It's an interesting question because a lot of groups would like to claim him as their own: groups ranging from mormons to jews, christian sects and hindus.
Melchizedek was a pre-Israelite (pre-Moses) priest-king.
Here's the Genesis mention: the king of Sodom, (yes, Sodom) and Melchizedek met Abram after a big battle (more on that later). Sodom's king told Abram he could keep his plunder, and Melchizedek blessed Abram and gave him bread and wine, (the usual blessing was meat) and Abram gave Melchizedek some money.
Melchizedek was a mysterious fellow, his name was: "Melchizedek, king of Salem". the word salem, means "peace"; so, possibly - "Melchizedek, king of peace."
now, Melchizedek is said to have no father or mother. he also had no 'lineage'. but mosaic law says in order to be a priest, you have to have descended from the tribe of levi. {nehemiah 7:61-64}. but, see, moses wasn't born yet. so uh, i guess god just sort of liked Melchizedek. but if Melchizedek was beloved of god, and abraham (and his people) were supposed to be god's favorites, well, then, uh, hmmm. this is why later stories say that Melchizedek was a descendant of sem, because some folks find it hard to reconcile a jew accepting a blessing from a non-jew, (possibly a canaanite), though there is a precedent with bileam.
so, for a number of reasons, many historians believe that genesis 14:18-20 was put in later. now there is not a little debate as to whether Melchizedek was a priest-king of jerusalem, and i'll get to that later, but for now, keep in mind that jerusalem, in abraham's time, was inhabited by the jebusites. they were canaanites probably descended from the hittites and amorites. if Melchizedek was the priest-king of the jebusites, he was very likely a polytheist, and there is a diety called zedek in the canaanite/phoenecian pantheon. so melchizedek could also be translated as "my king is zedek". — there are also some problems with the idea that 'salem' was jerusalem. there are lots of people working on this, but here are some of the basic ideas put forward.
about 20-30 years after abram's visit with Melchizedek, abram is told to sacrifice his son at the top of a mountain - in the land of moriah. if the mountain of moriah is the temple-hill in jebus why is there no mention of jebus, jerusalem or Melchizedek? just an omission?
another early story says abram met Melchizedek at the mountain at shechem. that's a fair shake north of jebus/jerusalem. on a good map you can find 'salim' today, east of shechem. near there is a kings valley.
"Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him."seems like god was appearing behind every tree and rock in those days. Melchizedek is not mentioned in schechem at this time, though, and when jacob shows up there later, to build another altar, there is no mention of Melchizedek. jacob's sons kill the men of the city, and capture the women and babies. the samaritans also place the meeting in samaria, on mt. garizim, their holy mountain. Gen 33: 18: "And Jacob arrived in Salem, the city of Shechem" {septuagint version and vulgate}. the "valley of salem" is in samaria.
the tabor-area in northern palestine has a Melchizedek story, too. the plain there, of jizre'el, could also be the kings valley. the melchizedekians, (gnostics) place it on mt tabor. as does the church of the gentiles.
kelso, thorley and albright dug, in 1924, in and around bab edh-dhra, and as a result of their studies, some people think this was the site of the mysterious 'salem'.
so, it not in anyway certain that jerusalem was the city that Melchizedek was king-priest of. there is also some confusion about Melchizedek himself.
abram was (probably) born around 2000 bce, (though some say 2500 bce). after abram left Haran (India) the bible records a great "battle of the kings".
chedarlaomer, king of elam (elam was in the iraq/west iran area: the northwest part of ancient india) along with some friends made a war with five other kings, and kicked their butts. after that, for 12 years, the five loser kings served chedarlaomer. but during the 13th year, the five kings rebeled, and in the 14th year, the great battle of the kings was fought. abram was there, and kicked ass, which is why Melchizedek blessed him.
this story is also found in the indian 'bible', the mahabarat. in that story, cedarlaomer, king of elam, and his buddies, defeat five other kings. in the 13th year, the five kings go into hiding. and in the 14th year, the battle of the kings happens. the battle takes place in kurukshetra. (nw india). this is said to have taken place around 2000 to 2500 bce.
before the battle, lord krishna (who was alive then) went to chedarlaomer and asked him not to fight, but to just give back everything he had stolen. but chedarlaomer had none of it, and went to battle anyway. after the battle, lord Krishna blessed all who came to the aid of the five kings. Melchizedek is sometimes considered to be a holy man, a king, a polytheist, a son of god, a vegetarian, and many other things. could he have been lord krishna too?
