Hebrews 7:1-3
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 of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.”
Blessed him: In the Old Testament, Abraham meets Melchizedek after a major battle. This is when he encounters Melchizedek, king of Salem. We do not know much about him but we do know that something in Abraham made him give a tenth of his spoils of war and offered it to him. This is not merely cash or money out of his wallet. This is spoils of war which he had taken from other people who had been conquered by Abraham. While this was a type of tithe before the law, we need to make sure to not neglect that this was not money. It was spoils of war. Such a concept is missing entirely from the epistles. We are not to imitate Abraham by slaughtering kings, pillaging people groups, and offering these spoils to people. And importantly: Abraham did this once and not repeatedly. Abraham did this because it was a middle eastern tradition.
King of righteousness…king of peace: There are many theories about Melchizedek. Some say he was Jesus while others say he was simply a human being who was used later as a type of class. Either way the point is that Abraham respected someone outside of the law without having the right heritage to be a Levitical priest. Likewise, we too have a High Priest who is outside of the law: Jesus Christ. He is our true king of righteousness and peace.
