On the True Israel - Part II

The Nation and the Priest

In Part I, your writer outlined the origin of Israel in God Himself - the promise of the Lord makes the nation before bodily descent from Abraham. Before we move on from the patriarch, we must discuss a few other events which will define the patrimony that flows from God through Abraham to the nation. First, his submission to the priesthood.

While Abraham does no heroic deed to earn the nation God promises him, it would be wrong to say he did no heroic deeds. Before the birth of Ishmael (so when Abraham was still Abram), this nomad in a foreign land was a warrior and leader of men.

Genesis 14 recounts a war between nine kings in the Vale of Siddim - most likely in the southern end of the Dead Sea where the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to lie. In fact, among the kings is Bera of Sodom and Birsha of Gomorrah.

There is much fruitful mystery to ponder in the sparse description of the war, but for our purposes we need only note that Chadorlaomer the high king of this territory - against whom various minor kings had revolted and so incited the war - after defeating his enemies, captured Lot, the nephew of Abram.

Then one who had escaped [the war] came, and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (Genesis 14:13-14)

Abram, a foreigner to these lands, sides with the revolting kings to defeat Chadorlaomer. By this deed he liberates his kinsman and gains the gratitude of the king of Sodom - quite possibly the source of his concern in beseeching God to spare Sodom in Genesis 18.

In the midst of the victory, a mysterious event occurs. In the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley, Abram is met by Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of God Most High. There, he offers a sacrifice of bread and wine and blesses Abram.

Typically, such a tale would be the origin of a great king and his nation. A wanderer from afar helps to liberate an oppressed people, is granted land and honors, and by divine promise is blessed with descendants who shall forever remember his name.

But that’s not what occurs.

To God Be the Glory

Melchizedek’s blessing is undercutting of Abram, from a certain point of view:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, 
maker of heaven and earth; 
and blessed be God Most High, 
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (Genesis 14:19–20)

This juxtaposition will become normative throughout the history of the nation. Israel’s great challenge will be to recognize that nothing they obtain comes from their hand, but is a gift of God. Not only their origin, but all they do is nothing but the Lord at work.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
          who trains my hands for war,
          and my fingers for battle;
my rock and my fortress,
          my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
          who subdues the peoples under me. (Psalm 144:1–2)

Throughout the Psalms we see David, the man after God’s own heart, perpetually ascribing mighty deeds, apparently wrought by his own hand, to the Lord. The nation and its heroes are not the doers of wonders, but they are the wonder by which God does mighty deeds.

By the time of the Maccabees, this confidence will be almost reckless. Victory is wrought by the Lord - if we are His, He will obtain all things in us.

Judas replied, “It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few. It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven. They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us; but we fight for our lives and our laws. He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them.” (1 Maccabees 3:18–22)

What began in Abram will continue in Paul - though he boasts (like a foolish madman) that he undergoes far more than others, he never boasts that his deeds are the source of great blessing. The Lord Jesus Christ gives the victory.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Melchizedek does not, in fact, undercut Abram. He reveals that God does all his deeds in him, and so makes him more glorious than he ever could be by his own hand.

The nation that rises from Abraham will be a wonder of God.

The Tithe

Abram responds to such a blessing by awarding Melchizedek a share of his sustenance: “And Abram gave him a tenth of everything” (Genesis 14:20).

This is the tithe, the model for the 10% Catholic priests are haranguing every member of their flock to hand over.

Such a tithe is not given in exchange for something, but as an act of worship. Why else give it to a priest?

A priest is one who offers worship. This is often forgotten in today’s day and age where priests, minister, pastors, what have you, are primarily seen as offering a service. Whether this be a tolerable way to fulfill that pesky first commandment, insightful commentary on scripture, guidance in life, a minister for whatever ceremony will make the in-laws happy… We imagine that we give a donation so that we get something in return - or perhaps donate because we feel we have gained something.

That’s not the case in the relation of Abram and Melchizedek in the Valley of Shaveh. The gift of Abram is given for no other reason than worship.

