The Royal Components of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7

Kang, Dae-I

doi:10.2478/v10297-012-0005-5

Abstract

The royal component of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 has often been disregarded. This study investigates the royal component of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 through the research of the divine kingship in the Ancient Near East and the royal components of Melchizedek in Genesis 14, Psalm 110, and the Second Temple writings. The images of divine kingship in the Ancient Near East continue in Psalm 110 and Hebrews 7. There is not only the priestly but also the royal image of Melchizedek in Genesis 14, Psalm 110, and the Second Temple writings. Based on the research, the royal components of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 can be drawn. It is evident that the author of Hebrews focused on the superior priesthood of Christ by using Melchizedek as a model for Christ in Hebrews 7. As the priesthood of Melchizedek is a royal priesthood, the priesthood of Christ is also a royal priesthood. Therefore, the royal priesthood should not be neglected in Hebrews 7.

References

Allen, Leslie C. Psalms 101-50. Word Biblical Commentary 21. Revised Edition. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002.
Anderson, David R. The King-Priest of Psalm 110 in Hebrews. New York: Peter Lang, 2001.
Aschim, Anders. “Melchizedek the Liberator: An Early Interpretation of Genesis 14?” Society of Biblical Literature. 1996 Seminar Papers, 243-258. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996.
______. “Melchizedek and Jesus: 11Q Melchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews”. Edited by Carey C. Newman, James R. Dvila, and Gladys S. Lewis. The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism. Papers from the St. Andrews Conference on the Historical Origin of the Worship of Jesus. Leiden: Brill, 1999, 129-147.
______. “Melchizedek and Levi”. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Fifty Years after Their Discovery 1947-1997. Edited by L. H. Schiffman, E. Tov, and J. C. VanderKam. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000, 773-788.
Astour, M. C. “Melchizedek”. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. Volume 5. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992.
Bird, Chad L. “Typological Interpretation within the Old Testament: Melchizedekian Typology”. Concordia Journal 26 (2000): 36-52.
Broyles, Craig C. Psalms. New International Biblical Commentary. Volume 11. Peabody, MA: Hendricson, 1999.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990.
Charlesworth, James H, ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Volumes 1-2. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1985.
Cockerill, Gareth Lee. The Melchizedek Christology in Hebrews 7:1-28. Diss., Union Theological Seminary: Virginia, 1976.
______. “Melchizedek or ‘King of Righteousness’?” Evangelical Quarterly 63 (1991): 305-312. 10.1163/27725472-06304003
Contenau, Georges. Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1954.
Cross, Frank Moore. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. Essay in the History of the Religion of Israel. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973. 10.4159/9780674030084
Davilla, James R. “Melchizedek, Michael, and War in Heaven”. Society of Biblical Literature. 1996 Seminar Papers. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996, 259-272.
______. “Melchizedek, the ‘Youth’, and Jesus”. In Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by James R. Davila. Leiden: Brill, 2003, 248-274. 10.1163/9789004350441_017
De Jonge, M. and A. S. Van der Woude. “11QMelchizedek and the New Testament”. New Testament Studies 12 (1966): 301-326. 10.1017/S0028688500018117
Delcor, M. “Melchizedek from Genesis to the Qumran texts and the Epistle to the Hebrews”. Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 2 (1971): 115-135. 10.1163/157006371X00244
Dunnell, John. Covenant and Sacrifice in the Letter to the Hebrews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 10.1017/CBO9780511554926
Ellingworth, Paul. The Epistle to the Hebrews. A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.
Engnell, Ivan. Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967.
Fitzmyer, Joseph A. “‘Now this Melchizedek…’ (Hebrews 7:1)”. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 25.3 (1963): 305-321.
______. “Futher Light on Melchizedek from Qumran Cave 11”. Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament. Missoula, MT: University of Montana, 1974.
______. “‘4QTestimonia’ and the New Testament”. The Semitic Background of the New Testament, 59-89. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997.
______. “Melchizedek in the MT, LXX, and the NT”. Biblica 81 (2000): 63- 69.
Gammie, John G. “Loci of the Melchizedek Tradition of Genesis 14:18-20”. Journal of Biblical Literature 90.4 (1971): 385-396. 10.2307/3263610
Gerleman, G. “Psalm cx”. VT 31 (1981): 1-19. 10.1163/156853381X00163
Goldingay, John. Psalms. Psalms 90-150. Volume 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.
Gurney, O. R. Some Aspects of Hittite Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Guthrie, George H. The Structure of Hebrews. A Text-Linguistic Analysis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994. 10.1163/9789004267060
______. “Hebrews”. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Edited by Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, 919-996. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.
Horton, Fred L. Jr. The Melchizedek Traditions. A Critical Examination of the Sources to the Fifth Century AD and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. 10.1017/CBO9780511554964
