![\"laurencefishburne\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2014\/12\/laurencefishburne.png\")
<\/a>I\u2019ve been doing a lot of research into films based on the book of Genesis lately, so I was intrigued to hear, via The Tracking Board<\/a>, that Laurence Fishburne may play Melchizedek in an adaptation of Paulo Coelho\u2019s The Alchemist<\/i>, which Fishburne himself is slated to direct.<\/p>\nI haven\u2019t read the book, which concerns a Spanish shepherd who goes to Egypt, so I have no idea how closely the book\u2019s Melchizedek corresponds to the Melchizedek of the Bible<\/a>. But Wikipedia<\/a> says the book\u2019s Melchizedek is \u201cthe king of Salem\u201d, which fits. It also says he gives the book\u2019s protagonist \u201cthe magical stones Urim and Thummim\u201d and that he wears \u201ca gold breastplate encrusted with precious stones\u201d \u2014 both of which sound like something we would normally associate with the Israelite priesthood, which didn\u2019t exist until long after the biblical Melchizedek\u2019s time.<\/p>\n Melchizedek gets only one mention in the Torah, but he has been the subject of much speculation and extrapolation<\/a> for Jews and Christians alike. A reference to him in Psalm 110<\/a> is quoted multiple times in the New Testament\u2019s Book of Hebrews<\/a>, which sees Melchizedek as a precursor of Christ, for example. Various traditions have suggested that he might have been identical to Noah\u2019s son Shem, or that he might have been a Christophany, i.e. a preincarnate appearance of Jesus, etc., etc.<\/p>\n Off the top of my head, I can think of only two films that have depicted Melchizedek so far. One is the Genesis Project<\/a>\u2019s word-for-word adaptation of Genesis \u2014 starring Fiddler on the Roof<\/i>\u2019s Topol as Abraham! \u2014 which was made in the 1970s:<\/p>\n