For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Ver. 1. For this Melchisedec] Some make him the same with Shem; others say it was the Holy Ghost; others say it was Christ himself under the guise of a king and priest. It is most probable that he was a mortal man, and a Canaanite, but yet a most righteous man, and a priest of the most high God by special dispensation; and that Chedorlaomer and the other kings that over ran the country, and spoiled it, forbare, out of reverence to the man and his office, to meddle with Melchisedec's territories.