Hebrews 7 - The Order of Melchizedek
  1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness“; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
Whether literal or symbolic, the significance of Melchizedek is that Jesus had a priest older than the law to join. There were things to believe and to obey, even without a law. Abraham was the first one recorded to believe God and have it accounted to him as righteousness. He then was hosted by the King whose name means “king of righteousness”. No one knew when he was born or when he died, but there he was. Abraham clearly understood, for he tithed.
An pre-incarnation of Christ? I’ve wondered. Or perhaps just an emisary of God for Abraham to meet and pay homage to, establishing a heritage of priesthood for Christ to point back to. God does things like that, operating on this plane that we don’t understand, though it looks weird from our earthly perspective. All we can do is describe it, and notice the symbology in what it portrays.
By pointing to a pre-law priesthood, Christ’s own priesthood is not defined by the law. This explains why in Hebrews 5, if was an honor for a man of weakness to be a priest… because it was merely standing in for Christ, in a perfect priesthood already established for Him. But because these men were not Christ, they were weak, and so they needed to give sacrifices for their own sin… hence the law of sacrifices for the priests, and Christ’s lack of need for one.
When Christ arrived, sure there was a priesthood of law predating His earthly life… but there was an older priesthood predating even that, and it was that older priesthood that Christ fulfilled. The priests of law were called to be righteous, but it was the priesthood of the king of righteousness who began the priestly line for Christ to follow.