OF THE SAME, WHY MELCHISEDEK IS CALLED « WITHOUT FATHER, WITHOUT MOTHER, WITHOUT GENEALOGY » [* Heb. vii, 3 ].
History of Melchisedek
A At that time there was a certain queen of Salem, which was the name of the city, and she gave birth to Salaad. And Salaad gave birth to Melchi. Melchi had a wife of the same name, Salem; she bore him two sons, one named Melchi, and the other Melchisedek. Now their father was a Gentile, a debauched man, performing sacrifices to idols. A suitable time arrived for sacrificing to the idols; for he was accustomed to sacrifice in the dodecatheum (that is, in the temple of the twelve gods). And King Melchi said to his son Melchisedek: "Take some of the servants with you, and go to the cattle-pen, and bring me seven calves, that we may sacrifice to the gods." As Melchisedek was going, a divine thought came to him on the way, and lifting his eyes to heaven, he gazed at the sun, and contemplated the moon and the stars. And reflecting within himself, he said: "If someone made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the stars, to that person, the creator of them, it is fitting that the sacrifice be offered. The signs of heaven make it clear to me that their creator rests above them, an incorruptible, invisible, immortal, sole God existing in heaven and on earth, who knows the blasphemies of hearts; He is the true God; to Him the sacrifice ought to be offered." B "I will therefore go to my father, and I will entreat him; perhaps he will listen to me." Melchisedek returned, bringing nothing with him. When his father saw him, he said to him: "Where are the calves?" And Melchisedek said to him: "Do not be angry, father king, but listen to me." He said: "What do you have to say? Speak quickly." And Melchisedek said: "Come now, the sacrifice which we were to offer, let us not give it to these gods; for they do not seem to me to be gods; but rather let us offer a sacrifice to Him who rests above the heavens. For He is the God of gods." His father, being angry, said to him: "Go; bring what I told you; otherwise you shall not live." As Melchisedek was going away again C to the cattle-pen, King Melchi of Salem went in to his wife Salem, and said to her: "Come, let us offer one of our sons in sacrifice." Upon hearing this, his wife wept bitterly, knowing that under this pretext the king wanted to kill Melchisedek, because he had turned the sacrifice into a reproach for him. And the queen, groaning, D loved the older son, Melchiel; but their mother loved the younger, Melchisedek. Now their father was a Gentile, a debauched man, performing sacrifices to idols. [index: entries preserved]
A His wife, hearing this, wept bitterly, for she knew that the king wanted to slay Melchisedek under a pretext because he had reproached him regarding the sacrifice. The queen groaned and said, "Woe is me, I have labored and toiled in vain." But the king, seeing her, said to her, "Do not weep, but come, let us cast lots; and if it falls to me, I shall choose whom I wish and offer him as a sacrifice to our gods; but if it falls to you, choose whomsoever you wish, and preserve him." He was saying this, thinking that the lot would fall to the priest; and having cast the lot, it fell to the queen, and she chose Melchisedek, whom she loved. And the king of Salem, defeated by his wife, prepared the son who had fallen to him for the sacrifice, for he feared to offend his gods. Now, Melchisedek came and brought the seven calves. The father, having taken the son assigned to him by the lot, proceeded to the temple of the idols in the dodecatheon. For the sacrifice, there had gathered five hundred and three boys B offered by their fathers, and another three hundred by their mothers, as well as countless oxen and sheep, and the sacrifice was made ready. Moreover, Salem, the mother of Melchisedek, sitting in her house, cried out with a loud voice and said to Melchisedek, "Do you not weep for your brother, who after so much labor is hurrying to be slaughtered?" Hearing these things from her, he wept and said to his mother, "I have need of what is here," and having risen, he went up onto Mount Thabor. His mother also rose and went to the temple of the idols, to see her own son before he was slaughtered, and indeed her whole kin. But Melchisedek, having ascended Mount Thabor, bending his knees, said, "O God, Lord of all, who has made heaven and earth, I call upon you, the only true God; hearken to me in this C hour, and command that the place where all those who are present at the sacrifice of my brother Melchi are gathered may become a hell, that it may swallow them up." And God hearkened to Melchisedek, and immediately the earth gaped and swallowed them, and the whole family of Melchi, together with the entire city; and neither man, nor altar, nor temple, nor beast, nor any creature of the entire city remained, but all were destroyed. Melchisedek descended from Mount Thabor, and seeing that God had hearkened to him, he was seized with great fear and returned again to the mountain; and having entered into the thick of the woods, he lived as a hermit there for seven years D, naked as he had come forth from his mother’s womb; and his nails grew to the length of a span, and the hair of his head reached to his loins, and his back became like tortoise-shell. His food was the fruits of the trees, and his drink was the dew, which he licked. And after seven years, a voice came to Abraham, saying, "Abraham, Abraham." And Abraham said, "My Lord." And it said, "Saddle your beast, and lay upon it precious garments and a razor, and ascend Mount Thabor, and cry out three times: 'Man of God,' and a wild man will come forth. Do not fear him, but shave him, cut his nails, clothe him, and receive his blessing." And Abraham did what had been commanded him by the Lord, and he ascended Mount Thabor and stood in the dense forest; then he cried out three times.