Messiah In The Old Testament Episode 44
The Abrahamic Prophecies: Melchizedek And The Levitical Priesthood
Welcome to Messiah in the Old Testament. In today's episode, we find ourselves in the middle of a multi-part series looking at Messianic Prophecies from the life of Abram, the so-called Abrahamic Prophecies. Now in our first four episodes in this series, we've covered 26 Messianic Prophecies. We have many more to go. Today represents episode number five in our series. Now at the very end of our last episode, we saw a meeting that was happening between Abram and a priest by the name of Melchizedek. Now, I think it would be prudent for us to just quickly go back and look at the events that transpired to bring these two men together. Their meeting was epic. It changed the landscape of the entire, certainly religious world. And I think it's important to see what was going on.
It all started with a king by the name of Kedorlaomer. Now Kedorlaomer was from Elam. He was the king of Elam. In the Elamite language, his name means worshiper of Lagamaru. Lagamaru was an Elamite deity. So King Kedorlaomer was a pagan king who worshipped a pagan deity. Quite the contrast if we look and compare him with the other king at the end of our last story, the king of Salem, the king of peace, whose name was Melchi-Zedek, king of righteousness. So we've got pagan king, worshiper of Lagamaru, and righteous king. Quite the antithesis of each other.
Now King Kedorlaomer had put together an alliance of four armies and he was marching this combined army south to put down a rebellion. It turns out there were five city-states on the Jordan Plain. Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim, Admah, and Zoar. These cities were subject to Kedorlaomer and I'm sure he extracted tribute from them. This was going on for 12 years, but in the 13th year they rebelled against him. I assume they stopped paying their tribute. So he decided to march this army down to teach these upstart kings a lesson. But I think Kedorlaomer had a little more in mind than just putting down a
rebellion. I think he had world conquest on his mind because it turns out he was going to move through the majority of Canaan and conquer the territories and plunder the peoples.
He started out up north. I'm going to put up a graphic we looked at in our last episode. It's called the Campaign of King Kedorlaomer. And this shows how he moved through Canaan. He started in the north up there in the land of the Rephaites. Then he moved down to the Zuzites and conquered them. Then he conquered the Emites, moved further down. And then he conquered the Horites and then moved over into Amalekite territory. He conquered them and was conquering the Amorites but stopped at En Gedi.
Now if you look at your map, you're going to see Hebron is just north of En Gedi. And Kedorlaomer's campaign stopped short of Abram's home base. He was there with the three Amorite brothers, Mamre, Eschol, and Aner. And maybe they were such a formidable military force that Kedorlaomer did not want to engage them. Or perhaps he thought they were just so fat and happy that they wouldn't lift a finger to come and defend any other peoples as long as they themselves were left alone.
So Kedorlaomer heads to the east into the Jordan Plain. He engages the five armies of the cities of the plain on a field. It was in the Valley of Siddim. And of course Siddim, we learned, meant cultivated fields. So this was a valley of cultivated fields. Instead of fighting, it turns out that the army wasn't willing to fight against Kedorlaomer. So they just tucked tail and ran to the hills.
Some of them got stuck in tar pits that were there. And then Kedorlaomer plunders the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and perhaps other cities in the plain. Once they're done plundering, capturing Lot and all his stuff, he then heads back north with all of his slaves and all of his plunder, and they're heading back to Mesopotamia.
Now Abram found out about this. A messenger came and told him. And so he called out his 318 fighting men. These were trained men
that knew what they were doing. And he also called out his friends Mamre, Aner, and Eschol. And I assume they all had armies with them as well.
So they all took off chasing after the army of Kedorlaomer. They find them in the north on the slopes of Mount Hermon. Abram splits his troops into a couple columns. They surround the army of Kedorlaomer, and they attack them. They routed them. They put most of them to the sword, and the rest ran away. And they fled with the army of Abram in hot pursuit. It seems they got as far as Hobah before Abram's army caught up with them. And one of the meanings of the word pursue is to hunt down and capture. So I think that was the meaning here, that Abram's army hunted down Kedorlaomer's army and captured them. Regardless of whether they put the whole army to the sword, whether they captured the kings, killed the kings, at this point we don't have any of that information. But what we do know is that in Abram's life[time], we saw no more interference from Kedorlaomer or any of the kings in the north.
