Melchizedek is an enigma to those whose knowledge of him is confined to the Bible. In that record he rather mysteriously crosses the path of Abraham, who unhesitatingly recognizes him as a being of superior spiritual rank.
Abraham pays tithes to him and receives from him what appears to be like the sacrament. Melchizedek then disappears from the scene as suddenly as he had appeared (Genesis 14:18-20; see especially the JST.)
He remains lost to the sacred chronicle for a thousand years, at which point a psalmic reference describes him as a type for the coming of the Messiah (see Psalms 110:4).
Again a thousand years pass without mention of him until Paul, writing to the Hebrews, argues that the Melchizedek Priesthood is superior to the Aaronic, and that the gospel the Savior brought is superior to the Mosaic system (see Hebrews 7).
Indeed, so great is the mystery that has come to surround the man Melchizedek that some have supposed him to have been born without parents (see Hebrews 7:3).
“Humble Yourselves Even as the People in the Days of Melchizedek”
Though the present verses contain the only references to Melchizedek in the Book of Mormon, we can be confident that the plates of brass provided Alma with appreciably more information than our Bible contains. From the Joseph Smith Translation we learn, and suppose Alma to have known, that Melchizedek was a man of faith who wrought righteousness and who even, as a child, “stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire.” He was “approved of God” and was ordained a high priest after the order of the Son of God.
Through the teaching of the gospel he obtained peace in Salem and thus merited the title Prince of peace. He and his people then “wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven,” meaning that they were caught up like Enoch and his people and obtained the promise that they would return with them during the millennial day. Thus he was also “called the king of heaven by his people, or, in other words, the King of peace” (See JST, Genesis 14:26-40.)