Hebrews 7:2, commentary and pictures

By interpretation the name in the verse means Melchizedek is King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace. The verse records that Abraham, the father of the faithful, gave to Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, a tenth part of all he had and possessed. Melchizedek was one of the witnesses God has always kept on the earth, and at that time he represented Jesus Christ in person to reveal heavenly truth and perpetuate God's law.

Melchizedek points to and is identified with Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life, and the Redeemer of the world. Abraham's testimony about Melchizedek answers the question Who is this at Jerusalem by identifying Jesus entering the city as that King. The King of righteousness in the verse is the King whom believers prepare to meet. Christ as the King of righteousness has riches of grace to be made known, and His abiding in the soul develops its resources so that the blessings He gives are diffused to others.

Abraham's gift establishes that tithing was ordained by God and kept from the earliest times as part of God's plan, before the Mosaic system and the time of Moses. The tenth was a voluntary offering expressing gratitude for God's blessings and part of a continuing principle of giving for religious purposes by returning a portion of God's gifts to support God's work on earth, and as God gave it the system is just and reasonable. The obligation to tithe remains binding and is not set aside, as a duty for believers in every age and for those under the Melchizedek priesthood, so that if Abraham was obligated they are obligated as well. Christ recognizes paying tithes as a duty that ought to be done while condemning only abuse of the sacred obligation and neglect of the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faith alongside it.