Melchizedek

[Gen. 14:18] And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
What is known about Melchizedek is he was a man, priest in Jerusalem, a king, and decedent of Shem, unknown record of his parents, a pitcher of the coming Messiah. This victory conferred a public benefit on that part of the country; and Abram, on his return, was treated with high respect and consideration, particularly by the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, who seems to have been one of the few native princes if not the only one, who knew and worshipped, ‘the most high G-d,’ whom Abram served. This king who was a type of the Savior (Heb. 7:1), came to bless G-d for the victory which had been won, and in the name of G-d to bless Abram, by whose arms it had been achieved – a pious acknowledgment which we should imitate on succeeding in any lawful enterprise. Six things about Melchizedek:
1. A man.
2. A priest of G—d in Jerusalem.
3. A king.
4. Descendent of Shem (Ps. 110:4).
5. With out father and mother, means no records known of.
6. Picture of the Messiah.
[19] And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
Abram is now 80 years old.
Melchizedek was a Canaanite and called a priest of G-d Most High, and the king of Salem (a reference to the shortened name for Jerusalem) which at that time was occupied by the Canaanites. This Gentile, about whom we have no advance notice, either in the text or anywhere else for that matter, now comes forward to pay homage to Abram. He brings with him bread and wine as he goes out to meet Abram on his return from the amazing victory by the 318 servants of the patriarch over four Mesopotamian kings.
This priest-king pays respect to Abram for out of the grossly pagan world of the Canaanites emerges not only one who shares belief and worship in the same G-d as the Semitic Abram but one who pronounces the blessing on the patriarch whom G-d had already blessed. Abram also acknowledges the priestly dignity of this Canaanite priest-king by giving him a tithe.
This situation is very similar to that of Jethro in Ex. 18. He too was a priest who worshipped the same G-d Moses did, yet he too was a gentile Midianite. Evidently, G-d was also calling out a people for His own name from among the Gentiles even though the text rarely paused in its pursuit of the promise-plan of G-d through the Hebrew people to reflect on this phenomenon.
Ps. 110:4 and Hebrews 6:20-7:21 link Y’Shua’s priesthood to Melchizedek, though we know absolutely nothing about his parentage or his age, without genealogy. This fact uniquely fits him to be a type of Y’Shua. This explains how the Messiah could come from the promise line of Abram and eventually from the tribe of Judah and could also be a priest as well as a prophet and a king. Messiah could not come from two tribes at once, both Judah (as king) and from Levi (as priest). But He solved the dilemma by becoming a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to His ancestry (that is, a legal requirement concerning bodily descent) but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16).
Abram gave a tenth to the priest-king from the spoils he had taken in battle. This was Abram’s response to Melchizedek’s offer of bread and wine and the blessing which he had offered a blessing which normally comes from the greater person to the lesser.
Heb. 7:10 points out that in this sense Levi paid tithes and recognized a priesthood which would supersede his own line even before he was born, because Levi was still in the body of this ancestor when Abram offered the tithe to Melchizedek.
[20] And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Tithing here was a free will offering, he gave him tithes of all from his increase on the spoils of war, not from his private pocket.
Here is an evidence of Abram’s piety, as well as of his valor; for it was to a priest or official mediator between G-d and him that Abram gave a tenth of the spoil - a token of his gratitude and in honor of a divine ordinance (Prov. 3:9.)
The Hebrews started the tradition of tithing because Abraham tithed out of the spoils of war. Tithing then became the ‘first fruits’ of your crops and animals to help support the priest, to giving money for their support and building funds, missionaries, how ever the church seen fit to spend it. It is strange how traditions got all twisted around.