Tag Archives: Melchizedek

Under Foot from Hebrews

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Under feet and footstool are mentioned several times in the Book of Hebrews.  Jesus and Melchizedek are whose appendages and furniture we are referring to.  Of course, these references come from Psalm 110 that was written by David.  I will bring in other references so that we can have a larger picture of this topic.  This study will end with Hebrews 12:13 which after some reflection really surprised me.

Footstool – Hebrews 1:13 and 10:13 are the references to Psalm 110:1 and a footstool.  This is the beginning of the tradition of Melchizedek being a military messiah as well as a priest forever of the Lord.  1:13 is in a set of verses that deal with the “Son” and His superiority to angels.  (The name Jesus is not used until 2:9.)  10:13 has the enemies of Jesus being the footstool but this is because of The ONE SACRIFICE that allowed Him to take back the keys.  The concept is that Jesus is waiting for this to happen.  Luke 20:43 and Acts 2:35 reference Jesus speaking of David and the Messiah and again Psalm 110 is the verse He is quoting. 

Enemies are not the only thing that is a “footstool” in Scripture.  Matthew 5:34 and Isaiah 66:1 note that the earth is God’s footstool. David in 1 Chronicles 28:2 wants to build a house for the Ark as a footstool for God. (Some translations give the idea that the house is the stool while others seem to imply that the Ark is the footstool.)  I think, that Lamentations 2:1 pulls in Jerusalem as the “splendor of Israel” into the Temple and Ark.

We are also directed in Psalm 99:5 and 132:7 to worship at the Footstool of God.

Under Foot or Feet

I guess I separated footstool and underfoot because if you are using a footstool you should be sitting down.  Things can be “underfoot” if you are walking or standing.  Also, people have Creation under their feet in Psalm 8:6 and the Woman in Revelations 12:1 has the moon under her feet.  God in Exodus 24:10 has dinner with Moses and the seventy elders with a lapis lazuli pavement under His feet (that always sounds like the blue ball we live on).  2 Samuel 22:10 and Psalm 18:9 has God parting the heavens and there are dark clouds under His feet and not a footstool.

Enemies and everything is the main things that will be under Jesus’ feet.  There are many references – Hebrews 2:8, Ephesians 1:22, 1 Corinthians 15:25+27, Matthew 22:44, and Mark 12:36.

Hebrews 12:13

This verse echoes Proverbs 4:26. My reflection on this verse is that Jesus is stepping on enemies and putting everything under His feet, so when we are not turning to the left or the right the path behind Him is smooth.

Terah and His Granddaughters the Mothers of Israel

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Terah, the little-known figure in Genesis 11 is the grandfather of Israel.  His granddaughters are the “mothers of Israel” and his grandsons are the “fathers of Israel”.  To clear the air at the start of the post, families intermarried 4,000 years ago.  Genetically that would not work well now.  The gene pool seems to have been corrupted along with society as we have moved away from the Garden.  I am not trying to do genetics in this post because I am not qualified, but I will note some of the non-Terah additions.   

Terah, it seems, had several wives, none of them are named.  We know that Abram and Sarai were half-siblings, but Nahor, Terah’s second son, married the daughter (Milcah) of his third son – Haran.  I guess you lose sight of the fact that this is still tracing the family line back to Noah and then to Seth and Adam.  Flip that forward you have the family line of those who first “called on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26 NIV).  

Rebekah, Terah’s great-granddaughter, married her cousin Isaac, and his great, great, granddaughter’s Leah and Rachel married their cousin Jacob.  Milcah was Terah’s granddaughter, her son Bethuel fathered Laban and Rebekah.  Laban was with Bethuel when Abraham’s servant was handing out things to get Isaac a wife – Rebekah.  Besides Leah and Rachel Laban had sons (Genesis 31:1).  We have no idea who the mother of Laban was or who his wife was.  Haran had another son, Iscah, but nothing is said about him.

Names – Strong’s Concordance has no meaning associated with Terah.  Nahor is the name of Terah’s father and second son, it may mean snoring.  Bethuel, who is not mentioned in Genesis 29:5, may mean “destroyed of God”.  Laban may mean brick or white.  I like names and their meanings but you may have to do more than a quick search to form an opinion before you make it part of the story.

