The Urantia Book
PAPER 93
MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK
Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.
93:0.1 THE Melchizedeks are widely known as
emergency Sons, for they engage in an amazing range of
activities on the worlds of a local universe. When any
extraordinary problem arises, or when something unusual is to be
attempted, it is quite often a Melchizedek who accepts the
assignment. The ability of the Melchizedek Sons to function in
emergencies and on widely divergent levels of the universe, even
on the physical level of personality manifestation, is peculiar
to their order. Only the Life Carriers share to any degree this
metamorphic range of personality function.
93:0.2 The Melchizedek order of universe
sonship has been exceedingly active on Urantia. A corps of
twelve served in conjunction with the Life Carriers. A later
corps of twelve became receivers for your world shortly after
the Caligastia secession and continued in authority until the
time of Adam and Eve. These twelve Melchizedeks returned to
Urantia upon the default of Adam and Eve, and they continued
thereafter as planetary receivers on down to the day when Jesus
of Nazareth, as the Son of Man, became the titular Planetary
Prince of Urantia.
1. THE MACHIVENTA INCARNATION
93:1.1 Revealed truth was threatened with
extinction during the millenniums which followed the miscarriage
of the Adamic mission on Urantia. Though making progress
intellectually, the human races were slowly losing ground
spiritually. About 3000 B.C. the concept of God had grown very
hazy in the minds of men.
93:1.2 The twelve Melchizedek receivers knew
of Michael's impending bestowal on their planet, but they did
not know how soon it would occur; therefore they convened in
solemn council and petitioned the Most Highs of Edentia that
some provision be made for maintaining the light of truth on
Urantia. This plea was dismissed with the mandate that "the
conduct of affairs on 606 of Satania is fully in the hands of
the Melchizedek custodians." The receivers then appealed to the
Father Melchizedek for help but only received word that they
should continue to uphold truth in the manner of their own
election "until the arrival of a bestowal Son," who "would
rescue the planetary titles from forfeiture and uncertainty."
93:1.3 And it was in consequence of having
been thrown so completely on their own resources that Machiventa
Melchizedek, one of the twelve planetary receivers, volunteered
to do that which had been done only six times in all the history
of Nebadon: to personalize on earth as a temporary man of the
realm, to bestow himself as an emergency Son of world ministry.
Permission was granted for this adventure by the Salvington
authorities, and the actual incarnation of Machiventa
Melchizedek was consummated near what was to become the city of
Salem, in Palestine. The entire transaction of the
materialization of this Melchizedek Son was completed by the
planetary receivers with the co-operation of the Life Carriers,
certain of the Master Physical Controllers, and other celestial
personalities resident on Urantia.
2. THE SAGE OF SALEM
93:2.1 It was 1,973 years before the birth of
Jesus that Machiventa was bestowed upon the human races of
Urantia. His coming was unspectacular; his materialization was
not witnessed by human eyes. He was first observed by mortal man
on that eventful day when he entered the tent of Amdon, a
Chaldean herder of Sumerian extraction. And the proclamation of
his mission was embodied in the simple statement which he made
to this shepherd, "I am Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon, the
Most High, the one and only God."
93:2.2 When the herder had recovered from his
astonishment, and after he had plied this stranger with many
questions, he asked Melchizedek to sup with him, and this was
the first time in his long universe career that Machiventa had
partaken of material food, the nourishment which was to sustain
him throughout his ninety-four years of life as a material
being.
93:2.3 And that night, as they talked out
under the stars, Melchizedek began his mission of the revelation
of the truth of the reality of God when, with a sweep of his
arm, he turned to Amdon, saying, "El Elyon, the Most High, is
the divine creator of the stars of the firmament and even of
this very earth on which we live, and he is also the supreme God
of heaven."
93:2.4 Within a few years Melchizedek had
gathered around himself a group of pupils, disciples, and
believers who formed the nucleus of the later community of
Salem. He was soon known throughout Palestine as the priest of
El Elyon, the Most High, and as the sage of Salem. Among some of
the surrounding tribes he was often referred to as the sheik, or
king, of Salem. Salem was the site which after the disappearance
of Melchizedek became the city of Jebus, subsequently being
called Jerusalem.
93:2.5 In personal appearance, Melchizedek
resembled the then blended Nodite and Sumerian peoples, being
almost six feet in height and possessing a commanding presence.
