- [Jon] We are walking through the story of the Bible
focusing on the role of priests.
- [Tim] And that story begins
with God creating a garden called Eden.
- [Jon] Where Heaven and Earth are one.
- [Tim] And God places humans in the garden
to be his royal image, his priests,
so that humans and God can work together as one.
And this whole setup is called God's blessing.
- [Jon] But tragically, the priestly humans are duped
into rebelling against God
and then exiled from the garden.
- [Tim] But God promises
that one day a descendant will come to defeat
that evil deceiver and restore humanity as royal priests.
And we learn he'll be both a priest and a sacrifice.
- [Jon] But, as it stands,
humanity is outside of Eden,
and things have spiraled into chaotic violence.
- [Tim] But God chooses from the wreckage a couple,
Abraham and Sarah,
and God calls them to journey to the land of Canaan,
and he promises to give them a huge family
and all the blessings of Eden.
- [Jon] Now, the blessing isn't just for them.
The goal is that God's blessing flows
through their family out to all the nations.
- [Tim] And so
that makes Abraham's family like a priesthood.
- [Jon] So is Abraham that royal priest
we've been hoping for?
- [Tim] Well, no,
but Abraham does meet a mysterious figure
who reminds us of that promised royal priest.
- [Jon] And who is this?
- [Tim] Well, Abraham is returning victorious
from a risky battle,
and he passes by the city of Shalem,
and this king comes out to meet him.
And we're told that this king is also a priest
who serves the same God that Abraham does.
- [Jon] Ah, yes, Melchizedek.
This man's a mystery.
We don't know why he worships Abraham's God.
We don't even know his family lineage.
- [Tim] Exactly.
But here's what happens,
Melchizedek brings this great feast out to Abraham
and his army.
And then he gives God's blessing to Abraham,
saying God is the one who gave him this victory
over his enemies.
Then Abraham gives Melchizedek one tenth
of everything that he has,
and that's the story.
- [Jon] So, what is it all about?
- [Tim] Well, Melchizedek is the king
and the priest of Shalem,
which is an ancient name
short for Jerusalem.
- [Jon] Ah, Jerusalem, which will later become
the capital of Abraham's future family
where the temple is built.
And that 10% that Abraham gives Melchizedek,
that's just like the 10% Israelites will later give
to honor the priests who work in the temple.
- [Tim] Exactly.
And so here is Abraham, the father of the Israelites,
and he's honoring a royal priesthood
that existed long before Israel's temple
or their priests.
- [Jon] Ah, Melchizedek.
- [Tim] Yeah. He's super important.
And we'll come back to him
when we get to the story of David.
- [Jon] Okay. Back to Abraham.
We find out that he and Sarah are unable to have kids,
and they're really old,
so how are they gonna have a family?
- [Tim] Well, they scheme up their own plan.
Sarah forces her Egyptian slave
to produce a child with Abraham.
But once that happens,
Sarah ends up despising her slave and oppressing her.
- [Jon] So instead of trusting God for a family,
they do it on their own terms.
- [Tim] Right.
And so God eventually does give them their own son,
Isaac, but then God promptly asks
for the life of that son back.
- [Jon] Abraham is called to offer up Isaac
on a mountain
as a sacrifice.
- [Tim] And we're told this is a test.
God's requiring Abraham to own up to his failures,
to stop his scheming,
and to surrender his family's future to God.
- [Jon] Abraham and Isaac go up the mountain,
build an altar,
and right as Abraham is about to offer up his son-
- [Tim] God stops him.
And he provides a substitute ram
that can be sacrificed
in Isaac's place.
And here, the narrator stops the story
and starts speaking to you, the reader, saying
this is why we today say,
"On the mountain of Yahweh it will be provided."
- [Jon] The mountain of Yahweh,
that's Jerusalem.
- [Tim] That's right.
And so, notice, in both of these stories we've looked at,
Abraham is near that high place
that will later be called Jerusalem.
- [Jon] In the first story,
Abraham meets a royal priest,
and in the second story,
God provides a substitute sacrifice
that covers for the sins of Abraham's family.
- [Tim] Yes, and both of these stories point forward
to the need for a future royal priest
who will also become a sacrifice
for the sins of Abraham and his family.
- [Jon] From here, Abraham's family grows
to become an entire people,
but they eventually end up as slaves in Egypt.
And so how can a group of slaves produce a royal priest?
- [Tim] Exactly.
And so that brings us to Moses,
whose story we're going to look at next.
(mysterious music)