Melchizedek's Bread and Wine

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In the Old Testament, we read about Melchizedek who was both Priest and King. He offered bread and wine as a thanksgiving for his victory over the enemy.

What does this mean; How do you offer bread and wine?
 
czeaiter said:
In the Old Testament, we read about Melchizedek who was both Priest and King. He offered bread and wine as a thanksgiving for his victory over the enemy.

What does this mean; How do you offer bread and wine?
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He gave it to Abram.

Genesis 14:18 (NABRE)
18 Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High.
19 He blessed Abram with these words …
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And of course it was a sacrificial offering to God which prefigures the Eucharist. Christ, who is high priest in the order of Melchizedek, offers his own body and blood under the form of bread and wine to the Father… and we, like Abraham, consume it.
 
It’s fairly significant, not only from a theological point of view but from a culinary one as well, that there is no mention of cheese in those verses.
czeaiter said:
How do you offer bread and wine?
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With some type of cheese of course, and sometimes with a seasoned olive oil.
 
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czeaiter said:
How do you offer bread and wine?
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Offerings of food and drink are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22. There, mention is made of altars and tables and cups and partaking of the food and drink by those who desired to be partners with the deity to whom they were offered.

I suppose it was similar to the how bread and wine are offered at a Catholic Mass, at the beginning of The Liturgy of the Eucharist, during the Preparation of the Altar and Gifts and the Prayer over the Offerings, before The Eucharist Prayer.
 
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So, is that what they mean by offering bread and wine; They eat it and drink it? Is it as simple as that?
 
czeaiter said:
In the Old Testament, we read about Melchizedek who was both Priest and King. He offered bread and wine as a thanksgiving for his victory over the enemy.

What does this mean; How do you offer bread and wine?
Click to expand...
D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 18. Melchisedech was not Sem: for his genealogy is given in Scripture. (Hebrews vii. 6.); nor God the Son, for they are compared together; nor the Holy Ghost, as some have asserted, but a virtuous Gentile who adored the true God, and was king of Salem, or Jerusalem, and Priest of an order different from that of Aaron, offering in sacrifice bread and wine, a figure of Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass; as the fathers constantly affirm. (Haydock) — See Pererius. St. Jerome, ep. ad Evagrium, says, “Melchisedech offered not bloody victims, but dedicated the sacrament of Christ in bread and wine…a pure sacrifice.” See St. Cyprian ep. 63[62?], ad Cæcil.; St. Augustine, City of God xvi. 22, &c. Many Protestants confess, that this renowned prince of Chanaan, was also a priest; but they will not allow that his sacrifices consisted of bread and wine. In what then? for a true priest must offer some real sacrifice. If Christ, therefore, be a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech, whose sacrifice was not bloody, as those of Aaron were, what other sacrifice does he now offer, but that of his own body and blood in the holy Mass, by the ministry of his priests? for he was the priest: this is plainly referred to bringing forth, &c., which shews that word to be sacrificial, as in Judges vi. 18. The Hebrew may be ambiguous. But all know that vau means for as well as and . Thus the English Bible had it, 1552, “for he was the priest.” (Worthington) — If Josephus take notice only of Melchisedech, offering Abram and his men corporal refreshment, we need not wonder; he was a Jewish priest, to whom the order of Melchisedech might not be agreeable. It is not indeed improbable, but Abram might partake of the meat, which had been offered in thanksgiving by Melchisedech; and in this sense his words are true. But there would be no need of observing, that he was a priest on this account; as this was a piece of civility expected from princes on similar occasions. (Deuteronomy xxiii. 4; 2 Kings xvii. 27.) (Haydock)
 
The interesting thing is that we know much more about Melchizedek from the Letter to the Hebrews than we do from the OT. This attests to the accuracy and the necessity of the Jewish oral tradition.
 
A loaf of bread and a cup of wine could be offered to God in a number of ways. Here are a just few possible ways:
  1. The whole loaf of bread could be thrown into a fire and entirely consumed by the flames and the entire cup of wine poured out on the ground and entirely consumed by the earth.
  2. Just a small representative portion of the loaf of bread could be thrown into a fire to be consumed by the flames and the rest of the loaf eaten by worshipers and just a small portion of the wine in the cup could be poured out on the ground and consumed by the earth and the rest of the wine consumed by worshipers.
  3. The loaf of bread and cup of wine could simply be raised heavenward by the priest and then the bread and wine entirely consumed by worshipers.
 
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The bread and wine offered by Melchizedek is a prefiguration of the Holy Eucharist.
 
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