Jon: hey this is Jon. Tim: and i'm Tim. Jon: and we're gonna look at the comments section
in our video called abraham and melchizedek
Jon:
it's the second video in a six part series on the royal priest
and we just love the great questions you're asking so let's jump in
Klara G what about the priestly line of shem. Tim: mm what about the priestly line of shem
you know what's interesting is uh so shem he's one of noah's sons uh and he has two
other brothers and they all with their wives get off the ark in genesis chapter nine and what
we're told is that shem was the only son of noah that ended up being blessed by his father and um
and there you go that's shem and then we're we're told about the son that he has and then
he lives like for a long time and then he dies if you follow uh the dates of how long he lives
he's actually theoretically still alive uh in the time of abraham so when abraham meets melchizedek
in the city of shalem there's a very ancient jewish and a christian interpretation that thinks
that melchizedek is either ancient old aged shem um or a descendant of
of shem because he has knowledge of the one true God um there's nothing about that in the text so
that's all that's all yeah or it's inference um but what it raises is a question of like how does
this uh non-pre-israelite priest have this really solid bond- Jon: Melchizedek. Tim: yeah- Jon:
talking about Melchizedek. Tim: yeah yes how does this yeah how does he have such a solid bond
with the same God that called abraham out of mesopotamia and the narrative itself provides
no answers to that question and so as people have looked for like well where could where could this
guy have come from of course its potential that he came from the line of shem if that were true
then abraham and melchizedek are relatives and there's nothing in the text about that
but it's an interesting question that inquiring people want to know
Jon:
paranoid rabbit how old was isaac you say he was given and then promptly to be sacrificed but he
wasn't a baby as you show him as a small child oh show him how old do we show him i think don't
we go like pre-teen pre-teen maybe yeah yeah some accounts have him being a teenager or a young man
it may make a little difference to some people but i'd like to know if abraham
was probably told to sacrifice his baby but disobeyed God until isaac was a young man
i find that significant. Tim: yeah no yeah in the narrative why we said promptly is because
the in the literary ordering isaac is born in genesis 21 God tests abraham in genesis 22. so it
feels promptly in the narrative sequence because one chapter he's isaac's born the next chapter
is the story of the binding of isaac so that's why we said
promptly so the narrative doesn't say what age isaac was uh usually interpreters are relying
on details given elsewhere in the story but that aren't explicit so that that's interesting
Jon:
stock trader i have a doubt if God helped melchizedek win over his enemies are they
not the children of God and why does God take sides rather helping them to solve the issue
resulting in peace between both sides i think he's referring to abraham winning over his
enemies- Tim: yeah right right right. Jon: um which melchizedek seems fine with- Tim: yeah
or what melchizedek tells abraham is hey if you didn't know um the reason why you and your little
318 person like commando unit could win a gorilla raid on four like imperial kings that's a really
um you know unlikely scenario and melchizedek says you know it was it was God most high who delivered
your enemies- Jon: so melchizedek is saying that God takes sides. Tim: well what he's saying is um
uh in normal circumstances you would have gotten you know quite wiped out yeah um but the God
most high yeah delivered your enemies into your hand. yeah you know so uh here we're invited into
a real mysterious part of the purpose of God and when God chooses one family the family of abraham
and so that through them he can restore his blessings to all of the other nations he's also-
God's obligating God's own self to defend and take care of and protect this family- Jon: he makes a
promise to do it. Tim: exactly he says i'll bless those who bless you like melchizedek and those who
treat you like you're cursed God says i will treat them like they're cursed and so um God takes sides
when he's chosen someone to give his blessing through them so in the story of abraham that means
delivering his enemies into his hands what's interesting if you follow the story all the
way through the bible leading up to Jesus Jesus is the chosen one and the way that God empowers
Jesus by the spirit to overcome his enemies is to let them kill him so their god also takes sides
but in a inverted way and Jesus's victory- Jon: then he says go to all the nations saying
everyone's on my side- Tim: totally yeah- Jon: i'm on everyone's side- Tim: yeah that's right yeah
so uh you can't just stop with the abraham and melchizedek story um you have to keep on reading
through- Jon: on our long list is a theme video on the chosen one. Tim: yeah yes that's right
Jon: all right Jen Klen why wasn't adoption an option for abraham and sarah
why did slaves need to be involved why were they enslaved anyways
