Hebrews 7:1-10 Episode 15 - The Melchizedek Priesthood Superior to the Aaronic Priesthood

The author resumes his argument that Christ’s priestly ministry is superior to the Levitical priesthood because it is patterned after Melchizedek. Melchizedek’s sudden appearance in the Genesis narrative makes it like he has “no beginning and no end.” The real issue here is that Levitical priests all die, but Christ (like Melchizedek) lives forever.

- Episode Transcript - 

Joel

Hi, welcome to the Two Journeys podcast. This is episode 15 in the book of Hebrews, titled: “The Melchizedek Priesthood Superior to the Aaronic Priesthood,” where we discuss Hebrews 7: 1-10. I'm your host, Joel Hartford, and I'm here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, as we enter chapter seven of the book of Hebrews, the author is continuing his exposition on exalting Jesus Christ as superior to all things, and he finished the warning in chapter six, and now he's back to Melchizedek, and he's talking about how the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ and the order of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of Aaron's. Now, bringing up Melchizedek in this text is a little bit strange because he's kind of an obscure character in the Book of Genesis, only mentioned really in one section. What is the author trying to do with this section here in Hebrews?

Andy

Yeah, it is a really powerful teaching, but one that we, I think if it weren't for the Book of Hebrews, we would've kind of skipped right over as a minor detail. But it stems from a mention of an individual in the Genesis narrative in the story about Abram. And as he fights a war in Genesis 14 and wins a battle, then after the battle's over this individual comes up, this Melchizedek. And it's a very brief account, and the author of Hebrews really just kind of walks through it and thinks about it. And then also later, David, the psalmist, in Psalm 110:4 refers to it. "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’” So, I really think the author to Hebrews is starting with Psalm 110. He's already kind of meditated on it, and then he goes back into the history in reference to Melchizedek.

So he sees in Melchizedek what we would call a type of Christ. And types are prophecies that are lived out in space and time in the Old Testament, but give us an aspect of Jesus' ministry. But the real issue here is this. In redemptive history with the coming of Christ, with his death, his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, it is formally, in the mind of God, the end of the Mosaic covenant. It's the end of the old covenant. And at the center of that old covenant was animal sacrifice ministered by the Levitical priesthood. And that time is over. It's obsolete. And so the author is trying to help his Hebrew readers, his Jewish readers, understand that something that's been so foundational to their entire life, the animal sacrificial system and the Levitical priesthood, is obsolete. It's finished now. It's been surpassed by a superior priesthood, and that is the priesthood of Jesus.

Joel

Well, for the sake of our audience, I'm going to read Hebrews 7: 1-10,

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. 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 is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues as a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 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 descendants from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 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. One might even say that Levi himself, who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Well, Andy, a lot to discuss in these first 10 verses. This account of Melchizedek and Abraham takes us back to Genesis 14, can you just rehash what happened in that account and why the author is making a big deal about Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek?

Andy

Well, I think, again, you could read it and not really put any significance at all. There's a lot of details in the Old Testament narratives. There's a lot of history that doesn't get picked up on in the New Testament, doesn't ever get discussed, and I think we just move on. You learn about it. There's some individuals in genealogies or there's some passing things that happened in the book of Judges or Kings and Chronicles, and there's nothing more said about it. And we would've just, I think, done that with this except that Psalm 110 got written later, in which David highlights, saying, "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek."(Psalm 110:4) And now we've got the book of Hebrews. And so the Lord is really the one who takes a highlighter pen and circles this account.

So you just read about it in Genesis 14. This is back after God had called Abraham to leave his country and his people and go to the land that God would show him. And he went with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot. And in the course of time, Lot became wealthy. Abraham became wealthy, and they couldn't live together anymore. They had too many herds and flocks, and they were bickering. Not they themselves, but their herdsmen were bickering. And so basically, they had to separate. And so Lot goes down to live in Sodom, and Abraham lives in a different place, lives elsewhere. But then in the next chapter, it turns out that a bunch of pagan kings, Gentile kings, start a war with each other. I think it was like five kings against four. And it really doesn't matter for our purpose who was who. They're all just pagan kings, fighting a pagan war.

