Welcome! Today we continue our journey into Hebrews, focusing on Chapter 7. Today we get into the heart of the comparisons between Melchizedek and Jesus. I think it is appropriate this week, to start by summarizing the story of Abram up to and including the events with Melchizedek. This account is laid out in Genesis chapters 12 to 14.
Genesis 12 begins with God calling Abram to leave his country, Ur, his people, and his father’s household to go to a land that God only says He will “show” him. God told Abram the following fantastic promise:
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” – Gen. 12:2-3
And so Abram went, at age 75, with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and their possessions, to the land of Canaan, and at several places there he built an altar to the Lord and called on His name. A famine came upon the land, and so they went south to Egypt to find food. I won’t go into the details of what happened there, but Abram used a lie to protect himself, a lie that it doesn’t appear was “from the Lord.” Indeed, it seems more likely that Abram’s faith in the Lord and His promises wavered. In any case, they found what they needed in Egypt and came back north. By this point, both Abram and Lot had very large flocks and herds, so they agreed to separate and live in different areas. Abram let Lot choose first as to where to go, and Lot chose what looked like the better land, near the wicked city of Sodom. Abram went to Hebron, and again he made an altar to the Lord.
At this time there were many small nations, more like city-states, and sometimes they went to battle against one another. Multiple such nations would sometimes come together, either after conquest or mutual agreement, but arrangements could be short-lived. In Genesis 14, we are told that Kedorlaomer king of Elam ruled a group of nations, but that the kings of five of these nations, including Sodom, where Lot was staying, rebelled against him. Kedorlaomer brought three additional allied nations into a battle against these rebelling nations, so that the result was five rebelling kings against four, including Kedorlaomer. The battle turned against the rebelling nations, and their armies fled. As spoils of war, the four kings took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they also took Lot and his family and possessions, since they lived nearby.
News of this was reported to Abram. Abram had a large household by this time, including 318 “trained men”. The Hebrew for this phrase only occurs here, so we do not know if they were trained in fighting or simply working for Abram in various capacities, but in any case, they were armed and joined Abram in pursuit of those who had taken Lot. They found them, routed them in a surprise attack at night, and pursued them, taking back Lot and his people and possessions, and also the many other things and people they had taken. The Bible does not give numbers here, but there is every reason to believe that Abram and his men were badly outnumbered but they nevertheless were completely victorious. The account continues with this in chapter 14:
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. – Gen. 14:17-20
Now, I believe the proper response to these last few verses is to say, “Wait, what?” More specifically, we could ask, who is this guy? How come we haven’t heard about him before? How was he a priest of God? How did he even know about God? And how did he become a priest? There’s no priesthood to speak of, no law to prescribe who could be priests – all that comes much later, with Moses. And since when are kings priests? And why is this king/priest bringing bread and wine? This doesn’t seem like something the priests at the time of Moses did. And why did Abram give him a tenth of everything? That’s a huge amount, by the way, for one person. What is going on?
The answer is that this event, which really happened, is mysterious because it also serves as a “type” of something greater to come. It is a foreshadowing of Jesus. Hebrews 7 is all about this – but to get context, let’s start a few verses back in Chapter 6.
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. – Heb. 6:13-20
The two “unchangeable things” here are God’s promise and His oath. For Abraham, that promise and oath were that God would bless him and give him many descendants, despite the seeming impossibilities that these could occur, as Abraham and Sarah were very old and childless. Before we get into the promise and oath that apply to us, the promise and oath that give us hope that serves as an anchor for our souls, let’s read on to understand more about 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! – Heb. 7:1-4
Melech means king, and Tzedek means righteousness. In modern use, tzedakah specifically means giving to the poor, but the original word is far more general (and therefore, far more convicting). Melchizedek is quite a name! He is also called king of Salem, which is based on Shalom, which means peace. Was there a physical Salem? I don’t think we know. But the author of Hebrews is pointing out the foreshadowing meaning – here you have a king of righteousness, a king of peace. He seemingly comes out of nowhere and pronounces a blessing on Abraham, and then, Abraham gives him a kingly gift, one-tenth of everything.
This is exceedingly strange; indeed the entire account is exceedingly strange. Who is this Melchizedek? Where does he come from? What is his family line? Nothing more is said about him, so we don’t know how he died, where he was buried, etc. In an honor-shame culture, as this was, these questions were extremely important to answer.
