פירוש על בראשית 14:18

ומלכי צדק AND MELCHIZEDEK — A Midrashic explanation is that he is identical with Shem, son of Noah (Nedarim 32b).

AND MELCHIZEDEK KING OF SALEM. This is Jerusalem, just as it is said, In Salem is set His tabernacle.¹⁷³Psalms 76:3. In the days of Joshua, its king was also called Adoni-zedek.¹⁷⁴Joshua 10:1. Since time immemorial the nations knew that this place, which was the choicest of all places, is in the center of the inhabited region. Or perhaps they knew of its superiority by tradition, i.e., that it is exactly opposite the Heavenly Sanctuary, where the Divine Glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, who is called Tzedek (Righteousness) abides.¹⁷⁵This explains why the early inhabitants of Jerusalem called their king Malki tzedek, literally, “My king is righteousness.”
In Bereshith Rabbah¹⁷⁶43:6. [we find that Jerusalem is called Tzedek because] “this place makes its inhabitants righteous. And Melchizedek means ‘the lord of Zedek.’¹⁷⁷The Midrash is thus teaching that his name was not “Tzedek” but that he was the lord of a place called Zedek. Jerusalem is called Tzedek, as it is said, ‘Tzedek’ (Righteousness) lodged in it.”¹⁷⁸Isaiah 1:21.

הוציא לחם ויין, to all those returning from battle who were tired.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם, And Malki Tzedek the king of Salem, etc. Our sages (Midrash Aggadah) claim that Malki Tzedek was identical with Noach's son Shem. The reason that the Torah interrupts the report of Lot's rescue by reporting Malki Tzedek's arrival is to contrast his behaviour with that of the king of Sodom. Whereas Malki Tzedek came with gifts and a blessing though Abraham had done nothing for him, the king of Sodom came empty-handed although he owed Abraham a great debt of gratitude for having saved both his life and his kingdom. The Torah merely shows the difference between the behaviour of the wicked and that of the just.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם, the word שלם is another word for ירושלים, and we find it referred to as such in Psalms 76,3 ויהי בשלם סכו, “Salem became His abode.” It was customary to give the title Malki Tzedek or Adoni Tzedek, to kings of Jerusalem in those days, just as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh. Compare Joshua 10,1 where we find אדני צדק מלך ירושלים. Jerusalem traditionally represented the center of righteousness and peace. It is a place in which iniquity is less tolerated than anywhere else. This is why the Torah warned in Leviticus 18,28 that the Israelites should take care that the land not spew them out just as it had spewed out previous inhabitants because they had defiled it. The reason the Torah in Deuteronomy 31,16 uses the somewhat enigmatic expression אלוהי נכר הארץ, is that the kind of conduct by the people in that city that were spewed out, was a conduct that was irreconcilable (alien) with the very nature, spiritual climate, prevailing in, and being part of that holy city. The sons of Korach already recognised and extolled this spiritual climate of the very city when they said in Psalms 48,3 יפה נוף משוש כל הארץ הר ציון ירכתי צפון קרית מלך רב, “fair-crested, joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, summit of Tzafon, city of the great King.” In the Midrash quoted by Rashi, Malki Tzedek is identified as Shem, the son of Noach.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם, “and Malki Tzedek, King of Salem, etc.” he was the King of Jerusalem, as we know from Psalms 76,3 ויהי בשלם סוכו, “His hut (abode) was in Shalem.” According to tradition, the verse is a reference to G’d having His abode in Zion, Jerusalem. As soon as the gentiles had become aware that this was a chosen site, they realized that the Temple would one day be erected there.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם, “and Malki Tzedek the King of Salem, etc.” This King was none other than Shem, the son of Noach. He was a Priest of the Supreme G’d. According to the plain meaning of the text the word כהן means “servant.” Seeing that all nations have their “priests” who serve angels who are called אלוהים, such as Exodus 15,11 מי כמוך באלים ה' “who is like You amongst the divine forces O Hashem?,” The Lord G’d is here referred to as אל עליון, Supreme G’d. According to Nedarim 32 he was a real Priest and this is the reason Avram gave him a tithe of ten percent of the spoils of war.

The Midrash Aggadah explains that he is Sheim. For the abbreviation of מלך שלם, when reversed, spells שם.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם הוציא לחם ויין, “and Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, produced bread and wine, etc.” This was the custom in which soldiers returning from battle would be welcomed. They were naturally tired and worn out, and needed to replace spent energy by imbibing drink and consuming food. An alternate explanation: the reference to bread and wine, specifically, is a hint that just as that King was a priest, so priests of the Jewish people would perform temple service offering libations of wine and the showbreads to the Almighty on a regular basis. In this instance Malki Tzedek, up to now a priest of the supreme G–d, forfeited that honour when he blessed Avraham before first blessing the Almighty, Who had enabled Avraham to become the victor. When David, in Psalms 110,4 said: נשבע ה' ולא ינחם אתה כהן לעולם על דברתי מלכי צדק, “the Lord has sworn and will not relent, ’you are a priest forever, a rightful priest by My decree,’” he referred to the incident in our verse which cost Malki Tzedek his priesthood. [All the people killed in that battle were actually killed by G–d, as a priest who has killed a human being is forthwith denied the right to perform service in the Temple. Abraham certainly had represented the priesthood in his age. He was “officially” appointed as such after this incident. Ed.] According to the Talmud in Nedarim 32, quoted earlier, this is all derived from the word כהן, “a priest,” which our sages understand to mean that his offspring were not priests.

