This ‘King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him’;
and to him Abraham apportioned ‘one-tenth of everything’. His name, in the first place, means ‘king of righteousness’; next he is also king of Salem, that is, ‘king of peace’.
Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest for ever.
See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils.
And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham.
But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises.
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
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