CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 14:17. Valley of Shaveh] Shaveh means valley or dale. Nothing is known of its situation.—
Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek, King of Righteousness] The Jews identify him with Shem. Thus the Targum of Jonathan: “But Melchizedek he is Shem, the son of Noah, king of Jerusalem.” Also the Jerusalem Targum: “But Melchizedek, king of Jerusalam, he is Shem, who was the great priest of the Most High.” This statement is manifestly absurd, for the genealogy of Shem is clearly given in the Scriptures. The priesthood of Shem would not be of a different order from Levi’s, whereas in Hebrews 7:6, the contrary is asserted. “His person, his office, his relation to Christ, and the seat of his sovereignty, have given rise to innumerable discussions, which even now can scarcely be considered as settled.” (Bullock, Bible Dict.) “Everything combines to show that Melchizedek was a Canaanitish king who had retained the worship of the true God, and combined in his own person the offices of king and priest.” (Alford.)—King of Salem] “King of peace.” (Hebrews 7:2.) It is doubtful whether this refers to the place afterwards called Jerusalem. Most probably Salem is to be understood in its strict sense as part of the title.—Most High God] Heb. El Elyon. This name of God occurs here for the first time. El signifies strength. “Hence we perceive that the unity, the omnipotence, and the absolute pre-eminence of God were still living in the memory and conscience of a section at least of the inhabitants of this land.” (Murphy)—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 14:17-20
THE TRUE PRIEST FOR MANKIND
There is in man such a deep consciousness of sin that he feels he is not fit to appear before God. He needs some one who shall be his mediator and representative, and who offers up that sacrifice for sin which turns away wrath and restores the forfeited favour of God. Hence the necessity for a priest. The idea of a priesthood is universal, and no improvement of human society can ever supersede it; for the fact must still remain that, by nature, there is a deep gulf between man’s soul and God. This office has often been abused to serve the purposes of tyranny and oppression, and to retard the civil and intellectual progress of mankind. Still, with all the abuses which have degraded it, the office stands. Wherever men go they seek, in some form or other, the aid of the priest. To this need of the human heart the Providence of God has given an answer. In the verses before us we have the true ideal of a priest such as man requires and God approves. What must be the qualifications of such?
I. The true priest is divinely appointed. Melchizedek was “priest of the Most High God.” This implies—1 That he was called of God. As it is the prerogative of God, in His dealings with His creatures, to take the first step of approach and to state His own terms, so no one can become a mediator in such a matter unless God appoints him to that office. As the purpose of mercy belongs to God, so He must choose the means of its conveyance to mankind. No man, therefore, can take this office upon himself. Unless he receives the Divine call he is an impostor and profane.
2. That he was separated from the rest of mankind. The true priest must be holy by vocation; and one of the essential parts of holiness is separation from all that is evil. By some lustration, or white robe, or other external sign, he must be distinguished from the profane crowd, and possess, at least, symbolic purity. Melchizedek has stood apart from all mankind, as reflecting the awful holiness of his God. Men require the mediation of some one who stands nearer to God than themselves. Holiness is the raiment wherewith God clothes His priests.
II. The true priest is one with the race he represents. This “priest of the Most High God” was not an angelic being, but of the same flesh and blood as the rest of mankind. The true priest must be taken from among men. There is a deep conviction in the heart of humanity that deliverance can only come through some one selected from among themselves. He alone who partakes of our nature can have a real fellow-feeling with us, and know how to have compassion upon our infirmity. He who represents the human race, and is a mediator with God on their account, must himself be one of that race. Humanity is a necessary element in a Redeemer. We can only be saved through a Divine man; for he touches God at one extremity and ourselves at the other, and brings us together. From this we learn—
1. The dignity of human nature. There must be something in human nature which makes it capable of representing what is Divine, or else the Incarnation would have been impossible. The great preparations for human redemption imply that man has a sublime value, and can be rendered capable of partaking of the Divine nature. We learn also—
2. The destiny of human nature. If man and God can be brought together through the agency of a mediator, then that reconciliation with God must have the tendency to draw man continually God-wards, and thus his soul is made to enter upon the upward path. When God pardons sin He is removing the barrier between the sinner and Himself, so that the objects of His mercy may be fitted to dwell with Him and see His glory.
