Machiventa

=[|Machiventa] Melchizedek=



Urantia Book [|PAPER 93]: MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK
93:0.1 The [|Melchizedeks] are widely known as [|emergency] Sons, for they [|engage] in an [|amazing] range of [|activities] on the worlds of a [|local universe]. When any extraordinary [|problem] arises, or when something [|unusual] is to be attempted, it is quite often a [|Melchizedek] who [|accepts] the assignment. The [|ability] of the [|Melchizedek Sons] to [|function] in [|emergencies] and on widely [|divergent] levels of the [|universe], even on the [|physical] level of [|personality] [|manifestation], is peculiar to their order. Only the [|Life Carriers] share to any [|degree] this [|metamorphic] range of [|personality] [|function]. 93:0.2 The [|Melchizedek order] of universe sonship has been exceedingly [|active] on [|Urantia]. A corps of twelve served in conjunction with the [|Life Carriers]. A later corps of twelve became receivers for your world shortly after the [|Caligastia secession] and continued in [|authority] until the time of [|Adam and Eve]. These twelve [|Melchizedeks] returned to [|Urantia] upon the [|default of Adam and Eve], and they continued thereafter as [|planetary receivers] on down to the day when [|Jesus] of [|Nazareth], as the Son of Man, became the titular [|Planetary Prince] of [|Urantia]. 

93:1. THE MACHIVENTA INCARNATION
93:1.1 [|Revealed] [|truth] was threatened with [|extinction] during the millenniums which followed the [|miscarriage of the Adamic mission] on [|Urantia]. Though making [|progress] [|intellectually], the [|human] races were slowly losing ground [|spiritually]. About [|3000 B.C.] the [|concept] of [|God] had grown very hazy in the [|minds] of men. 93:1.2 The [|twelve] [|Melchizedek receivers] knew of [|Michael]'s impending [|bestowal] on their [|planet], but they did not know how soon it would occur; therefore they [|convened] in [|solemn] [|council] and [|petitioned] the [|Most Highs] of [|Edentia] that some provision be made for [|maintaining] the [|light] of [|truth] on [|Urantia]. This [|plea] was dismissed with the //mandate// that "the conduct of affairs on 606 of [|Satania] is fully in the hands of the [|Melchizedek] custodians." The [|receivers] then appealed to the [|Father Melchizedek] for help but only received [|word] that they should continue to uphold [|truth] in the [|manner] of their own [|election] "until the arrival of a [|bestowal Son]," who "would rescue the [|planetary] titles from forfeiture and [|uncertainty]." 93:1.3 And it was in [|consequence] of having been thrown so completely on their own [|resources] that [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek], one of the twelve [|planetary receivers], [|volunteered] to do that which had been done only six times in all the [|history] of [|Nebadon]: to [|personalize] on [|earth] as a temporary man of the realm, to [|bestow] himself as an [|emergency] Son of world [|ministry]. Permission was granted for this [|adventure] by the [|Salvington] [|authorities], and the [|actual] [|incarnation] of [|Machiventa] Melchizedek was [|consummated] near what was to become the [|city] of [|Salem], in [|Palestine]. The entire [|transaction] of the [|materialization] of this [|Melchizedek Son] was completed by the [|planetary receivers] with the [|co-operation] of the [|Life Carriers], certain of the [|Master Physical Controllers], and other [|celestial] [|personalities] resident on [|Urantia]. 

93:2. THE SAGE OF SALEM
93:2.1 It was [|1,973] years before the [|birth] of [|Jesus] that [|Machiventa] was [|bestowed] upon the [|human] races of [|Urantia]. His coming was unspectacular; his [|materialization] was not [|witnessed] by human eyes. He was first [|observed] by [|mortal] man on that eventful day when he entered the tent of //Amdon//, a [|Chaldean] [|herder] of [|Sumerian] extraction. And the proclamation of his mission was embodied in the [|simple] [|statement] which he made to this shepherd, "I am [|Melchizedek], priest of [|El Elyon], the [|Most High], the one and only [|God]." 93:2.2 When the [|herder] had recovered from his astonishment, and after he had plied this stranger with many questions, he asked [|Melchizedek] to sup with him, and this was the first time in his long [|universe] [|career] that [|Machiventa] had partaken of [|material] [|food], the nourishment which was to [|sustain] him throughout his ninety-four years of life as a [|material] [|being]. 93:2.3 And that night, as they talked out under the [|stars], [|Melchizedek] began his mission of the [|revelation] of the [|truth] of the [|reality] of [|God] when, with a sweep of his arm, he turned to //Amdon//, saying, "[|El Elyon], the [|Most High], is the [|divine] [|creator] of the [|stars] of the firmament and even of this very [|earth] on which we live, and he is also the [|supreme] [|God] of [|heaven]." 93:2.4 Within a few years [|Melchizedek] had gathered around himself a group of [|pupils], [|disciples], and believers who formed the [|nucleus] of the later [|community] of [|Salem]. He was soon known throughout [|Palestine] as the [|priest] of [|El Elyon], the [|Most High], and as the [|sage] of [|Salem]. Among some of the [|surrounding] [|tribes] he was often referred to as the sheik, or [|king], of [|Salem]. Salem was the site which after the disappearance of [|Melchizedek] became the [|city] of Jebus, subsequently being called [|Jerusalem]. 93:2.5 In [|personal] [|appearance], Melchizedek resembled the then blended [|Nodite] and [|Sumerian] peoples, being almost six feet in height and possessing a commanding [|presence]. He spoke [|Chaldean] and a half dozen other [|languages]. He dressed much as did the [|Canaanite] [|priests] except that on his breast he wore an emblem of [|three] [|concentric] [|circles], the [|Satania] [|symbol] of the [|Paradise Trinity]. In the [|course] of his [|ministry] this insignia of three concentric circles became regarded as so [|sacred] by his followers that they never dared to use it, and it was soon forgotten with the passing of a few [|generations]. 