Hebrews 7:1,2

Hebrews 7:1. For this Melchisedec... abideth a priest continually. And who is he? King of Salem, i.e Jerusalem, as is taught in the old tradition given in the Targums (see Gill); and in Josephus (Antiq. i. 10, 2), the Salem of the 76th Psalm (Hebrews 7:3). The later tradition, though earlier than Jerome's day, that it was a Salem in Samaria (John 3:23), is not probable. Nor only was he king of Salem, he was also Priest of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, a title intended to assert not only that He is God alone, but that Melchisedec was priest of the God not of a particular people, but of all nations; his priesthood belonged therefore to the primitive dispensation of religion, the early Catholicism of the first ages, and not to the temporary and typical economy of Judaism.

Who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and gave him, when at the summit of his earthly greatness, after he had overthrown four kings and delivered five, his priestly benediction (see Deuteronomy 21:5) a benediction which Abraham welcomed by paying the tithe which was of old offered to priests, that they might present it as a symbol of the consecration of all the gains of the offerer unto God. Abraham therefore acknowledged what the blessing implied, the reality and the greatness of his priesthood.

Nor less instructive is his name and the name of his city, and the very silence of the Scripture record on other questions. Melchisedec, his personal name, when interpreted, is significant of his character. He is king of Righteousness, he rules in righteousness, he maintains and diffuses righteousness.

And after that (in the next place) he is king of Peace, and ‘righteousness and peace' are, as we know, the glory of the reign of the Messiah (Psalms 72). This reasoning rests upon a double principle. Names are in the Old Testament largely descriptive of character, and as God arranges all the developments of history, and sets up this king as a type of the Messiah, we may safely reason from him to the antitype, and gather lessons and proofs of God's purpose and grace.