Then Melchizedek king of Salem... blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tithe of all. (Gen 14,18-20)

The desire and essential character of the King of Peace is above all to bless. Even when God called Abram, he promised him a blessing over his life. It was a blessing to come as a result of his steps of obedience, and it is the foundation without which mere words do not work. On the other hand, Melchizedek has now blessed Abram, and it is clear that the words spoken in this way were to manifest their power. It is the first blessing uttered in this way over his life, not by man, but by the Son of God himself.

We do not know what Melchizedek and Abram talked about. But one thing is certain: Abram recognized in him someone who has spiritual authority, who does not speak in vain and whose words have great weight. If he were a spiritual juggler, of which there have been many on earth since then, he would not give him tithing "of everything", that is, of all the spoils of war. It was certainly one of the largest tithes ever given - if we consider that Sodom had at least hundreds of inhabitants, it must have been the complete fortune of dozens of people, which, converted to today's conditions, amounted to many hundreds of thousands dollars.

So what I wrote last time doesn't apply, and yet one has something to give to God? Is it possible to buy his blessing with something, or at least repay it?

No, God is not waiting for us to pay him and He is not finished without our money. Melchizedek himself also asked Abram for nothing. But Abram gave him tithes as an expression of gratitude for preserving his life and for the well-being of a risky expedition that could have meant the death of himself and those close to him. Abram's money did not cause or repay the blessing, but it did accompany it. It is obvious that at that time the tithe already was an allowance (tax) to kings and priests. In ancient empires, priests were the backbone of the system, similar to today's civil servants, and tithes are an indication of how many of them performed their activity for living. It is also a confirmation of the fact that the ancient Egyptians already counted in the decimal system.