The passage then, as you see, begins to compare this mysterious king/priest with Jesus. Was Jesus without father or mother? Well, sort of. Jesus is eternal. Before the universe was made, He existed. So although He has a mother who gave birth to Him, Mary, He is not a created being, so from the perspective of His deity, He has no father or mother. Does Jesus really have no genealogy? Again, sort of. In the gospels, He has two, following different lines of His human ancestry. But again, from the perspective of His being God, these do not really apply.
Notice the subtle perspective here – it says that Melchizedek resembles the Son of God, rather than the other way around. The word for “resembles” can be translated as “patterned after” so this wording is the correct way to do it. Melchizedek, although living many centuries before Jesus came as a human baby on Earth, actually comes an eternity after Jesus, so Melchizedek is indeed patterned after Jesus, not the other way around.
Now the word translated “patriarch” literally means “first father”. And indeed, Abraham is the father of all the Jews, and by extension, the father of all of us who have faith in His descendant, Jesus. That’s a pretty huge honor. And yet this “first father” mysteriously gives a tenth of everything to Melchizedek. This speaks to how important and honorable Melchizedek was.
Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, 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. – Heb. 7:5-10
OK – I have to say that this kind of makes my brain hurt. It reminds me of movies that have time travel in them. I don’t know if this will help you, but it helps me. Picture little tiny descendants of Abraham inside Abraham. One of these descendants is Levi, so there is a little tiny Levi in Abraham somewhere. So anything that Abraham does, the little tiny descendants also do, because they are “in” or a part of Abraham. When Abraham gives the tenth to Melchizedek, so does his little tiny descendants, including Levi. I’m not sure, but think the author of Hebrews might like time travel movies.
In any case, the bigger picture here is that this strange thing going on with Melchizedek shows that, one, the Levitical priesthood is not the only priesthood in the Bible to talk about, and two, in multiple ways, this Melchizedek priesthood seems to be even greater than the Levitical priesthood. This would have been mind-blowing for the book’s primary audience, the Jews, who tended to view the Exodus events, including the establishment of the Law at that time, as the most important part of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament (and they also saw the Torah as the most important part of the Old Testament). This teaching reminds me of many of Jesus’ teachings, where He would point out something strange in the Old Testament and, first, point out how the people had never really thought about it before, and second, explain how it pointed to Him. As every student knows, the normal response to reading something you don’t understand is to quickly ignore it and forget it. That is what most Jews and early (before Jesus) commentators did with Melchizedek. As a professor, I have to say that I don’t recommend this approach!
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” – Heb. 7:11-17
There is a lot to understand here. First, understand the big picture of why Melchizedek is being brought up at all. It is that the Jews are mistaken in thinking that the Levitical priesthood is the only, or even the “best” priesthood. As we have seen, it is neither. And although the earlier do not directly make the comparison, they have put in all the pieces. Let’s try to put them together. Note that Melchizedek’s priesthood seems to be available to anyone who follows God, whereas the Levitical priesthood was national, for the people and eventual nation of Israel. Also note that Mechizedek’s priesthood is what we could call royal, as he is a king, whereas the Levitical priesthood specifically excluded kings, and a king is, in multiple ways, a more important and potentially honorable person than someone not in royalty. Furthermore, Melchizedek’s very name implies his character and nature, a priest of righteousness and peace, whereas the Levitical priesthood did not exhibit, much of the time, either righteousness or peace. They certainly failed to keep the people following after God, and they failed at preventing discord and even civil war. Along these same lines, Melchizedek’s priesthood seemed to exist contingent on his own character, but in contrast, the individual character of someone did not matter much in terms of whether you were a Levitical priest – it was just a matter of descent, who your ancestors were. And then, the priesthood of Melchizedek is seemingly not fixed in time – the passage describes it as eternal, whereas the Levitical priesthood had a clear beginning, and – at a time shortly after the book of Hebrews, ending.
So if the Levitical priesthood is neither the only priesthood, nor the best priesthood, and given the need of people to have a priest, a go-between between them and God, due to the fact that people are sinful and God is perfectly holy, it makes perfect sense that there would indeed be another priest to come, and that this priest would be not on the order of Aaron or the Levites, but instead on the order of Melchizedek.