הוציא לחם ויין, “he produced (from his satchel) bread and wine;” the rules of syntax would have demanded that the verses 1718 should have been written in the following sequence: “The king of Sodom came out of hiding to meet Avram after he had defeated the 4 most powerful kings, and he said to Avram: “hand me over the human beings and keep the chattels for yourself.” (verse 22). Instead, the Torah interrupted with the arrival of Malki Tzedek and his blessing Avram. The reason that the Torah interrupted with verses 1821 was that it wanted to put Avraham’s refusing any offer from the King of Sodom into proper context. If the Torah had inserted the words of Avram, saying that he would not even accept a shoelace so that the King of Sodom could not say that he had personally contributed to Avram’s material wealth, the world would have wondered how Avram could have paid the wages of his soldiers. After reading that Avram had first given ten per cent of all the loot to Malki Tzedek who represented the only G-d, they would not ask such questions. They had also learned that Avram did not mind accepting bread and wine from Malki Tzedek who had acquired all which he possessed by morally acceptable means. They realised that Avram shied away not from material possessions as such, but only from material possessions not acquired by morally and ethically acceptable means. An alternate exegesis: Malki Tzedek produced bread and wine which had not been tithed in order to give Avram an opportunity to perform that commandment, as we will explain on verse 20.

לחם ויין BREAD AND WINE — Thus is done for those wearied through battle. He showed him (Abraham) that he bore him no malice for killing his descendants. The Midrashic explanation is that he (Melchizedek) thereby gave an intimation to him (Abraham) of the meal-offerings and libations which his descendants would offer there (in Salem which is Jeru-salem) (Genesis Rabbah 43:6).

והוא כהן, it was appropriate therefore that he should intone blessings.

הוציא לחם ויין, seeing that these people came back from battle tired, he brought them bread and wine to strengthen and refresh them.

והוא כהן לאל עליון, “and he was a priest of the Supreme G’d.” This unusual sounding attribute, which almost could make one believe that we have more than one G’d, was selected by the Torah because most nations had priests who were subservient to their kings, who, in turn were addressed as אלוהים, just as the Torah refers to a judge as אלהים. In order to prevent us from thinking that Malki Tzedek was subservient to anyone but the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Torah chose to describe Him in these terms. Also, we learn from here that Avraham would not consider giving tithes to anyone who was not a servant of the Creator. Moreover, the place where Avraham gave the tithe to Malki Tzedek reputedly was the area where the Temple would be built in the future. Avraham’s descendants’ offspring would remove these tithes from the precincts of the Temple. Rashi derives from this verse that the land of Israel had originally been part of Shem’s heritage, but that the Canaanite had gradually deprived him of much of his heritage by force. He identifies Malki Tzedek as Noach’s son Shem. Nachmanides claims that this is not correct, and that the legal boundaries of the heritage of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north, comprising practically all of the land of Israel as we know it, whereas the heritage of Shem was located further to the east. If Noach had indeed allocated the surface of the globe to his several sons, then the return of the land of Israel to the descendants of Avraham, a descendant of Shem, the son of Noach, did not really represent a reallocation of lands which had once legally belonged to the descendants of Cham, the Canaanites. The Canaanites merely acted as safe-keepers of these lands until Avraham had sufficient descendants to populate them. According to our sages who say that Malki Tzedek was identical with Shem, the latter had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to serve the Lord there, and the local population had accepted him as their priest.

He bore him no resentment for his having killed his descendants. For it says, “After his return from defeating Kedorlaomer” — and Kedorlaomer was the king of Ailam, one of Sheim’s descendants. Assumedly, his people also were from Sheim. Rashi explains, “This is done for those who are battle-weary,” because if he meant to feed them as [honored] guests, why did he not bring out cattle and sheep to slaughter for them? But Re’m explains that if [he meant to feed them as guests], why does it say he brought out bread and wine? Scripture always mentions bread alone, such as (18:5): “I will get bread,” and (Shemos 18:12): “Aharon and all the elders of Yisrael came to eat bread.” Here, why does it mention wine too? Perforce, because they were battle-weary.