III. The true priest has the power to bless. “And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:19). This was a sacerdotal act, and he who administered it was, in regard to his office, superior to him on whom it was bestowed. “The less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7). Thus it is the office of the true priest—
1. To pronounce blessings on men. He is not the origin of blessing, but only declares authoritatively what God offers and bestows. He does not make the fact of God’s pardon and peace, but announces it as an ambassador who has authority to act for his sovereign.
2. To bless God on their behalf. When man receives a benefit, God should be praised. We must not selfishly rest in the enjoyment of His goodness so as to forget the glory due to His name. The priest who stretches forth his hands to bless men, also lifts his eyes towards heaven to bless God on their behalf.
3. To declare God’s benefits towards men. “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine” (Genesis 14:18). These are the standing elements of the body’s sustenance and refreshment. Bread is the staff of life, and wine maketh glad the heart of man. These were brought forth by this priest of the Most High God, in order to serve the lower use of the refreshment of the body. Such was the first intention of this act; but there was a second and more important one which can hardly escape our notice. These gifts of God, so essential to the life of the body, signified spiritual blessings—the soul’s necessary food. Melchizedek was, therefore, the minister of holy symbols; which, while they visibly represented blessings not discerned by sense, were, at the same time, the means of the conveyance of those blessings to the soul. The pure and good gifts of God in the natural world shadow forth those of the spiritual. Both the visible and invisible worlds come from one Creator, and correspond to each other as type and antitype. Hence the use of symbolical worship and teaching. Our Blessed Lord took hold of these emblems of bread and wine, constituting them a holy ordinance for the remembrance of His death and passion, and effectual means of grace to the soul. In partaking of this bread and wine, Abraham was enjoying a spiritual repast which strengthened and refreshed the inner man. All the ministries and symbols of religion are but means to an end, and that end is the sanctification of our nature. Spiritual good is the only abiding reality; all else is representative and shadowy. The priests are of no value who lead us only to what is outward and visible, and who do not offer real blessings and urge us forwards to their attainment.
IV. The true priest is a mediator between God and men. He is the appointed medium of bringing together man and God upon terms which the Divine mercy has approved. Thus the true priest is the channel of blessings which flow in opposite directions—from God to man, and from man to God.
1. He receives gifts from God for men. Gifts of pardon, peace, reconciliation—the tokens of God’s favour. There can be no religion unless God imparts something to men. If heaven is but a wall of brass then the prayers and aspirations of mankind are of no avail. He can be no true priest who has not something to offer from God to men.
2. He receives gifts from men for God. We cannot, strictly speaking, add anything to God’s riches or His glory by our works or gifts. As we have nothing but what we have received from His bounty, so we can really give Him nothing that was not previously His own. But God is pleased to receive our thanks and praises—our easiest recompense. He receives offerings of man’s worldly substance which testify of the gratitude of his heart and soul. Thus Melchizedek took gifts from Abram that he might offer them to God. “And he gave him tithes of all.” Such was Abram’s response to the priestly benediction. The offering of tithes is an acknowledgment on the part of man that all belongs to God. The king-priest received them from the patriarch that he might offer them to God, who has a right to all that man possesses, and to his entire service. “In presenting the tenth of all the spoils of victory, Abram makes a practical acknowledgment of the absolute and exclusive supremacy of the God whom Melchizedek worshipped, and of the authority and validity of the priesthood which he exercised. We have here all the indications of a stated order of sacred rites, in which a costly service, with a fixed official, is maintained at a public expense, according to a definite rate of contribution” (Murphy). Religion demands that man shall give some token of his allegiance to God, and man is appointed to receive such in His name. The ministry of man to men, on behalf of God, belongs to the nature of the Church’s work on earth. But the full idea was not realised until God was manifest in the flesh. Then had we a Mediator, who was compassionate because He was human, and strong because He was Divine. Other mediators had been commissioned to convey spiritual blessings to mankind, but Christ alone brought salvation with Him and bestowed it from Himself.
