Who is Melchizedek?

While studying the scriptures this week we were to look into Melchizedek, the high priest.  It was interesting to study.  He was the king over the land of Salem, once a wicked place until Melchizedek called for his people to repent. Once they had repented they called him the Prince of Peace, his reign bringing peace and prosperity to their land. Melchizedek was so righteous that he was a type of Christ. He was said to be able to stop the mouths of lions and quench fires.  As the high priest, he gave Abraham the priesthood.  Melchizedek was so respected as a high priest that they used his name to replace the full sacred name of this priesthood, the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. His name was used in order to “avoid the too frequent repetition” of the Lord’s name.

Melchizedek was a descendant of Noah and there is some possibility that he and Noah’s son, Shem, is the same person. There were a few similarities between the two such as; both rulers of Salem, Abraham was to receive the priesthood from Shem, Joseph F. Smith named Shem as the great high priest, not mentioning Melchizedek, among other things. This is incredibly fascinating to me and something that I encourage other to look at as well.

Melchizedek truly was a servant of the Lord and a great man. He served his people and the Lord every day. He had such great faith, even as a boy and for that he was blessed greatly by the Lord. He was able to build a righteous city and to continually bring peace to his people. He truly deserves his title as one of the greatest high priests.