93:2.6 Though [|Machiventa] lived after the [|manner] of the men of the realm, he never [|married], nor could he have left [|offspring] on [|earth]. His [|physical] [|body], while resembling that of the [|human] [|male], was in [|reality] on the order of those especially constructed [|bodies] used by the [|one hundred materialized members of Prince Caligastia' s staff] except that it did not carry the life [|plasm] of any [|human] race. Nor was there available on [|Urantia] the [|tree of life]. Had [|Machiventa] remained for any long period on [|earth], his [|physical] [|mechanism] would have gradually deteriorated; as it was, he terminated his [|bestowal] mission in ninety-four years long before his material body had begun to disintegrate. 93:2.7 This [|incarnated] [|Melchizedek] received a [|Thought Adjuster], who indwelt his [|superhuman] [|personality] as the monitor of [|time] and the [|mentor] of the [|flesh], thus gaining that [|experience] and practical introduction to Urantian [|problems] and to the [|technique] of indwelling an [|incarnated] Son which enabled this spirit of [|the Father] to [|function] so valiantly in the [|human] [|mind] of the later Son of God, [|Michael], when he [|appeared] on [|earth] in the likeness of [|mortal] flesh. And this is the only [|Thought Adjuster] who ever functioned in two minds on [|Urantia], but both minds were [|divine] as well as [|human]. 93:2.8 During the [|incarnation] in the [|flesh], [|Machiventa] was in full [|contact] with his eleven fellows of the corps of [|planetary custodians], but he could not [|communicate] with other orders of [|celestial] [|personalities]. Aside from the [|Melchizedek receivers], he had no more [|contact] with [|superhuman] [|intelligences] than a [|human being]. 

93:3. MELCHIZEDEK'S TEACHINGS
93:3.1 With the passing of a decade, [|Melchizedek] organized his schools at [|Salem], patterning them on the olden [|system] which had been [|developed] by the early [|Sethite priests] of the [|second Eden]. Even the [|idea] of a [|tithing system], which was introduced by his later convert [|Abraham], was also derived from the lingering [|traditions] of the [|methods] of the ancient [|Sethites]. 93:3.2 [|Melchizedek] taught the [|concept] of one [|God], a [|universal] [|Deity], but he allowed the people to [|associate] this teaching with the [|Constellation Father] of [|Norlatiadek], whom he termed [|El Elyon]—the [|Most High]. [|Melchizedek] remained all but [|silent] as to the [|status] of [|Lucifer] and the state of affairs on [|Jerusem]. [|Lanaforge], the [|System Sovereign], had little to do with [|Urantia] until after the completion of [|Michael's bestowal]. To a [|majority] of the [|Salem] [|students] [|Edentia] was [|heaven] and the [|Most High] was [|God]. 93:3.3 The [|symbol] of the [|three] [|concentric] [|circles], which [|Melchizedek] adopted as the insignia of his [|bestowal], a [|majority] of the people [|interpreted] as standing for the three kingdoms of [|men], [|angels], and [|God]. And they were allowed to continue in that [|belief]; very few of his followers ever knew that these three circles were emblematic of the [|infinity], [|eternity], and [|universality] of the [|Paradise Trinity] of [|divine] [|maintenance] and direction; even [|Abraham] rather regarded this [|symbol] as standing for the three [|Most Highs] of [|Edentia], as he had been instructed that the three [|Most Highs] functioned as one. To the extent that [|Melchizedek] taught the [|Trinity] concept symbolized in his insignia, he usually associated it with the three [|Vorondadek] rulers of the [|constellation] of [|Norlatiadek]. 93:3.4 To the rank and file of his followers he made no [|effort] to present teaching beyond the [|fact] of the rulership of the [|Most Highs] of [|Edentia]—Gods of [|Urantia]. But to some, [|Melchizedek] taught advanced [|truth], embracing the conduct and [|organization] of the [|local universe], while to his [|brilliant] [|disciple] [|Nordan] the [|Kenite] and his band of earnest [|students] he taught the [|truths] of the [|superuniverse] and even of [|Havona]. 93:3.5 The members of the [|family] of //Katro//, with whom [|Melchizedek] lived for more than thirty years, knew many of these higher [|truths] and long perpetuated them in their family, even to the days of their illustrious descendant [|Moses], who thus had a compelling [|tradition] of the days of [|Melchizedek] handed down to him on this, his [|father]'s side, as well as through other sources on his [|mother]'s side. 93:3.6 [|Melchizedek] taught his followers all they had [|capacity] to receive and assimilate. Even many [|modern] religious [|ideas] about [|heaven] and [|earth], of [|man], [|God], and [|angels], are not far removed from these teachings of [|Melchizedek]. But this great teacher subordinated [|everything] to the [|doctrine] of [|one God], a universe [|Deity], a heavenly [|Creator], a [|divine] [|Father]. Emphasis was placed upon this teaching for the [|purpose] of appealing to man's [|adoration] and of [|preparing] the way for the subsequent [|appearance] of [|Michael] as the Son of this same [|Universal Father]. 93:3.7 [|Melchizedek] taught that at some [|future] time another [|Son of God] would come in the [|flesh] as he had come, but that he would be born of a [|woman]; and that is why numerous later teachers held that [|Jesus] was a [|priest], or minister, "forever after the order of Melchizedek."[|[1]] 93:3.8 And thus did [|Melchizedek] [|prepare] the way and set the [|monotheistic] [|stage] of world [|tendency] for the [|bestowal of an actual Paradise Son of the one God], whom he so vividly portrayed as [|the Father] of all, and whom he [|represented] to [|Abraham] as a [|God] who would [|accept] man on the simple terms of [|personal] [|faith]. And [|Michael], when he appeared on [|earth], [|confirmed] all that [|Melchizedek] had taught concerning the [|Paradise Father]. 

