n.
Canaanite king and priest revered by Abraham .
In the Book of Genesis, Abraham rescues his kidnapped nephew, Lot , from the Mesopotamians, and on returning from battle he meets Melchizedek, king of Salem (probably another name for Jerusalem), who gives him bread and wine and blesses him in the name of "God Most High." St. Paul 's Epistle to the Hebrews treats Melchizedek as a foreshadowing of Christ.