1. Unwilling as Abraham was to accept any of the plunder in acknowledgment of the service he had rendered, he was careful at the same time to rob neither man nor God. His native allies received their share. Before distribution of it was made, however, one-tenth of the entire property which had been recovered in battle was solemnly dedicated as an act of religious homage to Almighty God, in response to the Divine benediction conveyed through the hands of His priest Melchizedek.
2. It is thus there steps upon the scene one of the most mysterious personages of Holy Writ. Nothing that we have thus far been able to gather respecting the religious condition of Canaan in the age of Abraham has prepared us to find at the head of any of its tribes, not only a worshipper of the true God, but a man of such priestly sanctity that beneath his hand the patriarch himself bows to receive the blessing of God, and through him the patriarch prefers his grateful offerings to Jehovah. Even in the simple prose of Genesis, the incident reads as though it meant more than meets the ear. The brief and unexplained introduction, only this once, of a person so eminent, his symbolical acts and lofty relation to Abraham, with the significance of his name and title, combining as these do the related ideas of righteousness and peace-these things combine to invest him with an air of mystery, and must early have fastened on him a curious and reverential attention.
Let us conceive the scene. Yonder is a small but strong town, situated upon the same cliff on which a thousand years later was seated the stronghold of David. Its name is Salem. Its gates are now open, and there pours forth from them a solemn procession of men clad in festal garments, and with festal joy and gladness upon their countenances. At the head of this consecrated band we see the venerable form of an aged man. He is at once the king and priest of Salem, and he bears the honoured name of Melchizedek, i.e. “king of righteousness.” He knows of Abraham, knows also of his valiant conflict with the enemies and destroyers of Canaan, and has come forth to meet him. Like a careful and compassionate mother, bringing refreshment to her weary and returning son, Melchizedek bears in his hands bread and wine to strengthen Abraham's body and soul. And not only this, but as he meets the patriarch he lifts up his hands upon him in benediction, and says: “Blessed be Abraham 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.” The praise of God from the mouth of this mysterious unknown by no means sounds strange to Abraham. He does not think of declining the blessing of this priest. No, thrilled by a sacred awe, he falls down, lets himself be blessed, and gives Melchizedek the tenth of all that he had at hand. By this gift of the tenth he acknowledges him as one spiritually his superior, and as having therefore the right and power to bless him, the inferior.
3. The author of one of the most Messianic of all Israel's lyrics was guided to borrow this venerable figure of the grand, dim priest-king of old, before whom even the founder of his people took the second place, in order to foreshadow that coming Seed of Abraham in whom was to meet every office of dignity and of service. A Priest He was to be above all consecrated men of Israel's race; a King nobler far in blood and ampler in sway than the royal singer who owned Him for his Lord. Under His safe and equitable government should be fulfilled that perfect ideal of a just ruler which David extolled with dying lips-one who “rules in the fear of God,” and whose influence upon his happy subjects is like the cloudless light of dawn, when after rain the sun rises in perfect peace upon the tender grass. Finally, David's poetical employment of Melchizedek to set forth the surpassing elevation of Messiah is made the basis of a long theological argument by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews; and justly, so far as the purpose which the writer has in view is concerned. For both in history and in poetical prophecy, the position assigned to this remarkable figure is clearly one which cannot be ranked alongside the descendants of Abraham, but must be placed above them. No priestly Israelite, sprung from Abraham through his great-grandson Levi, can claim as lofty or Divine a priesthood as the man before whom Abraham himself was content to bend for the blessing. If “perfection” had been attained “through the Levitical priesthood” (it was fair for the Christian teacher to ask his Jewish brethren), “what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek?”
