HR ‘Melchizedek Priesthood?’
Jono, together with Jason Spiritualbabies from SpiritualBabies.net investigate as to whether an “order of Melchizedek” can be supported in the Hebrew text.
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Thanks, guys, for this discussion. I’m pretty jazzed about the definition of this word. My takeaway from this is that there is no “order” of Melchizedek, as if one can join the club at some point. I love that David (and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say also the “Son of David” or Messiah, whomever you believe him to be) are, by decree of YHVH, Mechizedek, a king of Righteousness.
Baruch atah YHVH eloheinu, Melech haOlam, shehakol nihiyah bidvaro. Blessed are you, YHVH our god, King of the Universe, who brings all things into being by His word.
Thank you for posting this. It is just what I need in a discussion I am having with some guys about the ‘order’ of Melchizedek. Stupid that I didn’t look it up myself, for I can read both Hebrew and Greek. But somehow you never think of such simple checks in a discussion. I don’t think I ended up here by accident!
One minor point: you spelled the greek word ‘taxis’ wrong: it does not end with a greek ‘z’ (zeta), but with a ‘s’ (sigma). Nevertheless: excellent research!
Kees, thank you for your encouraging comment. BTW, did we use a zeta “ζ” or a final sigma “ς”? They look some what similar.
Interesting stuff…I think you’ve brought some good information that I didn’t know before. But, I have to disagree on a few points.
I generally use Benjamin-Davidson for my Hebrew dictionary…whether it is better or worse than others, I don’t know (there is no “inspired” dictionary that I know of). Anyway, it lists “manner, mode, order” among the definitions under Div’rah. How is this related to the other definitions? Well, an order or “hood” is established by the “word” of some authority–without that authoritative word, the order means nothing. So, for example, the priesthood of the Levites was established by the word (davar) of God.
Also, I don’t see why the Septuagint is inferior to the Masoretic text. They both have advantages and disadvantages. The Masoretic is in the original tongue; the Septuagint is much older. And the dead sea scrolls show that sometimes the Septuagint is, in fact, the preferred reading.
I like that you included alternative translations to this verse. I do think that they are reasonable translations as well. But I don’t see why it would be unreasonable to translate as “order of Melchizedek.” Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to study this out and share the information!