In the JST,
we have the following addition to Gen 14 which focuses on the person of
Melchizedek:
25 And Melchizedek lifted up his voice and
blessed Abram.
26 Now
Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he
feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire.
27 And
thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the
order of the covenant which God made with Enoch,
28 It
being after the order of the son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the
will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end
of years; but of God;
29 And
it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own
will, unto as many as believed on his name.
30 For
God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that
every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by
faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them
out of their course;
31 To
put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every
band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will,
according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the
will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world.
32 And
men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and
taken up into heaven.
33 And
now, Melchizedek was a priest of this order; therefore he obtained peace in
Salem, and was called the Prince of peace.
34 And
his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city
of Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having
reserved it unto the latter days, or the end of the world;
35 And
hath said, and sworn with an oath, that the heavens and the earth should come
together; and the sons of God should be tried so as by fire.
36 And
this Melchizedek, having thus established righteousness, was called the king of
heaven by his people, or, in other words, the King of peace.
37 And
he lifted up his voice, and he blessed Abram, being the high priest, and the
keeper of the storehouse of God;
38 Him
whom God had appointed to receive tithes for the poor.
39
Wherefore, Abram paid unto him tithes of all that he had, of all the riches
which he possessed, which God had given him more than that which he had need.
40 And
it came to pass, that God blessed Abram, and gave unto him riches, and honor,
and lands for an everlasting possession; according to the covenant which he had
made, and according to the blessing wherewith Melchizedek had blessed him.
In v. 35,
there is a mention of “the sons of God”; such a phrase is found in reference to
Melchizedek in 11Q13 (alt. 11QMelch), the “Melchizedek Scroll” from Qumran. In
Column II line 14, we read:
To his
aid (shall come) all « the gods of [justice»; and h]e is the one w[ho …] all
the sons of God, and … […](The Dead Sea
Scrolls Study Edition, eds. Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C.
Tigchelaar [Leiden: Brill, 1997], 1209)
Here is the
Hebrew (note the use of בני אל beni el "sons of God/El" in bold):
14 ובעזרו כול אלי [הצדק
וה]ואה א[שר …]כול בני אל והפ[…]
This flies
in the face of the claim of some critics (e.g., Christina Darlington) who claim none of the JST additions has any ancient
support.