And Abram captured all the plunder, returned to the Jordan Plain with all that plunder and all the people that were captives of Kedorlaomer's army. And there was this triumphant procession, which headed down the valley to the Jordan Plain. Now when they arrived, the king of Sodom came out to meet Abram, and he was going to greet him and have a conversation.
But before that happened, the King of Salem, which we think is probably Jerusalem, which is a Jebusite city, the King of Salem came out, greeted Abram, and brought him bread and wine. And this is where we're picking up today's episode. There were six prophecies associated with Abram's victory and his encounter. And I'd like to go through those real quick.
1) Abram as a type of Messiah led a throng of redeemed captives out of bondage and slavery and into freedom pointing us to Messiah who will do the same
In our last episode, we talked about Isaiah 51:11 and how this resembled the scene of Messiah bringing all these redeemed people into Zion.
2) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah points us to Messiah who will be the King of Righteousness
Or Melchi-Tzedek, one of the meanings of Melchizedek's title is king of righteousness.
3) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah points us to Messiah who will be the King of Peace
And that is Melech Shalaym, another one of Melchizedek's titles, also a title that Messiah will wear.
4) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah points us to Messiah who will be a High Priest of the most God
And that is Kohayn El Elyon, and that is the third title that Messiah will have, as well as Melchizedek.
5) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah was both a king and a priest. Messiah will also be a king and a priest just like Melchizedek
6) Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God offered bread and wine to Abram. This points us to Messiah who will also present bread and wine, symbolic of his body and blood sacrificed to redeem all men’s sins
Now, Melchizedek delivered two blessings to Abram. The first blessing was addressed to Abram. The second blessing was addressed to the Most High God. So the first blessing is
(barook ’avram le’ayl ‘elyon qonay shamayim va’aretz)
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.”
This blessing translated means, Blessed be Abraham, X®rDaÎw MˆyAmDv (barook ’avram), by God Most High, NwøyVlRo lEaVl (le’ayl ‘elyon), Creator, hEnOq (qonay), Heaven and Earth, X®rDaÎw MˆyAmDv (shamayim va’aretz). So the blessing is directed to Abram, but it's being spoken by Melchizedek, just as if El Elyon was saying it himself. It was like God was talking to Abram through Melchizedek. And this is exactly what a priest does and what a priest is. A priest represents God, and a priest gives messages and talks to the people for God.
I'd like to look at the word hEnOq (qonay). It's from the root hnq (qanah), and that means to get, acquire, or buy. So, create, it has more meaning than just create. It has a meaning of possession or ownership. It's like Elohim had the title deed to all the heavens and all the earth. He owns them, he can do whatever he pleases with them, and that's what Melchizedek was getting at.
So, after honoring Abram, he then talks to El Elyon and says
ÔK®dÎyV;b ÔKy®rDx NE…gIm_rRvSa NwøyVlRo lEa JK…wrDb…w (oovarook ayl ‘elyon ’asher miggayn tzareyka beyadeka)
“And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
This translated means, and blessed be God Most High, so that's NwøyVlRo lEa JK…wrDb…w (oovarook ayl ‘elyon), who, rRvSa (’asher), delivered NE…gIm (miggayn), your enemies, ÔKy®rDx (tzareyka), into your hands ÔK®dÎyV;b (beyadeka).
The word translated as delivered is NE…gIm (miggayn). It's a word that in some forms it means shield, in other forms it means delivered. Literally, it's talking about putting something into your hands.
So think of the word delivered like you order a package from Amazon. Amazon tells you when that package is coming. The delivery truck pulls up in front of your house. The driver jumps out, grabs your package, and he carries it to your door, and he delivers it to you. He puts that package into your hands. That is what El Elyon, what Elohim was doing for Abram. He put his enemies into his hand. Now, this brings up two additional Messianic Prophecies. These will be the first two of this episode.
1) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah spoke on behalf of the Almighty God giving blessings Abram. Messiah will speak on behalf of the Almighty God and will also speak blessings.
2) Melchizedek as a type of Messiah recognized that El Elyon fought on behalf of Abram and empowered his victory. Messiah will also recognize and say that God empowers us to be victorious over our adversaries.
