...Who was Melchizedek? Genesis 14:18 The question of “who was Melchizedek?” is a mystery which has never fully been answered or solved. We do know that Genesis 14:18 says that “Melchizedek was king of Salem” and “was the priest of God Most High.” Does this verse give enough information to determine just who he was; after all there is no genealogy for him. Various theories suggest who Melchizedek may have been, and all accounts are relatively similar. We will concentrate on three different commentaries to obtain a better understanding of the person of Melchizedek. Matthew Henry’s Commentary starts like most of the other descriptions, making reference to Genesis 14:18, “He was king of Salem and priest of the most high God”. Henry’s commentary lists some of the traditional beliefs of who Melchizedek may have been. He says the rabbinical writers conclude that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah. He asks the question, if this is actually Shem, why should his name be changed? And how came he to settle in Canaan? It is not hard to believe that God would change the name of a person, because we see this happening quite often in Scripture e.g., Abram to Abraham; Jacob to Israel. Henry goes on to write, “Many Christian writers have thought that this was an appearance of the Son of God himself,” “appearing to him as a righteous king, owning a righteous cause, and giving peace.” The third belief is what Henry describes as “The most commonly received opinion” about him: “Melchizedek...
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...about a woman who lives in London or a ”Londoner” as she calls it. One day her period comes early as she is walking into the National Portrait Gallery to get warm. She doesn’t have any change for the tampon machine so she asks in the bathroom if anyone has got some change she could borrow. One girl responds. The girl and her brother fled from Uzbekistan, she is now homeless and all of her money can be kept in one pocket. The woman decides to take her out for a cup of tea out of gratefulness for the change she borrowed from her. The girl tells the woman about why she is now in England and how she and her brother are now sleeping on the streets of London every night. At one point the girl starts crying. The woman leaves to get her some napkins, but as she has the napkins in her hand she turns around and leaves the café. The story is written in first-person narration and has a linear structure. The story is reaching towards many well discussed topics such as immigration. In the story we follow a classic “Londoner” who keeps to herself and minds her own business. You can say that she is a very reserved personality (pg. 1 line 1-3). The conflict appears when she “befriends” a refugee from Uzbekistan. The girl is different, and she looks different as well. The woman wants to help her but for some reason something is stopping her. She seems to think that she, as a single mother, she has enough problems already. The woman seems very insecure especially when she says “I was forced to ask...
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...Save as Many as You Ruin George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, had this to say about morality: “We have the angels and the demons inside of us, and our lives are a succession of choices” This short sentence characterises a lot of recent literature which is in many ways the opposite of traditional literature; rather than cantering on the good versus evil paradigm in an outwardly focused narrative; the story in which there is a protagonist who is kind, honest, humble and sincere, and an antagonist who is cruel, dishonest, arrogant and deceitful. Current trends in fiction take a more internal focus; the demons are no longer caricatures that seek to maim and kill for evil reasons but personal thoughts and desires. The short story: “Save as Many as You Ruin”, written in 2007 by Simon Van Booy, explores these themes through the narrative of a father, lover, cheater, widower and liar by the name of Gerard. The story takes place in a snow-swept Manhattan in the middle of a snowstorm: “At the end of each block the sidewalk disappears under a pool of gray ice water.” The weather plays a significant part and is often commented on: “It’s a blizzard now” “Flakes like clumps of fur ripped from winter’s back” The weather serves as a reflection of the main characters dark and sombre thoughts. The main character is Gerard, and what is most identifiable about him is that for every positive trait he has he also has a negative; he is a handsome man: “Gerard is handsome”,...
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...The decline west In the short story of “The Decline west” of Hanif Kureishi, we meet a confused and restless man who’s passed down because of financial crisis and has been fired. They live in a big house on the outskirts of London. He fears the family's reaction of been fired, but he tries to bring the news to his wife Imogen, but she wouldn’t let him introduce a single words about it. The author has made use of third person limited narrator and knows what the main character Mike thinks and feels. Its mikes views we have presented and it’s his emotions and thoughts are passed. Therefore, is the narrator limited, in that sense that he doesn’t know what his wife and children’s thoughts and feelings are. As a reader, we get a personal perspective by Mike’s point of view, since we see everything from his side. Therefore, are we also more likely to have sympathy with him, as we see how his kids treat him as an ungrateful father, rather it’s also because we don’t know their side of the story. From Mike’s point of view, the family seems unreasonable and greedy with the comments and requirements the family express them with, in relation to the guitar. “You promised Billy a guitar (…), so now you have to deliver”. Mike sees himself as the "delivery man" or the “money-maker”, because he feels that he gives and gives but gets nothing in return. He feels the world is evil and unjust. He feels that he is the victim in the house now, as the family is using him. He expresses himself...
