¹ For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,   ² to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils …

Let the dullness of hearing (Hebrews 5:11) give way to understanding. Finally our author returns to the subject begun earlier. This enigmatic character, Melchizedek, from the days of the patriarch Abraham, mentioned in Genesis 18, is now connected with the Lord Jesus Christ by way of Psalm 110. This connection was first made in Hebrews 5:6, but now is fully elucidated. Since it is such an important connection, we need to understand the historical setting.

The context of Melchizedek’s fame came at a time of warring between two consortiums of kings. Taking place 2000 years before the time of Christ (that’s a similar length of time between the time of Christ and our present day), the story lines involve Abraham as a savior of his nephew Lot. Earlier he had deferred to Lot the first choice of land to live in (their respective entourages grew to a size where they competed for the natural resources in the land. Lot chose the fertile river valley for himself and his family. That land included the area around Sodom and Gomorrah, and eventually, he ended up living in Sodom, amidst its wickedness.

The king of Sodom was one of the warring kings, but was defeated. In the process, Lot and his family were captured. That Lot chose Sodom over the rest of the land in which to live, is a message for another time—but it does set the stage for his rescue by Abraham. Abraham led a trained corps of 308 men and handily defeated the offending kings, recaptured Lot and all his possessions and returned the rest of the recaptured goods to the king of Sodom. Abraham refused to keep any of the recaptured possessions of Sodom, lest the king of Sodom boast about helping Abraham get rich. This was an important issue for Abraham.

On the other hand, Melchizedek the king of Salem came out to bless Abraham. Clearly this king was also presented to Abraham as a “priest of God Most High” (Gen 14:18). So he was both a king and a priest. In return, Abraham gave him ten percent of what he kept from war (Gen 14:20). Highly unusual. Whereas Abraham refused tribute from the King of Sodom, he rather gave tribute to the King of Salem. Our author now turns to explain the significance of this man, as it relates to our salvation.

Lord, in Your Word I discover wonderful images of my salvation. Help me appreciate the connection between the Savior and this character Melchizedek.