3-042-463 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Border with the Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek; Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, about 1525-1530. Additional Info: Abraham, in a sumptuously plumed helmet, triumphantly returns with his army to Salem after rescuing his nephew from captivity. Melchizedek, king of Salem, greets him at the city gates and offers him bread and wine in honor of his victory. Christians interpreted this event as an Old Testament prefiguration of the Last Supper, which appears on the opposite page. At the Last Supper, Christ had offered bread and wine to his disciples, telling them that it was his flesh and blood.