But Lot was kind of swept up in all of that, and Abraham, Lot's uncle, was concerned about Lot and wanted to rescue him. And so he organized his household militarily. He had over 300 armed trained soldiers. And he went down, divided his forces and won a battle. And so God blessed him militarily, and he rescued Lot and he got all this plunder and this booty. And the king of Sodom, I think it was, said, "You can take your share." And he says, "I've raised my hand and I've sworn to God that I will not take anything from this battle or from you, lest anyone should later come back and say, 'I made Abraham rich.'"(Paraphrase of Genesis 14:22-23) So he doesn't want anything. And in chapter 15, Genesis 15, God picks up on that and says, "Do not fear Abraham, I am your shield, and I am your very great reward."(Paraphrase of Genesis 15:1) He doesn't want all the gold and silver and all that, but he did it to rescue Lot.

Now, in the middle of that whole account, in comes this shadowy figure, this individual that if it weren't for Psalm 110 and the book of Hebrews, we'd know nothing more about. This individual comes. And what we learn about him, what's recounted here in Hebrews 7 is basically what the Old Testament account says. So we don't really have to go back over it. The author to Hebrews does. It says this individual comes, this king of Salem. He's priest of God Most High, and he comes and he initiates with Abraham, called Abram at that point, we'll call him Abraham. He initiates with him, and Abraham gives him a tenth of everything, and Melchizedek blesses him. And so then the author just kind of picks up on him.

And as I said, also key for our purposes is David writing a messianic psalm, Psalm 110, which Jesus himself quoted. "The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’"(Psalm 110:1) In the middle of that messianic psalm, there's a statement. "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.’"(Psalm 110:4) Now in the Davidic psalm, the “you” is the Messiah. The Messiah is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. The author to Hebrews is picking up on that big time.

Joel

What do you make of Melchizedek being the priest of the Most High God and the king of Salem?

Andy

Yeah, the author picks up on that as well. And that's the city that we recognize as Jerusalem, and it's called... The word Salem means peace. And it's really ironic because if there's any city on planet earth that has not been a city of peace, it's Jerusalem. I'm trying to think how many times the city's been conquered. I mean, the history is overwhelming. Over millennia, it has been conquered again and again and again. But yet, in the end, in the final analysis, the final new Jerusalem will absolutely be a city of peace. The gates will stand open all the time because there will be no enemies. There will be no war. The war will be over. So he's king of Salem, king of the city of Jerusalem, and priest of God Most High. But in the old covenant, in the Mosaic covenant, these are decisively separated as the author is going to make plain.

Joel

Now, the author says some strange things that are kind of head scratchers about Melchizedek, that, "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 as a priest forever."(Hebrews 7:3) What is the author trying to do with this language about Melchizedek?

Andy

I'll do my best. I'll do my best. I think a simple explanation... Let's just keep it simple. We're talking about his priesthood. And his priesthood, as you look down at verse 16, he says that "Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the power of an indestructible life."(Hebrews 7:15-16) So in other words, his priesthood did not derive from his genealogy, his father or mother. It was irrelevant. His father or mother, his genealogy was irrelevant to his priesthood, and also, his beginning of days and end of life was irrelevant to it as well. The Levitical priesthood started at age 25, and ended at age 50. So that was the span of the priestly career, 25 years, from age 25 to age 50. It's laid out in the Levitical code. So you could not be a priest before age 25, and you could not be a priest after age 50.

So I think that's the way to keep this simple, that Melchizedek's priesthood was independent of his ancestry, and it was independent of his birth and death, his age. Those things didn't matter. So that's a simple, satisfying, exegetical answer. There is a more mystical answer that I might give, and I find this helpful. The author to Hebrews has an almost kind of mystical living kind of view of the text itself, of the Bible. The Bible is living and active. And so there's a feeling in which Melchizedek's birth and his ancestry are not covered in the text, so it's almost like he has none. And his death is never recorded in the text, so it's almost like he has none. So as you're reading the account of Melchizedek, it's like he had no father, no mother, no ancestry. He just pops up in the text and then walks off, but he doesn't die. And so he lives forever.

