Melchizedek’S Priesthood
MELCHIZEDEK’S PRIESTHOOD
HEBREWS 7:1-10
Are you ready for some of the “solid food” that the writer mentioned?
Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God, comes before us only in one incident, when he met Abraham as the patriarch returned from the slaughter of certain kings. He brought him bread and wine and blessed him. Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder (Genesis 14:17-20). There is one further reference to this mysterious figure, namely in the Psalm already quoted and to which the author will refer again, Psalm 110:4, “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” And that is all. Jewish thinkers on the whole neglected Melchizedek. For them priesthood came from Aaron and any other was ignored.
But the great contribution the writer of Hebrews makes to our understanding of the meaning of priesthood is an unfolding of the significance of this priest-king. He finds many things about Melchizedek which help us to understand what Christ has done for us. He lists some of them here. The name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness” and the title “king of Salem,” “king of peace.” It is also the case that no genealogy of this man is listed, though priests were usually very careful about such matters. Nor is there recorded anything about his birth or death. All this gives a fine picture of a priest who “has neither beginning of days nor end of life” (7:3). But notice that he is said to resemble the Son; it is not the Son who resembles Melchizedek. In other words it is Christ’s priesthood that is the standard, not that of Melchizedek. All that the latter does is to provide a useful illustration which brings out certain aspects of Christ’s priesthood.
The greatness of Melchizedek next occupies our attention (7:4-10). This is brought out mainly by the facts that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and that he received the priest’s blessing. The former fact helps us see that the Aaronic priesthood is inferior. Levi, the one in whom the Aaronic priesthood originated, “was still in the body” of Abraham when the tithe was paid, and so there is a sense in which Levi paid the tithe (and therefore took up the place of inferiority). This is involved also in the blessing, for the less is blessed by the greater (7:7).
All in all, Melchizedek has much to teach us about the kind of priesthood Christ exercised.
To think about 7:2: There can be no real peace without righteousness.