Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

Jonathan responded to my...

>> People then ask me, "are you suggesting that the Melchizedek tradition is
>> from the second century?" As a hypothesis it is functional....

thus:

>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), 

Thanks for your response, Jonathan.

Yes, I do have problems with Ps110 as well! It is another text whose
absence is loudly noted in the DSS.

I can't see how it could possibly be a true Davidic psalm, given the role
given to the king of priest after the order of Melchizedek, and obviously
negating the Aaronid priesthood role. Ps110 seems to me a better fit as the
enthronement of the Hasmonean king.

>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.

Doesn't that all seem artificial to you though? There is no opaque reason
for a necessary blessing from a person who is never heard of before or
after. Perhaps I'm missing out on something.


Ian