Melchizedek

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(Video Version)

Introduction

Moses first refers to the Melchizedek priesthood—and to the tithe—in Genesis 14. However, this does not imply that these institutions originated at that point in history. Genesis functions as a condensed account of the writings and traditions that preceded Moses; it does not provide an exhaustive record of every aspect of early human life. Once the narrative reaches Moses’ own era, the level of detail increases significantly.

For example, it would have been unnecessary for Moses to offer a full description of YHWH’s Law as given to Adam and Eve, since he later records that Law comprehensively from his own vantage point. The absence of an earlier, explicit listing of the Law does not indicate that it was nonexistent; rather, its presence is demonstrated throughout the Genesis narrative. Likewise, the authors who came after Moses—including the New Testament writers—did not need to restate the Law in detail, as Moses had already done so. Nevertheless, their writings also reflect and affirm its ongoing relevance and evidence.

Genesis 14:18-20  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; ²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

This Melchizedek could not have been the priest of a Canaanite false-god, or Abram would be guilty of worshipping a false-god by paying him a tithe. Besides that, scripture says he was priest of God Most High, which always means YHWH in scripture. This God Most High we are told is Possessor of heaven and earth, clearly this is YHWH. This God Most High is credited with delivering Abram from the hands of his enemies. Who do you think Abram credits with that feat? Not a Canaanite false-god!

Abram knew that he was expected to tithe to the priest-king, which means that he was well aware of who Melchizedek was and who he represented (YHWH). In fact, it seems that all of YHWH’s people were aware of who and what Melchizedek was all the way up until the end of the Apostolic Age, after which the knowledge seems to have gotten lost.

Melchizedek means Righteous King, and there is only one Righteous King, YHWH. Melchizedek is a priestly order, not a name and not an individual. The priest-king that Abram tithed to was very likely Shem. Shem was not the Righteous King, he was the high priest in the Righteous King’s order of priests. He was the king of the city of Salem, which was Jerusalem.

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Historical Timeline

The following chart shows us the chronological timeline between the years 2001 AM (from creation) and 2249 AM. Important bookends for this time frame are the death of Noah in 2007 AM and the death of Isaac in 2229 AM.

Here are some important points from the chronology:

• Noah died in 2007 AM.
• Abram moved to Canaan in the year 2024 AM, 17 years after Noah’s death, because YHWH told him to move there.
• Shem lived until 2159 AM, which is another 135 years after Abram moved to Canaan.
• Eber lived until 2188 AM.
• Joseph was born in 2200 AM and sold into slavery in 2017 AM.
• Isaac died in 2229 AM.

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Home of Noah & Shem

The Bible does not explicitly tell us where Noah and Shem lived; however, we can deduce the location through scripture.

• The ‘land of Canaan’ was very important to YHWH, as He had chosen it for Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ).
  • Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
• Noah was very important to YHWH. YHWH called him righteous and saved only Noah and his family from destruction.
  • Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
• Yeshua Messiah was Noah’s offspring.
• Noah’s son, Ham, slept with Noah’s wife (likely not his biological mother).
  • Genesis 9:18-19 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
  • Scripture does not give information for no reason. YHWH repeats and highlights things because they are important. Here we see Canaan mentioned seemingly randomly, while the list of Noah’s family exiting the ark is given. This is because there is great significance to Canaan being Ham’s son.
  • Genesis 9:20-22 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
  • Once again, we are told that Ham is the father of Canaan, a seemingly random fact in the narrative. But nothing is random with YHWH.
  • To uncover a man’s nakedness means to have intercourse with his wife.
    • Deuteronomy 22:30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not uncover his father’s nakedness.
    • Deuteronomy 27:20 Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. And all the people shall say, Amen.
    • Leviticus 18:16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
• Because Ham slept with his (step)mother, his son, Canaan, was cursed.
  • Genesis 9:24-27 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” ²⁶ He also said, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. ²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
  • Why would scripture repeatedly mention Canaan in this narrative, even before we knew who he was, and why would he be cursed for the actions of his father? Logic tells us that it is because Canaan was the product of Ham’s union with Noah’s wife. This also explains why her name was erased from history.
• The curse put on Canaan is that he was to be the servant of YHWH and Shem, which would necessitate that he live where Shem lives; therefore, Shem must have been living in the ‘land of Canaan’. The land was likely not called Canaan at this time in history; this is what is called an anachronism: something belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists or is portrayed. We see the same with Dan being mentioned as a place where Abram pursued Chedorlaomer, four-hundred years before the tribe of Dan existed there.
  • Genesis 14:14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
• Canaan was the son of Noah’s wife, so it would make sense that he lived where Noah and his wife lived. This would mean that Noah also lived in the ‘land of Canaan’.