MELCHIZEDEK A TYPE OF CHRIST
We have inspired authority for regarding this “priest of the Most High God” as a type of our blessed Lord. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives this application to the prophecy of the Psalmist, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:6; Hebrews 6:20). The history of the meeting of the patriarch with this remarkable man must be read by the light which Christ throws back upon it. Abraham rejoiced to see the day of the Son of Man, and to Him, in the person of Melchizedek, he did homage and received blessing. Christ was present to the minds of both. He was truly in their midst, making the blessing effectual, and the gifts truly an offering to God. Let us see how Melchizedek was fitted to be a type of Christ.
I. He was a royal priest. The priesthood of Aaron’s house and of the Levitical order were all purely and simply priests. They had no regal state or function. Melchizedek combined in his person the offices and powers both of priest and king. In this regard he was not a partial, but a complete representative and type of the Messiah, who is described by the prophet as “a priest upon His throne” (Zechariah 6:13), and who reigns over a kingdom of righteousness and peace (Psalms 72) Either character by itself could not be an exact and complete type of Christ, who holds the double office. Our souls need His priesthood for expiation, and His kingship, that they may preserve that righteousness which belongs to His kingdom.
II. His genealogy is mysterious. As a priest Melchizedek has no pedigree. He is not a single unit in the order of succession, for he has none going before or coming after him in the priestly office. His function and state are not transmitted to others, but remain attached to himself. Hence that strange description of him in the Epistle to the Hebrews:—“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.” Both ends of the life of this remarkable man are shrouded in mystery, and he is therefore a fitting type of the Son of God, whose manifestation in our flesh must of necessity be mysterious. “Who shall declare His generation?” for, in reference to His human nature He had no father, and in reference to His Divine nature He had no mother. In this respect Our Lord stands alone among all the sons of men, and Melchizedek, whose origin and end are purposely made obscure, is chosen herein to be His type.
III. He was perpetually a priest. Melchizedek in his own person was mortal and shared the common lot of mankind; but that type of priesthood which he represented was perpetual. As it began before, so it lasted throughout the whole of the Jewish history. The Jewish priesthood had “beginning of days and end of life,” but that of Melchizedek continued in Christ for ever. To that eternal priesthood the honour of God was committed, it shared the unchangeableness of His nature; but the priesthood of Aaron’s line was, as it were, parenthetical in the Divine plan, to endure only while such a temporary provision was necessary. The greater light was to swallow up the lesser, and to continue a joy for ever to the Church of God. Melchizedek was the type of those real attributes of our Lord’s priesthood which in their very nature are eternal.
IV. He was an universal priest. The Jewish priesthood was limited to their own nation and people. Strangers in race and blood were neither permitted to sustain that office nor to enjoy the most important benefits which it conferred. The range of it was narrow and confined, scarcely at all affecting the great mass of mankind outside. But Melchizedek was the priest of humanity at large, and was therefore an exact type of Christ, who was the all-sufficient priest for mankind of every age and nation.
V. He was a priest of the highest type. As compared with the priesthood of Aaron that of Melchizedek was superior—
1. In time. It belonged to an earlier age, and therefore had the prescription of antiquity in its favour. Such was the priesthood of Our Lord: though late as to the supreme moment in which it became a fact, it had been fashioned early in the counsels of God. This priest, as well as His offering, had been from the foundations of the world. It was also superior—
2. In dignity. Levi virtually acknowledged a priesthood higher than his own, when he paid tithes to Melchizedek and received his blessing.
