MELCHIZEDEK
| Biblical PN | Great priest-king of biblical Salem to whom Abraham paid tithes (Alma 13:14-19; cf. D&C 84:14, 107:2-4). P ms MELCHEZIDEK; 1830 MELCHIZEDEK (preferred by R. Skousen).[1] |
Old Testament KJV Melchizedek = New Testament KJV Melchisedec. Hebrew malkî-ṣedeq melek šālēm, kohēn le’ēl ‘elîyôn “Melchi-Zedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God.” (Genesis 14:18); malkî-ṣedeq, kohēn le‘olām “Melchi-Zedek, a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4) = Greek su hiereus eis ton aiōna . . . melchisedek (Hebrews 5:6; 7:17); archiereus . . . ton aiōna (6:20). Hebrew malkî-ṣedeq means “King of Righteousness.” See also Alma 13:14-19, where there is a suggestion that Melchizedek was co-regent with his father, and that “he did establish peace (šālôm) in the land in his days; therefore he was called the Prince of Peace [šar-šālôm],[2] for he was the King of Salem [melek šālēm].” Mlky ṣdq also occurs in 4Q280 frag. 1, and 4Q‘Amram (“Vision of Amram”), where his opposite is mlky rš‘ “King of Iniquity” = Belial in 11QMelch; cf. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, I, 10, 2 (_180); II Enoch 71-72; Melchizedek (Nag Hammadi Codex IX, 1) 1:1, 12:10, 15:9, in Sa‘idic Coptic, but translated from a no-longer extant Greek version.
This name (throne name?) or title is very close in structure and meaning to the Hebrew transliteration sargôn melek ‘aššur “Sargon, King of Assyria” (Isaiah 20:1) = Akkadian šarrum-ken, šarru-ukin “Legitimized King.” Note also the similar name structure for Adoni-Zedek “(My)-Lord-is-Justice; (My)-God-is-Righteousness,” an Amorite king of Jerusalem (Joshua 10:1, 3). So common is the epithet that even Hammurabi terms himself “King of Justice” (Codex Hammurabi xlix, 17).[3]
Cf. the Egyptian transliteration M3k3m for Akkadian Malki-ilum in the Execration Texts.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Skousen, ATV 3:1892-1893; cf. FARMS’ Book of Mormon Critical Text, 2nd ed., II:605-606.
- ↑ Cf. Isaiah 9:6 [LXX MT 9:5] ‖2 Nephi 19:6.
- ↑ Indeed, even Hindu Yudhishthira - as son and avatar of his father, the god Dharma - was known as Dharma-raja, “King of Righteousness.” Moreover, though he was of the Kshatriya-warrior caste, his virtues were those of Brahman-priest (Mahabharata 12.55.5-9). Alma Gygi equated Melchizedek with Shem in Ensign, 3/11 (Nov 1973): 15-16, citing especially Times and Seasons, VI:746 (“Shem, who was Melchizedek”), Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine (SLC: Deseret Book, 1919), 474, and L. Ginzburg, Legends of the Jews, 7 vols. (Philadelphia, 1909-1913, 1938), 233 (online at Philologos); for the same Shem-Melchizedek tradition, see Michael Astour, “Melchizedek (Person),” in D. Freedman, ed., ABD, IV:686, citing Babylonian Talmud (Nedarim 32b) as well as the Jewish Aramaic targums (Targums Neofiti and Pseudo-Jonathan); see the thorough discussion and bibliography in J. W. Welch, “The Melchizedek Material in Alma 13:13-19,” in J. Lundquist & S. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley, 2 vols. (Provo: FARMS/SLC: Deseret Book, 1990), II:238-272. See also the Lectures on Faith.
- ↑ Ächtungstexte/Execration Texts, cited by Albright, VESO, _13, p. 7.
