Tip of the Day, November 13

13 November

November 13 – Hebrews 7:1-4; ‘For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;  Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.  Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.’

_____

This passage of scripture may seem out of the blue with no meaning but if you really study Melchisedec from Genesis and Hebrews it’ll give you a little better insight of what is going on here.  He never passed on his priesthood to anyone because he was without a mother and father and had no lineage at all.  He was a foreshadowing of what was to come.  Share this with the Mormon in your life and compare it with what they know about him.

_____

“For Latter-day Saints, there is no mystery surrounding Salem’s king. We know him to have been a great high priest after whom “the church in ancient days” named the priesthood in order to avoid the too frequent use of the name of the Supreme Being. “Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God” (D&C 107:3-4). Melchizedek received his priesthood through the fathers from Noah and in turn conferred that same priesthood upon Abraham (D&C 84:14). It is the priesthood, not Melchizedek, that is without father and mother, without beginning of days or end of years (Joseph Smith Translation, Hebrews 7:3; D&C 84:17).”  Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbolism[Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999], 150.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply