Melchizedek
The spirit that has come to be known as Melchizedek came to the Earth before it was truly formed, while the nature of this experiment was still being shaped by the Elohim, those beings who had taken it upon themselves to attempt a new and daring attempt at combining free will and spiritual awareness. When spirits began to descend into physical bodies into that civilization we call Lemuria, the spirit of Melchizedek began to incarnate and offer guidance to these beings. As the experience of Lemuria reached an end and it was necessary to descend further into the physical, what we know as Atlantis began and Melchizedek's work shifted to that area.
The violent end of Atlantis caused a serious disruption in the natural descent and plunged humanity deep into the physical without any conscious connection to its spiritual nature. This situation called for some sort of drastic action. The spirit of Melchizedek finally arrived at a plan to restore self-aware spiritual growth and with the help of many other advanced spiritual beings the Egyptian mystery schools were established. The goal of these schools was to elevate individuals into that awareness that has come to be known as Christ Consciousness. Some of those achieving Christ Consciousness stayed in Egypt to carry on the work there, others went off to Salem to work with Melchizedek in founding a community of Christ Conscious beings. (Note that this Salem is not the town that grew into Jerusalem but a center in the Caucasus mountains, from which other teachers have come.)
In time there came to the gates of the city an ambitious wanderer named Abraham.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he [Abram] gave him tithes of all.[1]
The Jerusalem Bible says of this passage:
...the whole subsequent Jewish tradition, and many of the Fathers identify Salem with Jerusalem. It's priest-king Melchizedek... worships the Most High God, El-Elyon, a compound name, each of its two parts being the title of a god in the Phoenician pantheon. Elyon is used in the Bible... as a divine title. In this passage, v.22, El-Elyon is identified with the true God of Abraham. Melchizedek... is a priest of the Most High even before the levitical priesthood was established; moreover he receives tithes from the Father of the chosen people. Psalms 110:4 represents him as a figure of the Messiah, who is both king and priest.... Patristic tradition has developed and enriched this allegorical interpretation; in the bread and wine offered to Abraham it sees the image of the Eucharist and even a foreshadowing of the Eucharistic sacrifice -- an interpretation that has been received into the Canon of the Mass. Several of the Fathers even held the opinion that Melchizedek was a manifestation of the Son of God in person.[2]
That much is recorded in the Old Testament. What's not recorded there is that Abraham wanted inside the gates to become part of this wondrous society. But he s turned away because he lacked the proper preparation for the work being carried on. He persisted, and argued it was unfair that these understandings should be kept for a privileged few. The strength of this argument eventually caused Melchizedek to agree to broaden access to the teachings on one condition: Abraham must agree to found a people dedicated to the pursuit of spiritual truth. In return, the city of Salem would close its gates and its enlightened citizens would in time incarnate into Abraham's group. This, we believe, is the real story behind the beginnings of the Jewish race and the reason it has played such a significant role in history.
Of course, we really know nothing of what Melchizedek taught Abraham or what happened between them, but it would seem that Abraham was unable to maintain his end of the agreement. The communion meal established by Melchizedek was abandoned and Abraham reverted to the animal sacrifices of his ancestors.
The best known reference to Melchizedek, though, is what Paul says of him in Hebrews:
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. (KJV Hebrews 7:1-4)
Of Paul's words Edgar Cayce had this to say: "Was this the Master; this Melchizedek? I don't know. Read it yourself. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking it was the Master; the man we know later as Jesus.... The Spirit of the Christ manifested in the earth many times before the coming of Jesus at times it manifested through one like Melchizedek, and at other times it manifested as a spiritual influence through some teacher upholding the worship of the One God."
We really know nothing of what Melchizedek taught Abraham or what happened between them, but it would seem that Abraham was unable to maintain his end of the agreement. The sacrifice of bread and wine established by Melchizedek was abandoned and Abraham reverted to the animal sacrifices of his ancestors.
But Melchizedek's teachings may not have been entirely lost. Edgar Cayce says:
Hence the group we refer to here as the Essenes was the outgrowth of the teachings of Melchizedek, as propagated by Elijah and Elisha and Samuel. The movement was not an Egyptian one, though it was adopted by the Egyptians in an earlier period and made a part of the whole movement. They took Jews and Gentiles alike as members... preserving themselves in a direct line of choice as channels through which might come He of the new or the divine origin.... [3]
And from Paul Solomon:
Understand the planning, the perfection of that which he attempted to do. Then it was, Melchizedek, the Christ, who began those teachings of the Law of One and so, as Melchizedek he planned all that would be done and how such perfect plan of teaching of understanding would be instituted. Is it any wonder that this Master, making the Master of Masters, even before Moses, even before Samuel, before Daniel, he had written His plan? [4]
Though Melchizedek's teachings lived on with the Essenes, the main thrust of the agreement with Abraham was a failure and it was necessary to try again, and so sometime around 1700 BCE there was born in the mountains east of the Caspian Sea one of the great religious thinkers of all time. His teachings influenced the development of Mahayana Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Plato knew of him and Pythagoras was very likely a student of his teachings. His contemporaries knew him as Zarathushtra but we know him better by the Greek form of his name, Zoroaster. And unlike Melchizedek, we know a great deal about Zoroaster and his teachings.
1. KJV Genesis 14:18-20
2. Jerusalem Bible, Genesis 14:18-20
3. Cayce, from reading 254-109. It can be found online at http://all-ez.com/cayceall.htm
4. Paul Solomon, on the internet at http://paulsolomon.com/page5:24.htm