Now this man Melchizedek,
king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham and blessed him when
he was returning from defeating the kings. Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. In the first place, his name means “king of
righteousness,” and then he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” 3He has no father, mother, or genealogy, no birth date
recorded for him, nor a date of death. Like the Son of God, he continues to be a
priest forever.
4Just look at how great this man
was! Even Abraham-the patriarch himself-gave him a tenth of what he had
captured!5The descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood have a
commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their
own brothers, even though they are also descendants of Abraham. 6But this man, whose descent is not traced from them,
collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the man who had received the
promises.7It is beyond dispute that the less important person is blessed
by the more important person. 8Mortal men collect tithes,
but we are informed by Scripturethat Melchizedek keeps on living. 9One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid
the tenth through Abraham, 10because Levi was still inside his ancestor when Melchizedek
met him.
11Now if perfection could have been
attained through the Levitical priesthood-for on this basis the people received
the law-what further need would there be to speak of appointing another kind of
priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not one according to the order of
Aaron?12When a change in the priesthood takes place, there must
also be a change in the law. 13For the person we are
talking about belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has
ever served at the altar. 14Furthermore,
it is obvious that our Lord was a descendant of Judah, and Moses said nothing
about priests coming from that tribe. 15This point is even more obvious
in that another priest who is like Melchizedek has appeared 16who
was appointed to be a priest,not on the basis of a genealogical registry,
but rather on the power of an indestructible life. 17For
it is declared about him,
“You are a
priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Melchizedek. He is an odd character, isn’t he? He has no mother and no father. Hebrews explains the dude really has no genealogy at all. Abraham, the father of our faith, esteems him so highly that he tithes to him. He is a priest and king, yet he is only mentioned three times in all of scripture! (His appearance three times in scripture include: First in Genesis 14, then in Psalm 110 and lastly in Hebrews 5-7.) Furthermore, his priesthood has a direct correlation to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. However, Melchizedek’s priesthood is different than the Levitical priesthood. More importantly, Christ’s priesthood comes from his. Psalm 110:4 “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ ” Yet the larger majority of writing in the Old Testament focuses on the Levitical priesthood not Melchizedek’s priesthood. Why is that.
I really like Melchizedek. In fact, I may even place him on my list of favorite Biblical characters. I like him mainly because his mysterious. I have read numerous commentaries over the years on this peculiar man. Some believe him to be Jesus Christ as a preincarnate in Abraham’s time. Others would say that Melchizedek was an angel taking human form. Wherever you land on this debate in scripture, hear my heart for one moment. I write this out of a motivation to spur you on to study scripture for yourself, and I give just one perspective on this crazy character.
So here its goes, Melchizedek. To understand him we have to take a moment to discuss the Levitical priesthood. The tribe of Levi were one of the twelve tribes if Israel. The Levites were specifically ordained for religious service. The priests of Israel had to be Jewish and furthermore, they had to be descended from the tribes of Levi. (However, not all Levi were priests. Others jobs of Levites included singers, instrumentalists, servers in the tabernacle, helpers to the priests.) The priesthood was only Jewish. This is very important to understand, because it gives us the basis of understand this truth. Melchizedek’s priesthood was a universal priesthood, not a Jewish priesthood. Thus, Jesus’ priesthood is universal and a priesthood to all nations.
In Abraham’s day, the name for God was Jehovah or Yahweh. However, if you were chillin in ancient Hebrew culture, this name for God would not have been used in everyday lingo- actually it wouldn’t have been used at all. For the name Yahweh was considered too holy to pronounce. When scriptures were read aloud the title Lord or Adonai was used for the name of God. This name holds a divine connotation for the Hebrew. The word Adonai makes a direct reference to God’s covenant with Israel. It was His covenant name.
“The Levitical priests, therefore, were priests of Jehovah. The Israelites were Jehovah’s people, and the Levites were Jehovah’s priests. The Levitical priests could minister only to Israel and only for Jehovah.
Melchizedek, however, was priest of the Most High God. (El Elyon, a more universal name for God). It represents God as a possessor of heaven and earth, God above all nations or dispensational distinctions. The Most High God is both over Jew and Gentile, and first mentioned in scripture in relation to Melchizedek. (Gen 14:8)” John Mc Arthur, New Testament Commentary Hebrews.
You see culturally this truth, the truth that Christ is a priest to all nations, flew in the face of everything a Jew was taught in regards to the Messiah to come. To Jew there was no other true priesthood outside of the Jewish nation. The Levitical priesthood was it. And that was only for Jews.
“Here they are reminded that their father Abraham, the first Jew, offered tithes to another type pf priest. This priest served as the one true God, but lived hundreds of years before the Levitical priesthood came into existence. It is significant that, immediately after the encounter with Melchizedek, Abraham spoke to the king of Sodom about ‘the Lord Most High’ (Genesis 14:22), a combination of the covenant and universal names.
The indecisive Jew were told, in effect, ‘Even your own Scripture recognizes a priesthood not only that is completely apart from Aaron (the Levitical priesthood) but that existed long before Aaron’s.’ This was a powerful argument. ” John Mc Arthur, New Testament Commentary Hebrews.
Just yesterday I spent the day at an orphanage in northern Ukraine almost to the Belarus boarder. The day was long, and exhausting. Through out the day I heard numerous stories that at the end of the day just left me emotionally depleted. Child abuse, corruption of government, child abandonment, sexual abuse, the list could go on and on. And that was just one day out of a year of seeing and experiencing first hand the literally thousands of injustices in this place we call earth.
Isn’t it is an amazing truth that Jesus is the Messiah not just to the Jewish nation, but to the whole world?
“You are a
priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