He spoke Chaldean and a half dozen other languages. He dressed
much as did the Canaanite priests except that on his breast he
wore an emblem of three concentric circles, the Satania symbol
of the Paradise Trinity. In the course of his ministry this
insignia of three concentric circles became regarded as so
sacred by his followers that they never dared to use it, and it
was soon forgotten with the passing of a few generations.
93:2.6 Though Machiventa lived after the
manner of the men of the realm, he never married, nor could he
have left offspring on earth. His physical body, while
resembling that of the human male, was in reality on the order
of those especially constructed bodies used by the one hundred
materialized members of Prince Caligastia's staff except that it
did not carry the life plasm of any human race. Nor was there
available on Urantia the tree of life. Had Machiventa remained
for any long period on earth, his physical mechanism would have
gradually deteriorated; as it was, he terminated his bestowal
mission in ninety-four years long before his material body had
begun to disintegrate.
93:2.7 This incarnated Melchizedek received a
Thought Adjuster, who indwelt his superhuman personality as the
monitor of time and the mentor of the flesh, thus gaining that
experience and practical introduction to Urantian problems and
to the technique of indwelling an incarnated Son which enabled
this spirit of the Father to function so valiantly in the human
mind of the later Son of God, Michael, when he appeared on earth
in the likeness of mortal flesh. And this is the only Thought
Adjuster who ever functioned in two minds on Urantia, but both
minds were divine as well as human.
93:2.8 During the incarnation in the flesh,
Machiventa was in full contact with his eleven fellows of the
corps of planetary custodians, but he could not communicate with
other orders of celestial personalities. Aside from the
Melchizedek receivers, he had no more contact with superhuman
intelligences than a human being.
3. MELCHIZEDEK'S TEACHINGS
93:3.1 With the passing of a decade,
Melchizedek organized his schools at Salem, patterning them on
the olden system which had been developed by the early Sethite
priests of the second Eden. Even the idea of a tithing system,
which was introduced by his later convert Abraham, was also
derived from the lingering traditions of the methods of the
ancient Sethites.
93:3.2 Melchizedek taught the concept of one
God, a universal Deity, but he allowed the people to associate
this teaching with the Constellation Father of Norlatiadek, whom
he termed El Elyon -- the Most High. Melchizedek remained all
but silent as to the status of Lucifer and the state of affairs
on Jerusem. Lanaforge, the System Sovereign, had little to do
with Urantia until after the completion of Michael's bestowal.
To a majority of the Salem students Edentia was heaven and the
Most High was God.
93:3.3 The symbol of the three concentric
circles, which Melchizedek adopted as the insignia of his
bestowal, a majority of the people interpreted as standing for
the three kingdoms of men, angels, and God. And they were
allowed to continue in that belief; very few of his followers
ever knew that these three circles were emblematic of the
infinity, eternity, and universality of the Paradise Trinity of
divine maintenance and direction; even Abraham rather regarded
this symbol as standing for the three Most Highs of Edentia, as
he had been instructed that the three Most Highs functioned as
one. To the extent that Melchizedek taught the Trinity concept
symbolized in his insignia, he usually associated it with the
three Vorondadek rulers of the constellation of Norlatiadek.
93:3.4 To the rank and file of his followers
he made no effort to present teaching beyond the fact of the
rulership of the Most Highs of Edentia -- Gods of Urantia. But
to some, Melchizedek taught advanced truth, embracing the
conduct and organization of the local universe, while to his
brilliant disciple Nordan the Kenite and his band of earnest
students he taught the truths of the superuniverse and even of
Havona.
93:3.5 The members of the family of Katro,
with whom Melchizedek lived for more than thirty years, knew
many of these higher truths and long perpetuated them in their
family, even to the days of their illustrious descendant Moses,
who thus had a compelling tradition of the days of Melchizedek
handed down to him on this, his father's side, as well as
through other sources on his mother's side.
93:3.6 Melchizedek taught his followers all
they had capacity to receive and assimilate. Even many modern
religious ideas about heaven and earth, of man, God, and angels,
are not far removed from these teachings of Melchizedek. But
this great teacher subordinated everything to the doctrine of
one God, a universe Deity, a heavenly Creator, a divine Father.
Emphasis was placed upon this teaching for the purpose of
appealing to man's adoration and of preparing the way for the
subsequent appearance of Michael as the Son of this same
Universal Father.
93:3.7 Melchizedek taught that at some future
time another Son of God would come in the flesh as he had come,
but that he would be born of a woman; and that is why numerous
later teachers held that Jesus was a priest, or minister,
"forever after the order of Melchizedek."