And so, there's that sense in which he is a pattern or type of Christ within the confines of the Genesis account. So that's, again, a little more mystical. But either way, I think those are good answers to the statement, "without father and mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life." We know that Melchizedek, the human, if he really was a human, and he was, he was, that he died. He was born and he died. So I think that's the best way to understand this difficult statement.

Joel

I really appreciate that, and I think that makes a lot of sense. As I think about the Genesis narrative leading up to and even past Genesis 14 is that there's so many genealogies, so many fathers and offspring and detailing that. But Melchizedek, yeah, he really is significant in that his father and mother are not mentioned at all. He just kind of pops up and disappears until later. David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."(Psalm 110:4)

Andy

And that kind of thing. But in the economy of God, David did not elaborate. David didn't write more verses about it. He left it to the author of Hebrews. So now we know what he means. And so, Jesus is the fulfillment of the type or the shadow of the Melchizedek-style priesthood, the priest king whose priesthood is based on his essential being, not on his ancestry or the beginning of life or end of days, things like that.

"Jesus is the fulfillment of the type or the shadow of the Melchizedek-style priesthood, the priest king whose priesthood is based on his essential being, not on his ancestry or the beginning of life or end of days."

Joel

And so now he's going to draw, through typology, a connection between Jesus Christ and Melchizedek. And it says Melchizedek has, “Neither the beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues as a priest forever."(Hebrews 7:3) So, he is going to make the same argument, that Jesus is the same kind of priesthood? He continues forever and ever.

Andy

Truly. Truly. And so, in that way it's really just a type or shadow. He's not truly he had no mother and he had no death, et cetera. We would have to think that Melchizedek, the actual individual, is up in heaven and is worshiping Jesus now. And so really, his priesthood is ended, but within the text it's kind of a permanent thing or an eternal testimony to Jesus. That's the way I would look at it. Now, some people think that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate Christ, kind of like the angel of the Lord, but I don't think that that's possible based on this text because it says, "Like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever."(Hebrews 7:3) So the Son of God can't be like the Son of God. He either is the Son of God or isn't. So this is definitely an independent person, a human who lived out a type or shadow type existence picturing Christ.

Joel

Now, the author is really laboring here to explain how Abraham and his descendant, Levi, are really inferior to Melchizedek and the priesthood that Melchizedek offers. Can you take us through verses four through seven and show us what the author is doing here?

Andy

Yeah. Let me take a step back and look at the whole Book of Hebrews now with the language of superiority. What I like doing is giving that three-part outline of the whole book. And that is: a superior mediator, Jesus, brings a superior covenant, the new covenant, resulting in a superior life, namely the life of faith. That's a good outline, I think, of all of the major themes of the book of Hebrews. So now we're in that kind of nexus between a superior mediator bringing a superior covenant. So, we're still kind of advocating the superiority or the supremacy of Christ. Keep in mind what's going on. The author to Hebrews is writing to some Jewish people who had made a profession of faith in Christ, but who, under pressure, societal pressure, religious pressure, were being tempted to turn their backs on Jesus and turn their backs on the new covenant and go back to old covenant Judaism.

The author is saying that is impossible. And one of the main reasons he's saying, from the very beginning in Hebrews 1 right on through, is the superiority of Christ. Who are you turning your back on? And one of the things he's saying here is Jesus is superior to Levi and the Levitical priesthood. And frankly, right in the text, he's saying he's superior to Abraham because Abraham paid him a tithe, and Melchizedek blessed Abraham. And without a doubt, the lesser is blessed by the greater. So there's the greater argument. He's saying that Abraham... sorry, that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. So how can you even consider remotely turning your back on such a great person as Jesus? Jesus is infinitely greater than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, than Levi, all of them.

