Melchizedek (Salem)

Melchizedek is king of Salem and "priest of God Most High," who greets Abraham returning from battle with bread and wine and blesses him in the name of the creator of heaven and earth. Abraham gives him a tenth of the spoils, acknowledging his standing — the only time a patriarch defers to another religious figure. He appears without genealogy, reign, or death, and vanishes from the narrative in three verses. Jewish tradition largely identifies Salem with Jerusalem and Melchizedek with Shem son of Noah, making him the bearer of a monotheistic priesthood that predates Abraham and passes to him.