93:3.8 And thus did Melchizedek prepare the
way and set the monotheistic stage of world tendency for the
bestowal of an actual Paradise Son of the one God, whom he so
vividly portrayed as the Father of all, and whom he represented
to Abraham as a God who would accept man on the simple terms of
personal faith. And Michael, when he appeared on earth,
confirmed all that Melchizedek had taught concerning the
Paradise Father.
4. THE SALEM RELIGION
93:4.1 The ceremonies of the Salem worship
were very simple. Every person who signed or marked the
clay-tablet rolls of the Melchizedek church committed to memory,
and subscribed to, the following belief:
93:4.2 1. I believe in El Elyon, the Most High
God, the only Universal Father and Creator of all things.
93:4.3 2. I accept the Melchizedek covenant
with the Most High, which bestows the favor of God on my faith,
not on sacrifices and burnt offerings.
93:4.4 3. I promise to obey the seven
commandments of Melchizedek and to tell the good news of this
covenant with the Most High to all men.
93:4.5 And that was the whole of the creed of
the Salem colony. But even such a short and simple declaration
of faith was altogether too much and too advanced for the men of
those days. They simply could not grasp the idea of getting
divine favor for nothing -- by faith. They were too deeply
confirmed in the belief that man was born under forfeit to the
gods. Too long and too earnestly had they sacrificed and made
gifts to the priests to be able to comprehend the good news that
salvation, divine favor, was a free gift to all who would
believe in the Melchizedek covenant. But Abraham did believe
halfheartedly, and even that was "counted for righteousness."
93:4.6 The seven commandments promulgated by
Melchizedek were patterned along the lines of the ancient
Dalamatian supreme law and very much resembled the seven
commands taught in the first and second Edens. These commands of
the Salem religion were:
93:4.7 1. You shall not serve any God but the
Most High Creator of heaven and earth.
93:4.8 2. You shall not doubt that faith is
the only requirement for eternal salvation.
93:4.9 3. You shall not bear false witness.
93:4.10 4. You shall not kill.
93:4.11 5. You shall not steal.
93:4.12 6. You shall not commit adultery.
93:4.13 7. You shall not show disrespect for
your parents and elders.
93:4.14 While no sacrifices were permitted
within the colony, Melchizedek well knew how difficult it is to
suddenly uproot long-established customs and accordingly had
wisely offered these people the substitute of a sacrament of
bread and wine for the older sacrifice of flesh and blood. It is
of record, "Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and
wine." But even this cautious innovation was not altogether
successful; the various tribes all maintained auxiliary centers
on the outskirts of Salem where they offered sacrifices and
burnt offerings. Even Abraham resorted to this barbarous
practice after his victory over Chedorlaomer; he simply did not
feel quite at ease until he had offered a conventional
sacrifice. And Melchizedek never did succeed in fully
eradicating this proclivity to sacrifice from the religious
practices of his followers, even of Abraham.
93:4.15 Like Jesus, Melchizedek attended
strictly to the fulfillment of the mission of his bestowal. He
did not attempt to reform the mores, to change the habits of the
world, nor to promulgate even advanced sanitary practices or
scientific truths. He came to achieve two tasks: to keep alive
on earth the truth of the one God and to prepare the way for the
subsequent mortal bestowal of a Paradise Son of that Universal
Father.
93:4.16 Melchizedek taught elementary revealed
truth at Salem for ninety-four years, and during this time
Abraham attended the Salem school three different times. He
finally became a convert to the Salem teachings, becoming one of
Melchizedek's most brilliant pupils and chief supporters.
5. THE SELECTION OF ABRAHAM
93:5.1 Although it may be an error to speak of
"chosen people," it is not a mistake to refer to Abraham as a
chosen individual. Melchizedek did lay upon Abraham the
responsibility of keeping alive the truth of one God as
distinguished from the prevailing belief in plural deities.
93:5.2 The choice of Palestine as the site for
Machiventa's activities was in part predicated upon the desire
to establish contact with some human family embodying the
potentials of leadership. At the time of the incarnation of
Melchizedek there were many families on earth just as well
prepared to receive the doctrine of Salem as was that of
Abraham. There were equally endowed families among the red men,
the yellow men, and the descendants of the Andites to the west
and north. But, again, none of these localities were so
favorably situated for Michael's subsequent appearance on earth
as was the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The
Melchizedek mission in Palestine and the subsequent appearance
of Michael among the Hebrew people were in no small measure
determined by geography, by the fact that Palestine was
centrally located with reference to the then existent trade,
travel, and civilization of the world.
