Posted on by wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General.

Question:

Professor, one of the characters that I find most curious that there isn’t a lot of information about is Melchizedek. Besides Hebrews Chapter 7, Genesis 14, several references in Psalms, and mention in the Pseudoepigraph “The Book of the Bee” of the Book of the Cave of Treasures, are there any legitimate sources in your knowledge to research Melchizedek? Also, after examining your PowerPoint on Hebrews 7 and Melchizedek prefigure of Christ, why did you omit his being a descendant of Shem through Arphaxad, Cainan, and Malah, burying the body of Adam at Gulgulta, and ascetic ministry style that resembled John the Baptist’s?

Response:

The only sources I know of for Melchizedek are Genesis, Psalm 110 and Hebrews. I do not count “The Book of the Bee” because this not reliable, being a non-inspired source.

I do not mention everything there is to say about Melchizedek in my power point. I mention the things that have importance for him as a prefigure of Jesus.

By the way, the extra information you have for Melchizedek come from the Book of the Bee. This is a thirteenth century Jewish writing. The information there is extremely dubious. What are the chances that a non-canonical, uninspired writer who wrote more than three thousand years after Melchizedek lived would have details of his genealogy correct? I definitely would not mention this highly speculative guess by the author of the Book of the Bee in a class about Melchizedek. It is almost certainly fictional.

John Oakes

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