Hebrews 7

1-10 Priestly Order of Melchizedek

• About King Melchizedek (See Genesis 14)
  • He was priest of the Most High God
  • His name means “king of righteousness”
  • He was king of Salem, i.e. “king of peace”
  • We have no record of his birth, his death, or his genealogy
  • He blessed Abraham after Abraham defeated 4 kings (Genesis 14:1-16)
  • Abraham gave him 1/10 of all the spoils (Genesis 14:17-24)
  • He remains a priest forever
• Melchizedek’s Significance
  • According to Jewish law, only Levites receive tithes, but Melchizedek was not a Levite. He as not even a Jew!
  • Blessing Abraham means he was superior to Abraham.
  • In essence, Levi himself – “in the loins of Abraham” – paid tithes to Melchizedek.

11-28 Another Priest, Like Melchizedek

• Why is there another priest after Melchizedek’s order? Because the Levitical priesthood did not produce perfection.
• A change in priesthood necessitates a change in the law.
• Christ was a descendant of Judah; Moses never mentioned Judah’s descendants as priests.
• Christ is a priest not by physical descent but because of his indestructible life – a priest forever. His enemies thought they had destroyed him, but he rose from the dead.
• An ineffectual law is replaced by a better hope. In other places in Hebrews, it will speak of the new covenant being superior to the old covenant, but here it talks of its replacement with a better hope, not a better law. Law replaced by hope? What a blessing it is to live in the Christian age!
• Mortal priests – there had to be many of them, because they died – have been replaced by an eternal priest.
• Christ as a blameless high priest does not need to offer daily sacrifices for his own sins, and then ours.
• He is holy and undefiled and offered himself as the sacrifice once and for all.
• The oath – coming after the law (Psalm 110:4) – appoints a Son who is perfect forever.