Now, after these blessings, Abram then brought a tenth of all of the spoils, all of the plunder, and he gave it to Melchizedek. Now, to understand the meaning of this action, we need to go to the book of Leviticus. I know this [passage] comes way after Abram's life, but it plays into what we're talking about. Leviticus 27:30 says,
Leviticus 27:30
A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
So, Abram was fulfilling what the Levitical law later on prescribed that he should do. Now, did he learn it from his ancestors? Did he learn it from Noah, from Shem, from any of his, Eber, any of his other
ancestors? Was this something that was handed down, and it was something you did? You brought a tithe. You brought a tenth of the produce of the land. You brought a tenth of everything you own. You give it to the priest.
This action of Abram bringing in the tithe clearly points us forward to the Levitical System, and the fact that Melchizedek accepted this tithe then confirms the relationship between Abram and Melchizedek. It validates Melchizedek as the priest of the Most High God, and it validates Abram's promises by God that he was going to inherit the land. He just gave a tenth of all the plunder, which was money that was collected, stuff that was collected, gold, silver, things that were collected from the entire land of Canaan, and now they're put at Melchizedek's feet. Now, this brings up our third Messianic prophecy of this episode.
3) Abram presented a tithe to Melchizedek honoring him as a priest of the Almighty God. This points us to the Levitical Priesthood and to Messiah who will become a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, I want to stop here and talk about who Melchizedek is, who he was in the eyes of the Jewish faith, who he was in the eyes of Muslim faith, and who he was in the eyes of Christian faith. So let's start with Jewish tradition. The sages, the majority of them, believed that Melchizedek was Shem.
This is based on the Talmud, Nadarim 32b. I'm just going to read it because it is so important to the discussion.
Once Melchizedek, traditionally identified as Shem, placed the blessing of Abraham before the blessing of the Omnipresent, He had the priesthood emerge from Abraham in particular, and not from any other descendant of Shem. As it is stated: “And he blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, and blessed be God the Most High” (Genesis 14:19–20). Abraham said to him: And does one
place the blessing of the servant before the blessing of his master? You should have blessed God first. Immediately the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave the priesthood to Abraham, as it is stated: “The Lord says to my lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalms 110:1), and afterward it is written: “The Lord has sworn, and will not repent: you shall be a priest forever, because you are a king of righteousness [al divrati malki tzedek]” (Psalms 110:4),
Now Psalm 110 is a Messianic Psalm and we believe that David was referring to Melchizedek as a Messiah figure, as a prophecy about Messiah. The sages then explained,
which is explained homiletically to mean: Due to the improper words [divrati] of Melchizedek,
In other words, putting the blessing of Abraham before the blessing of God.
the offspring of Abraham shall be priests of God forever. The Gemara comments: And this is as it is written: “And he was priest of God the Most High” (Genesis 14:18), which emphasizes that he, Melchizedek, is a priest, but his children will not be priests.
Now the idea of Shem as Melchizedek, Melchizedek as Shem, I don't think it is 100% universal amongst the sages. For example, Rabbi Ibn Ezra, commenting on Genesis 14:18, says,
And Melchizedek. He was so called because he was king (melech) over a righteous (tzedek) place. Some identify Melchizedek with Shem.
He didn't say all identify. He didn't even say that he identified. He just said, well, some people think that Melchizedek was Shem. And even Rambam, in his commentary, and this is later on in Genesis 26.5.1, but he comments about Melchizedek:
Reference is to Melchizedek, whom tradition identifies as Shem, the son of Noah.
He didn't say that Melchizedek was Shem. He just points out the tradition identifies, which is what the Nadarim says, the son of Noah.
In the Quran, there is no person named Melchizedek. There's no idea of Melchizedek as a priest of Allah. The encounter between Ibrahim and the king of Salam is not included in the Islamic narrative.
Now Christian belief, is a little bit splintered. Everybody pretty much believes that Melchizedek was a priest of El Elyon. Some say he was a Canaanite or Jebusite priest. Some say that he was Shem. Some say that he is a supernatural being that was manifesting in human form. And this comes from Hebrews chapter 7, which I'm going to read just an excerpt to give you a flavor of the Christian belief. Hebrews chapter 7:
This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
Now this passage is describing Melchizedek as an eternal being without father, without mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days, without end of life.
And then that phrase after those declarations, “like the son of God.” If you look at the Greek, it's aÓfwmoiwme÷noß de« twˆ ui˚wˆ touv qeouv.
