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MELCHIZEDEK

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MELCHIZEDEK

“king of justice.”
King of Salem (probably Jerusalem, cf. Ps. 76:3) and priest of the Most High (Gen. 14:18).

He went to meet Abraham, victorious in the battle of the kings who had taken Lot prisoner; He offered him bread and wine, and blessed him. For his part, the patriarch gave him a tithe of the loot.

The Epistle to the Hebrews makes a notable typological application of this mysterious appearance. Aaron, with his successors, was an anticipatory figure of Christ, our High Priest, considered above all in his work of atonement (Lev. 16; Heb. 9:11-12:24).

But since Aaron was a sinner and mortal, his priesthood had to be transmitted with constant interruptions; On the other hand, he was insufficient, because he could offer nothing more than symbols (animal sacrifices) that represented the great sacrifice of the cross (Heb. 7:23, 27; 10: 1-4).

The redeemer of the world, considered in his resurrection and his perpetual office, had to exercise a priesthood of an entirely different order: that of Melchizedek.

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In effect, Melchizedek was:
(a) King and priest (Gen. 14:18), in the same way that Christ will be king and priest on his throne (Zech. 6: 12-13).

(b) King of justice according to the meaning of his name, and King of Peace (Heb. 7:2), two terms that equally characterize the Messiah (Is. 9:5; 11:5; 32:1; Jer. 23 :5-6; 72:1-3, 7).

(c) Melchizedek is “without father, nor mother, without genealogy; for he has neither beginning of days nor end of life »(Heb. 7: 3). Its beginning and end are unknown; He does not appear in any Levitical genealogy, the only one recognized; It is even unknown who his father and mother were.

In this, Melchizedek is the type of eternal Christ, who suddenly appears in the midst of Israel without descending from Aaron and without belonging to the priestly tribe, and who by the power of his resurrection remains our high priest forever (Heb. 8: 13-16, 24: Jn. 1:1; 8:58; Rom. 6:9).

(d) Unlike Aaron, it is by oath that God directly confers upon his Son this priesthood, in the same way that the consecration of Melchizedek was not made by the established way in Israel (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 7 : 2-22).

(e) Melchizedek offered Abraham bread and wine as a communion meal (Gen. 14:18). This brings the thought to the bread and wine of the supper that is taken in memory of the sacrifice already consummated on the cross (Lk. 22:15-20).

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(f) Melchizedek received from Abraham (and consequently from Levi, who was yet to come from him) the tithe of everything. He shows himself superior to the patriarch, to whom he gave his blessing; Therefore, his priesthood is of a higher order than that of the Levitical priests and that of Aaron (Heb. 7: 4-10).

Thus, the priesthood of Christ surpasses in excellence all Jewish and human priesthoods (Heb. 7:26-28). Thus it becomes the basis of the New Covenant, announced by the prophets and infinitely superior to the Old (Heb. 7:11-12, 22; 8:6-12).

This type of Melchizedek thus exalts the unique and totally effective and non-transmittable ministry of the eternal Son of God. Therefore, the practice of the Church of Rome of applying to each of its priests the pronouncement: “You are a priest, according to the order of Melchizedek” constitutes a serious error.

It is evident that this claim lacks foundation, since this priesthood of Christ is non-transferable (cf. the original Greek in Heb. 7:24, “aparabaton”, in the interlinear Greek-Spanish New Testament [Clíe, Terrassa, 1984] ).

In Christ, all believers are part of the royal priesthood in which He has been pleased to associate us (1 Pet. 2:5, 9-10; Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10). In contrast to the clear statements of the Scriptures, one can also mention the confusion into which the Mormons have fallen, who also seek to perpetuate in their “Church of Latter-day Saints” not only the priesthood of Melchizedek, but together and in parallel with this also that of Aaron.

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Bible Dictionary

BETHEL

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BETHEL

is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.

Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.

Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).

For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).

Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.

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Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).

When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).

When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).

It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.

In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.

Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).

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After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .

Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).

The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.

In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.

The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.

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Bible Dictionary

PUTEOLI

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PUTEOLI

(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.

The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).

It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.

The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.

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Bible Dictionary

PUT (Nation)

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PUT

Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).

Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).

In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.

Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).

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Bible Dictionary

PURPLE

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PURPLE

A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.

The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.

Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).

Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).

The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).

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Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).

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PURIM

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PURIM

(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.

As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.

This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.

This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).

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PURIFICATION, PURITY

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PURIFICATION, PURITY

In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:

(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),

(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).

(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).

(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).

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To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).

In Christianity the necessary purification extends:

to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).

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