Hebrews 7:1-19
1 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, 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.
I would like to call upon us today to remember, celebrate, and then live out of a keen awareness of the greatness and superiority of Jesus. Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola have rightly complained of the low view of Jesus one sometimes finds in churches. They write:
But if the truth be told, we have been handed a shrink-wrapped Jesus. Christ has become our once-a-week Mascot. We rally around him on Sunday mornings, selfishly reaching for all we can get from Him – goodies and gifts, all for us. But then we push Him off to the sidelines the rest of the week.[1]
Clearly this type of approach to Jesus simply will not do. He is worthy of more honor than this. He will receive more honor than this! The writer of Hebrews is determined for his readers to understand this: Jesus is greatest and there is no greater. To help us understand this he now moves to an extensive teaching about Jesus as our great high priest. As he does this, he will interact with the story of the mysterious figure Melchizedek. Two passages are necessary for us to understand what the writer is doing here. The first is Genesis 14 which tells the basic story of Melchizedek.
17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
So there is the basic historical narrative about the person of Melchizedek and his interaction with Abraham. The second text is a prophecy that one to come would be in Melchizedek’s order. This is found in Psalm 110.
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
These two passages lay the foundation for what follows in the book of Hebrews, and particularly in Hebrews 7.
Jesus is the greatest priest!
The author begins with a basic accounting of Melchizedek’s meeting with Abraham in Genesis 14.
1 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.
He leans into the meaning of Melchizedek’s name in order to lay the foundation for the argument he will unfold: that Melchizedek was a type or foreshadowing of Jesus, who is the true and greatest King of Peace. Next the writer moves to what is not written about Melchizedek.
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.
First, consider the assertion that Melchizedek “is without father or mother or genealogy.” Here the author is making an argument from silence. The text never provides us with Melchizedek’s genealogy or with any record of his ancestors. This raises the question of whether or not the writer of Hebrews actually saw Melchizedek as an eternal being or whether he saw Melchizedek as an Old Testament appearance of Christ or whether he is simply drawing from silence to make the comparison. In other words, that whereas Melchizedek is without father or mother in terms of written genealogy, Jesus is actually eternal in reality. That is to say, is the writer of Hebrews pointing to the apparent (but not actual) timelessness of Melchizedek to lead us to the actual timelessness of Jesus, the greater Melchizedek. The key to understanding this likely lies in the last phrase of verse 3.
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.
Here we are told that Melchizedek “resembles” Jesus. This is important. Donald Guthrie writes:
The real key to the writer’s exegetical method is found in the phrase resembling the Son of God. The word translated resembling (aphōmoiōmenos) occurs only here in the New Testament. It is a suggestive word, used in the active of “a facsimile copy or model” and in the passive of “being made similar to”. It is because Jesus Christ is of the order of Melchizedek that the representative of the order is seen to be a model of the true. In other words, it is Christ’s priesthood that is the standard, not that of Melchizedek. This passage comes close to being allegorical. Yet the important factor which the writer wishes to establish is the eternal priesthood of the Son of God rather than Melchizedek’s, although the latter is implied. What makes Melchizedek’s order perpetual is that Scripture says nothing about the succession. What makes Christ’s perpetual is, however, his own nature. The fulfilment is more glorious than the type.[2]
The point, then, is not to get lost in questions of Melchizedek’s character. The point is to let the example of Melchizedek point us to Jesus. F.F. Bruce correctly points out that Melchizedek is a type of Christ and, in biblical interpretation, that makes Jesus the antitype, or the fulfillment of the type.
Melchizedek remains a priest continually for the duration of his appearance in the biblical narrative; but in the antitype Christ remains a priest continually without qualification. And it is not the type which determines the antitype, but the antitype which determines the type; Jesus is not portrayed after the pattern of Melchizedek, but Melchizedek is “made conformable to the Son of God.”[3]
It is truer to say, then, that Melchizedek is like Jesus than Jesus is like Melchizedek. Jesus is the greater. Jesus is the point. Jesus is the goal of the whole comparison! The writer of Hebrews now moves to a consideration of the implications of Abraham giving a tithe to Melchizedek.
4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!
Verse 4 is a simple and blunt assertion of the immediate implication of this tithe: Melchizedek is great! We must remember the veneration in which Abraham was and is held by both Jews and Christians. The point being that if the great patriarch himself gives a tithe to this Melchizedek then Melchizedek must be special indeed. He then unpacks how fascinating this tithe was and is.
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, 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.
This is important, for the writer of Hebrews is beginning here to show that genealogy can only take you so far! After all, Abraham paid Melchizedek a tithe even though Melchizedek “does not have his descent from them.” In other words, God can work outside of the customary avenues of genealogy to fulfill his greater purpose. He continues:
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.
Verses 9 and 10 are creative and fascinating. Here the author is saying that, in a sense, even Levi himself, who had not yet been born, can be said to have honored Melchizedek’s greatness through the tithe since he was, in a sense, retroactively present in the “loins of his ancestor” Abraham! Wow! Meaning that even the priestly should be seen to acknowledge the greatness of Melchizedek!