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews assumes that the object of the Law was to bring or to prepare for bringing the people to “perfection”: Divine legislation can have no other end. The priesthood, on which the Law rested, embodied its ruling idea. And conversely in the Law as a complete system we can see the aim of the priesthood. The priesthood therefore was designed to assist in bringing about this “perfection.” If then there had been a bringing to perfection through the Levitical priesthood-if in other words there had been a bringing to perfection through the Law-there would have been no need of another priesthood. If on the other hand the whole Law failed to accomplish that to which it pointed, then so far also the priesthood failed. Such a failure, not a failure but the fulfilment of the Divine purpose, was indicated by the promise of another priesthood in a new line.1 [Note: B. F. Westcott, The Epistle in the Hebrews, 180.]
The argument may seem to be out of date. But I am prepared to say that I have never yet found in the New Testament any allusions to the ancient Jewish Scriptures, any illustrations derived from the ancient Jewish ritual, which, when seriously and patiently studied, have not proved to he logically and philosophically just. The books of Moses and the prophets are never treated by the inspired writers as affording materials out of which an ingenious fancy has licence to construct unsubstantial demonstrations of truths which the authority of Christ and of His apostles sufficiently authenticate; but as containing imperfect and elementary revelations-hints and foreshadowings-in which a mind that has comprehended the general structure and purpose of the ancient system may recognize the outlines and anticipations of the fully developed Christian faith.2 [Note: R. W. Dale, The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church, 143.]
4. Melchizedek is the one personage on earth whom Abraham recognizes as his spiritual superior. Abraham accepts his blessing and pays him tithes, apparently as priest of the Most High God; so that, in paying to him, Abraham is giving the tenth of his spoils to God. This is not any mere courtesy of private persons. It was done in presence of various parties of jealously watchful retainers. Men of rank and office and position consider how they should act to one another and who should take precedence. And Abraham did deliberately, and with a perfect perception of what he was doing, whatever he now did. Manifestly therefore God's revelation of Himself was not as yet confined to the one line running from Abraham to Christ. Here was a man of whom we really do not know whether he was a Canaanite, a son of Ham or a son of Shem; yet Abraham recognizes him as having knowledge of the true God, and even bows to him as his spiritual superior in office if not in experience. This shows us how little jealousy Abraham had of others being favoured by God, how little he thought his connexion with God would be less secure if other men enjoyed a similar connexion, and how heartily he welcomed those who with different rites and different prospects yet worshipped the living God. It shows us also how apt we are to limit God's ways of working; and how little we understand of the connexions He has with those who are not situated as we ourselves are. Here, while all our attention is concentrated on Abraham as carrying the whole spiritual hope of the world, there emerges from an obscure Canaanite valley a man nearer to God than Abraham is. From how many unthought-of places such men may at any time come out upon us, we really can never tell.
I do not think that my Master will say my charity is too large, or my inclusiveness too great. Alas! alas! when I see Romanists cursing the Church of England, Evangelicals shaking their heads about the Christianity of Tractarians, Tractarians banning Dissenters, Dissenters anathematizing Unitarians, and Unitarians of the old school condemning the more spiritual ones of the new, I am forced to hope that there is more inclusiveness in the love of God than in the bitter orthodoxy of sects and churches. I find only two classes who roused His Divine indignation when on earth: those who excluded bitterly-the Scribes, and those of a religious name-the popular religious party of the day, who judged frailty and error bitterly-the Pharisees. I am certain that I do not dilute truth, at least what I count truth, nor hold lax views about opinions; but I am certain that men are often better than their creed, and that our Lord's mode of judging of the tree by its fruits is the only true one.1 [Note: Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson, 401.]
O Love Divine!-whose constant beam
Shines on the eyes that will not see,
And waits to bless us, while we dream
Thou leavest us because we turn from Thee!
All souls that struggle and aspire,
All hearts of prayer by Thee are lit;
And, dim or clear, Thy tongues of fire
On dusky tribes and twilight centuries sit.
Nor bounds, nor clime, nor creed Thou know'st;
Wide as our need Thy favours fall;
The white wings of the Holy Ghost
Stoop, seen or unseen, o'er the heads of all.2 [Note: Whittier, The Shadow and the Light.]
