An interesting video, attempting to explore the true identity of Melchizedek. He has got some of his analysis right, but not most of it. His first mistake is that he fails to recognize, and give sufficient credit to the greatness of Melchizedek, as the book of Hebrews does. The epistle to the Hebrews gives far more credit and recognition to the greatness of Melchizedek, and to his priesthood, than he does:
Hebrews 7:
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him [Abraham] that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less [Abraham] is blessed of the better [Melchizedek].
These verses are designed to impress on our minds how great Melchizedek was—even greater than Abraham, the father of the faithful. To an Israelite, Abraham was about as great as you can get—next to God himself. He was so close to God that he was called the “friend of God” (2 Chron. 20:7; James 2:23). Yet we are told in Hebrews that Melchizedek was even greater. He wasn’t just some old Canaanite dude who also just happens to be some kind of a priest and a king, as the video makes him out to be.
The second point that he has overlooked concerns Melchizedek’s priesthood. The question that needs to be answered here is, Was his “priesthood” genuine, or was it some kind of fake, imaginary, or allegorical priesthood? The above verses, as well as the following, indicate that it was a genuine priesthood:
Genesis 14:
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he [Abraham] gave him tithes of all.
Psalm 110:
4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
All of these verses combined suggest that it was a real priesthood, not a fake or imaginary priesthood. He was a real person with a real priesthood. That proves that the concept of the priesthood (a genuine priesthood) in the Old Testament did not begin with Moses and Aaron. It goes back much further than that. Indeed, the quote from Hebrews suggests that Melchizedek’s priesthood was greater than the priesthood with which Aaron, the brother of Moses, was ordained. So how do we make sense of all of that? Those are the relevant questions which he has failed to take into account. They are questions to which an answer cannot be easily obtained from the Bible alone. More revelation and scripture is required to find the right answers to those questions, which Latter-day Saints are indeed lucky enough to have. Here is a quote from the Book of Mormon, which clarifies much of the ambiguities on the subject in the Bible (punctuation revised):
Alma 13:
1 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained: being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works—in the first place being left to choose good or evil—therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling; yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith; while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts, and blindness of their minds; while if it had not been for this, they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.
5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren: thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—
6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest—
7 This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity according to his foreknowledge of all things.
8 Now they were ordained after this manner: being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order; which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood is without beginning or end—
9 Thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen.
10 Now as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish;
11 Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.
12 Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
13 And now my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest.
14 Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever.
15 And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed.
16 Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord.
17 Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination. Yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness.
18 But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace. For he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.
19 Now there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore of him they have more particularly made mention.
20 Now I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said may suffice. Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them, it shall be to your own destruction.
And the following additional quotes from the book of Doctrine and Covenants, another great book of modern scripture, give us more insight into the theology of Melchizedek and his priesthood:
Doctrine and Covenants 88:
14 Which Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah;
15 And from Noah till Enoch, through the lineage of their fathers;
16 And from Enoch to Abel, who was slain by the conspiracy of his brother, who received the priesthood by the commandments of God, by the hand of his father Adam, who was the first man—
17 Which priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years.
18 And the Lord confirmed a priesthood also upon Aaron and his seed, throughout all their generations, which priesthood also continueth and abideth forever, with the priesthood which is after the holiest order of God.
19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel, and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.
20 Therefore in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.
21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;
22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.
23 Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God;
24 But they hardened their hearts, and could not endure his presence; therefore the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.
25 Therefore he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also;
26 And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel;
27 Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.
28 For he was baptized while he was yet in his childhood, and was ordained by the angel of God at the time he was eight days old unto this power, to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to make straight the way of the Lord before the face of his people, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord, in whose hand is given all power.
Doctrine and Covenants 107:
1 There are in the church two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood.
2 Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood, is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest.
3 Before his day, it was called the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God.
4 But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.
5 All other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to this priesthood.
6 But there are two divisions, or grand heads: one is the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the other is the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood.
7 The office of an elder comes under the priesthood of Melchizedek.
8 The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spiritual things.
So it was not Melchizedek himself that was “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (which wouldn’t make sense), but it was his priesthood that possessed those attributes. The Aaronic priesthood, including Levitical, as it operated in Israel at the time, was hereditary, it was passed on from father to son. Not so with the Melchizedek priesthood. The text of Hebrews 7:3 is obviously not complete, there is something that has gone missing from it.
Latter-day Saints are very lucky indeed to have all of this divine knowledge and truth revealed to them, which these guys know nothing about. They have all kinds of theological degrees and PhDs, and read thousands of books; but a humble Latter-day Saint who knows his scriptures well has a far better understanding of sound doctrine, correct theology, and gospel truth than they do.
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P. S.
And from the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, Genesis 14, we also have the following additional insight into Melchizedek and his priesthood:
JST Genesis 14:
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