Melchisedech
(Hebrew: king of justice)
King of Salem, most probably Jerusalem, and a priest of the Most High God. He came to meet Abram after his victory over Chodorlahomor and his allies (Genesis 14), and on this occasion brought forth bread and wine, blessed Abram, thanked God for the victory, and received tithes of all the spoils. The “bringing forth bread and wine” is interpreted by all the Fathers and Catholic commentators as offering a sacrifice to God, because the phrase which follows, “he was priest of the Most High God,” seems to give the motive why he brought forth bread and wine. According to oriental custom Abram would wish to thank God by sacrifice, and if Melchisedech came to meet Abram because he was a priest of the Most High God, the latter would ask him to offer the sacrifice, and would pay him the tithes for this truly sacerdotal function. Melchisedech is a type of Christ (Psalm 109; Hebrews 7), because of his titles, King of Justice, King of Peace, Priest of the Most High God; and because of his eternal priesthood. Scripture is silent about his lineage, about his birth and death; and in this sense he is “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Hebrews 7). This silence suggests the eternal Son of God and His endless priesthood. He is a type of Christ also because of his superiority to Abram, from whom he received tithes and whom he blessed. In Jewish tradition Melchisedech is commonly identified with Sem; Origen and Didymus held him to have been an angel; some even thought that he Wall an incarnation of the Holy Spirit or the Son of God.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Melchisedech
[Gr. Melchisedek, from the Hebrew meaning “King of righteousness (Gesenius)] was King of Salem (Gen. xiv, 18-20) who, on Abraham’s return with the booty taken from the four kings, “bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, blessed him”, and received from him “the tithes of all” (v. 20). Josephus, with many others, identifies Salem with Jerusalem, and adds that Melchisedech “supplied Abram’s army in a hospitable manner, and gave them provisions in abundance. . .and when Abram gave him the tenth part of his prey, he accepted the gift” (Ant., I, x, 2). Cheyne says “it is a plausible conjecture that he is a purely fictitious personage” (Encyc. Bib., s.v.), which “plausible conjecture” Kaufmann, however, rightly condemns (Jew. Encyc., s.v.). The Rabbins identified Melchisedech with Sem, son of Noe, rather for polemic than historic reasons, since they wished to set themselves against what is said of him as a type of Christ “without father, without mother, without genealogy” (Hebrews 7:3). In the Epistle to the Hebrews the typical character of Melchisedech and its Messianic import are fully explained. Christ is “a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech” (Hebrews 7:6; Psalm 109:4); “a high priest forever”, etc (Hebrews 6:20), i.e. order or manner (Gesenius), not after the manner of Aaron. The Apostle develops his teaching in Heb., vii: Melchisedech was a type by reason of his twofold dignity as priest and king, by reason of his name, “king of justice”, by reason of the city over which he ruled, “King of Salem, that is, king of peace” (v. 2), and also because he “without father without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but likened unto the Son of God, continueth a priest forever.” (v. 3). The silence of Scripture about the facts of Melchisedech’s birth and death was part of the divine plan to make him prefigure more strikingly the mysteries of Christ’s generation, the eternity of His priesthood. Abraham, patriarch and father of nations, paid tithes to Melchisedech and received his blessing. This was all the more remarkable since the priest-king was a stranger, to whom he was not bound to pay tithes, as were the children of Israel to the priests of the Aaronic line. Abraham, therefore, and Levi “in the loins of his father” (Heb. vii, 9), by acknowledging his superiority as a type of Christ (for personally he was not greater than Abraham), thereby confessed the excellence of Christ’s priesthood. Neither can it be fairly objected that Christ was in the loins of Abraham as Levi was, and paid tithes to Melchisedech; for, though descended from Abraham, he had no human father, but was conceived by the Holy Ghost. In the history of Melchisedech St. Paul says nothing about the bread and wine which the “priest of the most High” offered, and on account of which his name is placed in the Canon of the Mass. The scope of the Apostle accounts for this; for he wishes to show that the priesthood of Christ was in dignity and duration superior to that of Aaron, and therefore, since it is not what Melchisedech offered, but rather the other circumstances of his priesthood which belonged to the theme, they alone are mentioned.
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MCEVILLY, An Expos. Of the Eps. Of St. Paul (Hebrews 7); PICONIO, Triplex Expositio (Hebrews 7); HOONAKER, Le Sacerdoce Levitique (1899), 281-287; HASTINGS, Dict. Of the Bible, s.v.; Rabibinic references in Jew. Ency., s.v.; St. Thomas, III, Q. xxii, a. 6; HOMMEL, The ancient Heb. Tradition (tr. From the Ger., 1897), 146.
JOHN J. TIERNEY Transcribed by John Looby
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XCopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York