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...Shelagh Delaney What do you do if you are a successful career woman with all the money you need and your dream is fulfilled, but one thing is missing: Family. There is only one problem. You are sterile, so what do you do? You abduct your own little brother. You spoil the child and make sure he has what he needs, but is that all it takes to raise a child? What about the childes independence and making a family of his own? How do you cope with the fact that your little brother turns out to be an alcoholic? This is what the protagonist of the short story Abduction is faced with. The short story Abduction takes place in London. An omniscient 3rd person narrator introduces us to the protagonist Ann, who was born and raised in the suburb Manchester. Ann is a well-educated woman, who studied medicine and is specialized in paediatrics. The suburb is not good enough for Ann; she wants the rich eventful life in London. “There is only one place worth living. London.” (p. 1, l. 25). A job opportunity in London occurs, and she moves to Kensington to start a new life as a successful career woman, just the way she wants it. She lives in a high-class society with cultural values. After her settlement she returns to Manchester, with the purpose of abducting her younger brother. Ann takes care of her brother almost as if she is his mother. She nurses him, gives him allowance and finds him a well-paid job. All in all she makes sure he has everything almost by spoiling him, and money is...
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...- Othniel Margalith - "The Riddle of Genesis 14 and Melchizedek." Othniel Margalith offers a simplistic answer to the identity of Melchizedek. He states that Melchizedek was possibly a local priest of a local deity who welcomed a returning hero. However, he was “not a king, and not of Jerusalem, contrary to this widely accepted identification.” Margalith argues that name Melchizedek is a name constructed from Ugaritic divinities Melech and Zedek. He states that Melchizedek was no more important than the other figures in the story, but has grown into great speculation because of the difficulty of designating him a locality and function. Margalith argues that the entire chapter is in the “nature of a hero-story or legend” that is “a...
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...14:18 “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.” Who was Melchizedek? Is he historical character or “something” other? Matthew Henry’s Commentary points out that the belief of the rabbinical writers was that Shem, Noah’s son, was the king and priest named Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18. Henry questions why would Shem change his name to Melchizedek and how did he come to settle in Canaan. Christian writers have thought that this was an appearance of the Son of God himself, our Lord Jesus. Henry underlines the possibility that no mere man could be without a father and a mother, without descent, or having a beginning or and ending (Hebrews 7:3), or that Christ should be a priest after the order of any mere man, or that a man in the priesthood should so far greater than that of Aaron the first priest assigned by God (Exodus 28:1). The most popular opinion, according to Henry, is that Melchizedek was a Canaanitish prince that believed in the one true God. This Canaanitish prince reigned in Salem (thought to be Jerusalem). Henry debunks this theory also by questioning why Melchizedek’s name only appear in the story of Abram, and “why Abram should have altars of his own and not attend the altars of his neighbor Melchizedek who was greater than he,” as was the custom. John Gill's Exposition of the Bible agrees with Matthew Henry in that the Jewish writers in general and many of the Christian writers believe that Melchizedek is Shem...
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...Both Old Testament texts that reference Melchizedek have contexts which are crucial to understanding why the author of Hebrews would use them like he does. The first text the Hebrews’ author uses is found in Genesis 14, though he does not quote from this chapter (Beale 967). The appearance of Melchizedek in that chapter is precipitated by a war between a powerful confederacy of four eastern kings and a rebellious group of five kings led by Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 14:1-4). War broke out because the latter refused to pay annual tribute to the eastern kings (Gen. 14:4; Mathews 142). When the two armies met in battle, the four eastern kings put the five to flight (Gen. 14:8-10). The greedy eastern kings plundered all the cities of the defeated rebels, taking Abram’s nephew, Lot, with them (Gen. 14:11-12). Ironically, the abduction of Lot led to the undoing of this confederacy (Mathews 145)....
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...finds his treasure in the end. In the novel The Alchemist, Coelho conveys the importance of not only having dreams, but also actually pursuing them. Santiago’s trust in his mentors gives him the knowledge and ability to chase after his aspirations and fulfill his Personal Legend. King Melchizedek tells Santiago that the world’s greatest lie is “that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate” (18). Santiago could have disagreed with the king and believed in the ideas of his book, but instead he trusts King Melchizedek. By doing so, Santiago learns that he must struggle to meet his goals instead of sitting back and allowing fate to control his life. He realizes that he can’t stay in his comfort zone of books and sheep, and must go out and explore the world. When the stranger in Tangier asks him if he has enough money to cross the Sahara desert, Santiago thinks that this is a strange question, but “he trusted in [King Melchizedek], who had said that, when you really want something, the universe always conspires in your favor” (36). Despite the fact that he lost all his money to the thief, Santiago’s trust in King Melchizedek taught him to be smarter and to view the world in terms of what actually happens, not what he would like to see happen. After this minor setback, Santiago becomes even more focused on fulfilling his Personal Legend, because he trusts that the universe will not allow him to fail. Similarly...
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...1. Main Characters: Santiago the shepherd (is the protagonist and demonstrates the seeker and dreamer in everyone), Melchizedek, the king of Salem (the person that explained a personal legend to Santiago and tells him to follow his own legend), the crystal merchant (hires Santiago to work for him and talks about how he could never make a pilgrimage to Mecca and is a character who characterizes another by contrast), the Englishman (hopes to become an alchemist and he stands for the limits of knowledge from books), camel driver (represents living in the moment and obtaining wisdom from unlikely sources), the alchemist ( assists Santiago get to the pyramids), and Fatima (represents true love, selflessness and unconditional.) 2. In the novel the...