Noah and Shem both lived in the ‘land of Canaan’, the land that YHWH had chosen for His Son, Yeshua Messiah, who would be the offspring of Noah, Shem, and Abram. This is why YHWH sent Abram to the land where Shem was still living with his nephew, Canaan.

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City of Salem

Melchizedek was the King of Salem. We know that Salem is the ancient name for Jerusalem, because King David calls it Zion, and Jerusalem is also called Zion.

Psalm 76:2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

Joel 3:16 YHWH roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But YHWH is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

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Melchizedek’s Temple

Temple Zero is the name given to a stone temple found in the City of David (Salem). We read about the discovery in an article from November 4, 2024, at byfaith.org:

Israel 365 News describes the temple in their article from January 14th, 2025:

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Melchizedek’s Priesthood

There is no question that the man to whom Abram tithed was a genuine human being with a physical, corporeal body. He served as the king of Salem (later Jerusalem) and “brought out bread and wine” to Abram from the city. Abram, in turn, gave a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek. The act of receiving tangible goods demonstrates that Melchizedek himself was corporeal. When Scripture speaks of tithing to YHWH, it refers to giving offerings to His appointed priesthood rather than physically handing them to YHWH, who is spirit.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

This reality implies the existence of an earthly priesthood from the earliest times. The Melchizedek priesthood functioned to teach the Law and guide the people in obedience to YHWH. All who followed YHWH—particularly those within the prophetic line—served as priests within this order and were able to offer their own sacrifices and offerings. Scripture records that Cain and Abel, as well as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all presented sacrificial offerings to YHWH.

The last high priest before Yeshua Messiah, was Isaac, who took over the position when Eber passed in 2188 AM. We find possible evidence that Jacob expected that Isaac would move to Salem in Jacob’s prayer to YHWH.

Genesis 28:18-22 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹ so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then YHWH shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

The Hebrew word translated ‘peace’ in the passage is Strong’s h7965 שָׁלוֹם shaw-lome’; or שָׁלֹם shâlôm: safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace:—× do, familiar, × fare, favour, friend, × great, (good) health, (× perfect, such as be at) peace(-able, -ably), prosper(-ity, -ous), rest, safe(-ty), salute, welfare, (× all is, be) well, × wholly.

The Hebrew word translated ‘Salem’ in scripture is Strong’s h8004 שָׁלֵם shaw-lame’: peaceful; Shalem, an early name of Jerusalem:—Salem.

The vowel markings in written Hebrew were invented by the Masoretes of Tiberius between the 6th and 10th centuries AD. They did not exist in the original Hebrew. We see that the two words, h7965 and h8004, are written שָׁלֹם and שָׁלֵם respectively (Hebrew is read from right to left); however, without the vowel markings they are the same written word—shin, lamed, mem. Therefore, in verse 21, Jacob could have been saying to YHWH, “so that I come again to my father’s house in Salem.”

Would the timeline match this possibility?

• Jacob leaves for Leban in 2186 AM, two years before Eber’s death in 2188 AM.
• Isaac and Rebecca were still at Beersheba when they sent Jacob away, because Eber was still high priest.
• When Jacob returns to Canaan in 2206 AM, Isaac is still alive and Esau has moved his large house across to Seir.
• So where is Isaac? He is at Salem (Jerusalem) fulfilling his obligation as Melchizedek. There is no further reference to Isaac keeping flocks or a large household in the land of Canaan. The narrative bounces around a little chronologically, which can be confusing, but we have tracked it on our spreadsheet for clarity.

Isaac did not die until 2229 AM; meanwhile, the account of Joseph traveling from Hebron—where Jacob had established his household—to Shechem to check on his brothers occurs in 2217 AM. This means Isaac was still alive for another twelve years after Joseph was sold into slavery, yet Scripture records nothing about him during this period. The most reasonable explanation is that he was not living with Jacob but was instead serving YHWH at the Temple in Salem.