And that is who and what Jesus is. Jesus cannot be a priest on the order of Aaron, because He isn’t even descended (humanly speaking) from the correct tribe. And Jesus is a priest on the order of Melchizedek in each of the five areas we have just spoken about: Jesus’ priesthood is universal, not national, as anyone can come to Him by faith. Jesus’ priesthood is royal, not of the, for lack of another word, “commoners,” as He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus’ priesthood is one of righteousness and peace, not one that fails in these areas. Jesus’ priesthood is based on His own perfect character, not on ancestry. And Jesus’ priesthood is eternal, not temporary.
The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. – Heb. 7:18-19
I wanted to just take this single sentence here, because I feel that it is an absolute bombshell of a verse, especially for the primary audience of the letter, the Jews. “Weak” and “useless” are strong words! The point is, just like the Levitical priesthood ultimately failed at producing a people who lived in accordance with God’s will, the Law that they followed had the same problem.
This verse is further explained by Romans 8:3 and Galatians 3:21:
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. – Rom. 8:3
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. – Gal. 3:21
This is not to say that the Law had no role; it made people aware of their sin; another verses describes it like a schoolteacher pointing people to Christ. But it in and of itself could only point out the problem; people might respond or, more commonly, might not, and even if they did respond, the sacrificial system was only intended as a temporary solution that itself pointed to the once-for-all self-sacrifice of Christ. Christ is in fact the “better hope” that has been introduced, “by which we draw near to God” as it says in Heb. 7:19.
Let’s park on the phrase “by which we draw near to God” for a moment, as it is easy to read right over it. The goal, if you will, of Christianity – what is it? Is it to have our sins forgiven? Yes, but why? It is not just to avoid hell, eternal separation from God. Is it to get to know more about God? Yes, but why? It is not just to have head knowledge, or even to have affection for Christ. It is to have fellowship with God – to actually spend time with Him. We are told “He will wipe away every tear” and that is true, but that will only be the beginning. The Law, the Levitical priests, and so on – none of this will really help us to draw near to God. Remember the veil, the curtain, in the inner room? That veil showed that although the priests performed various sacrifices, the people were still prevented from truly drawing near to God. But that veil tore from top to bottom when Jesus died as our once-for-all sacrifice. Jesus is indeed our “better hope”, and through Him, as He is our better priest, we will indeed draw near to God, and it will be beyond awesome, beyond description.
And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but He became a priest with an oath when God said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” – Heb. 7:20-21
Remember the two “unchangeable things” from Galatians 6: the promise and the oath. The quote which we have seen portions of repeatedly throughout Hebrews is from Psalm 110, which is messianic throughout. Oaths unfortunately do not mean much to us anymore. But oaths are a big deal. Numbers 30:2 gives the Law’s perspective on oaths:
When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. – Num. 30:2
In Deuteronomy, knowing that the people lean towards sin, people are warned not to make oaths if they aren’t going to keep them.
If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth. – Deut. 23:21-23
And in the New Testament, this theme is taken further. Jesus and James both say of oaths, just don’t do it.
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. – James 5:12
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.” – Matt. 5:33-35
Now, we make oaths during the marriage ceremony. Is this wrong? I do not believe so, because a marriage without an oath is not a marriage at all. By its very nature, a marriage is a vow between a man and a woman before God to remain faithful to one another. So why the negativity on oaths in Matthew and James? In the Matthew verse the context is very clear: this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is condemning all forms of public “show” of pretend godliness. A term for this used today is virtue signaling. The theme of Matthew 5 is to do good works, yes, but don’t do them in public, or even worse, don’t just pretend to do them. A modern application of this is the following: If someone mentions an issue they have, don’t say you will pray for them unless you really will do so. If it is an issue for you, it is better to say nothing at all. The point of the Matthew and James verses is that to make a public vow to the Lord that you don’t fulfill is even worse. God is witness to this vow, and He will hold you to it! And of course, this is true of the marriage vow, and this is why we make it.
Now, there is obviously no risk that God will fail to fulfill His own vow, but a vow from God is nevertheless a big deal. They communicate a seriousness, a certainty, an elevation of a statement to a level of supreme importance. And that is the nature of God’s vow here: God’s oath about a priest on the order of Melchizedek is a statement that this Priest is extremely important. And as we have seen, this Priestly role, which only finds its true fulfillment in Jesus, accomplishes critical things that the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants could never do.
