doubtless Melchizedek was not self-appointed, but received his special gift from the Lord, and exercised it among the devout followers who gathered around him from the heathen population, over whom he also reigned as king in this city of peace. His office involved the duties of offering sacrifice and blessing, the latter of which ministrations certainly, and the former probably, he performed on this occasion. One does not see why he is so particularly called a priest, unless he here exercised his special functions. Nothing indeed is said of his offering in sacrifice the firstfruits of the spoil, which Philo asserts that he did, but the immediate mention of his bringing forth bread and wine seems to infer that he offered the cakes and made the libations which became customary in later days. The bread and wine could hardly have been intended as refreshment for the troops, for they had already been supplied.from the spoil (ver. 24); but, after a portion had been offered to God, the remainder was distributed to them to consume, as was usual in the case of peace offerings. These emblems of God's gifts to man were also symbols of the Divine blessing, and were intended to represent that the choicest gifts of earth were merited by this great benefactor. Early writers unanimously have discerned in this transaction a type of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the great "unbloody sacrifice," as they called it, which Christ, the Priest after the order of Melchizedek, offers for His faithful people. There may have been also in this offering of the fruits of the land to Abram an earnest of his future possession of Canaan, and his partaking of them may be looked upon as his "livery and seisin" of the promised territory.1 That the patriarch humbly received the blessing of this kingly priest, as an inferior submitting to a superior, is quite in accordance with his character of lowliness and faith. Recognizing in Melchizedek a faith like his own, and acknowledging in him not merely a tribal headship, but the priestly character in perfection, Abram bent lowly before him to receive his solemn benediction, and gave him tithes of all the spoil that he had taken of the Elamites. Was this the natural impulse of the grateful human heart? There was as yet no written law on the subject; yet we find Jacob at Bethel (chap. xxviii. 22) vowing his tenth unto God; and the custom, we know, obtained among the heathen in various countries. Thus Croesus advised Cyrus to enforce from Bishop Jackson, "Works," ix. 9. Wordsworth, in loc.

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his Persian forces the payment of a tenth to Zeus, which they would consider just and reasonable. The Carthaginians are said by Diodorus Siculus to have dedicated a tithe of all their profits. Xenophon 3 subjected the occupiers of some land which he possessed near Scithus to a payment of tithes in support of a temple of Artemis. This offering of a tenth of one's substance to Almighty God seems to have been a natural law whose origin, like that of sacrifice, is lost in the mist of antiquity; and the later Mosaic enactments on the subject merely re-enforced and regulated a right of perpetual obligation.

We are intended to see in Melchizedek a very remarkable type of Christ. His very name and title are full of significance. King of righteousness,” and King of Salem," which is "Peace”—could any designations more fitly describe Him who is the Lord our righteousness, and the Prince of peace? Melchizedek was a priest, not of the line of Aaron, not of one particular nation; and he blessed Abram, the father of the faithful, before he was circumcised, in whose seed all families of the earth are blessed. So Christ is the one universal priest of all nations and of all ages, who offered Himself for all, who now intercedes for men, and whose office as Mediator and Intercessor reaches over the whole race of mankind and the whole sweep of time, and who blesses His people with manifold love and power. Melchizedek, king and priest, was superior to Abram, like Christ who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, the great High Priest, of whom all other priests are but shadows and figures, faint and fleeting. There is a representation of eternity about Melchizedek. alone; there is no mention of his ancestry or his descendants; his birth and death alike are unrecorded; to his priesthood and to his life no beginning and no end are assigned. So Christ, in so far as He is a priest, has no pedigree, and his office has no termination; in His human nature He had no earthly father; and He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; He was from the beginning, He is from everlasting, who only hath immortality and liveth for ever and ever. Thus, in his character, in his office, in the manner in which he is introduced into the sacred narrative, Melchizedek offers abundant material for profound thought; and we may well believe that Herodotus i. 89; comp. vii. 132. 3" Anab." v. 3. 9, 11.

He stands

2 xx. 14.

the secrecy as to his antecedents, and the functions which he exercised, were providentially ordered to make him a type of Christ, the priest of all mankind, whose eternal generation and continual office are thus so strikingly adumbrated.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COVENANT.

A vision bringing comfort-Promise of a son and numerous posterity— Abram's faith counted for righteousness-Jehovah's covenant with him-Nature of such covenant-Mode of ratification-Prophecy of the future-Chronology of the period of four hundred years-Dispossession and destruction of the Canaanites-Boundaries of the Promised Land-Tribes to be dispossessed.

ABRAM returned from his expedition and took up his abode at Mamre. He had increased in power, he had shown himself a valiant warrior and a skilful leader; but war was not his trade; he had no desire for military renown or triumphs won by blood. His very success in the late enterprise might lead to reprisals which would bring danger and suffering; that arm which had struck the revolting Cities of the Plain might easily be outstretched to reach him, and revenge the late rout at Dan. He had not made a friend of the Sodomite king, or improved the opportunity of securing an influential position among the peoples of the Plain; and he had no son to uphold his cause or support him in his old age. The prospect seemed dreary—one that might well try the faith of this servant of God. And the Lord interposed to cheer and comfort him by a new revelation. In announcing this the writer uses an expression ("the word of the Lord") not found hitherto in the pages of the Bible, though very frequent in later books. We read (Gen. xv. 1): After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision.” It was no mere dream of the night that clung to his memory when he awoke; a subjective impression, perhaps, but one that was made in waking moments. He is led forth by "the

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word," he is bidden look upon the stars, he offers sacrifice. It is a waking vision which is vouchsafed, and it begins with the tender injunction with which angel voices have familiarized us in the New Testament: "Fear not." The terror which frail man must feel thus brought mysteriously near unto God, is subdued by these two words, and the seer is encouraged to listen to the Divine communication. "I am thy shield," said God; "you need not fear what man can do unto you." The great deliverance lately wrought proved this. And thy reward shall be exceeding great." " And Abram is perplexed and disquieted by these promises, which look to the dim future for accomplishment. He sees not how in his childless condition the word can be fulfilled. "Lord God" (Adonai Jehovah), he sadly cries, combining for the first time these two names, 66 What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? To me Thou hast given no seed; and lo, one born in my house is mine heir." With no son of his own, he had conceived the idea of making this dependent the inheritor of his possessions; and it was not a design calculated to satisfy his longings, or to comfort his heart. His loneliness and desolation struck more forcibly on his soul as he heard of rich blessings laid up for him. He would go to his grave childless : what good were they to a solitary man who had none to whom to hand them down but a foreigner and a servant? He may have been a tried and trusty follower, one who had accompanied him from his first arrival in Syria, and had managed his household with skill and honour; yet he was not of the holy race, and in his hands the wealth gotten during these years would pass to aliens, and not help to keep alive his master's name and family; nay, it might all be carried away to Damascus, and enrich a godless people far from the promised land. Such thoughts passed through Abram's mind. He did not repine; he was not impatient under this gloomy prospect; it saddened his reflections; it did not obscure his faith. And God had pity on his perplexity, while He made further trial of this faith. The astounding promise is given that his very own son shall be his heir. This aged man,

Matt. xxviii. 5: Luke i. 13, 30, ii. 10. Comp. John xii. 15. Wordsworth in loc.

2 This seems the best translation if we take into consideration Abram's answer. See "Speaker's Commentary" in loc