93:5.3 For some time the Melchizedek receivers
had been observing the ancestors of Abraham, and they
confidently expected offspring in a certain generation who would
be characterized by intelligence, initiative, sagacity, and
sincerity. The children of Terah, the father of Abraham, in
every way met these expectations. It was this possibility of
contact with these versatile children of Terah that had
considerable to do with the appearance of Machiventa at Salem,
rather than in Egypt, China, India, or among the northern
tribes.
93:5.4 Terah and his whole family were
halfhearted converts to the Salem religion, which had been
preached in Chaldea; they learned of Melchizedek through the
preaching of Ovid, a Phoenician teacher who proclaimed the Salem
doctrines in Ur. They left Ur intending to go directly through
to Salem, but Nahor, Abraham's brother, not having seen
Melchizedek, was lukewarm and persuaded them to tarry at Haran.
And it was a long time after they arrived in Palestine before
they were willing to destroy all of the household gods
they had brought with them; they were slow to give up the many
gods of Mesopotamia for the one God of Salem.
93:5.5 A few weeks after the death of
Abraham's father, Terah, Melchizedek sent one of his students,
Jaram the Hittite, to extend this invitation to both Abraham and
Nahor: "Come to Salem, where you shall hear our teachings of the
truth of the eternal Creator, and in the enlightened offspring
of you two brothers shall all the world be blessed." Now Nahor
had not wholly accepted the Melchizedek gospel; he remained
behind and built up a strong city-state which bore his name; but
Lot, Abraham's nephew, decided to go with his uncle to Salem.
93:5.6 Upon arriving at Salem, Abraham and Lot
chose a hilly fastness near the city where they could defend
themselves against the many surprise attacks of northern
raiders. At this time the Hittites, Assyrians, Philistines, and
other groups were constantly raiding the tribes of central and
southern Palestine. From their stronghold in the hills Abraham
and Lot made frequent pilgrimages to Salem.
93:5.7 Not long after they had established
themselves near Salem, Abraham and Lot journeyed to the valley
of the Nile to obtain food supplies as there was then a drought
in Palestine. During his brief sojourn in Egypt Abraham found a
distant relative on the Egyptian throne, and he served as the
commander of two very successful military expeditions for this
king. During the latter part of his sojourn on the Nile he and
his wife, Sarah, lived at court, and when leaving Egypt, he was
given a share of the spoils of his military campaigns.
93:5.8 It required great determination for
Abraham to forego the honors of the Egyptian court and return to
the more spiritual work sponsored by Machiventa. But Melchizedek
was revered even in Egypt, and when the full story was laid
before Pharaoh, he strongly urged Abraham to return to the
execution of his vows to the cause of Salem.
93:5.9 Abraham had kingly ambitions, and on
the way back from Egypt he laid before Lot his plan to subdue
all Canaan and bring its people under the rule of Salem. Lot was
more bent on business; so, after a later disagreement, he went
to Sodom to engage in trade and animal husbandry. Lot liked
neither a military nor a herder's life.
93:5.10 Upon returning with his family to
Salem, Abraham began to mature his military projects. He was
soon recognized as the civil ruler of the Salem territory and
had confederated under his leadership seven near-by tribes.
Indeed, it was with great difficulty that Melchizedek restrained
Abraham, who was fired with a zeal to go forth and round up the
neighboring tribes with the sword that they might thus more
quickly be brought to a knowledge of the Salem truths.
93:5.11 Melchizedek maintained peaceful
relations with all the surrounding tribes; he was not
militaristic and was never attacked by any of the armies as they
moved back and forth. He was entirely willing that Abraham
should formulate a defensive policy for Salem such as was
subsequently put into effect, but he would not approve of his
pupil's ambitious schemes for conquest; so there occurred a
friendly severance of relationship, Abraham going over to Hebron
to establish his military capital.
93:5.12 Abraham, because of his close
connection with the illustrious Melchizedek, possessed great
advantage over the surrounding petty kings; they all revered
Melchizedek and unduly feared Abraham. Abraham knew of this fear
and only awaited an opportune occasion to attack his neighbors,
and this excuse came when some of these rulers presumed to raid
the property of his nephew Lot, who dwelt in Sodom. Upon hearing
of this, Abraham, at the head of his seven confederated tribes,
moved on the enemy. His own bodyguard of 318 officered the army,
numbering more than 4,000, which struck at this time.