Jacob relocated his family to Egypt in 2240 AM, eleven years after Isaac’s death. This timing suggests that Jacob did not assume the role of high priest in Salem after Isaac. With Isaac gone and no successor from his line taking up the office, the Canaanites gained control over the entire region. It is at this point—rather than earlier—that the land would accurately be described as the “land of Canaan.” Jacob and his sons were not living in obedience to YHWH, which ultimately led to their enslavement in Egypt until YHWH raised up Moses to bring them back to the Promised Land.

Moses served as a prophet and judge, Miriam as a prophetess, and Aaron as the high priest of a newly established earthly Levitical order. The responsibilities of this priesthood included teaching the Law, offering sacrifices to YHWH, and representing the people before Him. As the author of Hebrews explains, the Levitical priesthood is subordinate to the superior and more ancient Melchizedek priesthood.

Hebrews 7:1-10 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. ³ 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. ⁴ See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! ⁵ And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. ⁶ But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷ It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. ⁸ In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. ⁹ One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Melchizedek has no father or mother or genealogy because it is not an individual, but a priesthood, and the one being called Melchizedek is the High Priest. The earthly priesthood temporarily went to the Levites, while the Israelites were safeguarding the Promised Land for Abraham’s Offspring, Yeshua Messiah. Once Yeshua Messiah came, the priesthood reverted back to Melchizedek and our High Priest is now in Heaven.

King David, writing hundreds of years after the earthly Levitical priesthood had been created, knew all about the Melchizedek priesthood. From Psalm 110, it is clear that he also knew that the final High Priest in the order would be the Messiah.

Psalm 110:1-4 YHWH says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ² YHWH sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! ³ Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. ⁴ YHWH has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

In the first century AD, YHWH’s people still knew about the Melchizedek priesthood, because the author of Hebrews discusses its significance in a way that implies his readers already had knowledge of it.

Today, we are priests in the order of Melchizedek, under our High Priest, Yeshua messiah.

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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Judah & Levi

Melchizedek means righteous king. It is both a priesthood and a kingship.

Strong’s h4442 מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק mal-kee-tseh’-dek: from H4428 and H6664; king of right; Malki-Tsedek, an early king in Palestine:—Melchizedek.

Strong’s h4428 מֶלֶךְ meh’-lek: a king:—king, royal.

Strong’s h6664 צֶדֶק tseh’-dek: the right (natural, moral or legal); also (abstractly) equity or (figuratively) prosperity:—× even, (× that which is altogether) just(-ice), (un-)right(-eous) (cause, -ly, -ness).

After the end of the enslavement in Egypt, YHWH separated the priesthood from the kingship. Initially maintaining the kingship for Himself, until the time of the prophet Samuel, when the Israelites insisted on having an earthly king.

While on his deathbed in Egypt, Jacob gave these blessings to his sons, which double as prophecy. The three eldest sons lost their blessings because of their disobedience to YHWH.

YHWH chose Judah, the fourth son of Leah, to be the line from which the Melchizedek kingship would eventually return. YHWH did not want an earthly king for the Israelites, but they wanted one, so during the time of the prophet Samuel, YHWH gave them a king. YHWH chose David, who was from the line of Judah. Jacob gave Judah the blessing, which is also a prophecy of Messiah Yeshua.

Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers will praise you;
    your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father’s sons will bow down to you.
⁹ You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
    you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
    like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
¹¹ He will tether his donkey to a vine,
    his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
    his robes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes will be darker than wine,
    his teeth whiter than milk.

YHWH chose Levi, the third son of Leah, to be the father of the earthly priesthood of the Israelites. In this way the Levites would not have any land of their own and they would be scattered among the other eleven tribes.

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Conclusion

Melchizedek serves as the key figure who unites several foundational themes in Scripture. His priesthood—whose line of high priests began with Adam and culminated in Yeshua—carried the responsibility of offering sacrifices, representing the people before YHWH, and instructing them in obedience to His Law. Each of these functions ultimately finds its perfect fulfillment in Yeshua the Messiah.

From the beginning, YHWH designated Jerusalem as the place where the Melchizedek high priest would present his offerings. Even the name Jerusalem carries prophetic significance, revealing YHWH’s intention for the city from the outset. See our study, Jerusalem: A Messianic Prophecy.

Every high priest from Adam to Isaac served as a foreshadowing of Yeshua Messiah. Likewise, the high priests from Noah through Isaac—ministering in the Temple at Salem (Jerusalem) and offering sacrifices there—prefigured the once‑for‑all sacrifice that Yeshua would make in that very location. To overlook this continuous thread is to miss a vital piece of the Gospel.

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