Joel

Now, he mentioned Abraham and Levi. What does the addition of Levi into this add to the author's argument?

Andy

Well, Levi is significant because all of the priests came as sons of Levi. So we talk about the Aaronic priesthood, but Aaron, I don't think, is mentioned here. Levi is. Yeah, he is mentioned, actually, in verse 11, the order of Aaron. So we can talk about the Aaronic priesthood. It's really the same thing as saying the Levitical priesthood. All the priests were Levites, all of them. And there were different subdivisions of Levites, but the house of Aaron specifically, those were the priests. So what he's saying here is let's talk about the greatness of Melchizedek. And then, without a doubt, the fulfillment is greater than the type. So Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, and Jesus is greater than Melchizedek. And so that's the logic here. And he's saying, just look at it, "The patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!"(Hebrews 7:4) So that's just a historical fact. He tithed to this priest.

And then he says, "Let's talk about that." The Mosaic law requires the giving of a tithe. Tithe means a tenth. It's an old English term for tenth. So the law requires that the descendants of Levi, who become priests, the actual Levitical priesthood, collect that tithe from the people. All right, so here's Levi. And then within the Mosaic covenant, within the old covenant, the Jewish people paid a tenth to Levi or to the Levites. It helped pay for their lives because they didn't have an inheritance among Israel, so the ministry was their inheritance, and so they needed money for it. And so the tenth, a tenth of all of the money that the Israelites made in their lives went to the Levites. But even before that, we've got this paying of the tenth by Abraham to Melchizedek.

So this Melchizedek did not trace his descent or he didn't come from Levi, but he collected a tenth from Abraham, and he received that money. And so that shows a sense of the greatness of Melchizedek in who's paying the tithe to whom. So Melchizedek didn't pay anything. He received the tithe like a priest, and that's a priestly action. Furthermore, he also, he said, "Blessed him who had the promises."(Hebrews 7:6) Here's this great man, Abraham, who had received these incredible promises, and Melchizedek blesses him. The author is just talking about the superiority of Melchizedek in all these regards.

Joel

And Levi, paying tithes. What do you make of this phrase that "He was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him"(Hebrews 7:10)?

Andy

Well, it's very provocative. And many, many individuals who try to understand even the doctrine of original sin coming down through the father, all kinds of things, the fact that we were all, to some degree, in the body of Adam when he sinned, and people have done all kinds of things with this. And so I just have to accept in some sense that the author, who was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said that Levi was still in the body of his ancestor, Abraham, and in some mysterious way acted through Abraham to pay the tithe to Melchizedek. But all the author's doing here with any of that... Let's just keep our eye on the ball here. What he's saying is that Melchizedek and the Melchizedek-style priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood. That's what he's getting at.

He also talks about the blessing, and he says, "Without a doubt, the lesser is blessed by the greater.” (Paraphrase of Hebrews 7:7) And so Melchizedek raised his hand and blessed him by God Most High. Effectively, the author's saying that he was better or greater, let's say greater, than Abraham. And Abraham humbly received that blessing. So he's just, again, establishing the superiority of the priesthood in the order of Melchizedek.

Joel

Now, the author is really going to hit this point home in the next two sections, but because it's in this text, I want to also discuss it. In Hebrews 7:8, he says, "In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men..." That's the Levitical priesthood. "... But in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives." That's Melchizedek and his priesthood. So we have these words mortal and the mortality of Levitical priesthood versus the one that lives, who we find out is immortal, Jesus Christ. So, can you tell us what the author's bringing to the table here now, setting up the immortality of Christ in his priesthood?

Andy

Well, the author's going to complete, he's going to finish the job for us in chapter seven. But if we go onto Hebrews7:23, he says, "Now there've been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office." So, they're all mortal men. They all died. And actually, it's woven right into the Mosaic law. For example, if you committed an unintentional murder, you could flee to a city of protection, a city of refuge so that the avenger of blood would not have the right to hunt you down and kill you and take vengeance on you. But you had to stay there until the death of the high priest. Well, how long is that going to be? I don't know. It could be next month. It could be in 36 years. But at any rate, it's woven right in there.

