Texts in Conversation
Philo and Hebrews both interpret Melchizedek’s name through its Greek translation as “king of righteousness” and “king of peace.” Hebrews builds its case for Jesus’ priesthood on this allegorical reading, similar to Philo’s interpretive method.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Philo Allegorical Interpretation 3.79
Classical
78 and to find grace, is not only, as some call it, equivalent to the expression "pleasing God," but it has some such meaning as this. The just man seeking to understand the nature of all existing things, makes this one most excellent discovery, that everything which exists, does so according to the grace of God, and that there is nothing ever given by, just as there is nothing possessed by, the things of creation. On which account also it is proper to acknowledge gratitude to the Creator alone. Accordingly, to those persons who seek to investigate what is the origin of creation, we may most correctly make answer, that it is the goodness and the grace of God, which he has bestowed on the human race; for all the things which are in the world, and the world itself, are the gift and benefaction and free grace of God. 79 Moreover, God made Melchisedek, the king of peace, that is of Salem, for that is the interpretation of this name, "his own high Priest," without having previously mentioned any particular action of his, but merely because he had made him a king, and a lover of peace, and especially worthy of his priesthood. For he is called a just king, and a king is the opposite of a tyrant, because the one is the interpreter of law, and the other of lawlessness.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Hebrews 7:2
New Testament
1 Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. 2 To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time.
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Notes and References
... as ‘king of righteousness.’ The first part of the name ‘Melchizedek’ (melchi-) corresponds to the Hebrew word for ‘king’ (melek) with the first person singular suffix. The last part (-zedek) corresponds to the Hebrew word for ‘righteous’ (zedeq). The similar name Adoni-zedek (Joshua 10:1) may have meant ‘my king is Zedek,’ with ‘Zedek’ as the name of a deity, or ‘my king is righteous’ (Kobelski, Melchizedek, 55). People in the first century took the two parts of the name to be in a genitive relationship: ‘king of righteousness’ (Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 79; Josephus, Jewish War 6.438; Antiquities 1.180). Righteousness had messianic associations in some Old Testament texts (Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15), and Hebrews depicted the exalted Christ as a righteous king (Hebrews 1:8-9). “king of peace.” The Hebrew word ‘Salem,’ which is transliterated in the Septuagint, was originally a place-name. Hebrews equated it with the Hebrew word shalom, which means ‘peace’ (compare Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 79; Psalm 76:2 [75:3 LXX]) ...
Koester, Craig R.
Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(pp. 342-343) Yale University Press, 2010
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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