As Alma the younger is preaching
to the people in Ammonihah, he takes some time to tell them about priesthood
authority and also about Melchizedek.
17 Now
this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed
strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were
full of all manner of wickedness;
18 But
Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high
priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his
people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the
land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the
king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.
19 Now,
there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were
greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention. (Alma
13:17-19)
This account is more than is
in the Bible (excepting the JST about Melchizedek), but it still seems rather
bald, and we have to read between the lines a bit.
Melchizedek was king over
Salem, and his people were very wicked. This must have been very distressing to
Melchizedek. But he could do something about it. After all, he was king. And he had choices about what he could do. He could either enforce the law and
punish all his people, or he could preach repentance to them and hope they
would listen.
He chose to preach
repentance. So he received the
high priesthood and he preached… and happily, his people chose to repent! (Yaaaaay! Celebrations all around!) And because they repented, the city was much more peaceful
and the people all had peace in their lives, and things were so much better
after that.
So why did Alma tell this to
the people of Ammonihah? I think
he hoped they would realize that Alma himself was essentially trying to do the
same thing Melchizedek did—preach repentance to the people instead of going out
and enforcing the law immediately. He had given up the chief judge position
specifically so he could do that.
He hoped the people would take the hint and humble themselves and
repent.
It hit me that Melchizedek
was also a type of Christ. Christ is the king over the earth, and He sees that
all His people are wicked, and He could just enforce justice, but He wants to
save His people. So he, as high
priest forever, walked among them and preached repentance (and he sends others
to preach repentance as well). (So I guess Alma, in emulating Melchizedek, also
is a type of Christ.)
Another way Melchizedek was a type of Christ was in
how it was said he was king over Salem and he reigned under his father. Melchizedek was a prince who was also
king, but he was a client king under his father. In the same way, Christ is king, but He also reigns under
Heavenly Father.
Coolness! I love finding types of Christ I
haven’t seen before!
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