Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Hebrews 7:1-10 Jesus and Melchizedek

Hebrews 7:1-10
Jesus and Melchizedek: A picture of our One and Forever High Priest 

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And now for what you came for: 
After expositing the nature of the mysterious Melchizedek, the preacher of Hebrews uses this historical figure as a scaffold to teach why Jesus’ priesthood is superior to that of the Levitical priests then serving in the temple and in the synagogues throughout the Roman world. Jesus’s priesthood is greater on many fronts. Three are mentioned here: His preeminence by virtue of his eternal nature, The evidence of Abraham's blessing, and the evidence of Abraham's Tithe. The video is below, and my notes follow.


  1. Context: Gen 14:17-24
    1. Melchizedek is a priest of the Most High God
      1. El Elyon God Most High, God of Gods.  
        1. First time this is used in the Bible
        2. It is how God is described by Melchizedek
        3. In contrast to YHWH, the covenant name of God given to Moses, this title sets him apart as the God of all nations, not just the Jews.
        4. Abraham immediately adopts the title and uses it in vs 22.
      2. Abraham acknowledges that this God of Melchizedek is His God as well.
      3. There are no priests of God at this time.  About 500 years before Aaron is born.
      4. Abraham is the only person alive who speaks to/worships the God of the Bible until we meet Melchizedek.
    2. Melchizedek is “King of Salem.”  Two views:
      1. This is a normal mortal man who is king of the (then) Jebusite city of Jerusalem, and the city’s name is shortened in the reference here (Psa 76:2) (John MacArthur, James McDonald, J. Vernon McGee).
        1. Problem: Why does the king of Jerusalem worship God Most High and none of his subjects do and never will as long as they live there?
        2. Problem: Jerusalem’s ancient name was Jebus, not Salem.  
          1. No city of the time was called Salem.  
          2. There was a Shalem, in Gen 33:18, which later was called Salim in John 3:23, but this is much farther north, in what is later Samaria.  Too far.
      2. Melchizedek is a Christophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus Christ. (Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, Bill Stonebraker)
        1. Problem: Why give a pre-incarnation of Jesus a specific name?
          1. Everywhere else “The Angel of the Lord”
          2. Because it reveals his nature: King of Righteousness
            1. Melek: King
            2. Tszidek: righteousness
        2. Problem: Why give this Christophany a specific political role, which he likely did not actually fulfill at that time?
          1. The Jebusites were not ruled by Jesus at this time.
          2. Because it is his future designation in the Millennial Kingdom.
          3. John 8: Jesus: “Abraham rejoiced to see my day.”  When did Abraham rejoice and see Jesus?  Here, in Gen 14.
    3. Priest and King is an unprecedented combination.
      1. Saul and Uriah both were judged for trying.
      2. Samuel refused to be King
      3. Prophesied that Messiah will be both Zech 6:13
    4. Melchizedek blesses Abraham in the name of God Most High and brings bread and wine
      1. Symbols of his passion and a foreshadowing of communion.
      2. This 500 years before Passover is instituted!
      3. When Jesus re-packages Passover into the Lord’s Supper, he returns it to what it was here.
      4. Interesting side note: There is a record of a battle involving the city states in this area in the spring of 1802 BC, although the names of the kings involved are different in their own historical records, the same cities are involved.  This is the time when Abraham was thought to have been sojourning in the area.  If this is the same event, then it happened in the Spring.  Did it happen on what would later become Passover?  We don’t know, but it would be cool!
    5. Abraham gave him a tithe of all of his spoils.
      1. Again, 500 years before the law.  Tithing was a pre-law part of the culture of God’s people.  
      2. Even though we have been freed from the law, we are still expected to tithe as a minimum.  The NT actually asks more of us in this area, not less.
      3. A Tithe is an act of worship.  Not that Abraham was necessarily worshipping Melchizedek, but he was worshipping God through Melchizedek and acknowledging that Melchizedek’s God was his God.
  2. Psalm 110:4
    1. The entire psalm is Messianic.  The preacher has already used verse 1 in his sermon.
    2. Messiah will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
      1. Melchizedek’s priesthood is eternal.  
        1. There would be no “second” High Priest to fill the office after Melchizedek.
        2. Jesus must actually be Melchizedek, not just a priest like him.