93:5.13 When Melchizedek heard of Abraham's
declaration of war, he went forth to dissuade him but only
caught up with his former disciple as he returned victorious
from the battle. Abraham insisted that the God of Salem had
given him victory over his enemies and persisted in giving a
tenth of his spoils to the Salem treasury. The other ninety per
cent he removed to his capital at Hebron.
93:5.14 After this battle of Siddim, Abraham
became leader of a second confederation of eleven tribes and not
only paid tithes to Melchizedek but saw to it that all others in
that vicinity did the same. His diplomatic dealings with the
king of Sodom, together with the fear in which he was so
generally held, resulted in the king of Sodom and others joining
the Hebron military confederation; Abraham was really well on
the way to establishing a powerful state in Palestine.
6. MELCHIZEDEK'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM
93:6.1 Abraham envisaged the conquest of all
Canaan. His determination was only weakened by the fact that
Melchizedek would not sanction the undertaking. But Abraham had
about decided to embark upon the enterprise when the thought
that he had no son to succeed him as ruler of this proposed
kingdom began to worry him. He arranged another conference with
Melchizedek; and it was in the course of this interview that the
priest of Salem, the visible Son of God, persuaded Abraham to
abandon his scheme of material conquest and temporal rule in
favor of the spiritual concept of the kingdom of heaven.
93:6.2 Melchizedek explained to Abraham the
futility of contending with the Amorite confederation but made
it equally clear that these backward clans were certainly
committing suicide by their foolish practices so that in a few
generations they would be so weakened that the descendants of
Abraham, meanwhile greatly increased, could easily overcome
them.
93:6.3 And Melchizedek made a formal covenant
with Abraham at Salem. Said he to Abraham: "Look now up to the
heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall
your seed be." And Abraham believed Melchizedek, "and it was
counted to him for righteousness." And then Melchizedek told
Abraham the story of the future occupation of Canaan by his
offspring after their sojourn in Egypt.
93:6.4 This covenant of Melchizedek with
Abraham represents the great Urantian agreement between divinity
and humanity whereby God agrees to do everything; man
only agrees
to believe God's promises and follow his
instructions. Heretofore it had been believed that salvation
could be secured only by works -- sacrifices and offerings; now,
Melchizedek again brought to Urantia the good news that
salvation, favor with God, is to be had by faith. But
this gospel of simple faith in God was too advanced; the Semitic
tribesmen subsequently preferred to go back to the older
sacrifices and atonement for sin by the shedding of blood.
93:6.5 It was not long after the establishment
of this covenant that Isaac, the son of Abraham, was born in
accordance with the promise of Melchizedek. After the birth of
Isaac, Abraham took a very solemn attitude toward his covenant
with Melchizedek, going over to Salem to have it stated in
writing. It was at this public and formal acceptance of the
covenant that he changed his name from Abram to Abraham.
93:6.6 Most of the Salem believers had
practiced circumcision, though it had never been made obligatory
by Melchizedek. Now Abraham had always so opposed circumcision
that on this occasion he decided to solemnize the event by
formally accepting this rite in token of the ratification of the
Salem covenant.
93:6.7 It was following this real and public
surrender of his personal ambitions in behalf of the larger
plans of Melchizedek that the three celestial beings appeared to
him on the plains of Mamre. This was an appearance of fact,
notwithstanding its association with the subsequently fabricated
narratives relating to the natural destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah. And these legends of the happenings of those days
indicate how retarded were the morals and ethics of even so
recent a time.
93:6.8 Upon the consummation of the solemn
covenant, the reconciliation between Abraham and Melchizedek was
complete. Abraham again assumed the civil and military
leadership of the Salem colony, which at its height carried over
one hundred thousand regular tithe payers on the rolls of the
Melchizedek brotherhood. Abraham greatly improved the Salem
temple and provided new tents for the entire school. He not only
extended the tithing system but also instituted many improved
methods of conducting the business of the school, besides
contributing greatly to the better handling of the department of
missionary propaganda. He also did much to effect improvement of
the herds and the reorganization of the Salem dairying projects.
Abraham was a shrewd and efficient business man, a wealthy man
for his day; he was not overly pious, but he was thoroughly
sincere, and he did believe in Machiventa Melchizedek.