The Other Mothers of Israel

Leah and Rachel account for nine tribes in Israel. Laban gave his daughters maidservants – Leah was given Zilpah and Rachel received Bilhah.  The two servants had four sons for Jacob.  We know nothing of these two girls and a safe guess is they came from the Haran area.  This should complicate the family bloodline a bit but they are still “children” of Abraham.

The Wives of Jacob’s Sons  

Isaac and Jacob were both “encouraged” to go back to the family in Padan Haran to find brides.  The servant who was entrusted with the task was not to take Isaac back there.  Rebekah was “upset” with the women around them and not too happy that Esau had found his wives from the Canaanites. (I believe that Esau in Genesis 28:8+9 took a bride from Ishmael in an attempt to please his father. A wife from within the family.)  Jacob probably knew he would not be welcomed by Laban if he was looking for wives for his sons.  So, where did the girls come from?  Joseph’s wife was an Egyptian; they had Manasseh and Ephraim.  Judah married Shua and had children by Tamar (Jesus’ grandmother), they were both Canaanites. The easy answer to the wives is Canaanites, or “Jacob’s servants” he acquired in Haran, or women from Shechem.  If we are thinking genetics, the family line has spread out again and the line of Terah was not added in for the twelve sons to form their families.  Once the family population was greater they could go back to marrying cousins.

Part of the Law was not to intermarry with the people/nations around them.  Ruth is a worthy inclusion, she is a granddaughter of Lot through his son Moab.  All three of Terah’s sons added to the bloodline of the Hebrew nation and more specifically, Judah. 

Terah 

This is definitely a “what if”!  Terah in Genesis 11:31 seems to be the first one going to Canaan.  When he left Ur, he traveled northwest to skirt the desert.  He made it to Haran (the town with the name of his dead son) and stayed and died there.  Nahor and Milcah are not mentioned in Genesis 11:31, 32.  Were they already in Haran, which is why Terah never left?  Don’t know! They may have followed after Terah and Abram.  

The stated reason for leaving Ur was to go to Canaan.  Was Terah following the voice of God?  Did he just stop following the leading and stayed in Haran?  Was he just going with Abram who was really the one called?  Would the whole family (Terah, Nahor, Lot, and Abram) going and being in Canaan changed the major points of history?   

The Really BIG What If

Were these direct descendants of Seth going to Canaan to meet Melchizedek?  We are not told of any other meetings between Abraham and Melchizedek other than Genesis 14.  I just find it hard to believe they did not meet.  And the ten percent Abraham gave was a lot of possessions to someone you did not know.  Yes, the region of Moriah could have been the land controlled by the King of Salem, but that was after Abraham’s victory (Genesis 22).

Oh!

We can see what Canaan did to Lot.  Laban would have been really bad.  Well, Sodom would have been burned up by his time, but I don’t think Laban would have done well there.  Israel had enough problems with Moab, Ben-Ammi, Esau, and Ishmael, the family infighting would have gone to another level.

Abraham not wanting Isaac to go back to Haran could have been for two reasons. Frist, Haran was not a nice place.  Second, Abraham knew that Isaac’s blessings would only be found in Canaan, the place where there was a priest like Melchizedek.  Genesis 15: 7+8 confirms the calling and the possession of the land.

Easter 2015 – Reflections – Priesthood

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Reflections on Jesus’ Priesthood and Melchizedek.

Several studies have come together this Easter to clear up and create more things to study: Salem or Sodom, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, It Is Finished, and one of Hebrews. They deal with Jesus our High Priest, Melchizedek, and the things finished on the Cross combining the mysterious priesthood of Melchizedek, the natural priesthood of Aaron, and being settled in the supernatural priesthood of Jesus. Psalm 110 affirms the priesthood of Jesus but combines it with the victorious conqueror He will be in the Book of Revelations. Jesus finished the need for the work of Aaron and sacrifices while being added to the Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedekorder of Melchizedek. The link below has part of a Dead Sea Scroll which points to Melchizedek as a “leader of God’s armies.” In the study of Jeroboam and the rest of the kings of the Northern Tribes the “sin of Jeroboam” is mentioned frequently. I thought the main problem was the idols he had made but Hebrews 7:12 showed me the real sin. When Jeroboam changed the priesthood he changed the Law!

