Melchizedek, who was he?

[OneEternalSonata]

In the LDS faith Melchizedek is known as a high priest and a just and holy man.

D&C 107:1-4~
1 THERE are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood.
2 Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest.
3 Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.
4 But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Also, Abraham paid tithes to him. From that, I personally infer that Melchizedek was Abraham's priesthood authority. However, where does he sit from Judaism's point of view? What oral traditions exist about him?

[volgadon]

Most traditions associate him with Noah's son Shem.

[jadams_4040]

Originally Posted by OneEternalSonata

In the LDS faith Melchizedek is known as a high priest and a just and holy man.

D&C 107:1-4~
1 THERE are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood.
2 Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest.
3 Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.
4 But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Also, Abraham paid tithes to him. From that, I personally infer that Melchizedek was Abraham's priesthood. However, where does he sit from Judaism's point of view? What oral traditions exist about him?

.................................................. ..........................
{quote}
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD. The Melchizedek Priesthood is an eternal priesthood. Before mortality, God delegated authority and responsibility to worthy individuals. This holy priesthood was the means by which that action was taken. After this life, those who have been valiant and have honored their priesthood will continue to bear it and to have the responsibility to use it in serving others.
Adam, the first of the spirit children of God to live on earth, received the holy priesthood, with all its power, authority, and keys. "And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance" (Moses 5:59). This authority was delegated to others in an unbroken chain from one prophet to another. "All the prophets had the Melchizedek Priesthood" (TPJS, p. 181).
Abraham sought the blessings of his fathers and the right to be ordained to the priesthood. Because he had qualified himself for the priesthood, even though his own father had not, Abraham obtained the priesthood from Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God (Abr. 1:2-5). Melchizedek met Abraham and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth part of all he had (Heb. 7:1-3). Melchizedek exercised mighty faith and used his priesthood to bring a people practicing iniquity to repentance. None was greater than he (Alma 13:17-19). Originally, the priesthood was known as the "Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God" (D&C 107:3). To avoid too frequent use of God's name, the Church in ancient days called the priesthood by the name of this noted priesthood leader, Melchizedek (D&C 107:2-4

[OneEternalSonata]

I appreciate your post, jadams, but I'm looking for an explanation of Melchizedek's identity in Jewish tradition. I realize that as LDS we revere him and believe the Restoration reveals his importance, so quoting that is historic, from an LDS point of view.

[GothLDSMrthnRunnr]

The fascinating thing is in Christendom Melchizedek has such a small role in Christian faith. When I was a young Bible student the fact that there was little or any information about him sparked my imagination since Hebrews mentions he has no begining or end, almost as if he was a spiritual personage, like a fictional character that has always been.

- Justin

[KerryShirts]

I have some new materials from the Book of Enoch scholar Andrei Orlov dealing extensively with this theme that I shall share as I can. GREAT topic!

[Maya]

Originally Posted by volgadon

Most traditions associate him with Noah's son Shem.

I have heard about this, but how could this be.. could it be because he as the oldest son and in a way a patriarch for family= everyone after Noah died. So he in a way was the one of Noas sons, who was teh first to get the Melkesedic priesthood fra Noa. Shem was also the forefather of Abraham in about 9 generations and if he was stil alive when Abraham was born so he was the oldest og that branch. Just thinking....
Had to check this out... looks like it tok about 290 years then Abram was born and Seem lived stil 500 years after the flod, so Abram was about 210 when Seem died.

[Drac]

John Taylor taught that he was Shem. Bruce R. McConkie that he was a descendant of Noah, not his son.

I lean towards agreeing with my friend Brucie McConkie, as D&C 84:14 supports: Which Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah;
If Noah were his father I don't think it would say, "who received it through the lineage of his fathers", it would just say, who received it from his father, Noah.

The idea of him being Shem is likely from the book of Jasher, 16:11-12 which says:

And Adonizedek king of Jerusalem, the same was Shem, went out with his men to meet Abram and his people, with bread and wine, and they remained together in the valley of Melech.

And Adonizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth from all that he had brought from the spoil of his enemies, for Adonizedek was a priest before God.

[KerryShirts]

Originally Posted by Drac

John Taylor taught that he was Shem. Bruce R. McConkie that he was a descendant of Noah, not his son.

I lean towards agreeing with my friend Brucie McConkie, as D&C 84:14 supports: Which Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah;
If Noah were his father I don't think it would say, "who received it through the lineage of his fathers", it would just say, who received it from his father, Noah.

The idea of him being Shem is likely from the book of Jasher, 16:11-12 which says:

And Adonizedek king of Jerusalem, the same was Shem, went out with his men to meet Abram and his people, with bread and wine, and they remained together in the valley of Melech.

And Adonizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth from all that he had brought from the spoil of his enemies, for Adonizedek was a priest before God.

Interesting... Orlov notes in his book The Enoch-Matatron Tradition some interesting things and correspondences with Noah and Melchizedek as well. Here is a minor section (pp. 310-316) Yes, I have his permission to quote this:


Scholars have previously noted that Melchisedek’s birth in 2 Enoch bears certain parallels with the birth of Noah in 1 Enoch and in the Genesis Apocryphon.61 The Melchisedek narrative occupies the last chapters of 2 Enoch. It should be noted that initially this part of the apocalypse was considered to be an interpolation in the text of 2 Enoch. The earlier publications of Charles, Morfill, and Bonwetsch62 argued that 2 Enoch 69- 73 was a kind of appendix and did not belong to the main body of the text. Since then this view has been corrected, and these chapters are now considered as an integral part of the text.63
The content of the Melchisedek account is connected with the family of Nir. Sothonim, the wife of Nir, gave birth to a miraculous child “in her old age,” right “on the day of her death.” She conceived the child, “being sterile” and “without having slept with her husband.” The text relates that
————— ... and his eyes (were) beautiful; and when he opened his eyes, he made the whole house bright like the sun so that the whole house was exceptionally bright. And when he was taken from the hands of the midwife, he opened his mouth and spoke to the Lord of Righteousness. And his father Lamech was afraid of him....” Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 2.244.
--------------------
60 Scholars have previously remarked that these features of Noah’s story reflect priestly imagery. See Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam, 33ff. This connection will be investigated later.
61 M. Delcor, “Melchisedek from Genesis to the Qumran Texts and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” JSJ 2 (1971) 129; idem, “La naissance merveilleuse de Melchisédeq d’après l’Hénoch slave,” Kecharitomene: Mélanges René Laurentin (ed. C. Augustin et al.; Paris: Desclée, 1990) 217–229; M. Mach, Entwicklungsstadien des jüdischen Engelglaubens in vorrabbinischer Zeit (TSAJ 34; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1992) 236, footnote 340; G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 185; A. de Santos Otero, “Libro de los secretos de Henoc (Henoc eslavo),” in: Apocrifos del Antiguo Testamento (ed. A. Dies Macho; Madrid: Ediciones Christiandad, 1984) 4.199; R. Stichel, Die Namen Noes, seines Bruders und seiner Frau. Ein Beitrag zum Nachleben jüdischer Überlieferungen in der außerkanonischen und gnostischen Literatur und in Denkmälern der Kunst (AAWG.PH 3. Folge 112; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979) 42–54.
62 R. H. Charles and W. R. Morfill, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896); G. N. Bonwetsch, Das slavische Henochbuch (AGWG 1; Berlin, 1896).
63 For a detailed discussion of the subject, see A. Orlov, “Melchisedek Legend of 2 (Slavonic) Enoch,” JSJ 31 (2000) 23–38.
Noachic Polemics 315
Nir the priest had not slept with her from the day that the Lord had appointed him before the face of the people. Therefore, Sothonim hid herself during all the days of her pregnancy. On the day she was to give birth, Nir remembered his wife and called her to himself in the temple. She came to him, and he saw that she was pregnant. Nir, filled with shame, wanted to cast her away from him, but she died at his feet. Melchisedek was born from Sothonim’s corpse. When Nir and Noah came in to bury Sothonim, they saw the child sitting beside the corpse with “his clothing on him.” According to the story, they were terrified because the child, marked by the sign of priesthood, was fully developed physically. The child spoke and blessed the Lord. The story mentions that the badge of priesthood was on his chest, glorious in appearance. Nir and Noah dressed the child in the garments of priesthood and fed him holy bread. They decided to hide him, fearing that the people would have him put to death. Finally, the Lord commanded His archangel Gabriel to take the child and place him in the paradise of Eden, so that he might become the high priest after the Flood. The final passages of the short recension describe the ascent of Melchisedek on the wings of Gabriel to the paradise of Eden.
The details of Noah’s birth correspond at several points with the Melchisedek story:
1. Both Noah and Melchisedek belong to the circle of Enoch’s family. 2. Both characters are attested as survivors of the Flood. 3. Both characters have an important mission in the postdiluvian era. 4. Both characters are portrayed as glorious wonder-children.
5. Both characters are depicted as ones born by autogenesis, i.e. fully developed physically at birth.64
6. Immediately after their birth, both characters speak to the Lord. According to 1 Enoch 106:3, “when he (Noah) arose from the hands of the midwife, he opened his mouth and spoke to the Lord with righteousness.” In 2 Enoch 71:19 we read that “he [Melchisedek] spoke with his lips, and he blessed the Lord.”65
7. Both characters are suspected of being of divine/angelic lineage.
