Ephrem the Syrian: Melchizedek's Offering of Bread and Wine in Genesis 14 was not a Sacrifice ("Slaughter")

  

 

He clothed himself in the priesthood of Melchizedek, his type,
who did not offer sacrifices. He gave the bread and the wine,
but he dismissed the priesthood [which was] weary from libations. (“Hymn 2,” in Ephrem the Syrian's Hymns on the Unleavened Bread [trans. J. Edward Walters; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press LLC, 2012], 20)

 

 Here is the Syriac text:

 

ܠܐ  ܥܡܵܗ  ܘܩܪܒܵܥ

lā  āmāh   ū‐qarbāʿ  

“nor did he furnish (anything) for him with slaughter.”

ܘܥܣܲܐ  ܡܶܠܟ̣ܝܙܕܩܼ  ܠܗܲܡܼܢܵܐ

wʿesā  Malkīzedeq  lahmānā  

“But Melchizedek gave him bread—”

ܘܝܘܿܢܵܐ  ܀  ܠܡܺܝܬܵܐ  ܦܩܳܨܵܐ

w-yawnāʾ  •  l-mīṯā  paqṣā  

“and (he) brought wine, for there was no slaughter (sacrifice) there.”

 

Of course, perhaps one could argue that Melchizedek's offering in Gen 14:18 was a sacrifice, but not a "bloody" offering.