodline. It was the blood shed on the cross that solidified that He was and is the only one worthy of being a priest and a king forever.  

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So, what do all these parallels mean for us? God is not trying to confuse us; quite the opposite. God makes His message so painfully obvious that we complicate it, thinking it cannot possibly be that simple. The symbolic representations are engrained so deeply in the culture that when they appear hundreds of years later in the person of Jesus, the audience could say, “Wait a minute, that sounds like something I’ve heard before.” Whether it was the intended Hebrew audience or us reading this thousands of years later, we can take note that the God of the Universe wants you and I to know that Jesus has always been, and He will always be.  

Are you guilty of complicating God’s Word? Do you assume you’ll miss what God is revealing because you may not fully comprehend this mysterious person in the Bible? I pray you’ll dig in and study meaty passages like this one, but I also pray you’ll read it for what it says and let God speak, because His message is the same. He is the righteous King of Peace who comes to us offering his bread and wine, his body and blood, and delivers us from our enemy, sin.

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Jesus, we praise you for being our King of Peace and our righteousness. Help us to rest in your righteousness and not strive to comprehend every difficult passage perfectly. Thank you for speaking to us. Amen.