3. Superior in duration. Unlike the Levitical, his priesthood was not designed to serve a temporary purpose. It belonged to an order of things which endures, not through one short stage but through the whole of human history. Christ is “a priest for ever.” His office and the virtues of it last as as long as sinful man needs forgiveness.
VI. His priesthood has the highest confirmation. It was confirmed by the Divine oath—by an appeal to two immutable things—the Divine word and the Divine nature. The Levitical priesthood was not introduced or confirmed by such a solemnity, because it formed no part of the eternal plan of God. It could not sustain the full honour of that glorious Name which meant much more for man than the most fitly chosen types and ceremonies could signify. God will only give the highest confirmation to that priest who brings grace and truth—who gives to men the reality instead of the shadow, and reveals the fulness and beauty of the Divine love.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 14:17. Abram is now congratulated upon his success. His faith obtained a good report.
Abram has now won the praise of the world—the result of those works by which his faith was made perfect (James 2:22). This was a new trial to his faith, but the strength of his religious character was shown in his superiority to all worldly aims and possessions.
There are events in history which force the world to acknowledge the servants of God.
This expedition of Abram and his friends excited great attention among the Canaanites. At the very time when all must have been given up for lost, they are, without any effort of their own, recovered, and the spoilers spoiled. The little victorious band, now returning in peace, are hailed by everyone that meets them. The kings of the different cities go forth to congratulate them, and thank them as the deliverers of their country. If Abram had been of the disposition of those marauders whom he had defeated, he would have followed up his victory, and made himself master of the whole country, which he might probably have done with ease in their present enfeebled and scattered condition. But thus did not Abram, because of the fear of God.—(Fuller).
Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek—the first priest on record.
The typology connected with Melchizedek does not require that he himself should be regarded as any superhuman person, but merely exalts the human circumstances under which he appears into symbols of superhuman things. Everything combines to show that Melchizedek was a Canaanitish king who had retained the worship of the true God, and combined in his own person the offices of king and priest. It is to be observed that there is not used regarding him, nor does he use, the title of Jehovah, but that of the HIGH GOD, a title found also in the question addressed (Micah 6:6) by the Moabitish king, Balak, to his prophet Balaam; but that Abram in answering the King of Sodom probably in his presence, affirms the identity of his covenant-God, Jehovah, with the High God, possessor of heaven and earth, of whom Melchizedek had spoken.—(Alford).
Melchizedek was not only a type of Christ, but also represented the genius of the Christian religion. His priesthood was not limited to one nation or country, but was universal. Such is the Christian Church, which offers a home to all people.
The universal element in religion is the permanent. Judaism, which was but a temporary provision, has passed away, but that order of things which Melchizedek represented will stand till the end of time.
Some of the highest examples of the knowledge of the eternal verities of religion, and of faith in God, have been furnished by the heathen world—Melchizedek, Job, the Centurion, the Syro-Phœnician woman, Cornelius.
Bread and Wine. These are significant as the staple elements of refreshment for the body. Bread is the acknowledged staff of life, and hence was presented in the holy place of the Tabernacle as the shew-bread, or bread of the Presence. So it was presented at the Pentecost—the loaves representing the fruit of the Gospel work, and significant of the harvest and ingathering of the people. And so the wine was poured out as a libation at the daily sacrifice as a drink-offering (Exodus 29:40), also at the presentation of the first-fruits (Leviticus 23:13), and other offerings (Numbers 15:5). And from this Old Testament ordinance it passed to the Lord’s Supper by Divine institution, and its significance in the latter was explained as symbolical of the blood-shedding of Christ for sinners, and the participation of it as an element of the Gospel feast becomes joyous to the Christian soul. They had a meaning, therefore, in the hands of Melchizedek, and in this sacred, official transaction. Abram is thus welcomed to a share in the sacred sacramental ceremonial, and witnessed to as having a right to that ancient communion of saints. This solitary priest hails him as one whom he recognises and rejoices in—as the head of the faithful, and the triumphant “friend of God.”—(Jacobus).
