Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, brings out bread and wine and blesses Abram. Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious and theologically rich figures in the entire Bible. His two roles — king and priest — combined in one person, will be separated in Israel's institutional structure and only reunited in Christ. His city, Salem, is almost certainly Jerusalem — Psalm 76:2 identifies Salem with Zion. His title, 'God Most High' (El Elyon), is the same God whom Abram worships, as verse 22 makes explicit. The bread and wine he brings have been read throughout church history as a foreshadowing of the Lord's Supper — sustenance for the covenant person after battle. Hebrews 7 develops the Melchizedek typology extensively, arguing that Jesus' priesthood is of the Melchizedek order, superior to the Levitical priesthood. The application: Melchizedek is one of the Bible's most important 'pre-announced' figures of Christ. Encountering him in Genesis is to encounter the earliest shadow of the one who will be both king and priest forever.

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