Highlights in Hebrews
(with Roger Kirby)
Part 18 - Hebrews 6:20–7:10
The great high priest – Melchizedek
The argument our writer is pursuing is going to be that Jesus is the greatest High Priest, superior to all others and therefore the one who should set us all the greatest spiritual example. So he says “… Jesus … has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek. This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace. Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”
Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! So the argument continues “Now the law required the descendants of Levi who were the priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also were descended from Abraham. This man, Melchizedek, however, did not trace his descent from Levi - who was not yet born - yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.”
There have already been several references to this rather strange episode involving Melchizedek. The argument of our writer is that Jesus was and is the greatest high priest ever, surpassing all others. This is not obvious because he was descended from Judah and not from Levi and Aaron as all high priest had to be.
The connection he uses is in Psalm 110. Here there is a prophecy of a man with three roles. He is to be the Messiah. That is not obvious from the psalm but is the way it was interpreted by both Jesus and the Pharisees (Matthew 22: 41 - 46). Then the Psalm refers to ‘your sceptre’ (Psalm 110: 2) and a sceptre is the symbol of kingship. Finally it says ‘you are a priest for ever’ (Psalm 110: 4).
How can this be? King Saul got into major trouble with Samuel because he acted as a priest when Samuel was late for a ceremony (1 Samuel 13: 8 - 14). Only Solomon seems to have been allowed to offer sacrifices as a king (1 Kings 8: 64 - 66). The Messiah was to be both a king and a priest because he was to be ‘a priest in the order of Melchizedek’. This refers to the unusual story of Genesis 14. It is about how Abraham had to rescue his nephew Lot when he got caught in the skirmish between 4 kings and 5 kings. (Since Abraham could sort them out with only 318 men, ‘king’ is a bit of an exaggeration. ‘Warlord’ or ‘Clan chieftain’ would probably be more realistic titles.) On his way back Abraham meets Melchizedek. Every other significant man in the book of Genesis gets a detailed genealogy. Melchizedek doesn’t. Hence our writer says “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.” He just comes into the account from nowhere and disappears again. Yet Abraham treats him as the senior personage, giving him the tithe of a tenth of all his plunder and accepting a blessing from him. All that is very difficult to understand; it seems that Melchizedek was a priest of some senior line, which also worshipped the God of Abraham.
All this is exactly what our writer wants to explain the role and status of Jesus. From his very first verses he speaks of Jesus as the Son, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his [God’s] being. Beyond dispute Jesus was and is King. Now we see he was also a priest, a High Priest, senior to the Levitical high priests, more able than any one else has ever been to “ save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.” (7: 25 - 28).
This is the glorious reality the writer presents to our wondering gaze. Worship Jesus.
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