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...in the pyramids in Egypt. Early into his journey, he meets an old king, whose name was Melchizedek, who tells him to sell his sheep to travel to Egypt and introduces the idea of a Personal Legend (which is always capitalized in the book). Your Personal Legend "is what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is."[3] He adds that "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." This is the core theme of the book. Along the way, Santiago meets an Englishman who has come in search of an Alchemist and continues his travels with him. They travel through the Sahara desert and during his journey, Santiago meets and falls in love with a beautiful Arabian woman named Fatima, who resides with her clan near around the desert Oasis. He asks Fatima to marry him, but she says she will only marry him after he completes his journey and finds his treasures. He is perplexed by this, but later learns that true love will not stop nor plead to sacrifice one's Personal Legend, and if it does, it is not true love. Santiago then encounters a lone alchemist who also teaches him about Personal Legends. He says that people want to find only the treasure of their Personal Legends but not the Personal Legend itself. Santiago feels unsure about himself as he listens to the alchemist's teachings. The alchemist states, "Those who don't understand their Personal Legends will fail to comprehend their teachings." It...
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...Alchemist starts off with a young adventurous boy. Who name is Santiago. Santiago is a shepherd and lives in a little city called Andalusia. As Santiago lies under a sycamore tree that grows by a church, he has this dream every time he goes to sleep. During that dream, a boy tells Santiago to go look for a treasure on the Egyptian Pyramids. As Santiago goes on an adventure to Egypt, he meets an old man name Melchizedek. The strange thing is that Melchizedek claims to be a magical king or The King of Salem. Melchizedek tells Santiago to go head to Tangier to sell his flock. Santiago gets into Tangier. A thief robs Santiago’s flock. The thief convinces Santiago to go find work with a crystal merchant. The merchant teaches Santiago...
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...Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a rebellious teenager and his parents committed him to an asylum three times. When Coelho was 38 years old, he had a spiritual awakening in Spain and wrote about it in his first book, The Pilgrimage. It was his second book, The Alchemist, which made him famous. He’s sold 35 million copies and now writes about one book every two years. While sleeping near a sycamore tree in the sacristy of an abandoned church, Santiago, a shepherd boy, has a recurring dream about a child who tells him that he will find a hidden treasure if he travels to the Egyptian pyramids. An old woman tells Santiago that this dream is prophetic and that he must follow its instructions. Santiago is uncertain, however, since he enjoys the life of a shepherd. Next Santiago meets a mysterious old man who seems able to read his mind. This man introduces himself as Melchizedek, or the King of Salem. He tells Santiago about good and bad omens and says that it is the shepherd boy's duty to pursue his Personal Legend. Melchizedek then gives Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim, with which to interpret omens. Santiago wavers briefly before selling his flock and purchasing a ticket to Tangier, in northern Africa, to which he travels by boat. Shortly after he arrives there, a thief steals all of Santiago's money, so the shepherd boy decides to look for a way to make enough money to return home. He finds work in the shop of a crystal merchant...
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...of Mark is gospel genre. Mark begins with two quotes from the Old Testament regarding the coming of Jesus: Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 4:3. Mark tells of Jesus being baptized by John. After the baptism, Jesus is sent to the desert for 40 days and was tempted at that time by Satan. Then Jesus proclaimed the gospel. He started calling on his disciples, first was Simon and Andrew. Then He called on James and John to follow and learn from Him. Jesus healed many people. As Jesus teaches the gospel, crowds follow Him. He appoints the twelve disciples. Jesus uses many parables to teach the gospel. Jesus predicts He will be killed, and then rise three days later. In chapter nine, Mark tells of the transfiguration of Jesus. Mark describes the Last Supper and Jesus predicting Peter’s denial of Him. Jesus prays at Gethsemane. Jesus is arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin. There Peter denies Jesus, just as predicted. Jesus is taken before Pilate. Jesus is made to carry His cross to the site of his crucifixion after He has been beaten. Jesus dies, is buried and then resurrected. Acts The Book of Acts is of narrative and gospel genre. The book begins with a recount of Jesus’ life right before and right after His crucifixion. Through prayer, Matthias was chosen to replace Judas as a disciple. The day of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the apostles. Peter addresses the crowd, and they devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles. Peter heals a crippled beggar and then speaks to the...
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...the book is obviously intended to teach and inspire those who were Hebrew in blood and who had become followers of Jesus Christ. “To the Hebrews”, the title of great rhetorical power and force, written to caution faithful pilgrimages under Christ’s leadership was written as early as the second century. The letter to the Hebrews was attached in Greek manuscripts to the collection of letters by Paul. There is a reference to some of the community's leaders who were martyred in past times. “Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” The present community had not yet suffered persecution and death since the author states: "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” The Letter points, however, to the risk of persecution about to come. Throughout the letters no author is mentioned, and there is no address to author. In Hebrew 13:23 there is a reference to Timothy that suggests that the writing links to Paul. “ I must let you know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes...
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