Sunday, May 4, 2008

Hebrews 7

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham and Aaron


   Chapter 7 picks up again from Chapter 5 verse 10 and Chapter 6 verse 20::

And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek ... Jesus has already gone in there
for us. He has become our eternal High
Priest in the order of Melchizedek.


(1) This *Melchizedek was king of the city of **Salem and also a priest of ***God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him.


Genesis 14:18-20: And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.


*Melchizedek: His name means "king of righteousness", from the Hebrew words melek (king) and sedeq (righteousness). Salem means "peace". So, He is also "king of peace."

Zechariah 6:12-13: Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Here is the man called the Branch. He will branch out from where he is and build the Temple of the Lord. Yes, he will build the Temple of the Lord. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne, and there will be perfect harmony between his two roles.’

 Psalm 110:4: The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”


   There were Jews then (and now) who were claiming that Jesus could not have been a priest since He was from the tribe of Judah, and not of Levi, from which the Aaronic priesthood was derived. They argued that since Jesus had not come from that particular stock, He was excluded from being a priest. The author of Hebrews argued that Melchizedek was a priest of God even though he was not of the Levitical line, nor even a Jew. Not only did the author demonstrate that Melchizedek's lineage was not Levitical, but he went so far as to assert that Melchizedek was superior to the priests of the Levitical line.
In order to support his idea that Jesus' priesthood was according to Melchizedek's order, the author cited Psalm 110:4, a messianic prophecy which predicted that the Messiah would be a priest after the Melchizedek order (Hebrews 5:6; 7:17, 21). Since Jesus' priesthood was of the same order as that of Melchizedek, His lineage need not be Levitical/Aaronic. As was Melchizedek, Jesus' priesthood was superior to that of the Law of Moses. By noting both the existence of a priesthood apart from the Levitical/Aaronic line, and by demonstrating that the Law itself predicted the replacement of the Aaronic order with the Melchizedek order, the author could successfully authenticate Jesus' identity as a priest without having come from the Levitical line, and thereby demonstrate that this change in the order of priesthood necessitated a changing of covenants, which God had intended long before.


   In a document found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Melchizedek is presented as a future figure who will deliver the people. He is described in terms of "El" (God) and "Elohim" (elohim usually means ‘God’ but angels are also sometimes called ‘elohim’ to indicate heavenly status) and Isaiah 61:1-2 is quoted in reference to him. This redemption is also tied in with the Day of Atonement and the year of Jubilee, the year of liberty. Such speculation about Melchizedek seems to have been rife at the time for Philo, the Jewish philosopher in Egypt, also likened Melchizedek to the Logos, the eternal ‘reason’. There was thus a background at the time suggesting the continuing, almost divine, existence of Melchizedek, the priest-king.


**Salem: The Jebusites took possession of Salem and called it Jebus-Salem, later named Jerusalem. Then we read in Joshua 10 about Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, who was defeated by Joshua.


***God Most High: Hebrew El Elyon.


   Uzziah was a powerful king who had ascended to the throne of David at only 16 years of age. But his success brought pride and caused his downfall. Ignoring the warnings of the High Priest and 80 other priests, he attempted to burn incense at the altar in the Temple just outside the Holy of Holies. This angered the Lord who afflicted him with leprosy which tormented him to his dying day. His son Jotham ruled in his place. (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)


(2) Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.”


(3) There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.


   Melchizedek is presented to us without reference to any human qualifications for office. His genealogy is not recorded, required in the case of Aaron's sons. Ordinary priests began their service at thirty and ended at fifty. The high priest succeeded on the day of his predecessor's death. Melchizedek has no such dates recorded. He had neither beginning of days nor end of life. We only know that he lived and thus a type of Jesus Who lives forever. The author presents Melchizedek as superior on the basis of the eternal nature of his priesthood.


   To the Jews, a traceable genealogy was critical for the priesthood. If one could not prove his lineage he was barred from being a priest (Nehemiah 7:64). There is no recorded genealogy of Melchizedek. It was not important because his priesthood was not dependant on it. His lineage did not affect his right to the priesthood. The author went on to say in Hebrews 7:13-17 that the Law foretold of a day in which the Melchizedek priesthood would arise again. Since under the Law of Moses the priesthood had to be of the Aaronic order, this gave evidence that the Law would one day be abolished in favor of a new covenant and consequently a new priesthood. The Law needed to be abolished because it demanded that the priests have their lineage through Aaron, not Melchizedek. After the Law was abolished through Christ's death and the New Covenant was instituted with His blood, Jesus had no need to be in the lineage of Levi to serve as a priest of God. He could be of the stock of Judah and still be a priest under the order of Melchizedek, for there was no genealogical requirement for this order. The two priesthoods were of a different sort and order, serving two different purposes, at different times.


