Melchizedek

Melchizedek ('king of righteousness'), in the story of Genesis, king of Salem and priest of 'Supreme El.' He met Abram on his return from the victorious expedition against Chedorlaomer, gave him his blessing, and received tithes from him. The ante-legal king-priest stands in Psalm ex. as a figure typical of the viceroy of Jehovah, and in Hebrews, vii. 3, of the kingly priesthood of Jesus. The chapter in Genesis containing his story stands alone in character in the Pentateuch, and according to Wellhausen is one of its latest additions. As to his being 'without father and without mother,' it may be noted that Abd-Kiba, king of Jerusalem, in the Tell-el-Amarna tablets says of himself: 'Neither my father nor my mother appointed me in this place'—i.e. he was elective, not hereditary king.