y'all acting like slavery was normal. Jon: so yeah uh abraham and sarah had
um what we call slaves yeah um and one of those slaves their idea was yeah um have a baby with her
since we can't have a baby. Tim: yeah yeah that's right yes slavery um was normal for them what's
interesting is if you read the abraham narratives closely the narrative is actually very critical
of how abraham and sarah acquired slaves and what they did with them biblical narratives
remember don't often come out and just say yeah what they did was wrong what they'll often do is
show you characters making a choice and then if disaster happens that is the narrative's way of
saying yeah that was the wrong thing to do so um abraham and sarah acquired hagar the egyptian
slave through treachery and deceit and lying yeah um and then they end up oppressing and abusing
um hagar- Jon: and then sending her away- Tim: and then sending her away and it ends up that
hagar's son ishmael ends up having descendants that come back and are hostile- Jon: yeah
it creates like generation after generation of problems. Tim: totally, so slavery was normal for
them and what they did to their slave ended up uh really destroying a lot of relationships and it's
a part of the bible's portrait of how slavery is a really destructive institution- Jon: and even
though it was normal. Tim: even though it was normal for the people in the times of the bible
Jon: corey hayes loved the video but i got a question why did it say that melchizedek brought
out a great feast for abraham when the bible was pretty specific that he just served bread and wine
why do we call bread and wine a great feast. Tim: you know it's funny the hebrew word bread lechem
actually can refer to more than just bread- Jon: oh okay- Tim: um so although it can just
mean a loaf of bread- Jon: yeah- Tim: um when you say bread and wine it's not just like- Jon:
it's not communion- Tim: no no no- Jon: it's not it's not like the starter platter- Tim: no
lechem has two meanings it can mean a loaf of bread or... do we have a word like that in english
one specific kind of food can also just refer to all foods. Jon: there's a funny word um it's
it's ziddles no- Tim: vittles? Jon: vittles! skittles! Tim: vittles- Jon: vittles
Tim: okay there you go so anyway it was a feast
a feast a feast of blessing on the on the high place with the high priest
Jon: tyler hall how was melchizedek a priest before abraham Tim: yeah- Jon: how was there
a pre-jerusalem was shalem established after the tower of babel was melchizedek a royal
priest like the royal kingdom of heaven was melchizedek a spiritual being there's a lot
of questions- Tim: a lot of questions in there um well uh how is he a priest before
abraham- Jon: so there's priests all over the ancient world- Tim: yeah totally yeah- Jon:
for all different types of gods- Tim: yep yeah and melchizedek um i mean it's an untold story
that's of course why there's so many questions it's because of the story is not told
it just presents him as somebody who's got a long history with the same God that called abraham out
of mesopotamia- Jon: if you're interested in a deeper dive on the mystery of melchizedek we have
a podcast episode with uh professor josh matthews who has written about him extensively yeah so
shalem was a city that existed- Tim: in psalm 78 shalem is also called mount zion or jerusalem but
um yeah in other words jerusalem was established by king david- Jon: the people that lived there
before- Tim: the capital city but he took it over as an existing city from canaanites who
were living there and the canaanites had all kinds of people groups who would live
it's a it's a really well positioned city uh with water nearby on a hill good protection so people
have been living there a long time including melchizedek- Jon: and was he a spiritual being?!
Tim: the narrative doesn't say- Jon: some people think so- Tim: a lot a lot of people
have thought so- Jon: uh and he could have been a normal dude just a priest- Tim: that's right
Jon:
one more comment charles- Tim: rothhauser- Jon: rothhauser how were adam and eve supposed to
rule the world and be in the garden of eden how were adam and eve supposed to rule the
world and be in the garden- Tim: oh i see the question is how could they rule the world if
they're just in- Jon: one garden- Tim: one little garden- Jon: yeah- Tim: yeah well the
commission was to be fruitful and multiply- Jon: and fill the earth- Tim: and yeah fill
yeah fill the land- Jon: spread the garden- Tim: yeah spread the garden essentially
yeah it's like they're god's caretakers and uh you know if you if you teach your children how to
oversee the garden with wisdom and love and justice then uh they'll go spread the love
spread the love spread- Jon: as the image of God- Tim: yeah that's right i mean gardens are meant to
grow yeah yeah so are people- Jon: and and they need to be cared for or they de-create
Jon: alright thank you so much for your questions and interacting with this video you have wonderful
questions we're excited to uh continue to read them and i hope you're enjoying the royal priest
series there are six episodes check them all out thanks for being a part of this with us