From the text of the Book of Mormon we judge that much of what the Holy Scriptures contained in ancient times, or before the records of the sacred historians passed through the hands of many different editors, was written upon the Brass Plates of Laban. Upon these Plates was written the untampered-with Scriptures of the Jews. The Nephites possessed these Plates, and were taught to read them. The brief passages in the Bible concerning Melchizedek when compared with the greater statement made in the Book of Mormon confirms our belief that a more detailed account of him was purposely, or at least carelessly, left out of the Scriptures by the teachers and leaders of the Jews who many years later came into positions of prominence and power.
There were none greater or more wise than Melchizedek, although there were many both before and after him who occupied his exalted office. Yet little is said in the Bible of his greatness, his goodness, or his wisdom. As High Priest and earthly king he honored God by leading, not driving, his people along the proper paths of righteousness and therefore peace.
In view of what little is said of Melchizedek in the Bible, we feel that we are not far mistaken when we suggest that nearly all that pertains to him has been omitted from the Scriptures by scribes who were suborned for that very purpose. It is not unthinkable that members of the Great Sanhedrin, the tribunal which made the laws and interpreted the doctrines by which the Jews were governed, were, themselves, co-conspirators. Suffice it to say that Melchizedek was the greatest of all human princes, for he ruled his people in righteousness and brought them peace, God's most precious gift.
They had all gone astray. This statement (v. 17) is singularly like the unhappy conclusion of Isaiah when speaking of the Jews in his day, "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6) But Melchizedek, filled with a mighty faith in God and His righteousness, led his people on to peace as did the shepherds of his day lead their sheep into pastures that were greener and where the still waters slaked their thirst.
In the Book of Mormon is recorded an appeal by Alma, who also was as was Melchizedek, a High Priest:
O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a Shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto His voice!
Behold, I say unto you, that the Good Shepherd doth call you; yea, and in His own Name He doth call you, which is the Name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the Good Shepherd, to the Name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the Good Shepherd. (Alma 5:37-38)
The genealogy of God's Priesthood. We have noted the direct line of succession in which the Holy Priesthood was transferred from father to son. We quote a passage of Scripture from the Bible concerning the Priesthood of God in which Priesthood, Melchizedek was a High Priest, and which passage has caused great misunderstanding among students of, and believers in, the Word of God:
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3)
There are many who think that passage refers to Melchizedek. But it does not! It speaks of God's Holy Priesthood.