93:4. THE SALEM RELIGION
93:4.1 The [|ceremonies] of the [|Salem] [|worship] were very simple. Every person who signed or marked the clay-tablet rolls of the [|Melchizedek] church committed to [|memory], and subscribed to, the following [|belief]: 93:4.5 And that was the whole of the [|creed] of the [|Salem] colony. But even such a short and simple [|declaration] of [|faith] was altogether too much and too advanced for the men of those days. They simply could not grasp the [|idea] of getting [|divine] [|favor] for nothing—by [|faith]. They were too deeply [|confirmed] in the [|belief] that man was born under forfeit to the gods. Too long and too [|earnestly] had they [|sacrificed] and made gifts to the [|priests] to be able to [|comprehend] the good news that [|salvation], [|divine] [|favor], was a [|free] gift to all who would believe in the [|Melchizedek] [|covenant]. But [|Abraham] did believe halfheartedly, and even that was "counted for righteousness."[|[2]] 93:4.6 The seven commandments promulgated by Melchizedek were [|patterned] along the lines of the [|ancient] [|Dalamatian supreme law] and very much resembled the [|seven] commands taught in the [|first] and [|second Edens]. These commands of the [|Salem] [|religion] were: 93:4.14 While no [|sacrifices] were permitted within the colony, [|Melchizedek] well knew how [|difficult] it is to suddenly uproot long-[|established] [|customs] and accordingly had wisely offered these people the substitute of a [|sacrament] of [|bread and wine] for the older [|sacrifice] of flesh and blood. It is of [|record], "Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine."[|[3]] But even this cautious [|innovation] was not altogether successful; the various [|tribes] all [|maintained] auxiliary centers on the outskirts of [|Salem] where they offered [|sacrifices] and burnt offerings. Even [|Abraham] resorted to this [|barbarous] [|practice] after his victory over [|Chedorlaomer]; he simply did not feel quite at ease until he had offered a [|conventional] [|sacrifice]. And [|Melchizedek] never did succeed in fully eradicating this proclivity to [|sacrifice] from the religious [|practices] of his followers, even of [|Abraham]. 93:4.15 Like [|Jesus], [|Melchizedek] attended strictly to the fulfillment of the mission of his [|bestowal]. He did not attempt to reform the [|mores], to change the [|habits] of the world, nor to promulgate even advanced sanitary practices or [|scientific] [|truths]. He came to achieve two tasks: to keep alive on [|earth] the [|truth] of the one [|God] and to [|prepare] the way for the subsequent [|mortal bestowal of a Paradise Son] of that Universal Father. 93:4.16 [|Melchizedek] taught elementary [|revealed] [|truth] at [|Salem] for ninety-four years, and during this time [|Abraham] attended the [|Salem] school three [|different] times. He finally became a [|convert] to the [|Salem] teachings, becoming one of [|Melchizedek]'s most [|brilliant] [|pupils] and chief supporters. 
 * 1. 93:4.2 I believe in [|El Elyon], the [|Most High] God, the only [|Universal Father] and [|Creator] of all things.
 * 2. 93:4.3 I accept the [|Melchizedek] [|covenant] with the [|Most High], which bestows the [|favor] of God on my [|faith], not on [|sacrifices] and burnt offerings.
 * 3. 93:4.4 I [|promise] to obey the seven commandments of [|Melchizedek] and to tell the good news of this [|covenant] with the [|Most High] to all men.
 * 1. 93:4.7 You shall not serve any [|God] but the [|Most High] [|Creator] of [|heaven] and [|earth].
 * 2. 93:4.8 You shall not [|doubt] that [|faith] is the only requirement for [|eternal] [|salvation].
 * 3. 93:4.9 You shall not bear false [|witness].
 * 4. 93:4.10 You shall not kill.
 * 5. 93:4.11 You shall not steal.
 * 6. 93:4.12 You shall not commit [|adultery].
 * 7. 93:4.13 You shall not show disrespect for your [|parents] and [|elders].

