Thursday, March 10, 2022

Seth D. Postell on the Parallels between Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20) and Jethro (Exodus 18)

The following supports the thesis that the bread and wine offered by Melchizedek in Gen 14 was not simply a meal but a sacrificial offering:

 

Appearance of a Gentile Priest
Gen 14:18-20 || Exod 18)

 

Genesis 14 and Exodus 18 are remarkably similar, both in terms of shared language as well as in terms of common themes. In both stories, a Gentile priest appears (gen 14:18; Exod 18:1) after a successful military campaign (Gen 14:14-16; Exod 17;13) and prior to the making of a very significant covenant (Genesis 15; Exodus 19-24). Melchizedek’s appearance bears all the syntactical marks of an “ungrammaticality.” If one were to remove verses 18-20 there would be no break between the arrival of the king of Sodom and what he says to Abram. This interruption of the flow of the “king of Sodom” narrative gives evidence that the author has strategically placed it here following the successful military campaign. In both stories, the Gentile priest offers and/or eats bread (לָחָם) with the victorious party (Gen 14:18; Exod 18:12). In both stories, the Gentile priest blesses God for the divine protection afforded the victorious party (‎וּבָרוּךְ֙ אֵ֣ל עֶלְי֔וֹן, Gen 14:20; ‎בָּר֣וּךְ יְהוָ֔ה, Exod 18:10). In both stories, the Gentile priest makes an offering in honor of the divine victory (Gen 14:18; Exod 18;12), bread and wine in the former case, a burnt offering and sacrifice in the letter case. And in both stories, the Gentile priest surprisingly is granted a place of greater authority over the victorious party. Abram deferentially offers a tithe to Melchizedek (Gen 14:20). Moses deferentially submits to Jethro’s counsel (Exod 18:24). (Seth D. Postell, “Abram as Israel, Israel as Abram: Literary Analogy as Macro-Structural Strategy in the Torah,” in Text and Canon: Essays in Honor of John H. Sailhamer, ed. Robert L. Cole and Paul J. Kissling [Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2017], 23-24, emphasis added)