The list from Hebrews works through Jesus’ completion and right as Priest. The list from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 are the different names and titles of God in those passages. Those names by extension show Melchizedek’s importance as God’s priest.

  • Hebrews 13:12 Jesus suffered outside of the city to make us holy through His blood.
  • Hebrews 7: 26 Jesus as a High Priest met our needs by being holy, pure, set apart, and exalted in the heavens.
  • Hebrews 7: 12 When the priesthood changes there is also a change in the Law!
  • Hebrews 8: 10 (Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34) God WILL put in our minds His laws and write His Laws on our hearts so we WILL be His people because He is our God.
  • Hebrews 5:6, 7:1 – 28 and other discussions of priest Chapter 8 and 13: 11

Genesis 14: 19, 20, 22

  • Elohim (God) a title used in combination with other names it is a title of majesty and power.
  • Elyon (Most High) is a title of God that focuses on supremacy in power.
  • Qana (Creator) to create or bring forth; the NIV footnote says it is Possessor.

Psalm 110

  • LORD or Jehovah – the Eternal
  • Lord or Adon – (vs. 1) supervisor or owner; Adonay – (vs. 5) a title of the one true God with a focus on majesty and authority or “Lord overall” and also carries the idea of Father or a Friend (see LORD vs. Lord)

http://ad2004.com/Biblecodes/Hebrewmatrix/melchizedek.html this has a translation of a Dead Sea Scroll that talks about Melchizedek. If you are interested it goes into Bible Codes which I have mixed feelings about.

Definitions are from Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance and from Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance

pic from http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Abraham.htm. or Dieric Bouts (circa 1420-1475) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMeeting_of_abraham_and_melchizadek.jpg 

Salem or Sodom – Bera, King of Sodom

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Bera may be the most audacious person in the Bible! He is also a type and shadow of the devil. First, he is a king who allowed and possibly encouraged his people to sin. He then takes part in a rebellion against his overlord with the other rulers of the Valley of Siddium. They lose to the coalition lead by Kedorlaomer. The kings with the armies go hide in the hills while their families and towns are looted. The rout and panic of his army were so bad they were falling in tar pits. Then he expects to get his stuff/people given back to him! (Genesis 14)

Abram and his friends come in and save the day, and are traveling back toward Salem probably heading to his village. Out of the hills/hiding come Bera and meets Abram in the Valley of Shaveh or king’s valley, which is identified as the valley near Jerusalem. (The only other mention of a king’s valley in the Bible is in 2 Samuel 18:18 in a reference to Absalom.) I am sure there are a lot of ways to look at the goods Abram recovered, but it is possible that not all of it belonged to the Jordan River valley kings. So Abram could have made claim to everything he had just won and really who was going to take it from him, the kings who had just lost it! So Abram honors the Lord and gives a tithe to Melchizedek. I think the wicked king was getting nervous about losing so much stuff with no chance of getting it back. To curb the flow of goods Bera asks/claims the people, so Abram tells him what is going to happen and why. The nerve of that guy to be asking or claiming anything is unbelievable. But one thing is for sure, Salem brought the party and Sodom brought nothing.

Bera, just like the devil, knows people are more valuable than goods. The riches could have been a distraction for Abram because once you have all of that stuff you have to fight to keep it and Bera would have had more people.

The lesson to be learned here is what Bera/the devil does to a Christian in a fight. Abram had gotten a victory and probably was just hoping for some quiet time. But out comes someone to congratulate you on the victory. Many times that person will be a distraction from what you need, which is what Melchizedek brought, something to refresh and strengthen you. We Christians usually equate the bread and wine with communion but the truth is Melchizedek was throwing a party (feeding) for the victor because they were tired. Abram wisely discerned that Bera and the goods were not the reason he went to battle, that was to get his family back and that mission was accomplished. Bera lost everything, hid while someone else got the job done, and still claimed he was owed something.

https://www.biblicaltraining.org/library/valley-shaveh