Of course, we are about to move to the greater point that Melchizedek himself is a type of the greatest priest of all, Christ, but in order to do that Melchizedek’s importance must first be seen. For if tithes were paid to the type, then what of the greater fulfillment of the type, Jesus? Truly our High Priest Jesus deserves our very lives!
In a 2013 interview, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop told Philip Yancey about how he became a Christian. In the midst of the interview, Dr. Koop said this:
I was raised in a Christian home, but with no idea what it meant. For a while I went to the Baptist Church of the Redeemer without knowing what a redeemer was. One Sunday morning I walked into the balcony of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church out of obligation to a nurse who had babysat for us. Right away I was impressed with Barney [Donald Grey Barnhouse], who had the most arresting voice and personal style.
That night he was speaking from Hebrews about Jesus being a priest after the order of Melchizedek. As a child I had lived across the street from a church, where on Saturday nights I could watch the priest play poker and drink whiskey out of a bottle until he vomited out the window. It puzzled me that Jesus should be called a priest.[4]
I think this can help us understand what the writer of Hebrews is doing here. C. Everett Koop’s problem with understanding the priesthood of Jesus was that he had never seen a proper type. The writer of Hebrews, however, is giving us a sufficient type. The type is not the reality, to be sure. The type is a foreshadowing, a preparation. Our High Priest Jesus is the reality which it anticipated.
Jesus gives us a greater foundation for hope!
There is another way that Jesus is the superior High Priest. Our writer continues:
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?
Here the writer reveals another layer to our journey. It is this: the earthly priesthood is insufficient. “Perfection” is not “attainable” through it, either for the priest or the people. The priesthood is necessarily imperfect as it involves imperfect priests who must repeat their work of sacrifice time and time again.
In the flow of the argument the writer of Hebrews is establishing that Melchizedek foreshadows Christ insofar as neither was “named after the order of Aaron.” It is significant to observe at this point that if the coming of Melchizedek signified that the Aaronic priesthood was not sufficient then it also stands that “another priest” who arises “after the order of Melchizedek,” that is, Jesus, signified that Melchizedek likewise was not enough. “Perfection,” then, finds its fulfillment in the ultimate coming of the one above all others: Jesus. The writer continues:
12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
It is not only, then, that the priesthood is insufficient to bring us to perfection. So if the law itself, for the priesthood was established up and itself calls for adherence to the law. If, then, a priest outside of the Levitical line is established that serves as evidence of the insufficiency of the law itself to change. Melchizedek represented a departure from the law on this point, but Jesus did as well insofar as He was also not from the tribe of Levi, as our writer says:
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.
If, then, Jesus’ priesthood, like Melchizedek’s, does not have the proper “paperwork,” genealogically speaking, upon what basis does Jesus’ priesthood in particular stand. And it is at this point that the writer moves us to a key and crucial point. Listen:
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.
Jesus’ priesthood stands “not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent.” Rather it stands “by the power of an indestructible life.”
What is this indestructible life? It is nothing less than the resurrection itself. Jesus, who died, yet defeated death and now lives! His life is indestructible! His resurrection is therefore the legitimating foundation of His High Priesthood. He needs no genealogical foundation. He has an empty tomb!
And if the resurrection is the foundation of His Priesthood then it is the foundation for our “better hope…through which we draw near to God.”
Melchizedek was great indeed…but Jesus is the greatest!
Melchizedek was the shadow…but Jesus is the reality.
Melchizedek is a wonderful and amazing type…but Jesus is the antitype, the fulfillment!
In Domby and Son Charles Dickens passes along a humorous aside about a charlatan preacher who had taken the name of Melchizedek. Dickens writes:
It was not unpleasant to remember, on the way thither, that Mrs. MacStinger resorted to a great distance every Sunday morning, to attend the ministry of the Reverend Melchisedech Howler, who, having been one day discharged from the West India Docks on a false suspicion (got up expressly against him by the general enemy) of screwing gimlets into puncheons [wine casks], and applying his lips to the orifice, had announced the destruction of the world for that day two years, at ten in the morning, and opened a front parlour for the reception of ladies and gentlemen of the Ranting persuasion, upon whom, on the first occasion of their assemblage, the admonitions of the Reverend Melchisedech had produced so powerful an effect, that, in their rapturous performance of a sacred jig, which closed the service, the whole flock broke through into a kitchen below, and disabled a mangle belonging to one of the fold.[5]
No, the biblical Melchizedek was not like this charlatan who took his name. He was great indeed! But if he was not a charlatan—which he certainly was not!—neither is Melchizedek our savior. That belongs to another, the one to whom Melchizedek’s person and work pointed and the one Melchizedek anticipated.
We have a Priest above all priests.
We have a Savior.
His name is Jesus.
He is above all others.
He is greatest.
Praise His name.
[1] Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010), p.170.
[2] Guthrie, Donald. Hebrews (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
[3] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Kindle Locations 1860-1862). Kindle Edition.
[4] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1989/november-3/c-everett-koop-surgeon-generals-warnings.html
[5] http://www.dickens-online.info/dombey-and-son-page147.html