Melchizedek, Abraham, and Levi
7
📚For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 📚and Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything. By interpretation he is first “King of righteousness”, and then “King of Salem” also, that is, “King of peace”. 3 📚Being without father, without mother, and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, he is made like the Son of God and remains a priest continually.7:1-3 Melchizedek was a type or picture of Christ who is both king and priest – Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20. Melchizedek appears only once in the history of the Old Testament – Gen 14:18-20, and is mentioned only once more in the Bible until this letter to the Hebrews – Ps 110:4. We know nothing more about him. The language here in v 3 is obscure. Because of it some scholars think he was actually Christ Himself. But if Melchizedek was literally the king of Salem in the land of Canaan then he could not have been Christ. And the writer here says he was “like” the Son of God, not that he was the Son of God.
What does it mean, then, that he was without “father or mother”, etc? It probably means that there is no record of any of these in the Bible. We know nothing of his parents, his genealogy, his birth and death. He suddenly appears in the Bible and remains there always the same, always a king and priest, a picture pointing to Christ. He is a good picture. Christ is the King of righteousness, the King of peace, who is greater than Abraham, and who has no beginning and no end (Heb 1:2-3, 8, 10-12), and who is Priest forever (Heb 5:6).⚜
4 📚Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the plunder. 5 📚Certainly those who are of the sons of Levi 📖 who receive the office of the priesthood are commanded according to the Law to take tithes 📖 from the people, that is, from their brethren, even though they are descended from Abraham. 6 📚But he whose descent is not traced from them 📖 received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him 📖 who had the promises. 7 📚And without any contradiction the less is blessed by the greater 📖. 8 📚And here 📖 men that die receive tithes. But there 📖 they are received by one about whom it is affirmed that he lives 📖. 9 📚And, I may say, Levi also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. 10 📚For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
7:4-10 The writer shows the greatness of Melchizedek – he was greater than Abraham (vs 4-8), and greater than Levi (vs 9,10). This means higher in position. His purpose in showing this is to show that Christ’s priesthood is greater than the priesthood of the tribe of Levi.⚜
7:9-10 Melchizedek was in a higher position than anyone descended from Abraham, including Levi and the priests of that tribe. Levi was born about 150 years after Abraham paid a tenth to Melchizedek.⚜
As High Priest Christ is like Melchizedek
11 📚 Therefore, if perfection 📖 came by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the Law 📖), what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron 📖? 12 📚But the priesthood having been changed, it is necessary that there be a change of the law also.
7:12 The law and the Old Testament priesthood were tied together. Since the one failed the whole system failed, the whole old covenant failed (this the writer shows in chapter 8). And God laid it aside and brought in something new and better.⚜
13 📚For the one about whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, and from it no man served at the altar. 14 📚For it is evident that our Lord sprang from Judah 📖, and about this tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.
15 📚And this matter is far more evident, since according to the likeness of Melchizedek another priest arises, 16 📚who has become one, not according to the law having to do with a command concerning bodily origins, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 📚For he declares,
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
7:15-17 The writer has said that there has been a change in the priesthood and the law – v 12. This is clear not only because God has appointed one of the tribe of Judah as high priest, but because God did so on a new basis. The OT priests were chosen strictly according to their ancestry. They had to be descendants of Levi and Aaron. But God chose Christ because of His “endless life” – vs 16,24.⚜
7:17 The writer is showing that this prophecy in Ps 110:4 was also a prophecy about God’s setting aside the whole old covenant with its priesthood and law.⚜
The Old Covenant priesthood was weak, and could not do what needed to be done
18 📚For without doubt the previous commandment 📖 has been annulled because of its weakness and uselessness. 19 📚For the Law made nothing perfect, but bringing in a better hope 📖 did, and by this hope we draw near to God.
7:11-19 In the remainder of this chapter (and on to Heb 10:18) the writer shows how Christ as priest is far superior to the priests of Levi’s tribe. In these verses he begins by showing that the Old Testament priesthood was completely unsatisfactory. If it had been able to accomplish what God wanted done God would not have promised another kind of priest after the order of Melchizedek.⚜
Christ became High Priest though God’s promise
20 And since he was not made a priest without an oath 21 📚(those priests were made such without an oath, but this one with an oath by him who said to him,
The Lord swore and will not change his mind,
You are a priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek),
22 📚so much more surely has Jesus become a guarantee of a better covenant.
7:20-22 The writer gives another reason why Christ’s priesthood is superior to the priesthood of Levi’s descendants. When God appointed Christ as high priest He promised very solemnly that He would be priest. There was nothing like this in the case of the priests of Levi’s tribe. God’s oath reveals His unchangeable purpose – Heb 6:17. He wanted the Jews (and us) to be absolutely sure about the priesthood of Christ. That priesthood is at the very foundation of salvation for men. If Christ is not a priest after the order of Melchizedek there is no salvation for anyone, ever. “A better covenant” (v 22) – the writer takes this up in Heb 8:6-13.⚜
Christ’s priesthood is eternal
23 📚And in fact they were many priests, for they were prevented from continuing because of death. 24 📚But this man, because he goes on forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 📚Therefore he is able also to save to the utmost those who come to God through him, because 📖 he always lives to make intercession for them.
7:23-25 Here is another reason why Christ as priest is greater than the priests of the Old Testament. Christ’s priesthood is permanent, theirs was not. Each high priest in Israel died and left his work and position to another. Between Aaron and 70 AD (when the temple was destroyed) there were more than eighty high priests. Jesus lives and carries on His work forever. As a result He is able to save His people forever.⚜
7:25 The word translated “utmost” could also be translated “completely” or “forever”. Perhaps all these ideas are here. Jesus saves people perfectly and for all time and eternity. But He saves only “those who come to God through Him” – people who accept Him as the one way to God (John 14:6), as the one Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), as the one sacrifice for their sins (v 27; Heb 9:28; 10:10; 1 Pet 3:18).⚜
Christ is the High Priest who meets people’s real needs
26 📚For such a high priest is fitting for us. He is holy, blameless, undefiled, separate from sinners 📖, and exalted above the heavens 📖, 27 📚who does not need to offer up sacrifice daily, as those high priests, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people, for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. 28 📚For the Law ordains as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath 📖, which was after the Law 📖, ordains the Son who is consecrated forever 📖.
7:26-28 The writer gives another reason why Christ’s priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priesthood: Christ Himself is far superior to all those priests. He meets our real need; none of them ever could. He is perfectly holy; they were sinful and needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins. They had to make sacrifices again and again for the people; He took away their sins once and for all by His one sacrifice of Himself. They were weak men; He is the Son of God.⚜