And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

—Genesis 14:18-20

I just finished my 8th year of teaching. Somewhere around 800 students have found their way onto my classroom roster over those years, and let me tell you, there have been some interesting names. I’ve had students named after everyday objects. I’ve had students named after foreign countries. I’ve had students whose name was spelled in such a way that it was impossible for it to phonetically produce the pronunciation.

Today our symbolic representation of Jesus in the Old Testament has a fun name of his own. His name is Melchizedek, King of Salem. He shows up in Genesis 14. Abram has just defeated the five kings who had captured Sodom and taken his nephew Lot into captivity. Lot and everything he had has been returned. It is just after this victory that a mysterious king named Melchizedek enters the scene. 

There are several things that are mysterious about Melchizedek. First, the three verses that make up today’s focal passage are the only verses in which he appears personally in the entire Bible. He is referenced in Psalm 110 and Hebrews 5-7, but he never appears in person again. Another thing that is a little strange about good old King Mel is that his heritage is not given. In a day and age when clans and tribes were common and nationality was based on the names of your ancestors, this was very strange. But the final mystery surrounding Melchizedek is the fact that he is not just the king—he’s also the priest.

Believe it or not, separation of church and state is not something that came to be when Thomas Jefferson coined the term. Even back in ancient times, the priesthood was always separate from the kingship. In Israel, the tribe of Levi were the priests and the kingly line came from the tribe of Benjamin and then the tribe of Judah. There was never any overlap, but that’s not the case with Melchizedek.

Even though this mysterious king only shows up for three verses, he performs both the functions of a king and a priest. He acts like a king by providing hospitality in the form of food and wine. He acts like a priest by blessing Abram in the name of “God Most High.”

The name translated as “God Most High” is the name El Elyon. It’s a superlative name, indicating that God is higher than any other authority and therefore sovereign over all. Given the fact that God just empowered one family to overthrow five kings, it’s pretty cool that Melchizedek gives Abram this reminder. But if we look a little closer at Melchizedek’s name, things get even better. 

His full name and title are Melchizedek, king of Salem. Melchizedek means “king of righteousness” and Salem means “peace,” so if we put it together, his name means “king of righteousness, king of peace,” and He serves as both king and high priest under El Elyon, the One Who is sovereign over all.

Given the world we live in where the word politician has almost become synonymous with the idea of corruption and so many people have used the idea of the separation of church and state to wage a war of suppression against the church, I find this picture comforting. Before Genesis 14, man had already fallen, populated the earth, been destroyed because of deep cultural corruption, and apparently repopulated the earth enough to start warring against each other, but even so, there was Salem. There was a place where the king of righteousness, the king of peace served as a mediator between the God who is sovereign over everything. 

In Hebrews, the author explains that Jesus is a king “in the order of Melchizedek” because He is both king and priest, serving under the sovereign God as our mediator. He offers us sustenance and blessing, righteousness and peace, and there will be a day when He gets to walk with His people openly like Melchizedek did. Oh, how I look forward to that day.

This week, when we see the news and get an earful of all the corruption going on around us, let’s remember Melchizedek. Let’s remember what’s coming, and hope.