Melchisedec. See notes on Genesis 14:17-19; note on Hebrews 5:6.

King of Salem. The name Melchizedec means “King of Righteousness” and Salem means “peace,” so this mysterious person is identified as King of Peace and Righteousness, as well as “priest of the most high God” (Hebrews 7:1). A number of modern archaeologists have speculated that the name Salem was actually “Salim,” a god of the Amorites, but this idea is entirely hypothetical and is explicitly contradicted by this verse. Similarly, it is commonly assumed that Salem was the original name of Jerusalem, but there is no other record of such a city at this time, either in archaeology or Scripture. Note also Ezekiel 16:1-3, where Jerusalem is said to have been born of an Amorite and a Hittite, and thus had been anti-God from her very beginnings.

Speculations as to the identity of Melchizedec have been many and varied. Certain writers, ancient and modern, have suggested that he was either Shem or Job, both of whom were probably living at that time. If that were the case, however, there could seem no reason why he would not be called by his actual name. Certain Seventh Day Adventists have speculated that he was the “unfallen Adam from another planet,” translated here to observe the process of redemption on this planet. This unorthodox notion must first overcome the hard fact that there is no valid evidence whatever, either in science or Scripture, that other inhabitable planets even exist at all—there are certainly none in the solar system. Most evangelicals say he was merely an obscure king of a small city-state about whom neither history nor the Bible knows anything other than the facts mentioned here. If that was his status, how did he get to be the founder of a priestly order greater than that of Aaron, one to whom even Abraham paid tithes? If anyone could be called “the priest of the most high God” (Genesis 14:18) at this time in history, it would seem that it should be Abraham himself—or possibly Job, “none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man” (Job 2:3), or even the patriarch Shem, who was still alive at this time, assuming no significant gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 11. But all of these have already been ruled out. If Melchizedec was greater them Shem or Job or Abraham, he must have been more than mortal man. The next verse confirms this.

end of life. This unique description surely implies far more than a mere failure to mention Melchizedec's genealogy, as the standard naturalistic explanation of this passage has it. The only one of whom these statements could actually be true is God Himself, appearing to Abraham in a pre-incarnate theophany. God appeared to Abraham on other later occasions (e.g., Genesis 17:1; 18:1), but on this occasion, almost overwhelmed by the hostile, ungodly world around him, Abraham needed special comfort and encouragement from God. Thus the Lord (actually God the Son), appearing as the King of Righteousness (Revelation 19:11, 16), the King of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and the Mediator between God and Man (1 Timothy 2:5), came to give Abraham His blessing (Genesis 14:19).

like unto the Son of God. No mere earthly king was ever “made like unto the Son of God,” nor was there ever one who “abideth a priest continually (same word as “forever”). It is difficult to see how these descriptions could be properly applied to anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to encourage Abraham in this unique pre-incarnate experience, assuming a human form “like unto” that which He would assume forever when He became the incarnate Son of God. For the first time He founded and implemented forever the priestly order of Melchizedec.

witnessed. This “witness” was in Psalm 110:4, where the coming Messiah was recognized by God as “a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec.” There could be only one such high priest forever! The King of Righteousness (meaning of “Melchizedec”) who blessed Abraham is also our eternal High Priest, the “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

sprang. “Sprang” means “rose”—that is, like the sun. As the light of the world, Christ rose up out of Judah, but He was not actually descended genetically from Judah, for He was miraculously conceived by God in Mary's womb.

similitude. Neither was He descended genetically from Melchizedec, though He was spiritually of the same priestly order. Melchizedec had no physical descendants (Hebrews 7:3) or parents, for He was a priest forever. The Lord Jesus was after that “similitude,” actually the same personage as Melchizedec.

a better hope. There are four adjectives used in the New Testament to describe our hope in Christ. It is a “better hope” than anything the world can offer, for it is our “hope of salvation” and “hope of glory” (1 Thessalonians 5:8; Colossians 1:27). It is a “good hope” (2 Thessalonians 2:16), a “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), and a “lively hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Furthermore, the word “hope” itself does not mean a “wish” but rather a divine “promise.”

Melchisedec. This is the fifth mention of Melchizedec by name in Hebrews 5-7.

he is able. Christ is “able” also to “stablish you” (Romans 16:25); to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20); to “subdue all things unto Himself” (Philippians 3:21); and to “keep you from falling” (Jude 24).

higher than the heavens. Jesus, our great High Priest, has “ascended up far above all heavens” (Ephesians 4:10). Yet the heavens seem to stretch out infinitely (see note on Isaiah 55:9). The only one who could ever be “higher than the heavens” is the One who created the heavens.