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 to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. 4
See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!
5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers,[a] though
these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.9
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 11
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order
of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.17
For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18
For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness
19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20
And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath,
21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”
22
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
23
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Often times in reading the Bible we can get ourselves caught up in discussions that although interesting, causes us to miss the more germane points. I found this to
be the case often when I was in Seminary. The lunch room was our Areopagus and the discussions were often futile and bearing of little fruit although I must admit at times they were humorous and entertaining
Our text offers us all kinds of potential discussions all of which are interesting but let us not miss the point the Holy Spirit is driving at.
The apostle has admonished the people regarding their immaturity and their propensity to dullness, not being interested in the deeper things of the faith, particularly
this understanding of Christ as following in the line of Melchizedek. He has warned them strongly and now picks up his previous thought regarding Christ being a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
We have before us, quite frankly, a passage with all kinds of questions that has led to all kinds of debate throughout the ages. I wish I could tell you that I discovered
the understanding of it all, especially as it surrounds this mystery man, Melchizedek but I have not.
As you know, some will say that Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate Christ, a theophany, an appearance of the Lord before his incarnation. Others disagree and say that
Melchizedek is a type of Christ and the mystery that surrounds him only helps to serve the point the author is trying to make.
The few details about Melchizedek are taken from Genesis 14. In distinction to the necessity of Aaronic ancestry as a prerequisite for Levitical priestly service,
nothing is said either of Melchizedek’s birth, ancestry of his death and posterity.
The author of Hebrews allows himself to see nothing other than what the scriptures contain about him which we admit, is not much. Again, some will say that Melchizedek
has no ancestry because He as Christ himself, others that the Bible simply does not give us the ancestry so that the typology might be more effective.
Here is some of the information we cannot miss:
*King of Salem. He was king as well as priest, as Jesus Christ was prophet, priest and King. Salem was the ancient name of Jerusalem, the city of David, and the picture
of heaven and the new Jerusalem.
*The name Melchizedek is interpreted by the Hebrew words for king and righteousness. He is called the king of righteousness, again, pointing us to the perfect and
eternal kind of righteousness, the Lord Jesus. This might lead you to think that Melchizedek had to be Jesus, who else could this be said of? But there are in the text the comparisons and analogies that might point in a different direction.
He is said to be ‘like the son of God”. The Son became High Priest the text says, according to the order of Melchizedek and we do have to reckon that none of the OT
theophanies or appearances of Jesus are given with political position and this, if it were Jesus, would be the only exception.
What we must see is that Melchizedek shows us that there is another order of priesthood that is separate from the Levitical that is not descended from Aaron as the
Lord Jesus as from the tribe of Judah and not from Levi.
Melchizedek serves as a type of embodied prophecy of Christ’s non-Levitical and eternal priesthood. Abraham, even though he is the heir of the promise and even in
the context in Genesis triumphant in his recent conquest yet he behaves as Melchizedek’s inferior in both paying him tithes and receiving from him blessing.
With this groundwork laid the author sets out to show that of the two priesthoods that are apparent in Scripture, Jesus is the superior and only source of salvation.
Now we can move on to things that I am convinced are of far greater significance than the question, was Melchizedek the preincarnate Christ. The point of the author must not be missed and while we spend most of our time arguing about Melchizedek it is easy
to miss the emphasis which is upon Jesus and His priesthood as our only hope of salvation.
I think we have to wade slowly through this and carefully for errors are easily made in our interpretation of what the author is saying and we end up pitting the Old
Testament against the New Testament leading to conclusions about Christ and our salvation that are not biblical.
To be continued…
Prayer: Father, thank you for Your Word and for the revelation of redemption in Jesus, the Savior of the world. Help me to give myself to all that you have revealed
that I would find joy in my being a doer of your Word. Help me to see the glory of Jesus on every page and to be filled with thanksgiving for Your incredible mercy, love and kindness to speak to Your people so beautifully and clearly. Through Jesus Christ,
the Word of God, I pray, Amen.
Hymn: They Are More Precious Than Gold