(aphomoiomenos de to huio tou Theou). aÓfwmoiwme÷noß (aphomoiomenos) comes from the root aÓfwmoiw (aphomoio) means to be or be like. It's in the perfect passive participle form, so it's translated was made or was made like. This has led many Christians to think, well maybe Melchizedek was the Son of God, maybe Melchizedek was Messiah.
Now I'm going to put up another prophecy, and my non-Christian viewers may balk a little bit at it, but I think you can pretty much agree.
4) Melchizedek is a Messiah figure and may have been a manifestation of Messiah in human form (like we talked about when God appeared in physical form to Abraham) who later offered his blood and body as a sacrifice like the Passover lamb.
Now, we know that the blood and the body is part of the Eucharist. It's part of the communion service that Christians do. That comes from, of course, the Passover supper, where four cups of wine are consumed during the Seder, and one kezayis of matzah is consumed during the Seder.
And the picture of the blood and the bread is brought to life when Jesus was at the last supper with all of his disciples. And he says to his disciples when he held the bread, he said, this is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me, and this cup is the new covenant of my blood which is poured out for you. He was saying that the matzah was symbolic of his body, which is going to be sacrificed, and the wine was symbolic of his blood that was going to be spilled for the remission of everyone's sins.
Now, Abram, after his encounter with Melchizedek, once that was completed, there was the drinking of the wine, eating of the bread, there was the exchange of blessings, the tithe that was presented. Now Abram turns and deals with the king of Sodom, who is probably still standing there with his entourage. I'm sure he came out with great
pomp and ceremony to greet the returning king to try to bask in some of his glory and absorb some of that glory for himself. This is Genesis 14: 21-24:
The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, (sounds familiar, the blessing that he just got) and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
Now, this is quite the exchange. Abram had exerted a huge amount of effort. He called out all of his men. He called out his allies. They called out their men. They went on this long pursuit. They killed the army of Kedorlaomer. They recovered all the plunder. And so now Abram is saying, You know what? I don't want anything. I don't want anybody to say that they made Abram rich.
So the first thing he did was return the people that he had rescued. And I'm sure that once the entourage coming from the north down into the Jordan Plain, once they started seeing their family members, their soldiers who had fled from the battle, people who were left behind, I'm sure that they all ran into each other's arms. And I don't think Abram could hold that back. Then he gave Melchizedek his tithe. He paid off his men and his associates. And then he said, You know what? The rest of it is yours. And that must have been a sizable chunk of cash.
Can you imagine the King of Sodom? He must have been like elated. But I'm sure that everybody was going to want their own stuff back [from the King of Sodom]. I'm sure Lot wanted his stuff back.
Everybody else wanted their stuff back. So this action of Abram, being so generous and magnanimous, giving the king of Sodom and all the rest of the booty, has Messianic significance.
5) Abram as a type of Messiah willingly and freely paid the price to free the captives and restore them.
He put in all the effort, did all the work and he did this willingly, freely and he did not charge the King of Sodom some exorbitant price. And this is symbolic, it points us to:
Messiah will willingly and freely pay the price to free all of us from the bondage of sin and restore us.
So this whole scene is just a Messianic panorama. You've got Abram returning from the defeat of the kings. All these people, he's just portraying Messiah. Boom, boom, boom. Melchizedek shows up. He's portraying Messiah. Boom, boom, boom. I mean, this is just like, remember we talked about in previous episodes, where there are some people, it's like a nexus, where suddenly there's just this explosion of Messianic prophecy. Remember Enoch, Noah, there's been people along the way where the Messianic stuff just explodes. And this is one of those, probably the biggest one so far.
Now our story continues in Genesis 15:1-3. I'll read it to you.
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Well, that's quite the exchange. God is being so generous to Abram, and Abram seems to be whining about not having any children. I get it he didn't have any children. Sarah was barren, even though there was a promised child. He couldn't see it. He didn't have it in his hand. He didn't have a baby to rock. So he was whining to God about it. Now, this whole passage is the beginning of an entire passage where God cuts a covenant with Abram. This is God's ‘the real deal.’ This is God saying to Abram, I'm going to make a covenant with you that's going to last forever. And I'm going to confirm that covenant. But the opening salvo was three things that God promised to Abram. So let's go through those.
1) Do not be afraid Abram. And that’s the phrase MrVbAa aryI;t_lAa (’al tiyra’ ’avram). aryI;t (tiyra’) comes from the root ary (yaray) which we knew from our episode with Job. It's the word that means fear. And this literally says, ‘No fear Abram’ or ‘Be at peace, Abram.’
