7:1
Melchizedek gets very few mentions in the Bible. He meets Abraham in Gen14:18-20, he is mentioned in Psalm 110:4, and here. The writer to the Hebrews seems to give him undue significance! So why does he do this? In Paul’s writings one of the points he makes is that the promise to Abraham on the basis of faith was made long before the Law came in, therefore faith is primary. The writer wants to make the point that since the Melchizedek priesthood was around long before the Levitical priesthood came in, it too has primacy.
Back in Genesis Melchizedek met Abraham after Abraham had defeated the kings, and he pronounced a blessing over Abraham. Now blessings were not mere words but had a profound effect - remember how crucial the blessing was in the story of Jacob and Esau. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, or the king of peace, and he was the priest of God Most High. There some who see Melchizedek as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. While he prefigures Christ, seeing him as Christ Himself is probably pushing things too far.
7:2,3
Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils of war. The writer will later make much of this point. Melchizedek is king of righteousness, and king of peace. Such terms were never used of the Levitical priests. He came from nowhere, and went nowhere. Now in relation to the possibility of his being a preincarnate appearance of Christ, the “without father or mother” statements here may just mean that there is no indication of lineage at all, whereas with other people in the Bible the ancestry of a person is almost always given, along with any children they have. The writer sees him as a forerunner of Christ, a type of Christ. However, if he is just a “normal” person, this does raise the question of where did he come from? How did God appoint him as a priest? By the way, the term “resembling the Son of God” implies that he most definitely is not actually the Son of God.
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