Melchizedek, Abraham, Bread, and Wine

The meal of bread and wine offered by Melchizedek is the first of its kind recorded in the Bible. It may seem like a simple offering, but the inclusion of wine indicates something special about this meal. Bread and water are the typical elements for physical sustenance in the Bible, but wine suggests that there is a celebratory aspect to this occasion and possibly points to the fact that it was a type of covenant meal.

We are not given any details about how Abraham (then still called Abram) and Melchizedek drank the wine, but this bronze wine set gives us some insight into the ancient process of decanting, filtering, and drinking. Wine was typically stored in amphora, or large clay pots. It was often given time to rest on the lees. The sediment of the dead yeast cells would remain in the wine until it was ready to be served and thus would need filtering out.

The set contains a small, simple, well-crafted pitcher used for pouring. A king may have owned something more ornate made of gold or silver, but bronze shows a certain measure of wealth. Those with lesser means would have used utensils made of clay. The wine would be poured through the filtering basket into the bowl beneath. The basket was covered with a piece of cloth to strain out the dregs. In both Egypt and Assyria, filter funnels and filtering bowls were utilized for serving and decanting wine. Similar vessels, called kraters and rhyta, have been found throughout Palestine. These were horn-shaped containers often in the form of an animal and were used for drinking (Scarlata 2025: 92).

Melchizedek’s hospitality is the first of many biblical stories where wine, feasting, and celebration represent the presence of God’s blessing. The centrality of blessing to this episode, in association with wine, is summed up in the priest-king’s prayer to God Most High, the one who creates heaven and earth and the fruit of the vine.

Who is Melchizedek the mysterious priest-king from Salem? Why does he bring bread and wine to Abraham? And why does Abraham offer him a tithe from his plunder? These verses from Genesis offer few answers but raise many questions about this intriguing encounter.

The story portrays Abraham (then still Abram) as a mighty warrior in battle. Peter Paul Rubens, accordingly, depicts him in full armour and surrounded by his soldiers.

Abraham has become caught up in the wars of the Canaanite kings after his nephew Lot’s capture by Chedorlaomer, King of Elam. After routing the enemy, Abraham saves Lot and returns to the Valley of the Kings near Jerusalem where he meets Melchizedek.

In all the Hebrew Bible, the mysterious priest-king from Salem (likely Jerusalem) is only mentioned here and in Psalm 110. His name means ‘Righteous King’ and we are also told that he is a priest of God Most High (El Elyon). In the New Testament, the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes that Melchizedek was ‘without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life’ (Hebrews 7:3).

What is remarkable is that Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, is blessed by a Canaanite priest-king. Moreover, he acknowledges the blessing of Melchizedek’s God Most High by giving him a tenth of his spoils.

Peter Paul Rubens offers a vivid portrayal of the meeting. The painting looks like a tapestry being unfolded by cherub-like figures at the top (which is appropriate as it was itself a design for a tapestry). The drama of the scene is heightened by Rubens’s use of vibrant colours and rich textures. The eyes of the two central figures are locked in a powerful reciprocal stare as they lean in towards each other.

Abraham receives loaves of bread and below him are ornate vessels filled with wine. Melchizedek’s left index finger points knowingly to the wine. This gesture, and the solemnity of the men’s gaze, suggests a deeper understanding of this meal. The other soldiers in the shadows are preoccupied with satisfying their physical appetites, but Abraham and Melchizedek are luminous as the warrior’s armour and the priest’s furs gather and reflect the light. Both seem to be experiencing a deep spiritual encounter. It is as if they know that this meal of blessing, victory, and celebration is one that (in a Christian context like Rubens’s) seems to anticipate the eucharistic bread and wine given by Christ.

The early Church Fathers often searched the Hebrew Bible for archetypal images or stories that seemed to point to Christ. One of the first fathers to describe Melchizedek’s bread and wine as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist was St Cyprian of Carthage (200–58 CE). He understood Jesus as ‘a priest according to the order of Melchizedek’ (Hebrews 5:10) and saw the elements as a type for the bread and wine instituted at the Last Supper.

The celebration of the Eucharist in the medieval Roman Catholic church required the use of consecrated vessels for the bread and wine. Liturgical items such as the chalice and paten were considered sacred and became works of art that often incorporated layers of symbolic meaning. We see this in the extraordinary paten which was used to hold the host, or the bread consecrated by the priest during the eucharistic liturgy.

In the upper leaf of the paten’s quatrefoil design, Christ is depicted with the host in one hand and a chalice in the other. At left we see Abel, who was often understood as a type for Christ, offering the lamb of sacrifice. At right we find Melchizedek, the Canaanite priest-king dressed in bishop’s clothing holding a chalice. In the lower leaf is St Trudpert (c.607 CE), a Celtic missionary to Germany, who holds a martyr’s palm. St Trudpert’s image indicates the origin of the paten from the Benedictine monastery he established in Münstertal, in Germany’s Black Forest. The ornate gold and floral patterns, along with the embedded jewels, highlight the value of the liturgical plate as it held the bread that became the flesh of Christ.

The eucharistic set also includes a silver chalice gilded with gold leaf that is decorated on the outside with various scenes from the life of Christ. These are set within elaborate swirling patterns and metalwork with extraordinary detail. Also included in the set is a straw-like instrument called a fistula. Up until the late thirteenth century, the Eucharist was often distributed by this means as a way to protect the wine in the chalice from being spilled (Viar 2020).

The design of the chalice and paten remind the Christian worshipper of Abraham’s meeting with Melchizedek. The bread and wine once offered by the priest-king of Salem to Abraham (then still Abram) are now offered by Christ the heavenly high priest to his worshippers, as his saving body and blood.