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The Theme of Melchizedek in Scripture Is Unsurpassable and Irreplaceable
By Rev. Rob Roy McGregor T
he main thing we learn from the theme of Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness,
is that there is only one established way to go about performing deeds of righteousness! This is the way, as it is record- ed in Leviticus: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger that resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (19:33-34, NASB). The text provides examples that point the way to performing deeds of righteousness: “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. You shall not oppress your neigh- bor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you will revere your God; I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor differ to
the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the Lord. You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord (19:11-18). … You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (19:35-36).
The series of thou-shalt-nots and commands means, of course, that that
is precisely how the people were dealing with both fellow equals and the stranger among them, their neighbor. Regrettably, while claiming that Yah- weh was their God, they were in fact behaving exactly the way their hea- then counterparts were. They were engaging in a lifestyle that contradicted the name and the character of the Lord their God, a name that must not be taken “in vain” (Exod. 20:7). They were in violation of the holiness code: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). “You shall be holy” is surely a positive command inasmuch as the New International Version has “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” What is re- markable about that command is that it is as impossible to obey as the command to love God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbor as oneself! The power, the capacity, the ability to fulfill those commands is yet to be put within them and written on their hearts (Jer. 31:33). The impossible will be possible! As a brief reminder, the basic meaning of the word “holy” is separate-
ness. Applied to God it means that there is none and nothing like him. The word does not indicate the nature or character or essence of God. We learn definitively from the Lord Jesus, the King of Righteousness after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20), that God is righteous and that righteousness characterizes his kingdom (Matt. 6:33). The character, then, of holiness is righteousness. The command “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” may be correctly and profitably read and understood as “You
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