   Ungers Bible Dictionary states "Without father, etc. refers to priestly genealogies. Melchizedek is not found on the register of the only line of legitimate priests ; no record of his name is there; his father's name is not recorded, nor his mother’s; no evidence points to his line of descent from Aaron. It is not affirmed that he had no father, that he was not born at any time, or died on any day; but that these facts were nowhere found on the register of the Levitical priesthood."


(4) Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.


(5) Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham


(6) But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God.


(7) And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.


(8) The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on.


(9) In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him.


(10) For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.


   Under the law of Moses, Levi and the priests received tithes from the other tribes. But Israel's priests, centuries before they were born, gave tithes to Melchizedek in the person of Abraham. Therefore, Melchizedek was greater than Aaron and Melchizedek's priesthood was superior to Aaron's priesthood.


(11) So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?


(12) And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it.


   The grand conclusion of his argument is set forth in Hebrews 7:12.


(13) For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests.


(14) What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.


Revelation 5:5: But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”


Jesus Is like Melchizedek


(15) This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared.


(16) Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.


(17) And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”


Psalm 110:4: The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”


(18) Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless.


(19) For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a *better hope, through which we draw near to God.


Galatians 3:24: Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.


*better hope: better hope here; better covenant 7:22; better promises 8:6; better sacrifices 8:23; a better substance 10:34; a better country 11:16; a better resurrection 11:35; a better thing 11:40;. In chapter 1, Christ is shown to be better than angels; in 3, better than Moses; in 4, better than Joshua; in 7, better than Aaron; in 10, better than the law.


(20) This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,


(21) but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”


Psalm 110:4 as in verse 17.


(22) Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.


(23) There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.


(24) But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.


(25) Therefore he is able, once and forever, to *save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to **intercede with God on their behalf.


*save: Or is able to save completely.


**intercede means He continually represents us before the Father, so that we can draw near through Him, and that He defends us against Satanic accusation and attack.


Romans 8:33-34: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one - for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.


(26) He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the *highest place of honor in heaven.


*highest place of honor in heaven: Or has been exalted higher than the heavens.


Ephesians 4:10: And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.


(27) Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.


(28) The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.


   Those who would continue to look to the Temple as central in their worship must inevitably look to the levitical priesthood with its symbols. But that is to live in the past and to look to something whose effectiveness has now ceased. But those who would look higher, to what is real, to Heaven itself, who recognize that God’s Messiah has come, must now in the light of what Jesus has done, turn to the superior priesthood ‘after the order of Melchizedek’, the eternal priesthood of which Jesus is now the sole representative. They must look to Him.


   The superiority of the priesthood of Christ is evidenced by his perfect character which required no further sacrifice than that of himself, one time on the cross, while the high priest of the Levitical priesthood had to offer for himself each year, and then for the people. The Scriptures speak of two covenants: a "new covenant" (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 9:13) which necessarily implies an "old covenant". The old one was to pass away (Hebrews 9:13). Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:6,14 speaks of a "new covenant" and of an "old covenant", and in his allegory in Galatians 4:21-31, speaks of "two covenants" (verse 24). Christ is the "mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 9:15; 12:24), which is contrasted with the old covenant of Mt. Sinai (12:18-21). There being a "new" covenant, the previous covenant of necessity is made "old" (8:13). The "new covenant" is better, being enacted upon better promises (7:22; 8:6). The old one was faulty while the new one is faultless (8:7,8; Romans 8:3). The first one could not take away sins in actuality (but only figuratively or typically), while the second one could (10:1-18). For this reason the first covenant is called a "ministration of death" and of "condemnation", while the new covenant is called a "ministration of righteousness", written on the hearts of men (2 Corinthians 3:7,9; Hebrews 10:16). The old was to pass away while the new one was to remain (2 Corinthians 3:11). The Israelite, by reason of fleshly birth, were under the first covenant (Genesis 15:18; 17:7,8), but only those born again (John 3:3-7) are in the new covenant. The old was "done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14) while the new one is eternal (Hebrews 13:20). The new one, the New Testament, was dedicated by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:15-22). The old covenant was one of bondage while the new is one of freedom (Galatians 5:1). The new one is the "new and living way" (Hebrews 10:20).


   Previous to Moses' time period, sacrifices were offered by the head of the family as with Job. The priest was the father or grandfather- the oldest male in the family line. As the family grew to be a tribe, the head of the tribe came to be the king as well as the priest, so he was the priest/king of their tribe. Later on into the days of Moses, the 12 tribes had grown to be the nation of Israel which God delivered out of their bondage. A priesthood was created from Aaron, out of the tribe of Levi which became the Levitical priesthood order for the sacrificial system. Later, another family was set apart for being the kings, the family of David. The king was then to rule the people and the priest was to mediate between God and man through the sacrificial system. No king could be a priest, although but he could be a prophet. No priest could be a king, although he too could be a prophet.




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