Some other sources, an excerpt:
"MELCHIZEDEK. I won't rehash the details of my analysis of this passage in "Melchizedek, Michael, and War in Heaven." Suffice to say that the biblical figure Melchizedek has been almost entirely swallowed up by the heavenly figure (who I think is just as original as the earthly one--but that's another paper).
In (11Q ) Melchizedek the hero is an Exalted Patriarch in the strong sense, almost a Principal Angel without reference to any earthly origin. He is also a Future Ideal Figure, namely the Divine Warrior (originally Baal or Marduk in ancient Near Eastern myth, but also Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible). He is not explicitly a priest in the fragments we have, although the tantalizing assertion that the lot of Melchizedek is the Day of Atonement in the tenth Jubilee in which to atone for all the sons of El may refer indirectly to his function as Celestial High Priest (and may also be the only echo of the two biblical passages).
HEBREWS 7. Hebrews is the only work in the New Testament that mentions Melchizedek directly (although see below on Psalm 110 in general) and it is a tantalizingly enigmatic passage. The description of Melchizedek in 7:1-3 include puns on the names Salem and Melchizedek similar to those made by Josephus and Philo, but v. 3 goes far beyond what they say. The key word is resembling" (Greek )
Melchizedek resembles the Son of God, but it's unclear in what sense this is meant, and the meaning of the word bears very much on the rest of the verse. Is ch. 7 just an allegorical comparison between Melchizedek and Jesus, or is it asserted that Melchizedek actually is a divine mediator--an immortal and preexistent Celestial High Priest? Minimally, I think we can say that the writer is aware of such a tradition and is playing off it, but I find it hard to read the passage as merely allegorical. Both v. 3 and v. 8 seem to assert that Melchizedek lives eternally as a priest. The point of the chapter, of course, is that Jesus is the true Celestial High Priest, which does make it difficult to understand just where the celestial Melchizedek might fit into the writer's theology. Overall it appears that Melchizedek is an Exalted Patriarch (it's unclear whether in the weak or strong sense) who embodies the ideal figure of the Celestial High Priest which is in turn embodied by Jesus. He enacts the Legacy Pattern in the sense that he is of typological significance for the author's understanding of Jesus, and he may also enact the Intervention Pattern. The author shows no interest in eschatological applications of the Melchizedek tradition.
III. JESUS AND MELCHIZEDEK
Although Melchizedek is mentioned only in Hebrews in the New Testament, the frequent used of Psalm 110 (e.g. Mark 14:62; 1 Cor 15:20-25) to describe the postresurrection exaltation of Jesus confirms that the early Christian writers were aware of the Melchizedek tradition at least to some degree. Whether the Melchizedek tradition influenced early christology is open to debate; at least two papers in the upcoming conference on Jesus at St. Andrews will argue that it did. But in any case, there are significant parallels between Melchizedek as divine mediator and Jesus as divine mediator, especially as Future Ideal Figures enacting the Consummation Pattern. Like Melchizedek, Jesus is the Eschatological Divine Warrior (e.g., in Revelation 19 and the Synoptic Apocalypse [Mark 13 // Matthew 24 // Luke 21]). The Gnostic text NHX IX 1, which identified Melchizedek with Jesus, presents him as Divine Warrior and Eschatological High Priest enacting the Consummation Pattern. In addition, in Hebrews, Jesus is the Celestial High Priest enacting the Intervention Pattern. An eschatological hope is present in the epistle (e.g., 2:5; 10:25) but is never tied directly to Jesus' high priestly office.
Finally, like Jesus and Enoch, Melchizedek is called a "god" (Elohim, in his case). There is no certain evidence that he received worship in the Second Temple period, although I have argued for this in the preexilic cult and the presence of devotees of Melchizedek (called "Melchizedekians" by Jerome and Epiphanius) leaves the possibility open.
The Melchizedek tradition holds much promise for illuminating the early worship of Jesus, which no doubt is why three of the papers (by Aschim, Barker, and Hannah) in the upcoming Jesus conference have Melchizedek as a central or major focus.
MELCHIZEDEK AS A DIVINE MEDIATOR
(Summary of a lecture by J. Davila on 10 February, 1998)
You'll find it all at:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_melchizedek.html