93:5. THE SELECTION OF ABRAHAM
93:5.1 Although it may be an [|error] to speak of "[|chosen people]," it is not a mistake to refer to [|Abraham] as a chosen [|individual]. [|Melchizedek] did lay upon [|Abraham] the [|responsibility] of keeping alive the [|truth] of one God as distinguished from the prevailing [|belief] in [|plural deities]. 93:5.2 The [|choice] of [|Palestine] as the site for [|Machiventa]'s [|activities] was in part predicated upon the [|desire] to [|establish] contact with some [|human] family embodying the [|potentials] of [|leadership]. At the time of the [|incarnation] of [|Melchizedek] there were many [|families] on [|earth] just as well [|prepared] to receive the [|doctrine] of [|Salem] as was that of [|Abraham]. There were equally [|endowed] families among the [|red men, the yellow men], and the descendants of the [|Andites] to the west and north. But, again, none of these localities were so favorably situated for [|Michael]'s subsequent [|appearance] on [|earth] as was the eastern shore of the [|Mediterranean Sea]. The [|Melchizedek] mission in [|Palestine] and the subsequent [|appearance] of [|Michael] among the [|Hebrew] people were in no small [|measure] determined by [|geography], by the [|fact] that [|Palestine] was centrally located with [|reference] to the then existent trade, travel, and [|civilization] of the world. 93:5.3 For some time the [|Melchizedek receivers] had been observing the [|ancestors] of [|Abraham], and they confidently expected [|offspring] in a certain [|generation] who would be characterized by [|intelligence], [|initiative], [|sagacity], and [|sincerity]. The children of [|Terah], the [|father] of [|Abraham], in every way met these [|expectations]. It was this [|possibility] of contact with these [|versatile] children of Terah that had considerable to do with the [|appearance] of [|Machiventa] at [|Salem], rather than in [|Egypt], [|China], [|India], or among the northern tribes. 93:5.4 [|Terah] and his whole [|family] were halfhearted converts to the [|Salem] [|religion], which had been preached in [|Chaldea]; they learned of [|Melchizedek] through the preaching of Ovid, a Phoenician teacher who proclaimed the [|Salem] doctrines in [|Ur]. They left Ur intending to go directly through to Salem, but [|Nahor], Abraham's brother, not having seen [|Melchizedek], was lukewarm and persuaded them to tarry at Haran. And it was a long time after they arrived in [|Palestine] before they were willing to destroy all of the household gods they had brought with them; they were slow to give up the many gods of [|Mesopotamia] for the one God of Salem. 93:5.5 A few weeks after the [|death] of [|Abraham]'s [|father], Terah, [|Melchizedek] sent one of his students, Jaram the Hittite, to extend this invitation to both [|Abraham] and [|Nahor]: "Come to Salem, where you shall hear our teachings of the truth of the eternal Creator, and in the enlightened offspring of you two brothers shall all the world be blessed."[|[4]] Now Nahor had not wholly [|accepted] the [|Melchizedek] gospel; he remained behind and built up a strong [|city-state] which bore his name; but [|Lot], Abraham's nephew, decided to go with his uncle to [|Salem]. 93:5.6 Upon arriving at [|Salem], [|Abraham] and [|Lot] chose a hilly fastness near the [|city] where they could defend themselves against the many surprise [|attacks] of northern raiders. At this time the [|Hittites], [|Assyrians], [|Philistines], and other groups were constantly raiding the [|tribes] of central and southern [|Palestine]. From their stronghold in the hills Abraham and Lot made frequent [|pilgrimages] to Salem. 93:5.7 Not long after they had [|established] themselves near [|Salem], Abraham and Lot [|journeyed] to the valley of the [|Nile] to obtain [|food] supplies as there was then a drought in [|Palestine]. During his brief [|sojourn] in Egypt Abraham found a distant relative on the Egyptian throne, and he served as the commander of two very successful [|military] expeditions for this king. During the latter part of his [|sojourn] on the [|Nile] he and his wife, Sarah, lived at [|court], and when leaving [|Egypt], he was given a [|share] of the spoils of his [|military] [|campaigns]. 93:5.8 It required great [|determination] for [|Abraham] to forego the honors of the Egyptian [|court] and return to the more [|spiritual] [|work] sponsored by [|Machiventa]. But [|Melchizedek] was [|revered] even in Egypt, and when the full [|story] was laid before Pharaoh, he strongly urged Abraham to return to the [|execution] of his [|vows] to the cause of [|Salem]. 93:5.9 Abraham had kingly [|ambitions], and on the way back from Egypt he laid before [|Lot] his plan to subdue all [|Canaan] and bring its people under the rule of [|Salem]. Lot was more bent on [|business]; so, after a later disagreement, he went to [|Sodom] to engage in trade and animal husbandry. Lot liked neither a [|military] nor a [|herder]'s life. 93:5.10 Upon returning with his [|family] to [|Salem], [|Abraham] began to [|mature] his [|military] projects. He was soon [|recognized] as the civil ruler of the [|Salem] territory and had [|confederated] under his [|leadership] seven near-by [|tribes]. Indeed, it was with great [|difficulty] that [|Melchizedek] restrained [|Abraham], who was fired with a zeal to go forth and round up the neighboring [|tribes] with the sword that they might thus more quickly be brought to a [|knowledge] of the [|Salem] [|truths]. 93:5.11 [|Melchizedek] maintained peaceful relations with all the [|surrounding] [|tribes]; he was not militaristic and was never attacked by any of the armies as they moved back and forth. He was entirely willing that [|Abraham] should formulate a defensive [|policy] for [|Salem] such as was subsequently put into [|effect], but he would not approve of his [|pupil]'s ambitious [|schemes] for [|conquest]; so there occurred a friendly severance of [|relationship], Abraham going over to [|Hebron] to establish his [|military] [|capital]. 93:5.12 [|Abraham], because of his close [|connection] with the illustrious [|Melchizedek], possessed great advantage over the [|surrounding] petty [|kings]; they all [|revered] [|Melchizedek] and unduly feared Abraham. [|Abraham] knew of this [|fear] and only awaited an opportune occasion to [|attack] his [|neighbors], and this excuse came when some of these rulers presumed to raid the [|property] of his nephew [|Lot], who dwelt in [|Sodom]. Upon hearing of this, Abraham, at the head of his seven [|confederated] [|tribes], moved on the enemy. His own bodyguard of 318 officered the army, numbering more than 4,000, which struck at this time. 93:5.13 When [|Melchizedek] heard of [|Abraham]'s declaration of [|war], he went forth to dissuade him but only caught up with his former [|disciple] as he returned victorious from the battle (of [|Mamre]). Abraham insisted that the [|God] of [|Salem] had given him victory over his enemies and [|persisted] in giving a tenth of his spoils to the Salem treasury. The other ninety per cent he removed to his [|capital] at [|Hebron]. 93:5.14 After this battle of [|Siddim], Abraham became [|leader] of a second [|confederation] of eleven [|tribes] and not only paid tithes to [|Melchizedek] but saw to it that all others in that vicinity did the same. His [|diplomatic] dealings with the [|king] of [|Sodom], together with the [|fear] in which he was so generally held, resulted in the king of Sodom and others joining the [|Hebron] [|military] [|confederation]; [|Abraham] was really well on the way to establishing a powerful [|state] in [|Palestine]. 

