While this was not the first thing in the chapter that caused me to go searching for answers, I think it is the most appropriate one to start with. In this chapter, we are given a little bit more information on the prophet/priest/king we call Melchizedek than we have in other canonical places such as the Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants. In Genesis all we learn is that Melchizedek was king of Salem and that Abram paid tithes to him. In Psalms simply that there is a priesthood "after the order of Melchizedek" and that the Messiah was to be a priest after that order.
The Doctrine and Covenants has a lot to say about the Melchizedek Priesthood, but of the man himself it says only that he was a great high priest of that order and it was so named "out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name" (D&C 107:1-4).
The New Testament in the Book of Hebrews gives us (the average reader without a background in the Hebrew language) our first clue that the name Melchizedek may be more significant than just that his parents wanted to call him Mel.
The author of Hebrews says that the name Melchizedek is "first being by interpretation King of righteousness" (Heb 7:2). Melchizedek (which is the OT spelling or "Melchisedec" which is the NT spelling) is the Latinized/Anglicanized word of the conjugated Hebrew words Melek, which means King; and Tzedeq which means Righteousness. So Melchizedek literally means "King of Righteousness." The author of Hebrews then says that Melchizedek was "King of Salem, which is, King of peace." Salem, in Hebrew means "peace."
This then begs the question as to whether "Melchizedek" is just simply another title like the second "King of Salem" is, whether it is a divinely appointed name (like Abram to Abraham) or whether it truly was his given name (there was, after all, a city by the name of Salem that Melchizedek was king of, that is were the name Jerusalem comes from).
The Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis adds significantly to our understanding of what type of person Melchizedek was. It says he was;
[a] man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch.(JST Gen 14:26,27)
Has there been someone who has so perfectly exemplified their name? (My name means "helmet" so I'm even sure how I could do that). This leads me to think that the name was more of a title, or at least divinely appointed.
This is not the first time I have come across this idea, nor probably many of you. In the Midrash for instance, which are Jewish rabbinical traditions and teachings on the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), Melchizedek is equated or associated with Shem, presuming Melchizedek to be Shem's name title during Abraham's time. The Midrah even suggests that Melchizedek (Shem) handed down the coat of skins the Lord made for Adam to Abraham (His endowment?).
Shem lived 502 years after the flood (Gen. 11: 10-11) which ends up being just a few short years after Sarah dies. So the time-line works. This fits nicely with the Book of Abraham account that says he,
became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers. It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me. (Abr 1:1,2)
In Abraham, I get the since when he speaks of "the Fathers" he is speaking of the great patriarchs before him. We know he could not have acquired the High Priesthood from his literal father for,
My fathers, having turned from their righteousness, and from the holy commandments which the Lord their God had given unto them, unto the worshiping of the gods of the heathen, utterly refused to hearken to my voice;(Abr 1:5)He states even more clearly that he, "sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood...unto the fathers."(Abr 1:4)
These verses could easily fit into a Melchizedek = Shem model. Any thoughts?
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