Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

14: 17-24 GENESIS
emphasized repeatedly in the present work-namely, that
any passage of Scripture must be understood not only in
the light of its immediate context but also in the light of
Bible teaching as a whole. Those persons who refuse to
correlate Old Testament and New Testament teaching
properly will never acquire any comprehensive understanding
of the Book of the Spirit.
King of Salem. The name Melchizedek means “king
of righteousness.” Salem means “peace.” Salem here is
undoubtedly Jerusalem, which did not become an Israelite
city until the reign of David. “Salem’y is simply a shortened
form of ccJerusalem,yy the Urusalim of the Amarna
letters of the fourteenth century B.C.; the short form
appears again in Psa. 76:2. This identification is further
confirmed by the fact that proper names are frequently
used in Scripture in abbreviated forms. Moreover, Abram
is portrayed as having practically returned from his “military”
expedition, that is, he is back to Hebron, and Jerusalem
is not far from Hebron. Note that Melchizedek
brought bread and wine to refresh the returning warriors.
“He did this as one who wants to be seen to offer his
support to such good men, who do such laudable things
as Abram had done. He recognizes that a generous offer
of rations far the troops was at this time the prime
physical necessity. Nothing more should be sought in this
act of Melchizedek’s. He expresses his friendship and perhaps
his religious kinship with Abram by offering the
most common form of meat and drink, ‘bread and wine’”
(EG, 463). Lange (CDHCG, 404) : “The papists explain
it with reference to the sacrifices of the mass, but the
reference is fatal to their own case, since Melchizedek gave
the wine also. He brought forth, not he brought before
God.”
Priest of God Most h, literally, El Elyon, of which
the first term, El, from same root as in Elohim (Gen.
1 : 1) , signifies The Mighty One, and is seldom applied to
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