93:6. MELCHIZEDEK'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM
93:6.1 [|Abraham] envisaged the [|conquest] of all [|Canaan]. His [|determination] was only weakened by the [|fact] that [|Melchizedek] would not [|sanction] the undertaking. But [|Abraham] had about decided to embark upon the [|enterprise] when the [|thought] that he had no son to succeed him as ruler of this proposed kingdom began to worry him. He arranged another [|conference] with [|Melchizedek]; and it was in the [|course] of this interview that the [|priest] of [|Salem], the visible [|Son of God], persuaded [|Abraham] to abandon his scheme of [|material] [|conquest] and temporal rule in [|favor] of the [|spiritual] [|concept] of the kingdom of heaven. 93:6.2 [|Melchizedek] explained to [|Abraham] the futility of contending with the [|Amorite] [|confederation] but made it equally [|clear] that these backward [|clans] were certainly committing [|suicide] by their foolish [|practices] so that in a few [|generations] they would be so weakened that the descendants of [|Abraham], meanwhile greatly increased, could easily overcome them. 93:6.3 And [|Melchizedek] made a [|formal] [|covenant] with [|Abraham] at [|Salem]. Said he to Abraham: "Look now up to the heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall your seed be."[|[5]] And Abraham believed Melchizedek," and it was counted to him for righteousness."[|[6]] And then [|Melchizedek] told [|Abraham] the [|story] of the [|future] occupation of [|Canaan] by his [|offspring] after their [|sojourn] in [|Egypt]. 93:6.4 This [|covenant] of [|Melchizedek] with [|Abraham] [|represents] the great Urantian [|agreement] between [|divinity] and [|humanity] whereby [|God] agrees to do everything; man only agrees to [|believe] God's [|promises] and follow his instructions. Heretofore it had been believed that [|salvation] could be secured only by [|works]—[|sacrifices] and offerings; now, [|Melchizedek] again brought to [|Urantia] the good news that [|salvation], [|favor] with [|God], is to be had by [|faith]. But this [|gospel] of [|simple] [|faith] in God was too advanced; the [|Semitic] tribesmen subsequently preferred to go back to the older [|sacrifices] and [|atonement] for [|sin] by the shedding of blood. 93:6.5 It was not long after the [|establishment] of this [|covenant] that [|Isaac], the son of [|Abraham], was born in [|accordance] with the [|promise] of [|Melchizedek]. After the [|birth] of [|Isaac], Abraham took a very [|solemn] [|attitude] toward his [|covenant] with [|Melchizedek], going over to [|Salem] to have it stated in [|writing]. It was at this [|public] and [|formal] [|acceptance] of the [|covenant] that he changed his name from [|Abram] to [|Abraham]. 93:6.6 Most of the [|Salem] believers had [|practiced] [|circumcision], though it had never been made obligatory by [|Melchizedek]. Now [|Abraham] had always so opposed [|circumcision] that on this occasion he decided to solemnize the [|event] by formally [|accepting] this rite in token of the [|ratification] of the [|Salem] [|covenant]. 93:6.7 It was following this real and [|public] [|surrender] of his [|personal] [|ambitions] in behalf of the larger [|plans] of [|Melchizedek] that the [|three] [|celestial] [|beings] appeared to him on the plains of [|Mamre]. This was an [|appearance] of [|fact], notwithstanding its [|association] with the subsequently fabricated [|narratives] relating to the natural destruction of [|Sodom and Gomorrah]. And these [|legends] of the [|happenings] of those days indicate how retarded were the [|morals] and [|ethics] of even so recent a [|time]. 93:6.8 Upon the [|consummation] of the [|solemn] [|covenant], the [|reconciliation] between //Abraham// and [|Melchizedek] was complete. [|Abraham] again [|assumed] the [|civil] and [|military] [|leadership] of the [|Salem] colony, which at its height carried over one hundred thousand regular tithe payers on the rolls of the [|Melchizedek brotherhood]. Abraham greatly improved the [|Salem] [|temple] and provided new tents for the entire school. He not only extended the [|tithing system] but also instituted many improved [|methods] of conducting the [|business] of the school, besides contributing greatly to the better handling of the department of missionary [|propaganda]. He also did much to [|effect] improvement of the herds and the reorganization of the [|Salem] dairying projects. [|Abraham] was a shrewd and [|efficient] [|business] man, a [|wealthy] man for his day; he was not overly [|pious], but he was thoroughly [|sincere], and he did believe in [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek]. 