history of the hexateuch
c. 950 b.c.e. the hexateuch was organized by the priesthood of jahveh at jerusalem, the capital of the new israelite kingdom. the material compiled from tradition and other written matter is called the "J" edition; J for jahveh. it includes a history of civilization, and the origin of the hebrews, local events in sumer and akkad, and some cosmogeny.
about twenty years later, the kingdom was divided. in the north kingdom, at samaria, the capital, the priests made a history of the israelites. that is called the E edition; E for elohim because that is the name used for the new god.
in 722 b.c.e. the assyrians took over the north kingdom. then the priests of jahveh at the capital of judah, jerusalem, in the south kingdom, took parts of the j edition and parts of the e edition and some new material and made what is called the JE edition.
about 650 b.c.e. the priests of jahveh made the book of deuteronomy out of the babylonian laws of canaan and presented it as mosaic law.
c. 500 b.c.e. the priests there wrote a history of the world from creation to the hebrews in egypt and canaan. that is called the P edition; for priest's code.
c. 400 b.c.e. the priests at jerusalem added together the p edition with deuteronomy and and the je edition. those first six books are the present hexateuch. to this were added the other O.T. books, and the history of the israelite and judean kingdoms, other history, some philosophy and doctrine, some poetry and prophesy. the christians then added the four gospels and other new testament material.
there is a lot of egyptian material in the O.T., such as the story of the "chastity of joseph" which is the egyptian "tale of two brothers". that story is also in the koran.
"more acceptable is the virtue of the upright man, than the ox of him that doeth iniquity," - to prince merikere from his father the pharaoh c. 2300 b.c.e., "to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to jahveh than sacrifice," proverbs 21:3.
"unto you that fear (repect) my name (jahveh) shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. malachi 4:2 the winged sun-disk protected egyptian followers and is often shown hovering over a pharaoh with open wings. there are four mentions in the psalms of the protection of god's wings.
"every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but jahveh weigheth the hearts," proverbs 21:2 "one's heart is weighed on the scales of justice balanced by truth," osirian judgement.
"open the roll and read the words of ptahhotep, for truth comes to him well-made after the manner of his fathers. honor they fathers for their words abide in writing," to prince merikere from his father the pharoah, "honor they father and they mother that thy days may be long upon the land," exodus 12:20
much of the psalms are direct translations of atonist material that had been translated into hebrew before the OT was written. psalm 104 psalm 104 links (thanks draill for the links)
after king david died, his son, king solomon reigned for 30 years. solomon rebuilt some of the cities his father had destroyed and got foreign trade going. his people built tools and goods which the phoenician merchants sold throughout european mediterranean and north africa. solomon paid homage to other gods, and taxed his people so heavily they refused to accept his son as king and seceded.
the northern tribes made capitals at tirzah and samaria and called themselves isra-el because they were the majority of israeli tribes. the southern people called themselves judah after the larger of the two tribes in their area, more egyptian than israelite. judah now included all the south to beersheba and the philisine plain. they became known as jews.
the northerners worshipped the god isra-el. jeroboam, their first king, made two golden calves and set them up at beth-el and at dan, and said, "behold thy gods, o israel, which brought thee out of egypt." their temple at samaria is where the E edition was written.
the north and south fought for about 200 years until 722 b.c.e. when the assyrians crushed israel and carried off the priests and government workers to use as slaves. judah survived by paying tribute. the god isra-el died, but jahveh stayed alive in that way.
the city of asshur was born from the sun-disk, and the inheritor of the laws of babylonia, sumer and akkad. the assyrians conquered babylonia, media, syria, phoenicia, canaan, cilicia and egypt and ruled them for more than 150 years, after which time egypt revolted. while the assyrians were busy with the revolt, the scythians invaded, then the babylonians and medians revolted and their city ninevah was completely destroyed by assyrians.
the assyrians last king, ashur-bani-pal had a great library, with over 30,000 books written in ancient akkadian cuneiform with side by side translations in their more modern dialect: dictionaries, grammars, histories, mythologies and other books. the tablets were excavated between the mid-1800s and the early 1900s by the british, much of it is in the british museum.
some kaldi tribesmen in the area grew more powerful, and when assyria went the way of the wind the chaldeans took the area over, though judah belonged by then to egypt. the chaldeans drove the egyptians back, and for being on the wrong side, the chaldean king nebuchadnezzar punished the judeans by destroying their capital, jerusalem. he took all the nobles and priests, artists and soldiers to babylon in 586 b.c.e. he left the peasants alone. much later, judeans returned to judah and relearned their religion. during that time, around 400 b.c.e., the priesthood finished their hexateuch by combining the p and je editions with deuteronomy. this redaction included a rearranged judean history.