Melchizedek
King of Salem, priest of the Most High God — the man whose order of priesthood is named after Christ himself
Three Verses That Changed Everything
Melchizedek appears in Genesis without warning. Abraham has just returned from battle — a night raid in which he defeated four allied kings to rescue his nephew Lot. The narrative is practical and military, and then suddenly:
Genesis 14:18–20
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram 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. And he gave him tithes of all.”
Three verses. No genealogy. No origin story. No record of his birth or death. In a culture where genealogy was everything — where every claim to priestly authority rested on descent from Levi, every royal claim on descent from Judah — Melchizedek steps into the narrative already holding both offices, king and priest simultaneously, accountable to no human lineage. He blesses Abraham. Abraham pays him tithes. And then he is gone.
His name carries its meaning openly: melchi means king, zedek means righteousness. He is the King of Righteousness, and his city, Salem, means peace. He is therefore also the King of Peace — the same two titles the prophet Isaiah would later give to the coming Messiah: “Prince of Peace,” whose government would bring justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6–7).
The Psalm That Prophesied
Melchizedek would have faded from the record entirely if not for a single verse in Psalm 110, the most frequently quoted psalm in the New Testament. In a psalm Jesus himself applied to the Messiah, God addresses the coming king:
Psalm 110:4
“The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”
This verse is astonishing. The coming king-priest will not hold authority because of lineage from Aaron or Levi. His priesthood will be different in kind, older in origin, and eternal in duration — after the order of Melchizedek. The prophecy reached past the entire Levitical system to this enigmatic figure in Genesis and declared that the Messiah would operate in his order.
The Epistle to the Hebrews: The Full Argument
The author of Hebrews spent three chapters (5–7) unpacking what Melchizedek's appearance meant. The argument is precise and requires following closely:
First: Melchizedek is described as “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Hebrews 7:3). This is not a claim that Melchizedek literally had no parents — it is a statement about the scriptural record: his genealogy is not given, his birth and death are not recorded. In the typological framework of Hebrews, what is absent from the text is as significant as what is present. The silence prefigures the Son whose priesthood is genuinely eternal.
Second: Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham and blessed him. Levi, the ancestor of the Levitical priests, was still “in the loins of his father” Abraham when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Therefore, in a real sense, Levi himself paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham (Hebrews 7:9–10). This means Melchizedek's priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood — the lesser is blessed by and pays tribute to the greater.
Third: If perfection had come through the Levitical priesthood, why did Psalm 110 prophesy a different kind of priest — after the order of Melchizedek rather than Aaron? The very existence of that prophecy proves that the Levitical system was temporary and pointing forward to something better. The change of priesthood requires a change of law (Hebrews 7:12), and the new priesthood operates “not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life” (Hebrews 7:16).
The Bread and Wine
Melchizedek brought bread and wine to Abraham after his victory. On the face of it, this is the hospitality of a host to a returning warrior. But the elements — bread and wine — are the same elements Jesus used at the Last Supper when he instituted the ordinance of the Sacrament. Whether this is deliberate typology or providential echo, the first priest of the Most High God ministered to the father of Israel with the same symbols that the eternal High Priest would use to minister to the whole world.
Melchizedek's appearance is brief, but its reverberations run through all of scripture. He stands as a type — a living preview — of the one who would come as both King and Priest, righteous and peaceful, holding an authority that preceded and surpassed every human lineage. The higher priesthood in the restored Church bears his name precisely because it is, in its origin and operation, after the order of the Son of God.
Key Scriptures
- Genesis 14:18–20 — Melchizedek meets Abraham; bread and wine; tithes
- Psalm 110:4 — “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”
- Hebrews 5–7 — The full typological argument; Christ as high priest after Melchizedek's order
- D&C 107:2–4 — The higher priesthood named for Melchizedek out of reverence for God