93:7. THE MELCHIZEDEK MISSIONARIES
93:7.1 [|Melchizedek] continued for some years to instruct his [|students] and to train the [|Salem] missionaries, who penetrated to all the [|surrounding] [|tribes], especially to [|Egypt], [|Mesopotamia], and [|Asia Minor]. And as the decades passed, these [|teachers] [|journeyed] farther and farther from [|Salem], carrying with them [|Machiventa]'s [|gospel] of [|belief] and [|faith] in [|God]. 93:7.2 The descendants of [|Adamson], clustered about the shores of the lake of [|Van], were willing listeners to the [|Hittite] [|teachers] of the [|Salem] [|cult]. From this onetime [|Andite] center, [|teachers] were dispatched to the remote regions of both [|Europe] and [|Asia]. [|Salem] missionaries penetrated all [|Europe], even to the [|British Isles]. One [|group] went by way of the [|Faroes] to the [|Andonites] of [|Iceland], while another traversed [|China] and reached the [|Japanese] of the eastern islands. The lives and [|experiences] of the men and women who ventured forth from [|Salem], [|Mesopotamia], and [|Lake Van] to [|enlighten] the [|tribes] of the [|Eastern Hemisphere] present a [|heroic] chapter in the annals of the [|human] race. 93:7.3 But the task was so great and the [|tribes] were so backward that the results were vague and indefinite. From one [|generation] to another the [|Salem] gospel found lodgment here and there, but except in [|Palestine], never was the [|idea] of [|one God] able to claim the continued [|allegiance] of a whole [|tribe] or [|race]. Long before the coming of [|Jesus] the teachings of the early [|Salem] missionaries had become generally submerged in the older and more [|universal] [|superstitions] and [|beliefs]. The [|original] [|Melchizedek] gospel had been almost wholly absorbed in the [|beliefs] in the [|Great Mother], the [|Sun], and other [|ancient] [|cults]. 93:7.4 You who today enjoy the advantages of the [|art] of [|printing] little [|understand] how [|difficult] it was to [|perpetuate] [|truth] during these earlier times; how easy it was to lose [|sight] of a new [|doctrine] from one [|generation] to another. There was always a [|tendency] for the new [|doctrine] to become [|absorbed] into the older body of [|religious] teaching and [|magical] [|practice]. A new [|revelation] is always contaminated by the [|older] evolutionary [|beliefs]. 

93:8. DEPARTURE OF MELCHIZEDEK
93:8.1 It was shortly after the destruction of [|Sodom and Gomorrah] that [|Machiventa] decided to end his [|emergency] [|bestowal] on [|Urantia]. [|Melchizedek]'s [|decision] to terminate his [|sojourn] in the [|flesh] was [|influenced] by numerous conditions, chief of which was the growing [|tendency] of the [|surrounding] [|tribes], and even of his [|immediate] associates, to regard him as a [|demigod], to look upon him as a [|supernatural] [|being], which indeed he was; but they were beginning to [|reverence] him unduly and with a highly [|superstitious] [|fear]. In addition to these reasons, [|Melchizedek] wanted to leave the scene of his [|earthly] [|activities] a sufficient length of time before [|Abraham]'s [|death] to insure that the [|truth] of the [|one and only God] would become strongly [|established] in the [|minds] of his followers. Accordingly [|Machiventa] retired one night to his tent at [|Salem], having said good night to his [|human] companions, and when they went to call him in the morning, he was not there, for his fellows had taken him. 

93:9. AFTER MELCHIZEDEK'S DEPARTURE
93:9.1 It was a great [|trial] for [|Abraham] when [|Melchizedek] so suddenly disappeared. Although he had fully warned his followers that he must sometime go as he had come, they were not [|reconciled] to the loss of their [|wonderful] [|leader]. The great [|organization] built up at [|Salem] nearly disappeared, though the [|traditions] of these days were what [|Moses] built upon when he led the [|Hebrew] [|slaves] out of [|Egypt]. 93:9.2 The loss of [|Melchizedek] produced a sadness in the [|heart] of [|Abraham] that he never fully overcame. [|Hebron] he had abandoned when he gave up the [|ambition] of building a [|material] kingdom; and now, upon the loss of his [|associate] in the building of the [|spiritual] kingdom, he departed from [|Salem], going south to live near his interests at [|Gerar]. 93:9.3 [|Abraham] became [|fearful] and timid [|immediately] after the disappearance of [|Melchizedek]. He withheld his [|identity] upon arrival at [|Gerar], so that [|Abimelech] appropriated his [|wife]. (Shortly after his [|marriage] to [|Sarah], [|Abraham] one night had overheard a plot to murder him in order to get his [|brilliant] [|wife]. This dread became a [|terror] to the otherwise [|brave] and daring [|leader]; all his life he feared that someone would kill him [|secretly] in order to get [|Sarah]. And this [|explains] why, on three separate occasions, this brave man exhibited real cowardice.) 