Genesis 14: Melchizedek – the Mysterious
There was a powerful king named Kedorlaomer who, with some other lesser kings, attacked the kings in the Dead Sea area, south of Jerusalem. They defeated those kings of Sodom and that area, and ran them off into their own pits and hills. He then took Lot when he sacked Sodom. Abraham heard about it and called on a few associates and using only 318 of his own men, ran after Kedorlaomer, defeated him and his kings with some sneaky strategy (and God’s help) and rescued his “brother” Lot.
Coming back home, he ran into the king of Jerusalem – Melchizedek. Genesis is not too specific about him but he is described as “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abides a priest continually. ” in Hebrews 7:3. Some folks think it was Jesus, some think he was a man who never died, others that he was just a God-fearing man who prophesied and was symbolic of Jesus who would be a king and a priest.
Finally, Abraham meets the latest king of Sodom and though the king offered him gifts, he would not take a shoelace. We can safely attach ourselves to God-fearing men but we need to stay away from attaching ourselves to the Godless.