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Types of Christ, Part 4, David

The Melchizedek Priesthood is more than a priesthood. It is also political. Melchi is from the Hebrew word melek, “king,” and zedek or sedeq, “righteousness.” Melchizedek is “King of Righteousness.” The name is defined as such in Hebrews 7:2, speaking of Melchizedek,

² to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

We see, then, that the Melchizedek Order is set forth primarily as a political order of righteous kings, while the priesthood itself seems secondary. Otherwise, it would have been called the Order of Kohen-sedeq, “Priest of righteousness.”

In the end, however, the Melchizedek Order has a dual calling as both priest and king. So King David was of that order (Psalm 110:4), and his priesthood allowed him to eat the bread from the Table of Showbread as well as to approach the Ark in the Tabernacle of David. In the New Testament, too, we find that those who are raised in the first resurrection are “priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

Ordinary priests and ordinary kings must therefore submit themselves to the authority of the Melchizedek Order that God calls to be the highest earthly authority in His Kingdom Order. The high priest will be Christ Himself, and the overcomers will be part of His body, doing the work that the high priests directs.

The Separation of Priest and King

The Melchizedek callings were separated in the time of Moses, on account of Moses’ reluctance to answer the call of God. He gave various excuses, and finally we read in Exodus 4:14-17,

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. ¹⁶ Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

So Moses functioned with the authority of a king, having a staff (like a scepter), but Aaron became the high priest. This separation of powers was similar to what Jacob did in Genesis 49. He divided the two main parts of the birthright among his sons, giving the scepter to Judah and the right of sonship to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:2). Moses later gave the priesthood to Levi after Moses was reluctant to carry the weight of the Melchizedek Order.

These divisions, however, were temporary. In the end, all of them must be reunited in the hand of Christ. When Jesus came the first time, He reunited the king and the priest in the Melchizedek Order. When He comes the second time, He will reunite Melchizedek with the birthright of Joseph.

King David was a Type of Christ

David was the anointed king of Israel, fulfilling the calling of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10). The throne gave him political power. When God told him that he was also a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4), he became a greater type of Christ. And so, Jesus came to earth to claim His throne, and that is why He came through the tribe of Judah and specifically was born in the lineage of David, whose hometown was Bethlehem.

The first coming of Christ, then, was dominated by the calling given to Judah, but He also took the high priesthood away from the tribe of Levi. Caiaphas, the high priest who crucified Christ, was disqualified by his violent actions, which were foreshadowed in Genesis 49:5-7,

⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are implements of violence. ⁶ Let my soul not enter into their council; let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men, and in their self will they lamed oxen. ⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Simeon and Levi showed their cruelty in Shechem, which made Jacob’s name “odious” (Genesis 34:30). They loved their physical swords far above the sword of the Spirit. So God gave Levi the role of cutting up the animal sacrifices and gave them no land inheritance in the Promised Land. Neither did they have any political power, as did the princes of the other tribes.

Levi was given a temporary priesthood, but it was not the Melchizedek Order. When their “anger” and cruelty finally reached its apex in the crucifixion of Christ, Jacob’s curse was fully implemented, and the priesthood was removed from that tribe.

Simeon was given a tribal inheritance within the borders of Judah. Joshua 19:9 says,

⁹ The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah’s inheritance.

This is how God dispersed the tribe of Simeon among the other tribes. Hence, neither Levi nor Simeon received a full land inheritance of their own. Why? Because of their anger and cruelty. Years later, when the Assyrians conquered Israel, the “ten lost tribes” were removed. Nine of them were taken to Assyria; the tenth (Simeon) was already lost in Judah, and very little is known about them again.

In the New Testament era, the land of Judea still contained elements of Levi and Simeon, and this reached its culmination in the crucifixion of Christ. The result was that both were cut off from Jacob-Israel’s “glory.” His glory was in the name Israel, the name given to him by the angel Peniel. Even today, as the Zionist state commits genocide, we see the element of anger and cruelty inherent in Levi and Simeon, and we are reminded once again why that nation remains under the curse that Jacob placed upon it.

Yet David was a type of Christ, both in his role as the king and in his calling as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. David was the predominant type of Christ in His first coming, but this shifts to Joseph in His second coming.