93:9.4 But [|Abraham] was not long to be deterred in his mission as the successor of [|Melchizedek]. Soon he made [|converts] among the [|Philistines] and of [|Abimelech]'s people, made a [|treaty] with them, and, in turn, became contaminated with many of their [|superstitions], particularly with their [|practice] of sacrificing first-born sons. Thus did [|Abraham] again become a great [|leader] in [|Palestine]. He was held in [|reverence] by all [|groups] and honored by all [|kings]. He was the [|spiritual] [|leader] of all the [|surrounding] [|tribes], and his [|influence] continued for some time after his [|death]. During the closing years of his life he once more returned to [|Hebron], the scene of his earlier [|activities] and the place where he had worked in [|association] with [|Melchizedek]. [|Abraham]'s last [|act] was to send trusty servants to the [|city] of his [|brother], [|Nahor], on the border of [|Mesopotamia], to secure a [|woman] of his own people as a [|wife] for his son [|Isaac]. It had long been the [|custom] of [|Abraham]'s people to marry their cousins. And [|Abraham] died [|confident] in that [|faith] in [|God] which he had learned from [|Melchizedek] in the vanished schools of [|Salem]. 93:9.5 It was hard for the next [|generation] to [|comprehend] the [|story] of [|Melchizedek]; within five hundred years many regarded the whole [|narrative] as a [|myth]. [|Isaac] held fairly well to the teachings of his [|father] and nourished the [|gospel] of the [|Salem] colony, but it was harder for [|Jacob] to grasp the significance of these [|traditions]. [|Joseph] was a firm believer in [|Melchizedek] and was, largely because of this, regarded by his brothers as a [|dreamer]. Joseph's [|honor] in [|Egypt] was chiefly due to the [|memory] of his great-grandfather [|Abraham]. Joseph was offered [|military] command of the Egyptian armies, but being such a firm believer in the [|traditions] of [|Melchizedek] and the later teachings of [|Abraham] and [|Isaac], he elected to serve as a [|civil] [|administrator], believing that he could thus better labor for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. 93:9.6 The teaching of [|Melchizedek] was full and replete, but the [|records] of these days seemed impossible and [|fantastic] to the later [|Hebrew] [|priests], although many had some [|understanding] of these [|transactions], at least up to the times of the en masse editing of the [|Old Testament] records in [|Babylon]. 93:9.7 What the [|Old Testament] records describe as [|conversations] between [|Abraham] and [|God] were in [|reality] [|conferences] between Abraham and [|Melchizedek]. Later scribes regarded the term [|Melchizedek] as synonymous with [|God]. The [|record] of so many [|contacts] of Abraham and [|Sarah] with "the angel of the Lord"[|[7]] refers to their numerous visits with [|Melchizedek]. 93:9.8 The [|Hebrew] [|narratives] of [|Isaac], [|Jacob], and [|Joseph] are far more reliable than those about [|Abraham], although they also contain many diversions from the [|facts], alterations made [|intentionally] and unintentionally at the time of the compilation of these [|records] by the [|Hebrew] [|priests] during the [|Babylonian captivity]. [|Keturah] was not a [|wife] of Abraham; like [|Hagar], she was merely a [|concubine]. All of Abraham's [|property] went to Isaac, the son of Sarah, the [|status] [|wife]. [|Abraham] was not so old as the records indicate, and his wife was much younger. These ages were deliberately altered in order to provide for the subsequent alleged [|miraculous] [|birth] of [|Isaac]. 93:9.9 The national [|ego] of the [|Jews] was tremendously [|depressed] by the [|Babylonian captivity]. In their [|reaction] against national inferiority they swung to the other extreme of [|national] and racial [|egotism], in which they distorted and [|perverted] their [|traditions] with the view of exalting themselves above all races as the [|chosen people] of [|God]; and hence they carefully [|edited] all their [|records] for the [|purpose] of raising [|Abraham] and their other national [|leaders] high up above all other [|persons], not excepting [|Melchizedek] himself. The [|Hebrew] scribes therefore destroyed every [|record] of these momentous times which they could find, preserving only the [|narrative] of the meeting of [|Abraham] and [|Melchizedek] after the battle of [|Siddim], which they deemed [|reflected] great [|honor] upon [|Abraham]. 93:9.10 And thus, in losing sight of [|Melchizedek], they also lost sight of the teaching of this [|emergency Son] regarding the spiritual mission of the promised [|bestowal Son]; lost sight of the [|nature] of this mission so fully and completely that very few of their [|progeny] were able or willing to [|recognize] and receive [|Michael] when he appeared on [|earth] and in the flesh as [|Machiventa] had foretold. 93:9.11 But one of the [|writers] of the [|Book of Hebrews] understood the mission of [|Melchizedek], for it is written: "This Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, was also king of peace; without father, without mother, without pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like a Son of God, he abides a priest continually."[|[8]] This [|writer] designated [|Melchizedek] as a type of the later [|bestowal] of [|Michael], affirming that [|Jesus] was "a minister forever on the order of Melchizedek."[|[9]] While this comparison was not altogether fortunate, it was [|literally] true that [|Christ] did receive provisional title to [|Urantia] "upon the orders of the twelve [|Melchizedek receivers]" on [|duty] at the time of his [|world bestowal]. 