So this is God offering Abram peace. No fear, peace.
2) I am your shield. Okay, what does that mean? The word translated shield is NEgDm (magayn). We saw that in the word deliver. Remember the root Ngm (magan) it means to deliver. It's the picture of a shield, which delivers you from the blows of your enemies.
So God is offering Abram protection, peace, protection.
3) Your very great reward. The word translated reward is the Hebrew word rDkVc (sekhar) And it’s from the root rkc (sakhar) and it means hire or earn wages. So it's being paid money. Your wages are paid generally in money.
In our culture, you get a paycheck. So we're talking about reward. We're talking about your earnings. We're talking about your wages. Now, this is magnified. It's not just you earning your keep.
This is dOaVm hE;brAh (harbayh me’od). hE;brAh (harbayh) the root is h;br (rabah). We knew that word when we talked about the flood. Remember the waters of the flood were accumulating, were increasing, and that's the word increase. So it's like increasing in number, increasing in volume, increasing in power, increasing in force, increasing in influence. That is the word h;br (rabah). And then dOaVm (me’od) is just simply an amplifier that means very. So what we're talking about is very massive, increasing, huge wages. So that's why it's translated very great reward. But we're talking money here. We're talking getting paid for your job. So God is offering prosperity.
So these are the three promises Abraham was given, peace, protection and prosperity. Now, these have Messianic implications, and I will read this to you. If you remember, the Messianic Line was going to continue through Abram, and everything that God was promising him was enabling that Messianic Line to continue. So here it is:
6) Elohim made a promise to Abram to give him peace, protection and prosperity as a means to ensure the continuation of the Messianic Line.
Now, Abram's response was basically, I have no children. This dude from Damascus, Eliezer, he's going to inherit all my stuff. Elohim responded to this. He wasn't going to just take Abram's whining, laying down. So he says to him, in Genesis 15:4-5:
Then the word of the LORD came to him:
Now, remember, at the beginning it says, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. So this communication was coming through the mode of a vision. So Abram had a vision where God was talking to him. I don't know if this is a continuation of the vision, or God then suddenly appears, because we're going to see that he takes him outside at the end of this. So maybe God was there in person, maybe
this is Messiah talking to Abram now in person. We don't know, so I'm not going to include that as a possible Messianic Prophecy.
Then the word of the LORD came to him (talking about Abram): “This man (Eliezer) will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
This sounds very familiar. When he took him out and showed him the dirt and said, count the dust if you can. So this is a very similar prophecy.
7) Abram as a type of Messiah will have offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky. Messiah will also have offspring (followers) as numerous as the stars in the sky.
And we know Messiah will also have offspring or followers as numerous as the stars in the sky. And all the prophecies regarding his eternal kingdom, throngs and throngs of people coming to worship him. He is going to have untold myriads of followers. Now, upon hearing this second promise from Elohim, Abram finally accepted what God was offering. And it says in Genesis 15:6, this is a verse that rings throughout all eternity, even today it's important.
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
[This is] Very, very important. This was before Messiah had come. This was before Messiah's redemptive act. This was before there was any grace extended to mankind. This was Abram just acting in sheer obedience, sheer belief. He received everything that God promised him because he believed. And it was credited to him. Now, at this point, the agreement is done. Because God offered, Abram accepted. God says, okay, you are now made righteous because of your belief. So, he said, okay, now you're going to be living in peace, living in
safety, living in prosperity. And I'm going to give you the legacy of a son coming from your own loins. Not from a maidservant, not from anybody. You and Sarah, it's going to come through you guys.
Messiah is going to come and extend this covenant that was just reached between Abram and Elohim. And we know that various places, specifically I'll point out Genesis 18:18 and Genesis 22:18
Genesis 18:18
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
Genesis 22:18
and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Messiah is going to come and extend that covenant beyond just Abram and his offspring. He's going to extend it to the entire world. So, that brings our next prophecy:
8) Abram’s covenant with Elohim points us to Messiah who will come and extend that covenant to all peoples.