This feast was significant of the life, strength, and joy which the Gospel would bring to the world. Thus there was represented to Abram what a blessing he would be to all nations.
Melchizedek refreshed the warriors after the battle, and Christ ordained His Last Supper to refresh the weary soldiers of the Cross.
Bread and wine are common things, familiar to the eye, the touch, and taste of men. The Great Teacher takes them out of the hands of man as emblems of grace, mercy, and peace, through an accepted ransom, of the lowliest as well as the loftiest boon of an everlasting salvation, and they have never lost their significance or appropriateness.—(Murphy).
The Most High God. This is a name of God here first found in the Scripture. El, signifying strength, is the base of the name Elohim—the original, absolute name of God, by which He is known in the history of the Creation, and appropriate to His creatorship. This is the evidence that the one God was worshipped, as a testimony against polytheism and idolatry, as the Living God, omnipotent and supreme. And this was done formally, publicly, and statedly by a set ministry, and in such form of worship as acknowledged the need of the great blood-shedding for atonement, and of the great high priesthood to come.—(Jacobus.)
Genesis 14:19. God has ordained that all blessings shall come to men through His own Priest. Melchizedek was the type, but Christ was the reality.
The Christian religion has only one Priest, who is now in heaven, and who is the only fount of blessing for man-kind.
Melchizedek blessed Abram. He therefore acts in a priestly capacity. This sacerdotal act of his is that which is so significant, as interpreted by the New Testament:—“For the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7). And Abram, in receiving the blessing, admits the superiority of this king priest. The friend of God, the covenant-head and father of the faithful, has victory granted him over kings, and is thus a type of every true Christian and of the Church of Christ on the earth, while he expresses his faith and religious reverence and obedience by paying tithes to the accredited functionary of God’s worship. The key to this mystery is, that both these personages were types of Christ; and their meeting here is a significant confluence of the streams of prophecy and promise, rushing onward to the destined consummation.—(Jacobus).
Melchizedek, in pronouncing this blessing, was only setting his seal to that which was already a fact in Abram’s spiritual life. The patriarch already belonged to the Most High God, was His servant, His child, His friend. Thus the human instrument only declares the blessing, but does not make it.
The Most High God is here designated as the Founder of heaven and earth, the Great Architect or Builder, and, therefore, Possessor of all things. There is here no indistinct allusion to the creation of “heaven and earth” mentioned in the opening of the Book of God. This is a manifest identification of the God of Melchizedek with the one Creator and Upholder of all things. We have here no mere local or national deity with limited power and province, but the sole and supreme God of the universe and of man.—(Murphy).
All blessings become assured to us by the fact that they are the gift of Him who made the heavens and the earth. No other Being can confer any lasting good.
God, who possesses all things, had the right to dispose of them as it seemed good unto Him. He could give the land to Abram and to his seed.
God is the Proprietor of all things. We hold all blessings by His bounty and as His stewards.
Genesis 14:20. Blessings received by man must be followed by thanksgiving to God. God blesses us, and we bless Him.
The second part of this benedictory prayer is a thanksgiving to the common God of Melchizedek and Abram for the victory which had been vouchsafed to the latter. Thy foes. Here Abram is personally addressed. Melchizedek as a priest first appeals to God on behalf of Abram, and then addresses Abram on behalf of God. He thus performs the part of a mediator.—(Murphy).
This Royal Priest in blessing God manifested—
1. His piety and devotion. He looks away from the good which has been bestowed, to the fountainhead of all blessing.
2. His appreciation of the true source of all victorious effort on the part of God’s people. Instead of praising Abram’s valour and skill, he praises the God of Abram who gave the victory.