93:10. PRESENT STATUS OF MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK
93:10.1 During the years of [|Machiventa]'s [|incarnation] the [|Urantia] [|Melchizedek receivers] functioned as eleven. When Machiventa [|considered] that his mission as an emergency Son was finished, he signalized this [|fact] to his eleven associates, and they [|immediately] made ready the [|technique] whereby he was to be released from the [|flesh] and safely restored to his original [|Melchizedek] [|status]. And on the third day after his disappearance from [|Salem] he appeared among his eleven fellows of the [|Urantia] assignment and resumed his interrupted [|career] as one of the [|planetary receivers] of 606 of [|Satania]. 93:10.2 [|Machiventa] terminated his [|bestowal] as a [|creature] of flesh and blood just as suddenly and unceremoniously as he had begun it. Neither his [|appearance] nor departure were accompanied by any unusual announcement or [|demonstration]; neither [|resurrection] roll call nor ending of planetary [|dispensation] marked his [|appearance] on [|Urantia]; his was an [|emergency bestowal]. But [|Machiventa] did not end his [|sojourn] in the flesh of human beings until he had been duly released by the [|Father Melchizedek] and had been informed that his emergency bestowal had received the approval of the [|chief executive] of [|Nebadon], [|Gabriel] of [|Salvington]. 93:10.3 [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek] continued to take a great interest in the affairs of the [|descendants] of those men who had believed in his teachings when he was in the [|flesh]. But the [|progeny] of [|Abraham] through [|Isaac] as intermarried with the [|Kenites] were the only line which long continued to nourish any clear [|concept] of the [|Salem] teachings. 93:10.4 This same [|Melchizedek] continued to [|collaborate] throughout the nineteen succeeding centuries with the many [|prophets] and [|seers], thus endeavoring to keep alive the [|truths] of [|Salem] until the fullness of the time for [|Michael]'s [|appearance] on [|earth]. 93:10.5 [|Machiventa] continued as a [|planetary receiver] up to the times of the triumph of [|Michael] on [|Urantia]. Subsequently, he was attached to the [|Urantia] service on [|Jerusem] as one of the [|four and twenty] directors, only just recently having been elevated to the position of [|personal] [|ambassador] on [|Jerusem] of the [|Creator Son], bearing the title Vicegerent [|Planetary Prince] of [|Urantia]. It is our [|belief] that, as long as [|Urantia] remains an [|inhabited planet], [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek] will not be fully returned to the [|duties] of his order of sonship but will remain, speaking in the terms of time, forever a planetary minister representing [|Christ] [|Michael]. 93:10.6 As his was an [|emergency bestowal] on [|Urantia], it does not appear from the [|records] what Machiventa's [|future] may be. It may [|develop] that the [|Melchizedek] corps of [|Nebadon] have sustained the permanent loss of one of their number. Recent rulings handed down from the [|Most Highs] of [|Edentia], and later confirmed by the [|Ancients of Days] of [|Uversa], strongly suggest that this bestowal Melchizedek is destined to take the place of the fallen [|Planetary Prince], [|Caligastia]. If our conjectures in this respect are correct, it is altogether possible that [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek] may again appear in person on [|Urantia] and in some [|modified] [|manner] resume the role of the dethroned [|Planetary Prince], or else appear on [|earth] to function as vicegerent Planetary Prince representing [|Christ] [|Michael], who now actually holds the title of Planetary Prince of [|Urantia]. While it is far from [|clear] to us as to what [|Machiventa]'s [|destiny] may be, nevertheless, [|events] which have so recently taken place strongly suggest that the foregoing conjectures are probably not far from the [|truth]. 93:10.7 We well [|understand] how, by his triumph on [|Urantia], [|Michael] became the successor of both [|Caligastia] and [|Adam]; how he became the planetary //[|Prince of Peace]// and the //[|second Adam]//. And now we behold the conferring upon this [|Melchizedek] of the title Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia. Will he also be constituted Vicegerent [|Material Son] of Urantia? Or is there a possibility that an unexpected and unprecedented [|event] is to take place, the sometime return to the [|planet] of [|Adam and Eve] or certain of their progeny as [|representatives] of [|Michael] with the titles vicegerents of the [|second Adam] of [|Urantia]? 93:10.8 And all these [|speculations] associated with the certainty of [|future] appearances of both [|Magisterial] and [|Trinity Teacher Sons], in conjunction with the explicit [|promise] of the [|Creator Son] to return sometime, make [|Urantia] a planet of [|future] uncertainty and render it one of the most interesting and [|intriguing] [|spheres] in all the [|universe] of [|Nebadon]. It is altogether possible that, in some [|future] age when [|Urantia] is approaching the era of [|light and life], after the affairs of the [|Lucifer rebellion] and the [|Caligastia secession] have been finally [|adjudicated], we may [|witness] the [|presence] on [|Urantia], simultaneously, of [|Machiventa], [|Adam, Eve], and [|Christ] [|Michael], as well as either a [|Magisterial Son] or even [|Trinity Teacher Sons]. 93:10.9 It has long been the [|opinion] of our order that [|Machiventa]'s [|presence] on the [|Jerusem] corps of Urantia directors, the [|four and twenty counselors], is sufficient [|evidence] to warrant the [|belief] that he is destined to follow the [|mortals] of [|Urantia] on through the [|universe] [|scheme] of [|progression] and [|ascension] even to the [|Paradise] [|Corps of the Finality]. We know that [|Adam and Eve] are thus destined to accompany their [|earth] fellows on the [|Paradise adventure] when [|Urantia] has become settled in [|light and life]. 93:10.10 Less than a thousand years ago this same [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek], the onetime [|sage] of [|Salem], was [|invisibly] present on [|Urantia] for a period of one hundred years, acting as resident governor general of the [|planet]; and if the present system of directing planetary affairs should continue, he will be due to return in the same capacity in a little over one thousand years. 93:10.11 This is the [|story] of [|Machiventa] [|Melchizedek], one of the most [|unique] of all characters ever to become [|connected] with the [|history] of [|Urantia] and a [|personality] who may be destined to play an important role in the [|future] experience of your irregular and [|unusual] world. 93:10.12 Presented by a [|Melchizedek] of [|Nebadon].