Another way of looking at this episode is based on our sages who credited Abraham with not only observing the commandments which would later on be legislated in the Torah ( Yuma 28), but even observing Rabbinic ordinances such as עירובי תבשילין. In view of Abraham's personal piety the king of Sodom was well aware that he would not eat food or drink wine presented to him by an idolator. In order to save himself such an embarassment the king chose Malki Tzedek to be the messenger who would present this gift to Abraham. [You will note that it does not say that Abraham partook of either bread or wine contrary to his custom when he prepared a meal for Avimelech, for instance. Ed.] According to all this the Torah teaches us here that Abraham would not even eat foods which are forbidden only by Rabbinic injunction.

AND HE WAS PRIEST OF G-D THE MOST HIGH. This is stated in order to inform us that Abraham would not give a tithe to the priest of other gods, but since he knew that he was a priest of G-d the Most High, he gave him the tithe as an honor to G-d. He alluded to Abraham through this episode that the House of G-d will be there, and there his descendants will bring the tithe and the Heave-offering,¹⁷⁹Malachi 3:8. and there they will bless the Eternal.
Now according to the opinion of our Rabbis¹⁸⁰Nedarim 32b. who say that Melchizedek was Shem, the son of Noah, we must say that he left his country in the east¹⁸¹See above, 10:30. and came to Jerusalem to worship the Eternal. He became the people’s priest of G-d the Most High since he was the honored one among their father’s brothers,¹⁸²That is, of the three sons of Noah — Shem, Ham and Japheth — Shem was the most honored. Now since according to the Rabbis, Melchizedek is none other than Shem, the Canaanites who were then in possession of Jerusalem recognized in Shem their father Ham’s most honored brother and therefore appointed him “priest of G-d the Most High.” as Jerusalem was ever in the boundary of the Canaanites.
Now Rashi wrote above, “And the Canaanite was then in the land.¹⁸³Above, 12:6. They were gradually conquering the land of Israel from the descendants of Shem, the ancestor of Abraham, for it had fallen to the share of Shem when Noah apportioned the earth among his sons, as it is said, And Melchizedek king of Salem.”
This is not correct because the boundary of the Canaanite was from Sidon,¹⁸⁴Ibid., 10:19. which includes all of the land of Israel. The boundary of the children of Shem, on the other hand, was to the east of Mesha,¹⁸⁵Ibid., Verse 30. far from the land of Israel. But if Noah apportioned the countries among his sons and gave Shem the land of Israel, it would be similar to the case of a person who apportions his goods by word of mouth.¹⁸⁶Baba Bathra 156a. That the land of Israel should belong to the descendants of Shem would thus be a special oral provision by Noah since all their other lands were to the east of Mesha, far from the land of Israel. Meanwhile, the children of Canaan, [who were the descendants of Ham], settled there until the time came when G-d caused the seed of His friend Abraham¹⁸⁷Isaiah 41:8. The seed of Abraham My friend. to inherit it, as I have already mentioned.¹⁸⁸Above, 12:6.

והוא כהן לאל עליון, he did not worship the stars or other celestial phenomena but only the supreme and invisible G’d. In this respect he was like Avram and those who had joined him.

The Torah also wants to teach us how it was that the king of Sodom offered the loot of the war (property previously owned by the four kings) to Abraham instead of demanding both the prisoners and the property. The king of Sodom had observed that Abraham tithed the loot to Malki Tzedek in the latter's capacity as G'd's priest. He understood that one does not tithe matters which do not belong to one. Inasmuch as Abraham apparently considered the loot as his own, the king of Sodom did not give away anything when he made the apparently generous offer for Abraham to keep the loot.

AND HE WAS PRIEST OF G-D THE MOST HIGH. Since there were, among all nations, priests serving the angels called eilim (the mighty ones) — even as it is said, Who is like unto Thee ‘ba’eilim’ (among the mighty)¹⁸⁹Exodus 15:11. — the Holy One, blessed be He, is called G-d the Most High, the purport thereof being “the Mighty One, Who is Supreme over all,” as in the verse, It is ‘ba’eil’ (the power of) my hand.¹⁹⁰Genesis 31:29. Now Melchizedek did not mention the Eternal, whereas Abraham said, the Eternal, G-d of the Most High.¹⁹¹Verse 22 here.

והוא כהן לאל עליון, and he was a priest of the Supreme G'd. The emphasis on the word הוא indicates that only he was a priest, not his descendants. The priesthood was conferred upon Abraham as we know from Psalms 110,4: אתה בהן לעולם, "You are a priest forever." The Psalmist refers to the blessing conferred upon Abraham by Malki Tzedek. I will still explain that Malki Tzedek conferred the priesthood upon Abraham willingly.

The words "of the Supreme G'd," are necessary as there were many priests of many deities. Our sages (Nedarim 32) claim that Malki Tzedek lost his priesthood because he blessed Abraham before he blessed G'd. Accordingly we would have to understand the words: "and he was a priest" to mean that his priesthood was something of the past. He forfeited it by slighting G'd. The fact that the Torah did not report the unfortunate wording of Malki Tzedek's blessing until after hinting that he had already forfeited the priesthood is irrelevant because the Torah was not written till after the event.