Here is the first conflict of the children of faith with the world-power, and the victory vouchsafed to the former points to their final triumph. Those who are on the side of God must prevail in the end. There is no other really strong power.
And he gave him a tithe of all. This is a very significant act. In presenting the tenth of all the spoils of victory, Abram makes a practical acknowledgment of the absolute and exclusive supremacy of the God whom Melchizedek worshipped, and of the authority and validity of the priesthood which he exercised. We have here all the indications of a stated order of sacred rites, in which costly service, with a fixed official, is maintained at the public expense, according to a definite rate of contribution. The gift in the present case is the tenth of the spoils of war. This act of Abram, though recorded last, may have taken place at the commencement of the interview. At all events, it renders it extremely probable that a sacrifice had been offered to God, through the intervention of Melchizedek, before he brought forth the bread and wine of the accepted feast.—(Murphy).
Christ, as the true Priest, still demands the consecration of our worldly substance to His service.
Christ, our Mediator, not only receives gifts from God to convey them to men, but also receives gifts from men to present them to God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Battle and Blessing! Genesis 14:1-24.
(1) Numerous as are the mountains of Switzerland, one stands out singular and unique. It belongs to Switzerland, and bears signs of resemblance to the other hills and valleys of the country; yet it has its own peculiar individuality. Who does not recognise the special prominence of Mont Blanc?
(2) The rocky mountains of the far West are a magnificent range, evidencing their continuous and successive resemblance one with the other. Yet there is a spur, so singular and unique in its formation and contour, that for a moment the traveller almost fancies it is out of place.
(3) This chapter has the air and aspect of an episode in history. It stands out singular and unique. As Candlish says, “The warlike character which Abram assumes is a solitary exception to the usual tenor of his life; while his subsequent interview with the royal priest is altogether peculiar.
(4) A plant grows in Eastern jungles which sheds a clear light when all beside is dark. To midnight travellers amid Himalayan hills it seems as if it were a lamp to guide them on their wanderings. And the appearance of Melchizedek is just such a plant-lamp, pointing to Him who is a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.
“On the truth thus dimly shadowed
Later days a lustre shed,
When the Great High Priest eternal
Offers us both wine and bread.”
Abram’s Authority! Genesis 14:17-24.
(1) In early days, when the white man first appeared amid the vast pinewoods and hunting grounds of the Red Indians, some of these red children of the wild were possessed of the conviction that the new-comers would by-and-by be owners of the soil. No doubt this was largely due to the consciousness of their keen Indian perceptive powers that the “white foreigners from over the water” were in many respects superior to them in intelligence and resource. But there was also a premonition, the origin of which was doubtless due to supernatural influence, that the “white man” was to possess the Indian’s land. Hence some of these Indians became the fast friends of the early settlers.
(2) In the time of Abram certain of the Canaanite leaders were impressed with the conviction that this “pilgrim-pastor” would be the future lord of Palestine. Apparently Abimelech and Hamor had some such presentiment, that Canaanite ascendancy would give way before the Abrahamic posterity. Under supernatural conviction of a similar character the King of Salem comes forth to greet the deliverer of Lot on his return from the pursuit and overthrow of the four kings.
“Stay, pilgrim warrior, on thy road,
Refresh thy strength awhile;
Here is the banquet of thy God
To soothe thy warfare-toil.”
Return Home! Genesis 14:17.
(1) Ships, which have been parted by night, and the swift stroke of the tempest, come hurrying back at morning to their anchorage. What anxious inquiries follow as to the perils of the past night! What mutual felicitations ensue as they discover that all are safe in spite of the storm!
(2) The meeting between Lot and Abram, the princes of Sodom, and their rescued warriors, must have been full of agitation and excitement. When their hosts were defeated, and Lot’s family carried off, there was little prospect, humanly speaking, of a happy reunion. Now they are safe home again.