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. – Heb. 7:22-25
We don’t have time to go into it in depth, but I think God made a point of this back in Numbers 20. God pronounced that Aaron, the first high priest, was going to die soon. He told the people to Aaron and his son Eleazar to a high place and, there, strip Aaron of his priestly garments and place them on his son. They did so, and then Aaron died, and they mourned for him for thirty days. It is as if, in contrast to Jesus, God wants to point out to everyone that the priestly system in the Law is made of priests that die, in contrast to something else – something that, from their perspective, was yet to come.
My father, before he retired, had a small research company that received a lot of its income from government grants called SBIR grants. With these grants, the final payment, which was quite substantial, was withheld until all reports and paperwork were received. The problem, over many years, was that, despite completing all these reports and paperwork, the final payment would not come. So my father spent a lot of time on the phone with the government, trying to find the person in charge of releasing these grants, and then getting whatever apparent issue there was (which was always on their end) sorted out, so that the payment would be made.
But there was a huge problem. The turnover in these positions (and there were different positions depending on what particular government agency issued the grant) was enormous, often multiple changes per year. And unfortunately, the previous person wouldn’t complete everything, so the payment wouldn’t be made. And then, my father was back to square one. He would have to track down the new person, explain the whole situation again, call regularly if the payment wasn’t made, and so on.
You may have experienced something similar with a change in a doctor, or a dentist, or another medical professional. You may have experienced this with someone you are working with in an insurance company. It is always frustrating when this happens.
None of this will of course ever happen with Jesus. Jesus knows us completely, even how many hairs we have on our heads, and yes, that is an easier job for some of us than others. But Jesus knows our complete history, and He will forever be our advocate. Jesus will never be replaced with someone new, who has to get “up to speed” about us. He will always be there for us.
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. – Heb. 7:26-28
Again, contrast Christ as a high priest to that of the Levitical priesthood. There is no comparison! Even if those priests had been good all the time, there would be no comparison. And they were not. Read the account of Eli’s sons if you want a reminder.
And Jesus is utterly unlike the other high priests who have to offer sacrifices each day first for their own sins. Jesus is without sin. He offered only one sacrifice – Himself – and that one was infinitely more effective than the sum total of all the other sacrifices ever offered. How many sacrifices was that? Millions? Tens of millions? I don’t know.
Now the implied point, for those original Jews reading this letter, was this: Yes, your very identity as a people has been established on the Law of Moses. The moral aspects of this Law remain. But the priestly system, and the other ceremonial aspects of the Law, were only meant to be pointers to Christ. Now that Christ is here, place your hope on Him, rather than these former things that will pass away. (And they did pass away. For nearly 2000 years there has been no Levitical sacrificial system.)
What about for us? If you are not Jewish, you were never tempted to depend on the Levitical system. But Hebrews is still tremendously valuable for us because it gives us an analogy, a picture, a preview, of what Christ is for us. It helps us to more fully appreciate Jesus, to more completely understand who He is and how He forever serves as High Priest for us. We begin to understand the incredible privilege of no longer being kept away from God, separated from Him by a curtain. Despite God’s perfect holiness, we who are in Christ through faith will be with Him, in His full presence, experiencing the inexpressible joy and wonder of being with our Creator forever.
Now let me finish by addressing the last few words, speaking of Jesus, “who has been made perfect forever.” Is Jesus a created being? Has Jesus been made? No. That’s not what this passage means. The Greek word is a form of teleio, which means to carry through completely, to finish a work.
Jesus uses this word to describe Himself in the following:
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ – Luke 13:31-32
Where is teleio? At the end. “On the third day, I will be finished.” “On the third day, I will be made perfect.” Jesus here hints at far more than driving out demons and healing people when he speaks of being finished on the third day. He is of course speaking of the crucifixion and the resurrection. And that is also the meaning here in Hebrews – Jesus has been “made perfect forever” by becoming our once-for-all sacrifice and rising on the third day. He is in the job forever. He isn’t going anywhere, and because of this, our eternity with Him is absolutely certain, absolutely secure.
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