      2. Priesthood an “oath” of God.  Cannot be broken (Heb 6).
  3. Hebrews 7:1-3
    1. Significance of his names is rehearsed. King of Righteousness and King of Peace
      1. Righteousness comes before peace.  There can be no peace without righteousness (Rom 5:1)
      2. Isa 9:6-7; 11:4-5; 16:5
      3. Isa 32:1, 16-18
      4. Jer 23:5
      5. Psa 85:10
    2. Without genealogy, father or mother, beginning or end of days.
      1. ἀγενεαλόγητος agenealogētos Without genealogy.  Only recorded usage of this word in Koine Greek, inside or outside of scripture.  It cannot have any other context other than in reference to God.  
      2. Some say that this is an “argument from silence,” that we just don’t know these things because they aren’t recorded.
      3. However, when Psalm 110 is included in the exegesis, it’s clear that Melchizedek is an eternal being.
      4. Dead Sea Scroll Midrash 11Q13
        1. speculates that Melchizedek was in some way an eternal spiritual being: Highest angel, a manifestation of God’s glory, one guess is even a “son of the Highest”
        2. This is not scripture, but it shows where Jewish thought was going at the time (approx. 400 BC).
      5. This is in reference to the Eternal divine nature of Jesus as the second member of the trinity.
      6. “The Levitical priesthood was entirely hereditary, through Aaron.  Melchizedek’s was personal.  From the beginning of the Aaronic priesthood, genealogy determined everything, personal qualification nothing.  If you descended from Aaron, you could serve; if you did not, you could not.  Consequently, the priests often were more concerned about their pedigrees than their holiness…  The point is that Melchizedek’s parentage and origin are irrelevant to his priesthood.  Whereas to the Aaronic priesthood, genealogy was everything, to the Melchizedek priesthood it was nothing.”  John MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews (1983: The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago)
    3. Resembling the Son of God.
      1. Those who don’t think that this is Jesus point to this phrase, that he is not the Son but simply resembles the Son.
      2. Who else is literally without Father, Mother, etc? An angel?
      3. Resembling: ἀφομοιόω aphomoioō
        1. to cause a model to pass off into an image or shape like it
        2. to express itself in it, to copy
        3. to produce a facsimile
        4. to be made like, render similar
        5. Only used here in the NT.  
        6. In other Koine Greek literature of the period, it can be found 8 times (that I found) and means “an exact replica.”  Similar to the usage of χαρακτήρ charaktēr in 1:3.
      4. See also Daniel 3:25; 7:13 “one as a son of man” and “one as a son of God.” This is obviously Jesus, but is “as” in these verses as well.
    4. He [Melchizedek] continues as a priest forever.  
      1. This is clearly not an argument from silence.  
      2. Levitical priests individually had discrete years of service, from 25 as assistants (30 ordination) to 50 (mandatory retirement).
      3. Collectively, the entire order of priests had a definite origin (Ex 32:29) and a definite end (AD 70).  
        1. Genealogical records all destroyed with the temple.  
        2. Today, Jews claiming to belong to Levi or the priesthood (Kohen) claim to have kept meticulous genealogical records since the destruction of the temple, but all records from that point back were lost, so it is a matter of faith.
  4. Heb 7:4-10 The greatness of Melchizedek is set as greater even than Abraham on the basis of the tithe and the blessing.  
    1. Tithes:
      1. Tithes are paid by the lesser to the greater as an act of worship.
      2. Tithes are prescribed by the law, but the principle is older and universal.
      3. The tithes paid by the children of Israel to the Levites validated their call by God and their role as priests.
      4. Abraham’s Tithe to Melchizedek validates Melchizedek’s call by God and his role as a priest that is even greater than that of Levi.
        1. Levi is lesser than Abraham as his descendant
        2. Levi is “in” Abraham and therefore pays a Tithe to Melchizedek.
      5. Vs 8: Moral men vs. “One of whom it is testified that he lives.”  Melchizedek is still alive.  His name is Jesus.
    2. Blessing: Melchizedek blesses Abraham, and the greater blesses the lesser.
      1. To a Jew, the Priest was the center of their spiritual life
      2. To a Jew, Abraham is the most revered character in History.
      3. Melchizedek was greater than both.
      4. Jesus is (or is greater than, if He is only a type) Melchizedek.
      5. Trust in the greater source of strength and the greater advocate.
      6. Remember Hebrews 4:16.  

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