7. THE MELCHIZEDEK MISSIONARIES
93:7.1 Melchizedek continued for some years to
instruct his students and to train the Salem missionaries, who
penetrated to all the surrounding tribes, especially to Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. And as the decades passed, these
teachers journeyed farther and farther from Salem, carrying with
them Machiventa's gospel of belief and faith in God.
93:7.2 The descendants of Adamson, clustered
about the shores of the lake of Van, were willing listeners to
the Hittite teachers of the Salem cult. From this onetime Andite
center, teachers were dispatched to the remote regions of both
Europe and Asia. Salem missionaries penetrated all Europe, even
to the British Isles. One group went by way of the Faroes to the
Andonites of Iceland, while another traversed China and reached
the Japanese of the eastern islands. The lives and experiences
of the men and women who ventured forth from Salem, Mesopotamia,
and Lake Van to enlighten the tribes of the Eastern Hemisphere
present a heroic chapter in the annals of the human race.
93:7.3 But the task was so great and the
tribes were so backward that the results were vague and
indefinite. From one generation to another the Salem gospel
found lodgment here and there, but except in Palestine, never
was the idea of one God able to claim the continued allegiance
of a whole tribe or race. Long before the coming of Jesus the
teachings of the early Salem missionaries had become generally
submerged in the older and more universal superstitions and
beliefs. The original Melchizedek gospel had been almost wholly
absorbed in the beliefs in the Great Mother, the Sun, and other
ancient cults.
93:7.4 You who today enjoy the advantages of
the art of printing little understand how difficult it was to
perpetuate truth during these earlier times; how easy it was to
lose sight of a new doctrine from one generation to another.
There was always a tendency for the new doctrine to become
absorbed into the older body of religious teaching and magical
practice. A new revelation is always contaminated by the older
evolutionary beliefs.
8. DEPARTURE OF MELCHIZEDEK
93:8.1 It was shortly after the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah that Machiventa decided to end his emergency
bestowal on Urantia. Melchizedek's decision to terminate his
sojourn in the flesh was influenced by numerous conditions,
chief of which was the growing tendency of the surrounding
tribes, and even of his immediate associates, to regard him as a
demigod, to look upon him as a supernatural being, which indeed
he was; but they were beginning to reverence him unduly and with
a highly superstitious fear. In addition to these reasons,
Melchizedek wanted to leave the scene of his earthly activities
a sufficient length of time before Abraham's death to insure
that the truth of the one and only God would become strongly
established in the minds of his followers. Accordingly
Machiventa retired one night to his tent at Salem, having said
good night to his human companions, and when they went to call
him in the morning, he was not there, for his fellows had taken
him.
9. AFTER MELCHIZEDEK'S DEPARTURE
93:9.1 It was a great trial for Abraham when
Melchizedek so suddenly disappeared. Although he had fully
warned his followers that he must sometime go as he had come,
they were not reconciled to the loss of their wonderful leader.
The great organization built up at Salem nearly disappeared,
though the traditions of these days were what Moses built upon
when he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
93:9.2 The loss of Melchizedek produced a
sadness in the heart of Abraham that he never fully overcame.
Hebron he had abandoned when he gave up the ambition of building
a material kingdom; and now, upon the loss of his associate in
the building of the spiritual kingdom, he departed from Salem,
going south to live near his interests at Gerar.
93:9.3 Abraham became fearful and timid
immediately after the disappearance of Melchizedek. He withheld
his identity upon arrival at Gerar, so that Abimelech
appropriated his wife. (Shortly after his marriage to Sarah,
Abraham one night had overheard a plot to murder him in order to
get his brilliant wife. This dread became a terror to the
otherwise brave and daring leader; all his life he feared that
someone would kill him secretly in order to get Sarah. And this
explains why, on three separate occasions, this brave man
exhibited real cowardice.)
93:9.4 But Abraham was not long to be deterred
in his mission as the successor of Melchizedek. Soon he made
converts among the Philistines and of Abimelech's people, made a
treaty with them, and, in turn, became contaminated with many of
their superstitions, particularly with their practice of
sacrificing first-born sons. Thus did Abraham again become a
great leader in Palestine. He was held in reverence by all
groups and honored by all kings. He was the spiritual leader of
all the surrounding tribes, and his influence continued for some
time after his death. During the closing years of his life he
once more returned to Hebron, the scene of his earlier
activities and the place where he had worked in association with
Melchizedek. Abraham's last act was to send trusty servants to
the city of his brother, Nahor, on the border of Mesopotamia, to
secure a woman of his own people as a wife for his son Isaac. It
had long been the custom of Abraham's people to marry their
cousins. And Abraham died confident in that faith in God which
he had learned from Melchizedek in the vanished schools of
Salem.