So, Abram and Elohim are now joined in agreement. They have a covenant. And now Abram, once again, is talking a little bit of doubt. Genesis 15:7-8:
He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
Now, he finally was believing for the peace, the protection, the prosperity, the legacy. But now, how am I going to possibly take over this land? I mean, my friends, the Amorites live there. There's all kinds of people still living there. The Egyptians are there, etc. Now, God has an action plan. And this is found in Genesis 15:9-12:
So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
And it's a picture of all this meat laid out, and the vultures and the raptors, they're all showing up to get some food. And Abram's just beating them away, maybe with a stick, maybe with his hands.
As the sun was setting (obviously the birds of prey went away), Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Now, these animals have great significance. So we've got heifer, we've got goat, we've got sheep, we've got turtledove, and young pigeon. Now, each of those, if you read through the book of Leviticus, each of those is involved in some Levitical ceremony.
Heifer – Ordination ceremony, sin offering, purification ceremony for temple (ashes of red heifer)
Goat – Burnt offering, sin offering, fellowship offering, guilt offering
Ram – Ordination Ceremony, burnt offering, sin offering and guilt offering, fellowship offering
Turtledove – Burnt offering, sin offering and guilt offering
Young Pigeon – Burnt offering, sin offering and guilt offering
So each of these is a ritual animal. Each of these has significance. These animals are pointing us to the Levitical system, to all the
sacrifices that are going to happen in the Levitical System. Now this, of course, in turn points us to Messiah.
9) Abram presenting a heifer, goat, ram, dove and pigeon before the LORD point us to the Levitical Sacrificial System which in turn points us to Messiah who will offer the ultimate sacrifice
We've talked about this ad nauseum in previous episodes. So now Abram has complied with Elohim's stipulated conditions. He brought the animals, he laid them out, he cut them up, and he fought away the birds of prey. It's this obedience now that leads God to his next actions. This is found in Genesis 15:13-16:
Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
This is obviously a prophecy about the bondage, going into Egypt as slaves, and then the exodus coming out of Egypt under Moses, and the plundering of the Egyptians. So this is clearly a prophetic word. So Abram knew the prophecy, and I'm sure this prophecy was handed down through the generations, and they all knew what was coming. This account also gives us a picture of Messiah, who will be a stranger on earth. He'll be mistreated at the hands of his oppressors, and then he'll emerge triumphant with great possessions. So this brings us to our next Messianic Prophecies, numbers 10, 11 and 12:
10) Messiah will be a stranger on earth.
11) Messiah will be mistreated by his oppressors.
12) Messiah will then emerge triumphant from his trials with great possessions.
Now, the conditions are met, everything is done, the sacrifices have been made, God told him about the upcoming episode in Egypt, and now it was actually time to physically cut the covenant. This is found in Genesis 15:17-21:
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
I really, really love the imagery here. You've got a smoking firepot. This brings up visions of the smoking censers that the priests use where they put the fire in the censer and the smoking firepot.
And then we've got the blazing torch. This is reminiscent of descriptions of the temple where the lampstands, the blazing torches in the temple, the menorah. So you've got all kinds of imagery here which is pointing us to the temple. This brings us to prophecy number 13:
13) The smoking firepot and blazing torch point us to the temple where priests served and interceded for the people. This in turn points us to Messiah who will be our high priest interceding for us.
It's the picture of the temple, the high priest interceding, and now Messiah in that place of the high priest interceding for us.
Now, the land that was promised to Abram extended from the Nile all the way over to the Euphrates. And we've got all these people living in this land. You've got the Egyptians, obviously, the Kenites, the Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites. You notice the Rephaites come back. They were there and they got taken over, destroyed by
Kedorlaomer. But obviously enough of them survived that they reformed. And we talked about in the last episode how they became the kingdom of Bashan. Of course, the Amorites, you've got Abram and his three buddies there. Now, this land, this is the biggest expanse of land now that God has promised Abram. And this has Messianic significance.
14) Abram’s covenant with Elohim with its promise for a huge swath of land from Egypt to Babylon ensures that the Messianic Line will continue through Abram and his offspring who will possess a rich land.
Now, I want to step back and look at all the imagery that we have talked about.
