THE REAL MELCHIZEDEK, PART FOUR

Paul goes on to try to convince the Jews that the New Covenant is better than the old understanding between God and Abraham back in the Book of Genesis, but instead of teaching what Jesus taught, to obey the law, he says that obeying the law causes more sin and to cast it aside in favor of what he perceives to be Jesus' mission. Several questions continued to haunt me, however, despite Paul's veiled and insufficient attempts to explain what "the order of Melchizedek" really meant:

• Who, what, where, and why was the Melchizedek?
• How could the Melchizedek be both High Priest and King of Salem, if Jesus was the first Priest-King?
• Where was Salem, if there was such a place?
• How did Abram (not yet Abraham, contrary to Paul's paraphrasing), know to give the Melchizedek a tenth of his income, the "spoils" of war, if this had never been done before? Was it unethical for the priest of the God Most High to accept such a gift, since it came from bloodshed?
• Was the tithe an arbitrary figure, or was it already common practice, a predetermined amount?
• Since the Melchizedek priesthood obviously predates the Levitical priesthood, when was it created and where did it come from?
• The High Priests of Rabbinical, or present day, Judaism, were elevated from the Levites, and are known as Koheins. If Melchizedek was a high priest, which god did he worship? Was he Abram's God or the god of some exotic Mesopotamian cult? If he was a "heathen", then why was Abram praised for tithing to him?
• The Christian Church teaches that we are only to tithe to our "home" churches, the ones we attend on a regular basis. We can give an offering as a visitor to another church, but we are not to tithe there. So why did one isolated encounter between Abram and Melchizedek prompt the beginning of this time-honored tradition? Were they already familiar with one another?
• If the Melchizedek has scarce mention in the Old Testament, why was it such an honor and a privilege for Jesus to have been compared to Him, and vice versa?
• Lastly, why has the Christian Church rejected all Judaic practices except tithing?

A popular study Bible, in the New King James format, describes the Melchizedek as being "one of the most mysterious figures in the Old Testament." At least the authors realized that this particular Melchizedek (and as I said before, there had to have been many after him, and probably before him as well, dating back to the time of Adam and Eve, the founders of the Messianic/Davidic royal bloodline) was a human male, very mortal, not divine.

It is an established fact among historians that the "angels" occupied a level of authority within the priestly "hierarchy" of the Qumran community where Jesus and John the Baptist grew up. The highest ranking priest was of the Zadokite dynasty, which had served the blood royal of its own free will ("volunteers", as mentioned in Psalm 110) since at least the time of King David. Not only that, but the Zadok also held the title of the Archangel Michael, hence the name Michael-Zadok, or Melchizedek, which we now know is not really a name, but a title of honor.

The angel Gabriel, who features so prominently in connection with Jesus' birth in the New Testament, was the next one down in rank from the Michael-Zadok. The Gabriel was also known as the Abiathar. In examining the angelic order more closely, much is explained about the Apostles, in particular, why a lot of the same names appear over and over again the Scriptures. Much is also explained about the miracles that Jesus is said to have performed.

The Real Melchizedek, Part Five
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