this is too long.
7:1-28 is a single bit.
it belongs together as a single unit, and should be read as a single piece.
unfortunately, it's too long for a single sermon.
wasn't going to do it, but the more time i spent, the more it seemed wrong not to.
(prayer)
overview
the chapter is about christ and melchizedek
melchizedek isn't mentioned a whole lot in the bible. once in genesis, and once in psalm 110.
gen 14 tells of some cities, notably including sodom where abrahams nephew lot lived, being taken in battle by a coalition of kings.
we'll pick up the story in v14
14. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men,
born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and
pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions,
and also the women, and the people.
17. Then 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; now he was a priest of God Most High.
19. He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20. And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand."
He gave him a tenth of all.
melchizedek gets another mention in psalm 110, a psalm which the new testament applies to christ repeatedly (e.g. acts 2)
4. The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
"You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek."
that is it - hebrews is going to raise the idea of melchizedek for a few reasons, which will be explained.
narrative structure is loosely:
meeting (v1) -> blessing (v1) -> tithe (v2-6) -> blessing (v6,7) -> meeting (v10)
pay especial attention to the bit in the middle, since that's the most important part.
in this case, we'll be talking about the importance of melchizedek.
heb 7:1-10 - melch as the bestest of priests
1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from
the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2. to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of
his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
3. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.
4. Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.
5. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect
a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.
6. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who
had the promises.
7. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.
8. In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.
9. And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes,
10. for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
1. this is the core of the chapter - the rest of the chapter is explanation of these ideas.
2. puzzle...who is melchizedek?
we're not sure. options:
- shem (noah's good son). some jewish/rabbinic tradition to this effect.
- a guy.
- christ, appearing on earth in the o.t.
people say this because they take the 'without father without mother' bit not to indicate that the text doesn't
share one but that he didnt' have one.
that could be interpreted as the author of hebrews drawing a similarity between christ and the literary presentation
of melchizedek though...
note that in v9 when it says "in that case one receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives on" that (i think)
we're referring to the ultimate melchizedek (e.g. psalm 110, i.e. christ).
v1,2 the superiority of melchizedek (abraham tithed to him)
1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from
the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2. to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of
his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
3. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.
note: v3 can be interpreted as saying that melch. has no parents and is eternal (e.g. is actually christ) or that he is
similar to christ in this passage since none of that is presented.
either way it is important that he is a priest regardless of birth, which means he is * on the same level as abraham * in this
manner. later priests (levites) were valued because of their tribe (levite) and ultimately because they were children of abraham.
v4-8 - tithe indicated subservience, meaning that melchizedek is greater than later priests
4. Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.
5. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect
a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.
6. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who
had the promises.
7. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.
8. In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.
v9,10 levi through abraham paid tithes
9. And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes,
10. for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
note: how to understand these things...
hebrews is arguing that god has had a plan in place prior to moses and the temple.
there are two things he's going to assert very strongly in the next couple chapters:
- god has always had a plan in place both before and after moses/law/temple. that was just a chapter.
- the moses/law/temple piece teaches us things beyond moses/law/temple
A. melchizedek is better than abraham
two reasons given:
abraham tithed to melchizedek, not vice versa.
melchizedek blessed abraham, not vice versa.
B. melchizedek is better than the other priests (levitical) too
israel is important because of their relation to abraham.
if abraham is better than israel, then melchizedek must be better than the other priests.
remember...god often ties back his reasons of love for israel because of abrahams faith, even
identifying himself as the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob.
C. priesthood is a necessary concept, even apart from the mosaic law
as romans goes back to abraham to show that salvation is apart from circumcision,
hebrews goes back to melch. to show that priesthood is apart from the law.
heb 7:11-18 - the levitical priesthood wasn't final
11. Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it
the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise
according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
12. For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.
13. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from
which no one has officiated at the altar.
14. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to
which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
15. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek,
16. who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to
the power of an indestructible life.
17. For it is attested of Him, "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER
ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK."
this is basically commentary on the implcations of psalm 110:4
essentially, the author of hebrews is going to argue that because pslam 110 references the priesthood of melch, that the
levitical priesthood becomes *a* priesthood, not *the* priesthood.
breakdown
v11 - it wasn't perfect/final, and nobody ever said it was (see pslam 110:4)
v12 - and when priesthoods change, so do laws (the mosaic law wasn't for all time either)
v13-15 - psalm 110 leaves the tribe if levi to judah (david and jesus were of judah)
what is important about this?
he's arguing that :
- we already knew that the levitical priesthood wasn't forever
- the priesthood of christ is not levitical
heb 7:16-25 the superiority of christ as the high priest
18. For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
19. (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better
hope, through which we draw near to God.
20. And inasmuch as it was not without an oath
21. (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, "THE LORD HAS SWORN
AND WILL NOT CHANGE HIS MIND, `YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER' ");
22. so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23. The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,
24. but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.
25. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He
always lives to make intercession for them.
note: this is an idea that we the author is just introducing here
structure
v18,19 the new priestly deal is better than the old one.
"setting aside of a former commandment because of it's weakness and uselessness"
v20-22 the oath of god shows the superiority of this one
v23,24 yes, there were more of the levitical priests. but jesus can still take them all by himself. forever.
v25 he is able to save forever those who draw near to god; the first bit of application on the principle.
save forever? (v25)
the idea here is probably "save completely", which is how the NET also translates it.
could be qualitative or temporal...completely attempts to render both.
heb 7:26-28; summary of ideas.
26. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from
sinners and exalted above the heavens;
27. who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins
and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
28. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
all this talk of priest/temple doesn't seem important. why do we need a high priest? or a temple?
hebrews argues that:
- we don't have an earthly temple because we have a heavenly one
- this heavenly temple isn't a metaphor; the earthly was a metaphor for the heavenly one
- the role of high priest is necessary and planned from the beginning.
we get three reasons here why our high priest is the better/true one:
our high priest jesus is better than the levitical ones because he is sinless.
our high priest jesus is better because he offered up a single sacrifice.
our high priest jesus is better because he offered up himself.
our high priest jesus is better because he is the son.
what's important here?
1. it shows the consistency of god's plan from the beginning
A. god referred to this other priesthood in psalm 110, showing that the levitical system wasn't all there was.
2. priesthood is a necessary concept, even apart from the mosaic law
we think of the priests/temple as being related to leviticus.
hebrews reminds us of melchizidek, a priest who existed before the law, and that pslam 110 speaks of a priest 'for all time'.
this is also a pretty huge argument on why we need to know the old testament...
3. the heavenly temple/priest is superior to the earthly
A. melchizedek is better than abraham
B. melchizedek is better than the other priests (levitical) too
4. the heavenly temple and priest has made the necessary sacrifice for us.
"he is able to save forever those who draw near to god through him"
5. understand and hold fast to the forgiveness of god
remember "draw near with confidence."
we had that in 4:16, we have it here in 7:25; starting to gain more details on this...
we have a high priest ready to intercede.
note: not a license for sin
please note that emphasizing the forgiveness of sin does not diminish the need for repentance.
the author of hebrews, the book that includes some of the strongest warnings against sin in the bible,
seems to have no qualms about also emphasizing the nature of christ's forgiveness.
christ is our high priest - he is the one offering his own blood for our mistakes, our anger, our lack of forgiveness to others.
we have no excuse to think or feel that our sin will keep us from god's presence or affection.