However, Jesus lives forever. He is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. And in that way, the author's going to make very plain, he always lives to intercede for us. He'll never die. We're not going to get a new priest. I mean, think back then, there might've been really good high priests and then really not great high priests. And you could imagine a really good one being replaced by a high priest that was not a good high priest. Well, we don't have to worry about that. We have a perfect high priest, and he will be our priest forever, and he is forever alive to make intercession for us. He's always praying for us, and that's a beautiful thing. But he says very plainly right here in verse three, he says, "Without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever."(Hebrews 7:3) So, the eternal priesthood of Jesus is the point here. It's superior to the Aaronic priests who died.

Joel

Amen. Now, I think this would've made a very weighty point to the first century Jews. Though difficult to receive, I think it would've been a powerful point to them. Can you maybe help for us 21st century Christians who did not grow up steeped in Old Testament sacrifice, steeped in the understanding that blood sacrifice was necessary for the forgiveness of sins, can you explain to us why we need a priestly ministry, and why specifically Jesus Christ's priestly ministry is what we need today?

Andy

Yeah, it is vital. And I think it is, just the way you asked your question, it is very hard for us as Gentiles, as Christians, Gentile Christians, to understand the massive change that's occurring here around the first century, around this time with Jesus, how old covenant religion was done. It was obsolete. We'll see that in chapter eight. It's declared obsolete. The old covenant animal sacrificial system that went on for millennia, beginning with Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and all the animal sacrifices, all that, and frankly, even before that, with Noah and all that, that's done. And it was a priest that ministered those animal sacrifices. And so the focal point of that ministry was an individual who would offer blood animal sacrifice on your behalf and make intercession for you on the basis of the sacrifice. All of that is type and shadow of what Jesus came to do.

And so, the giving of the blood, namely Jesus's death on the cross, and his intercession on the basis of that sacrificial atoning work, that is our salvation. The priestly ministry of Jesus saves us. We need a priest. We need an offering. We need a sacrifice. “For the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) the soul whose sins will die, and we need a substitutionary atonement. And Jesus offers that in his own body, with his own body, and we need someone to offer that up for us and to be a mediator and an intercessor, and that's Jesus. So we need a priest. So now for these first century Jews, they had to shift everything and stop thinking about the temple in Jerusalem and stop thinking about animals and stop thinking about the blood of sheep and goats and the Passover lamb and all that. The time for that is over. We're into a new religion now, a new pattern of religion. And that would've been very hard to accept, but it is true. And from that point on, we were in a new covenant pattern, and that's very, very exciting.

So, to sum up, based on what you said, we sinners deserve to die. We needed a sacrifice offered for us. We needed that sacrifice offered up to God on our behalf. That requires a priest who offers a sacrifice, and that priest is Jesus. And the sacrifice he offered is himself, and that is the basis of our salvation.

"We needed that sacrifice offered up to God on our behalf. That requires a priest who offers a sacrifice, and that priest is Jesus. And the sacrifice he offered is himself, and that is the basis of our salvation."

Joel

Amen. And it's been God's plan since the foundation of the world. And we see that all the way back, going back to Abraham and his encounter with Melchizedek. It's really cool.

Andy

Yeah, I'm excited to go forward in this book as we continue to study. Honestly, I think without the book of Hebrews, I think we'd have a very hard time as Gentiles making any sense of the animal sacrificial system. But with the book of Hebrews, everything makes sense.

Joel

Kind of ironic that a book written to Jewish Christians actually really helps us Gentile Christians.

Andy

Yeah, it really helps us.

Joel

Well, that was episode 15 of the Two Journeys podcast. Please join us next time for episode 16 where we talk about how Jesus' priesthood is superior to Aaron's, part one, from Hebrews 7:11-19. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast, and God bless you all.