Hebrews 7:4

Consider how great this man was - There is something exceedingly mysterious in the person and character of this king of Salem; and to find out the whole is impossible. He seems to have been a sort of universal priest, having none superior to him in all that region; and confessedly superior even to Abraham himself, the father of the faithful, and the source of the Jewish race. See Hebrews 7:7 .

The patriarch Abraham - Ὁ πατριαρχης· Either from πατηρ , a father, and αρχη , a chief or head; or from πατριας αρχη , the head of a family.' But the title is here applied, by way of eminence, to him who was the head or chief of all the fathers - or patriarch of the patriarchs, and father of the faithful. The Syriac translates it Rish Abahatha , "head of the fathers." The character and conduct of Abraham place him, as a man, deservedly at the head of the human race.