Tapestry panel from the Brussels workshops finely woven in wool and silk around 1550 - 1580.
Its record is the meeting of King Melchisedesh and Abraham: The two men greet each other. King Melchisedek gives thanks to God by offering him bread and wine, and shares the offering with his host. Melchisedek whose name means "my king is justice" is seen as a king but also and especially as a priest, he is capped with a cap or a mitre, and dressed in a dress. Often he himself offers bread and wine in a chalice, like a Christian priest.
Abraham, who had just returned from the war, was often represented as a soldier.
God sometimes manifests Himself in the form of a hand or an angel. Immediately after the offering to God, Abraham, as a sign of submission, offered the king the tithe, that is, the tenth part of his income. This recognition being more abstract, the representation concerns rather the meeting and offering of the king.
The Biblical Story:
Book of Genesis chapter 14 verses 19 to 20 After the war, Abraham met the king of Salem (or Zion or Jerusalem), Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine; he was a priest of the Most High God. He pronounced this blessing:
"Blessed be Abraham by the Most High God who created heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God who delivered your enemies into your hands" and Abraham gave him the tithe of all things; in Psalm 110 it is also said of King David Your sceptre of power, the Lord will extend it:
from Zion, dominates to the heart of the enemy.....
The LORD swore it, he will not dedicate himself to it:
"You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek."
Meaning :
Melchisedek, both king of Salem and priest of the most high God, is the perfect figure of the priesthood, the priest king, an intermediary between men and God. This episode valued the Jewish sanctuary in Jerusalem. For Christians, Melchizedek became the figure of Jesus Christ, the offering of bread and wine, the offering of the Lord's Supper. This image emphasizes the role of the priest, Melchizedek, in relation to that of the warrior, Abraham. We find the medieval idea of the pre-eminence of those who pray, and who constitute the clergy, over those who fight, that is, the nobility.
Reference:
Heritage of France: The Communion of the Knight or Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek; reverse side of the central portal, Reims Cathedral.
Meermanno Museum The Hague: Meeting of Abraham and Melchisedek; manuscript "Den Haag, MMW, 10 C 23"; Royal Library, The Hague
National Gallery of Art, Washington: Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, RUBENS, Peter Paul,
Emory- University of Theology The King of Salem blesses Abraham;Julius CAROSFELD; engraving, extract from the Bible in pictures
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