(3) Christians are scattered and carried off by the marauding bands of death; but the Captain of our Salvation delivers them from the power of the grave. They shall meet again in the “King’s Dale “at Salem, for Jerusalem which is above is free. What mutual congratulations and recognitions will then ensue! How all will unite in praising their Deliverer; in whom
“Majesty, combined with meekness,
Righteousness and peace unite,
To insure those blessed conquests,
His possession and full right;
Ride triumphant,
Decked in robes of purest light.”
Melchizedek and Salem! Genesis 14:18.
(1) Stanley refers to the Jerome tradition that Salem was not Jerusalem, but a smaller town not far from the scene of the interior in the “King’s Dale.” He appears for a moment, and then vanishes from our view altogether. It is this which wraps him round in that mysterious obscurity which has rendered his name the symbol of all such sudden, abrupt apparitions—the interruptions or dislocations of the ordinary succession of cause and effect and matter of fact in the varied stages of the history of the Church.
(2) Candlish says that whether this Salem was the city which afterwards became Jerusalem, or some other place near the Vale of Siddim and the River Jordan, does not appear. Nor, indeed, is it the precise locality, but the name, which is important. It was the King of Righteousness and Peace whom Abram acknowledged in the very height of his own triumph, when he accepted Melchizedek’s hospitality of bread and wine.
“When the patriarch was returning,
Crowned with triumph from the fray,
Him the peaceful King of Salem,
Came to meet upon his way”.
Melchizedek Meeting! Genesis 14:18-20.
(1) Stanley says that the meeting of the ancient chiefs of Canaan and the founder of the chosen-people in the “King’s Dale,” personifies to us the meeting between what, in later times, has been called Natural and Revealed Religion. He adds that Abram’s receiving the blessing from Melchizedek, and tendering to him reverent homage, is a likeness of the recognition which true historical faith will always humbly receive and gratefully render when it comes in contact with “Natural Religion.”
(2) Law says that in Melchizedek we have a figure, not of “Natural Religion,” but of Christ the Messiah. He is the true Melchizedek, without beginning of days or end of years. Abram, the weary warrior, typifies the soldiers of Christ, for whom refreshment is provided by their Royal Priest of Salem, which is peace. The fight of faith is fierce, the journey of life ofttimes long, but our true Melchizedek comes forth with the solid sustenance of the Word, with the overflowing cup of promise, with the spiritual food of His own body and blood.
“Good soldier of the Cross, well done!
Press forward more and more;
And still forgetting things behind,
Reach forth to things before.”—Maguire.
Shaveh-Shadows! Genesis 14:18, etc.
(1). The faith of Jonathan burning bright and pure in his father Saul’s corrupt court is a lovely sight. In the interview between Jonathan and David, we have, as it were, the noble warrior handing the torch of royal trust to the son of Jesse. This was done in faith, “I know that God will establish thee king.”
(2). Melchizedek seems thus to come forth and meet Abram in the “King’s Dale.” By his heroism of faith, Abram has shown his readiness to enter upon the rights and trusts of Canaan: and Melchizedek, as the preserver of the old primitive patriarchal hope, comes to surrender the charge to Abram.
(3). It is as if the torch was here visibly handed over from the last of the former band to the first of that which is to succeed. The interview between the two is the connecting link between the two dispensations—the one of which is waxing old, and the other of which is just beginning to appear.
(4). It is like aged Simeon embracing in his arms the infant Saviour; the last patriarch and prophet of the law not departing till he sees and hails the new-born hope of the Gospel arising on the world with healing in His wings.
(5). It is the lingering twilight of declining day in the Northern climes mingling with the dawn of a better morn. Both Melchizedek and Abram understood it thus. As debtors to the same grace, they realise that their actions now are shadows of good things to come. Both see Christ in all, and in the eye of their faith Christ is all in all.
“Though the altar has crumbled, and incense has ceased,
True worship still rises, through JESUS our PRIEST.”