93:9.5 It was hard for the next generation to
comprehend the story of Melchizedek; within five hundred years
many regarded the whole narrative as a myth. Isaac held fairly
well to the teachings of his father and nourished the gospel of
the Salem colony, but it was harder for Jacob to grasp the
significance of these traditions. Joseph was a firm believer in
Melchizedek and was, largely because of this, regarded by his
brothers as a dreamer. Joseph's honor in Egypt was chiefly due
to the memory of his great-grandfather Abraham. Joseph was
offered military command of the Egyptian armies, but being such
a firm believer in the traditions of Melchizedek and the later
teachings of Abraham and Isaac, he elected to serve as a civil
administrator, believing that he could thus better labor for the
advancement of the kingdom of heaven.
93:9.6 The teaching of Melchizedek was full
and replete, but the records of these days seemed impossible and
fantastic to the later Hebrew priests, although many had some
understanding of these transactions, at least up to the times of
the en masse editing of the Old Testament records in Babylon.
93:9.7 What the Old Testament records describe
as conversations between Abraham and God were in reality
conferences between Abraham and Melchizedek. Later scribes
regarded the term Melchizedek as synonymous with God. The record
of so many contacts of Abraham and Sarah with "the angel of the
Lord" refers to their numerous visits with Melchizedek.
93:9.8 The Hebrew narratives of Isaac, Jacob,
and Joseph are far more reliable than those about Abraham,
although they also contain many diversions from the facts,
alterations made intentionally and unintentionally at the time
of the compilation of these records by the Hebrew priests during
the Babylonian captivity. Keturah was not a wife of Abraham;
like Hagar, she was merely a concubine. All of Abraham's
property went to Isaac, the son of Sarah, the status wife.
Abraham was not so old as the records indicate, and his wife was
much younger. These ages were deliberately altered in order to
provide for the subsequent alleged miraculous birth of Isaac.
93:9.9 The national ego of the Jews was
tremendously depressed by the Babylonian captivity. In their
reaction against national inferiority they swung to the other
extreme of national and racial egotism, in which they distorted
and perverted their traditions with the view of exalting
themselves above all races as the chosen people of God; and
hence they carefully edited all their records for the purpose of
raising Abraham and their other national leaders high up above
all other persons, not excepting Melchizedek himself. The Hebrew
scribes therefore destroyed every record of these momentous
times which they could find, preserving only the narrative of
the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek after the battle of
Siddim, which they deemed reflected great honor upon Abraham.
93:9.10 And thus, in losing sight of
Melchizedek, they also lost sight of the teaching of this
emergency Son regarding the spiritual mission of the promised
bestowal Son; lost sight of the nature of this mission so fully
and completely that very few of their progeny were able or
willing to recognize and receive Michael when he appeared on
earth and in the flesh as Machiventa had foretold.
93:9.11 But one of the writers of the Book of
Hebrews understood the mission of Melchizedek, for it is
written: "This Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, was also
king of peace; without father, without mother, without pedigree,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like a
Son of God, he abides a priest continually." This writer
designated Melchizedek as a type of the later bestowal of
Michael, affirming that Jesus was "a minister forever on the
order of Melchizedek." While this comparison was not altogether
fortunate, it was literally true that Christ did receive
provisional title to Urantia "upon the orders of the twelve
Melchizedek receivers" on duty at the time of his world
bestowal.
10. PRESENT STATUS OF MACHIVENTA
MELCHIZEDEK
93:10.1 During the years of Machiventa's
incarnation the Urantia Melchizedek receivers functioned as
eleven. When Machiventa considered that his mission as an
emergency Son was finished, he signalized this fact to his
eleven associates, and they immediately made ready the technique
whereby he was to be released from the flesh and safely restored
to his original Melchizedek status. And on the third day after
his disappearance from Salem he appeared among his eleven
fellows of the Urantia assignment and resumed his interrupted
career as one of the planetary receivers of 606 of Satania.
