What Is the Blessing of Melkizedek

Melkizedek king of Salem blessed Abraham after Abraham saved Lot and several cities from the pillage of a small army.  Although Genesis says very little about him, he was used a lot in Psalm 110 and in the Book of Hebrews.

Psalm 110 is a Royal Psalm possibly quoted during the coronations of kings in Israel.  Psalm 110 serves as a type of blessing placed upon the new king, bestowing the promise or hope of stregnth and power, conquering and devotion from the king's people.

In Psalm 110, the royal scribe told his new king that "he is a priest for ever, in the order of Melkizedek." 

The whole reason Melkizedek was mentioned was because Abraham tithed to this priest who was not a priest of Israel (IE: who came from Abraham's grandson, Levi).  Any king in Israel came from the tribe of Judah, so could not be a priest according to the Law of Moses.  Only Levites could be priests.  So in a poetic way the scribe maneuvred around the rules and found a loop hole.  The king could be a priest who was not from the tribe of Levi, if he was like Melkizedek who was outside of the tribe of Levi.  After all, one could argue that Melkizedek was just as legitimate as a Levite, because even Abraham tithed to him, and he did bless Abraham.

So the scribe or generation of scribes who first developed Psalm 110, saw in Melkizedek a priesthood that was just as legitimate as Levi. 

I believe that the reference to Melkizedek was more poetic than literal.  I don't think people saw the king as a priest over all the other priests, but there may have been some limited authority over the priesthood that was implied in Psalm 110. 

In Hebrews 7, the writer (who is unknown to us) borrows from Genesis and from Psalm 110 to claim that Jesus is a priest according to the order of Melkizedek.  For the writer of Hebrews, Psalm 110 provides justification to say that Jesus who was not a Levite was more than a poetic priest, but was in fact a real priest greater than the Levitical priests.  As a legitimate priest, Jesus offered the sacrifice that all other sacrifices pointed to.  Jesus went into the true tabernacle that was not a mere copy of the real (Moses' tabernacle was only a copy of the real tabernacle in heaven).  As the true priest (who is superior to the Levites), Jesus brought his own blood (which is superior to the blood of animals) into the true tabernacle (which is superior to Moses' tabernacle) before the presence of God.

Here is what Hebrews says about Melkizedek:

1.  He is the king of Salem, which means peace, so he is the king of peace.
2.  There is no mention of Melkizedek's geneology, so he is eternal.
3.  Melkizedek blessed Abraham, meaning he was greater than Abraham.
4.  Levi was Abraham's grandson, so he (and his descendents - the priesthood of Israel) was in Abraham when Abraham gave 10% of the spoils to Melkizedek.  So Levi, who received tithes from the rest of Israel, tithed to Melkizedek, thus Melkizedek is greater than Levi.
5.  Melkizadek is like Jesus.

Most of the arguments used in Hebrews concerning Melkizedek would not be the type of arguments we would use today, but in Jewish writings of the first Century, these would be legitimate arguments explaining the superiority of Melkizedek and Jesus over the priesthood of Levi.

Without the explanation in the book of Psalm 110 and Hebrews, we are left with a lot of questions about Melkizedek.   With the Psalm and with Hebrews, we see that Melkizedek was an unknown figure used to justify giving kings and Jesus a priesthood.  Melkizadek was the case a lawyer could use to get around the law that says that only a Levite could be a priest.