The Counterfeit Christ
We know that only
God hath immortality (1 Timothy 6:16), and has
existed from all
eternity. Only the Son of God and the Holy
Spirit are equal to the Father in
this respect. We know that Melchizedek is not
Christ
(SDA Bible Commentary Vol.
1 p. 1093) therefore, the phrase, "having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life" should
not be interpreted in such a way as to
elevate this mortal being to equality with God Himself. What
needs to be understood is that Melchizedek had
neither father nor mother, and had no surviving
children when he met Abraham. The implication of
the words "having neither beginning of days, nor
end of life" was an indication of his
extraordinary length of years which he had
attained unto at the time he met Abraham.
The man in which we are looking for therefore
must be a king, a high priest, he must be the
oldest man alive, or at least of an
extraordinary age, and must have outlived both
his parents and his children at the time of our
story. The Bible only leaves us with one man who
fits all of these criteria.
The man is Shem, the son of Noah.
Abraham lived to a ripe old age by our
understanding, but failed to live to see 200
years. Shem on the other hand lived to be 600
years old! Counting the Biblical narrative of
the chronology you will find that Shem was still
alive when Abraham met Melchizedek. Shem would
have been by rights the eldest patriarch of
Abraham’s family, and though Abraham was the
priest of his immediately family Shem would have
out ranked him and been his family’s high
priest. According to the reckoning of chronology
Noah, and Shem’s children and even his
grandchildren had died by the time this story
takes place. Shem was the only living man that
was aged over 300 years at that time, and in
fact he was well over 500 years old then. He was
born before the flood, and it would have seemed
to everyone that Shem was a man "having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life."
Shem was the father of the family who carried
the true faith given him by Noah, given him by
the descendants of Adam. Shem lived 100 years
before the flood and knew first hand the
antediluvian world, and had witnessed the flood.
Shem was Abrahams oldest surviving relative, and
it would have been in harmony with the 5th
commandment to honor him with a substantial
financial gift.
Although there is no direct quote or text giving
his identity, all the evidence presented gives a
compelling argument that Shem is Melchizedek! In
the Midrash, the Rabbis identified Melchizedek
with Shem son of Noah. In which case would make
Shem the founding father and the original King
of the city we now know as Jerusalem.
Compare the word
“Shem,” with “Salem” which is similar sounding
when you pronounce them both. However Salem
means “Peaceful” which could indicate that Shem
himself was rather phlegmatic and peaceful by
nature. In any case God had his hand in this
city being named Salem, and later Jerusalem.
According to the Strong's Concordance,
Melchizedek actually means "king of right" a
fitting title for this follower of the One True
God. So in his later years it would be fitting
to be called by this title "Melchizedek" ("king
of right") rather than by his first name, Shem.