Hurst, L. D. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Its Background of Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Josephus, Flavius and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus. Complete and Unabridged. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.
Keel, Othmar. The Symbolism of the Biblical World. Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. Translated by Timothy J. Hallett. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997.
Kobelski, Paul J. Melchizedek and Melchireša’. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, 10. Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1981.
Koester, Craig R. Hebrews. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. The Anchor Bible. Volume 36. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2001. 10.5040/9780300261738
Langdon, S. Die Neubabylonischen Königsinschriften. Vorderasiatische Bibliothek 4. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1912.
Lefler, N. “The Melchizedek Traditions in the Letter to the Hebrews: Reading through the Eyes of an Inspired Jewish-Christian Author”. Pro Ecclesia 16.1 (2007): 73-89. 10.1177/106385120701600107
Luria, Ben Zion. “Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of El Elyon”. Beit Mikra 32 (1986): 1-3.
Margalith, Othniel. “The Riddle of Genesis 14 and Melchizedek”. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 112 (2000): 501-508. 10.1515/zatw.2000.112.4.501
Martinez, Florentino Garcia and Eilbert J. C. Tigchelaar, eds. The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Volumes1-2. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.
Mason, Eric F. “Hebrews 7:3 and the Relationship between Melchizedek and Jesus”. Biblical Research 50 (2005): 41-62.
______. “You Are a Priest Forever”. Second Temple Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
McConville, J. Gordon. “Abraham and Melchizedek: Horizons in Genesis 14”. He Swore an Oath. Biblical Themes from Genesis 12-50. Edited by Richard S. Hess, Gordon J. Wenham, and Philip E. Satterthwaite, 93-118. Carlisle: Paternoster, 1994.
McCullough, John C. “Melchizedek’s Varied Role in Early Exegetical Tradition”. Near East School of Theology Theological Review 1.2 (1978): 52-66.
McNamara, Martin. “Melchizedek: Genesis 14:17-20 in the Targums, in Rabbinic and Early Christian Literature”. Biblica 81.1 (2000): 1-31.
Merrill, Eugene H. “Royal Priesthood: An Old Testament Messianic Motif”. Bibliotheca Sacra 150 (1993): 50-61.
Montefiore, H. W. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987.
Nahum Sarna. Genesis. JSP Torah Commentary. Volume 1. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1989.
Nel, P. J. “Psalm 110 and the Melchizedek Tradition”. Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 22.1 (1996): 1-14.
Paul, M. J. “The Order of Melchizedek (Psalms 110:4 and Hebrews 7:3)”. The Westminster Theological Journal 49 (1987): 195-211.
Pearson, Birger A. “Melchizedek in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism”. Biblical Figures outside the Bible. Edited by Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergren, 176-202. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998.
Peterson, David. Hebrews and Perfection. An Examination of the Concept of Perfection in the “Epistle to the Hebrews”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 10.1017/CBO9780511555046
Philo of Alexandria and Charles Duke Yonge. The Works of Philo. Complete and Unabridged. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.
Rainbow, Paul A. “Melchizedek as a Messiah at Qumran”. Bulletin for Biblical Research 7 (1997): 179-194. 10.2307/26422326
Roeder, G. Urkunden zur Religion der alten Ägypter. Jena, 1915.
Rooke, Deborah. W. “Kingship as Priesthood: The Relationship between the High Priesthood and the Monarchy”. King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East. Edited by John Day, 187-208. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.
______. “Jesus as Royal Priest: Reflections on the Interpretation of the Melchizedek Tradition in Hebrews 7”. Biblica 81.1 (2000): 81-94.
Rowley, H. H. “Melchizedek and Zadok (Genesis 14 and Psalms 110)”. Edited by Walter Baumgarten. Festschrift für Alfred Bertholet zum 80. Geburtstag. (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1950).
Sethe, K. Die Altägyptischen Pyramidentexte 3. Leipzig: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1908.
Shreiner, S. “Psalm cx und die Investitur des Hohenpriesters”. VT 27 (1977): 216-222. 10.1163/156853377X00492
Thomas, Robert L. New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries. Updated Edition. Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, 1998.
Tsumura, David Toshio. “King and Cults in Ancient Ugarit”. Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Kazuko Watanabe. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1999, 213-238.
VanGemeren, Willem A. “Psalms”. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Edited by E. Gaebelein. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 5. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991, 1-880.
Von Rad, Gerhard. Genesis. A Commentary. Revised edition. Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1972.
Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 1-15. Word Biblical Commentary. Volume 1. Dallas, TX: Word, 2002.
Wilson, R. McL. Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987.
Xeravits, Geza G. King, Priest, Prophet. Positive Eschatological Protagonists of the Qumran Library. Leiden: Brill, 2003. 10.1163/9789004350458
Yadin, Yigael. “A Note on Melchizedek and Qumran”. Israel Exploration Journal 15 (1965): 152-154.
______. “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Epistle to the Hebrews”. Scripta Hierosolymitana, Edited by Chaim Rabin and Yigael Yadin. Volume 4. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1965, 36-55.

The Royal Components of Melchizedek in Hebrews 7

Abstract

Paradigm

My account