Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

Ian Hutchesson wrote:

> People then ask me, "are you suggesting that the Melchizedek tradition is
> from the second century?" As a hypothesis it is functional. It institutes a
> priestly tradition that is "prior" to the Zadokite "branch" of the Aaronid
> controlled temple. This would give a hook on which the Hasmoneans could
> have hung their claims to the high priesthood after having usurped it from
> the Zadokite line which relocated to On. How could a non-Zadokite hold the
> high priestly office? Did the priest king of the God Most High need to
> belong to the Zadokite line? As I have said here before, the Assumption of
> Moses refers to the Hasmoneans as having called themselves the priests of
> the Most High God.

What bothers me about your hypothesis is Ps. 110, a First-Temple psalm in 
which the
Davidic king receives an oracle guaranteeing him the Melchitzedek priesthood 
(and
perhaps making him the adopted son of YHWH, if that reconstruction of the 
text is
correct), making the whole Melchitzedek tradition in Gen. 14 quite early. 
Abraham, as
eponymic ancestor of the later United Kingdom of Israel under the Davidic 
dynasty,
receives the blessing of the king of Jerusalem, David's future capital.
Yours,
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel