INTRODUCTION

The sparsity of information about Melchizedek in the Old Testament is matched in later texts by a relative wealth of information. In this chapter we shall examine all of the sources for Melchizedek up to the end of the first century A.D. (apart from Hebrews) with a two-fold outlook. First, we shall be concerned with the exegesis of the Old Testament passages about Melchizedek in the later sources, an investigation which has been carried out before. Secondly, we shall try to be alert to the presence of any Melchizedek tradition in our sources which does not stem directly from the individual author's own exegesis of the Old Testament sources, an investigation prompted especially by recent discoveries from Qumran. We shall conclude this chapter with a statement of conclusions for all of the background sources.

PHILO

The texts

Melchizedek is mentioned by Philo in three different passages in as many different writtings: Legum Allegoriaeiii §79–82, De Congressu §99, and De Abrahamo §235. The section which would have dealt with Melchizedek in the Quaestiones is missing with the exception of a small fragment. I shall deal with these three passages inversely according to length.

In De Cong. §99, primary interest does not center on Melchizedek. Instead, the story to be found in Gen. xiv. 18–20 is taken as a proof-text in support of the practice of tithing. The central figure is Jacob who in Gen. xxviii. 22 promises God at Bethel that he would return a tenth of all that had been given him. It is interesting that the mention of giving a tenth in Gen.