Genesis 14:20

blessed be God Most High "praised be El Elyon." The verb has a different sense when applied to the Deity from what it has when applied to man. To "bless God" means devoutly to acknowledge, that He has been the source of goodness which demands man's thankfulness and praise. Melchizedek blesses the God, whose priest he is, for the great victory which his God has granted Abram.

And he gave him a tenth of all Note once more a change of subject. It is Abram who gives Melchizedek a tenth part "of all," i.e. the spoil; not of his own property, as he was at a distance from home, and was only in light marching order. The custom of paying a tithe, or tenth part, to the priesthood, or to the sanctuary, was very general in ancient times. Traces of it are found in Assyria and Babylonia. It prevailed among the Greeks. For the custom in Israel, see note on Genesis 28:22. Abram, the father of the Israelite people, performs symbolically an action which recognizes for future time their obligation to the sanctuary of Jerusalem.

The two statements that Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, (1) blessed Abram, (2) received tithes from Abram, led to the figurative employment of Melchizedek in Psalms 110:4 as the ideal of a priest-king appointed by God to rule over the kingdom of Judah; and in Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 7:4, as the type of the great kingly High Priest, raised above the Aaronic priesthood, at once king and priest receiving tithe from Abram, who impersonated the people and religion of Israel. See Special Note in the chapter comments for Genesis 14