93:10.2 Machiventa terminated his bestowal as
a creature of flesh and blood just as suddenly and
unceremoniously as he had begun it. Neither his appearance nor
departure were accompanied by any unusual announcement or
demonstration; neither resurrection roll call nor ending of
planetary dispensation marked his appearance on Urantia; his was
an emergency bestowal. But Machiventa did not end his sojourn in
the flesh of human beings until he had been duly released by the
Father Melchizedek and had been informed that his emergency
bestowal had received the approval of the chief executive of
Nebadon, Gabriel of Salvington.
93:10.3 Machiventa Melchizedek continued to
take a great interest in the affairs of the descendants of those
men who had believed in his teachings when he was in the flesh.
But the progeny of Abraham through Isaac as intermarried with
the Kenites were the only line which long continued to nourish
any clear concept of the Salem teachings.
93:10.4 This same Melchizedek continued to
collaborate throughout the nineteen succeeding centuries with
the many prophets and seers, thus endeavoring to keep alive the
truths of Salem until the fullness of the time for Michael's
appearance on earth.
93:10.5 Machiventa continued as a planetary
receiver up to the times of the triumph of Michael on Urantia.
Subsequently, he was attached to the Urantia service on Jerusem
as one of the four and twenty directors, only just recently
having been elevated to the position of personal ambassador on
Jerusem of the Creator Son, bearing the title Vicegerent
Planetary Prince of Urantia. It is our belief that, as long as
Urantia remains an inhabited planet, Machiventa Melchizedek will
not be fully returned to the duties of his order of sonship but
will remain, speaking in the terms of time, forever a planetary
minister representing Christ Michael.
93:10.6 As his was an emergency bestowal on
Urantia, it does not appear from the records what Machiventa's
future may be. It may develop that the Melchizedek corps of
Nebadon have sustained the permanent loss of one of their
number. Recent rulings handed down from the Most Highs of
Edentia, and later confirmed by the Ancients of Days of Uversa,
strongly suggest that this bestowal Melchizedek is destined to
take the place of the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia. If
our conjectures in this respect are correct, it is altogether
possible that Machiventa Melchizedek may again appear in person
on Urantia and in some modified manner resume the role of the
dethroned Planetary Prince, or else appear on earth to function
as vicegerent Planetary Prince representing Christ Michael, who
now actually holds the title of Planetary Prince of Urantia.
While it is far from clear to us as to what Machiventa's destiny
may be, nevertheless, events which have so recently taken place
strongly suggest that the foregoing conjectures are probably not
far from the truth.
93:10.7 We well understand how, by his triumph
on Urantia, Michael became the successor of both Caligastia and
Adam; how he became the planetary Prince of Peace and the second
Adam. And now we behold the conferring upon this Melchizedek of
the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. Will he also
be constituted Vicegerent Material Son of Urantia? Or is there a
possibility that an unexpected and unprecedented event is to
take place, the sometime return to the planet of Adam and Eve or
certain of their progeny as representatives of Michael with the
titles vicegerents of the second Adam of Urantia?
93:10.8 And all these speculations associated
with the certainty of future appearances of both Magisterial and
Trinity Teacher Sons, in conjunction with the explicit promise
of the Creator Son to return sometime, make Urantia a planet of
future uncertainty and render it one of the most interesting and
intriguing spheres in all the universe of Nebadon. It is
altogether possible that, in some future age when Urantia is
approaching the era of light and life, after the affairs of the
Lucifer rebellion and the Caligastia secession have been finally
adjudicated, we may witness the presence on Urantia,
simultaneously, of Machiventa, Adam, Eve, and Christ Michael, as
well as either a Magisterial Son or even Trinity Teacher Sons.
93:10.9 It has long been the opinion of our
order that Machiventa's presence on the Jerusem corps of Urantia
directors, the four and twenty counselors, is sufficient
evidence to warrant the belief that he is destined to follow the
mortals of Urantia on through the universe scheme of progression
and ascension even to the Paradise Corps of the Finality. We
know that Adam and Eve are thus destined to accompany their
earth fellows on the Paradise adventure when Urantia has become
settled in light and life.
93:10.10 Less than a thousand years ago this
same Machiventa Melchizedek, the onetime sage of Salem, was
invisibly present on Urantia for a period of one hundred years,
acting as resident governor general of the planet; and if the
present system of directing planetary affairs should continue,
he will be due to return in the same capacity in a little over
one thousand years.
93:10.11 This is the story of Machiventa
Melchizedek, one of the most unique of all characters ever to
become connected with the history of Urantia and a personality
who may be destined to play an important role in the future
experience of your irregular and unusual world.
93:10.12
Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.
