warmonger1981 wrote:El is a God or deity. Angels are not gods so why have it at the end if the name? Or Melchezedik. Or how is Jesus apart of the Order if Melchezedik? I thought Jesus was God incarnate. So why is God a part of the order of Melchizedek instead of the other way around? Only one person to give me an answer to this and see if they show up.
A lot to unravel here. Let's start with the first statement "El is a God or deity." This is a lot more fuzzy than you might think. It gets confusing because one generally assumes that the Torah is supposed to be about monotheism. As described in the book "The Rational Bible - Exodus" the actual purpose is that it about a radically different concept of God; which is in opposition to the nature gods found at the time and especially in Egypt. So you have this very fuzzy and nebulous group who gets a variety of names as things go on from hosts to angels and the one who is called the "Lord of Hosts" or what we call God. But the hosts have nothing to do with any set of so called deities generally worshiped.
Melchizedek: Now this is an interesting notion. First of all it must be pointed out that the "norm" in the time of Jesus was the Priesthood of the Tribe of Levi.
I'm going to quote from this
Catholic source.
Contrary to what might be expected, the first priest mentioned in the Bible is not from the Tribe of Levi. In fact, the first priest is described before Levi is even born. In Genesis 14, we are introduced to Melchizedek, who is described as “Priest of God Most High.”
The first question that arises is regarding Melchizedek’s very identity: who is he? His appearance in Genesis 14 is quite minimal and set at a point very early in Abram’s faith journey, as Abram defeats several war lords in the land of Canaan. Identified in the Scripture as “King of Salem,” ancient Jewish sources see him as the leader of the entire area, a wise sage of a man whom the rest must respect.
So let's look at this King thing. He's a Priest / King ... This gets to be important.
Let's jump now to Jesus ... descendant of David, who was King, and of the tribe of Judah.
Not Levi. So Jesus is not a priest in the sense of being from the tribe of Levi.
But he is Priest in the sense of the "Priest / King" from the lineage of King David. Just as Melchizedek was both priest and king.
All of these identities have priestly functions, but it is taken to an even greater degree when we see what Melchizedek offers as a priest, for priests offer sacrifices and Melchizedek offers a sacrifice of bread and wine.
Remember that "Last Supper" thing? (First mentioned by Paul in his letters if you look at the scriptures in the order they were written but I digress.) Ignoring the "Catholic" element of this we see a linkage between the crucifixion, the bread and wine (which he used) and then the offering of the priest king in the old testament. Jesus bases his priestly model on that "order" and not on lineage of the tribe of Levi. It's not a fan club (or fraternal organization) with membership, but a model to base the priesthood on.