1) Melchizedek a non-Levitical priest presaged the Aaronic role as high priest
2) Offering of Drink offering
3) Offering of Grain offering
4) Receiving the tithe from the land
5) Presenting heifer, goat, ram, dove and pigeon (ritual animals)
6) Firepot and Blazing Torch sealing the covenant
And there's a lot of imagery. And every image is pointing us to Levitical priesthood. You start with Melchizedek, who shows up. I'm sure he's dressed in his fancy regal robes as a king or perhaps his robes as a priest. I'm sure he was surrounded by an entourage. And then there was this great pomp and ceremony as he came out to greet Abram with his wine and his bread. This non-Levitical priest does stuff which points us to the Levitical priesthood. In fact, you'll see in many places it talks about ‘after the order of Melchizedek.’ Melchizedek seems to be the first order upon which the other orders are based.
Number two, we have the offering of drink offering, the wine. We have the offering of grain offering, the bread. These are things that the priests do, again pointing us to the priesthood. Number four, receiving
the tithe from the land, very much a Levitical thing to do, the priest accepting the tithe from the people. Number five, Abram's presenting a heifer, goat, ram, dove, pigeon, all these ritual animals in order to confirm the covenant, very much pointing us to the Levitical System. And then the fire pot and blazing torch, reminiscent of the images from the temple with the flaming menorah, the flaming torches in the temple, the smoking fire pot, the censers, again pointing us to the Levitical priesthood.
We're going to talk more as we go about Levitical priesthood, but this is a huge concentrated collection of images that if you knew nothing else about Levitical priesthood, you'd have a good idea of what the priesthood was all about and some of the functions they were going to do. Now, in our next episode, we're going to continue our Messianic Prophecies. These last two episodes have been, I think, the most exciting episodes we have presented just because of what we said, the explosion of Messianic Prophecies.
I mean, these prophecies make me long for Messiah to come. I want all of these prophecies to be fulfilled, immediately fulfilled. And, of course, as a Christian, I do believe that they have been, but my Jewish colleagues are still longing for that, and I can see why, because these prophecies bring out a huge longing for the fulfillment of all of those prophecies. So join me next time.
Thank you for watching our show today. We hope that you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Now, after watching this episode you might be saying to yourself, “Who is this Messiah that Dr. Smith is talking about?
Is he talking about the Christian Messiah? Is he talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary. And then lived a blameless and holy life on the earth and then was tortured and crucified. And after he died he then was resurrected from the dead after three days. Then after people witnessed this, he was then taken up bodily by Elohim into heaven from the Mount of Olives.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Muslim prophet Isa. Isa Ibn Maryam, the messenger, who was sent by Allah to bring a message to the people. The Quran says he that lived a holy and blameless life, was born of the virgin Mary. He fulfilled all the Jewish prophecies in exact accordance. But one difference, instead of being crucified, he then was taken up by Allah into heaven before the Romans laid hands on him. And he awaits there now in the fourth heaven where at the end of days at the day of judgment he will be revealed to all.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Jewish Messiah? The Messiah who has not yet been revealed that the entire Jewish world is waiting for his revelation. Now, the beautiful thing is that you can hold to any of these beliefs. And we can all still learn together about Messiah. We can learn about our Christian Messiah. We can learn about our Jewish Messiah. We can learn about our Muslim prophet Isa who will be revealed. It doesn’t matter what you believe. You can even be an atheist or agnostic and still learn from this program about Messiah. Now, I have to admit I am a Christian, so I approach things, obviously, from a Christian point of view. And I promise you, as we reveal these prophecies, which I believe have all been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Or will be fulfilled when he comes back, returning in the clouds in the same way he was taken up. I believe that all of this is true, but I promise you I will do my very best to present these prophecies from a neutral point of view. And try to keep my Christian bias to a minimum. Obviously, it will pop up from time to time, but I will try to stay only in the Tanakh and try not to get into the New Testament very often. Now, if you want more information about Messiah, we have resources for you.
We have a website which is findingmessiah.org. Now, on that website you are going to find several resources. You will find links to all the videos, all the episodes that we have created so far. You will find links to download the transcripts of any of these episodes. And then you will find a section where you can get more information about Messiah through frequently asked questions. And then there is a section for donation. If you want to come alongside our ministry at Finding Messiah.
Now, there’s going to come a time in this series where you are going to be confronted with the question: What are you going to do with Messiah? Who do you believe Messiah is? Which of these Messiahs do you believe Dr. Smith is talking about? And Messiah will become real to you if you look at all the information presented and come to your conclusions. So, join us as we continue our journey through the Old Testament Scriptures looking for all the Messianic Prophecies. And join us next time as we reveal those to you.