Question:
Answer:
Melchizedek is not Jesus; he is a representation or prefiguring of Jesus.
He makes only a brief appearance (Gen. 14:18-20) when he offers a sacrifice of bread and wine and accepts a tithe offering from Abram (later named Abraham). Because he simply appears mysteriously, and the Bible gives no account of his origin or demise, the book of Genesis makes it appear that he was an eternal priest without beginning or end (Heb 7:1-3). His name is also not really a name but rather a title (“king of righteousness”).
The reason that Jesus is not identified as Melchizedek is that Psalm 110 states that the messiah is a priest in the “order” or “manner” of Melchizedek. It does not state the messiah is Melchizedek. Hebrews 7:3 states that Melchizedek “resembles” the Son of God, not that he is the Son of God. Jesus is indeed like Melchizedek in that he is without beginning or end and offers a sacrifice of bread and wine.
The Church has never taught definitively who exactly Melchizedek was. The Church leaves open that he was a normal human being or perhaps an angel (sometimes identified as St. Michael).