M. Delcor notes that Lamech’s affirmation in the beginning of the Genesis Apocryphon, “Behold, then I thought in my heart that the conception was the work of the Watchers and the pregnancy of the Holy Ones....” can be compared with the words of Noah in 2 Enoch uttered at the time of the examination of Melchisedek: “This is of the Lord, my brother.”66
————— 64 Crispin Fletcher-Louis observes that “the characterization of Melchizedek, as one
born by autogenesis, who is ‘fully developed physically’ at birth (ch 71), recalls traditions associated with the angelomorphic Noah....” Fletcher-Louis, Luke-Acts, 155.
65 Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 207.
66 Delcor, “Melchisedek from Genesis to the Qumran Texts and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” 129.
316 Polemical Developments
8. Their fathers were suspicious of the conception of their sons and the faithfulness of their wives.67 In 1 Enoch 106 and the Genesis Apocryphon, Lamech is worried and frightened about the birth of Noah, his son. Lamech suspects that his wife Bathenosh has been unfaithful to him and that “the conception was (the work) of the Watchers and the pregnancy of the Holy Ones, and it belonged to the Nephil[in].”68 The motif of Lamech’s suspicion about the unfaithfulness of Bathenosh69 found in 1 Enoch and the Genesis Apocryphon seems to correspond to Nir’s worry about the unfaithfulness of Sothonim: “And Nir saw her, and he became very ashamed about her. And he said to her, ‘What is this that you have done, O wife? And why have you disgraced me in front of the face of all people? And now, depart from me, go where you conceived the disgrace of your womb.’”70
9. Their mothers were ashamed and tried to defend themselves against the accusation of their husbands. In the Genesis Apocryphon, the wife of Lamech responds to the angry questions of her husband by reminding him of their intimacies: “Oh my brother and lord! remember my sexual pleasure... [...] in the heat of intercourse, and the gasping of my breath in my breast.”71 She swears that the seed was indeed of Lamech: “I swear to you by the Great Holy One, by the King of the hea[vens...]...[...] that this seed comes from you, [...] and not from any foreigner nor from any of the watchers or sons of heav[en].”72 In 2 Enoch Sothonim does not explain the circumstances of the conception. She answers Nir: “O my lord! Behold, it is the time of my old age, and there was not in me any (ardor of) youth and I do not know how the indecency of my womb has been conceived.”73
10. Their fathers were eventually comforted by the special revelation about the prominent future role of their sons in the postdiluvian era. It is noteworthy that this information is given in both cases in the context of the revelation about the destruction of the earth by the Flood. In 1 Enoch 106:16–18 we read: “And this son who has been born unto you shall be left upon the earth, and his three sons shall be saved when they who are upon
————— 67 George Nickelsburg observes that the miraculous circumstances surrounding
Melchisedek’s conception and birth are reminiscent of the Noah story in 1 Enoch, although the suspicion of Nir is more closely paralleled in the version of the Noah story in the Genesis Apocryphon. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah, 188.
68 García Martínez and Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 1.29
69 On this motif, see: Nickelsburg, “Patriarchs Who Worry About Their Wives: A Haggadic Tendency in the Genesis Apocryphon,” 137–158.
70 Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 205. 71 García Martínez and Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 1.29 72 García Martínez and Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 1.29–31. 73 Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 205.
Noachic Polemics 317
the earth are dead.”74 In 2 Enoch 71:29–30 the father is told: “And this child will not perish along with those who are perishing in this generation, as I have revealed it, so that Melchisedek will be ... the head of the priests of the future.”75
One cannot fail to note a host of interesting resemblances between the birth of Noah in the pseudepigrapha and the birth of Melchisedek in 2 Enoch. The author of 2 Enoch wants to diminish the extraordinary nature of Noah’s person and transfer these qualities to Melchisedek. The text therefore can be seen as a set of polemical improvisations on the original Noachic themes.

[Maya]

That was interesting! Did I understand right... it said that Melkesedec was taken from earth to be given backa s the 8th priest after the flod.... So could it be taht Melkesedec was taken up with the Enos town.... or was that after it... he was put in the paradise... I wonder if he is one of the ones that never die or is or was changed.
Could it have been possible that God had warned and helped some other people too to save themselves from the flood? It does say in the Bible ... I think.. that Noas family were the ONLY ones, who survived, but can this mean that the writer of the Biblical story did not know of any others and God did not tell there were others? Just like from the Babel tower there were a few families that left the tower, but the Bibe just tells about ONE branch of them.
Intresting....