Abraham and Melchizedek

Psalm 110 (109) and Israelite Royal Ritual

“…50 Still another view is that the collocation is a vocative, so that the statement could be rendered: "You are a priest forever according to my word, O king of righteousness." 51 Whereas after King Solomon's reign the monarchy was generally viewed as separate from the priesthood, there was a closer connection in early times, especially before the inauguration of Solomon's temple. Thus, King David offered sacrifices and danced before the Ark of the Covenant dressed in a linen ephod and finally blessed the people in God's name (2 Sam 6:12-18), while he later offered sacrifices on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Sam 24:25).…”

“…On the one hand, the appointment of the new king as Zion's priest (v. 4) could refer to the early Israelite monarchy, where "David's sons were priests" (2 Sam 8:18). 91 On the other hand, it could potentially be a late reference to the dynasty of the priestly Hasmoneans, whose rulers took on the title of "ethnarch" from the time of Simon around 140 BCE (1 Macc 14:47) and "king" from the time of Aristobulus I around 104 BCE (Josephus, A.J., 13.11.1 §301). Hence, it has sometimes been proposed that the psalm originates as a legitimation of Simon Maccabee, perhaps connected with his investiture.…”