Hebrews 7:1-3: King of Peace and Righteousness

When I started writing patent applications many years ago, while working for Award Software, a famous German patent attorney counseled me: "It is not enough to say that your method is different. You must state why it is better." At the time, a large multi-national company was charging our customer $1 per patent per PC shipped, costing them several million dollars per year. Yes, it would be great be different but it also must be demonstrably better.

The author of Hebrews has pulled out all the stops in the first chapters of Hebrews to show that Jesus is not just different than other spiritual agents but demonstrably better. Already Jesus was shown to be better than the angels (Heb. 1:4), Moses (Heb. 3:3), Aaron and the priests (Heb. 7:11) and now, Abraham, the father of all Israel.

This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. - Hebrews 7:1-3

There has been much written and little known about this character Melchizedek. His name only appears here, in Genesis 14 (where he met Abraham) and Psalm 110 (a Messianic prophecy). But this was enough, because it established two important key points:

1. Abraham honored him as a priest of "God Most High" after Abraham had met and obeyed God (Gen. 12), but before the later covenants or signs of covenants.
2. This priest was not one of the children of Aaron or the tribe of Levi (who was still a few generations from being born!)

There was a class of priest (specialist, able to represent man before God) outside of the traditional priestly classes who even Abraham recognized. The Bible places Jesus into this priesthood, not by birth (he was of the king's tribe, not the priest's tribe) but by a declaration from God. And he trumps even Abraham: "And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater" (Heb. 7:7) Basically, Jesus bests any spiritual guru, by any measuring stick you want to use.

But let's focus on the three aspects of this priest, found in Genesis 14:18: "Then Melchizedek [king of righteousness] king of Salem [king of peace] brought out bread and wine. He was priest of the Most High God."

1. First, he was the king. While Abraham refuses to deal with the king of Sodom (Gen. 14:23), he eats with this king of Salem, gives him a tenth of the plunder (keeping none for himself), and receives his blessing.
2. Second, he was the the king of Jerusalem. The modern name of Jerusalem is a compound word which means "to see peace". But, it is likely that the name during Abraham's time was simply "the city of peace." When David led the people of Israel to establish their capital, it was merely a return to the holy place established by God a thousand years before, by a priest of his own choosing. Abraham defeats the army outside the city of peace (after rescuing his nephew Lot). Then he receives a blessing from the king of peace. While Abraham was able to effect his own peace in war time (with God's assistance), he needed another to mediate on his behalf before God (Heb 12:24).
3. Third, he was the king of "righteousness"  His name (Melchizedek) is simply a compound word for "king" and "righteousness". The writer of Hebrews picks up, because Jesus came not just as a presenter of sacrifices, he himself was the sacrifice. He is our righteousness, the source of our good standing with God. 

We are too small to box with God--our arms are too short, our grasp too infirm. We need a cessation of hostilities, brokered by the King of Peace, guaranteed by the King of Righteousness.