A statue of Melchisedech, King of Salem and priest of El Elyon, on the image screen of Exeter Cathedral. It was carved in the 1340s at the same time as many of the kings on the second tier. Tentatively identified as Melchisedech, and depicted holding a covered chalice.
"In the Bible, Melchizedek (Hebrew:"king of righteousness" or "my king is righteousness") also transliterated Melchisedech or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem and priest of El Elyon (often translated as "most high God"). He is first mentioned in Genesis 14:18–20, where he brings out bread and wine and then blesses Abram and El Elyon.
In Christianity, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is identified as "High priest forever in the order of Melchizedek", and so Jesus assumes the role of High Priest once and for all.
Chazalic literature — specifically Targum Jonathan, Targum Yerushalmi, and the Babylonian Talmud — presents the name as a nickname title for Shem.
Joseph Blenkinsopp has suggested that the story of Melchizedek is an informal insertion into the narration, possibly inserted in order to give validity to the priesthood and tithes connected with the Second Temple. It has also been conjectured that the suffix Zedek may have been or become a reference to a Canaanite deity worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem. An Ugaritic reference older than 12th century BCE to a god named Saduq ("righteousness") has also been found, a possible forerunner of Sydyk being included in personal names, given that Melchizedek came before Abram changed his name to Abraham in honor of the baby animal blood sacrifice fertility pact to the "most High God" that revealed itself to him as a floating and smoking red-burning urn.
In the majority of Masoretic Hebrew texts the name is written as two words, Malki-Sedeq, rendered in one word in both the Septuagint and Vulgate (Melchisedech). The Authorised King James Version of 1611 renders the name "Melchizedek" when translating from the Hebrew, and "Melchisedec" in the New Testament.
The name is composed from the two elements: melek(h), "king", and Sedeq, which means either "righteousness" or the proper name "Zedek". With the addition of the hiriq compaginis (-i) indicating the archaic construct form, malk-i means "king of", so that the name literally translates to "king of righteousness" or "my king is Zedek", indicating that he worshipped Zedek, a Canaanite deity worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem. The latter, however, is often dismissed, as the name Sydyk comes only from a Phoenician poet in Roman times. Mainstream scholarly understanding of these names ("My King is Righteousness" and "My Lord is Righteousness" respectively) is that they refer to the concept of righteousness and not to a god.
The name is formed in parallel with Adoni-Sedeq, also a king of Salem, mentioned in Joshua 10:1–3), where the element malik ("king") is replaced by adon ("lord"). Parallel theophoric names, with Sedeq replaced by Yahu, are those of Malchijah and Adonijah, both biblical characters placed in the time of David.
In the New Testament, references to Melchizedek appear only in the Epistle to the Hebrews, though these are extensive (Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17, 21 KJV). Jesus Christ is there identified as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, quoting from Psalm 110:4."
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