After this event, discussion between Abram and the King of Sodom makes clear he takes no reward for his troubles. Abram desires that no wealth be given him from the hand of another. He takes nothing more than the share needed to feed his men and reward them.

Ergo, the gift he gives to Melchizedek is not in thanksgiving for wealth attained - he has attained no wealth! Rather, he gives a tenth of himself - he makes a sacrifice.

What is offered to the priest of God Most High is an act of worship, a partial oblation of Abram’s very self. Such is the right response to the blessing: the Lord has made me, the Lord performs great deeds by me - the Lord receive me!

This is the completion of the cycle. Abram reveals, in shadow, that his whole purpose, in being made by God, is to return to Him, to return himself to Him.

The Binding of Isaac

Abram’s next act of sacrifice, as Abraham, will not be a tenth everything, but everything. The Binding of Isaac, relayed much later, never allows one to read what Abraham is performing as anything less than worship of God.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:5-8)

Note that the young men are present! They are also present at the sacrifice offered by Melchizedek. But there, Abram has led them to victory and given only a tenth. Here, Abraham is leaving them behind and giving everything.

Isaac is everything. As a son, he is everything. As the fulfillment of the promise, the hope of a nation, he is everything. And Abraham offers this everything to God.

We are often blinded by the horror here, the fright of a father offering up his son. We breathe a sigh of relief when God halts Abraham. We ought not. The sacrifice continues.

Isaac is the nation and the nation is born to offer everything to God, to be a perfect oblation.

Paul, citing Psalm 40, writes:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ as it is written of me in the roll of the book.” (Hebrews 10:5-7)

The sacrifices Israel will carry out under the Mosaic law will never be enough. The nation was not made to offer to God a part of its profit, or a part of itself, but everything that it is. Everything is to be commended into the hands of the Lord.

In the Binding of Isaac we see a greater vision of what is foretold in the tithe to Melchizedek. Both shall be wholly made clear on Calvary.

The Levites in Abram

Returning to Genesis 14, we must note that Abram, in giving a tenth of his life, is similarly giving a tenth of all who will come from him, of the nation.

In the Mosaic Law, all of Israel will be required to make tithe to their Levitical priests - by these Levitical priests Israel will give a tenth of the nation in sacrifice (see Deuteronomy 14). This sacrifice is thus the act of the nation.

Abram foreshadows such an act in his offering to Melchizedek, but it's also different. By the Levites, the nation will sacrifice part of itself by its own hands. In the offering to Melchizedek, Abram hands part of himself over to another that the other may sacrifice this part.

This is a higher sacrifice.

The typical sacrifice of the nation, especially as made by the Levites, is a sacrifice marred by their own hand. The sacrifice of the nation is made because they are marred by sin - it is a sinner offering a sinful sacrifice.

Paul will highlight this conundrum:

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. (Genesis 10:1-5)

But Abram’s handing over of his offering to Melchizedek makes this a sinful sacrifice offered by holy hands. Paul again sees this:

[Melchizedek] is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever. (Hebrews 7:2-3)

Melchizedek is not a sinful man, but something superior. Abram is thus giving of himself to a superior that that superior may offer a more perfect sacrifice. And in fact, all of the future sacrifices of Israel, made by the levites from the tithe of the nation, are contained in this offering because the levites are contained in Abram.

See how great he is! Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brethren, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who has not their genealogy received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. Here tithes are received by mortal men; there, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. (Hebrew 7:4-10)

If the nation of Israel is defined by their returning of themselves to God, this sacrifice of Melchizedek is a perfection of that returning.

But it is not perfect. It is only a tenth. The nation requires another Melchizedek who will offer perfectly the whole of the nation. One who shall be wholly superior so as to save the inferior.

A Quick Summation

So far, we have found that the origin of the nation is in God, that all of the nation’s mighty deeds, (as seen in Abram) are of God, and that the nation seeks a perfect Melchizedek to perfectly offer itself in sacrificial worship.

And we’re still not done with Abraham.

Next, we discuss the handmaid and the queen.