Hebrews 7:1

Οὗτος γὰρ ὁ Μελχισεδέκ … μένει ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸ διηνεκές. γὰρ closely connects this passage with the immediately preceding words ἀρχ … αἰῶνα and introduces the explanation of them. “For this Melchizedek [mentioned in Psalms 110 and who has just been named as that priest according to whose order Christ is called to be Priest] remains a priest continually.” This is the statement on which he wishes to fix attention. It is the “for-everness” of the priesthood which he means especially to insist upon. The whole order is occupied by himself. This one man constitutes the order. He succeeds no one in office and no one succeeds him. In this sense he abides a priest for ever. Between the subject Melchizedek and the verb μένει, there are inserted five historical facts taken from Genesis 14, with their interpretation. [On the historicity of Genesis 14, see Buchanan Gray in Expositor, May, 1898, and Driver, Authority and Archaeology, pp. 45 and 73. See also Beazley's Dawn of Modern Geography, ii. 189; and esp., Boscawen's First of Empires, c. vi.] βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ, the description given in this verse is taken verbatim [with the needed grammatical alterations] from Genesis 14:17-19. Whether Salem stands for Jerusalem or for Salim in the vale of Shechem, John 3:23, has been disputed from Epiphanius downwards. See Bleek, who contends that Jerusalem cannot be meant because Jebus was its old name. This, however, is now denied, see Moore, Judges, p. 413, who says that the common opinion that Jebus was the native name of the city, has no real ground in O.T. In the Amarna tablets Urusalim is used and no trace is found of any name corresponding to Jebus. But it is not the locality that is important, but the meaning of Salem. ἱερεὺς … “priest of the Most High God”. According to Aristotle (Pol., iii. 14), the king in heroic times was general, judge and priest. Cf. Virgil (Æn., iii. 80) “Rex Anius, rex idem hominum, Phoebique sacerdos,” and see Gardner and Jevon's Greek Antiq., 200, 201. The ideal priesthood is also that of a king. τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου. In N.T. “the Most High God” is found in the mouth of Demoniacs, Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28; cf. also Acts 16:17; Acts 7:58, also Luke 1:32; Luke 1:35; Luke 1:70; Luke 6:35. It was a name known alike to the Canaanites, Phoenicians and Hebrews. See Fairbairn, Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, p. 317. ὕψιστος was also a title of Ζεύς, Pind., Hebrews 11:2. Cf. also Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 198; and especially Charles' edition of Book of Jubilees, pp. 191, 213, who shows that it was the specific title chosen by the Maccabean priest-kings. ἀπὸ τῆς κοπῆς “from the slaughter,” rather “overthrow”; “Niederwerfung” (Weizsäcker); “ clades rather than caedes ” (Vaughan) translating in Genesis 14:17, מֵהַכּוֹת, τῶν βασιλέων “the kings”; well-known from Genesis 14, viz.: Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer and Tidal, i.e., Khammurabi, Eriaku, Kudurlachgumal and Tudchula. But Boscawen (First of Empires, p. 179) disputes the identification of Amraphel with Khammurabi. The monuments show us that these kings were contemporaries two thousand three hundred years B.C., and furnish many interesting particulars regarding them; see Driver in Authority and Archaeology, pp. 39 45. καὶ εὐλογήσας αὐτόν, asserting thus at once his superiority (Hebrews 7:7) and his priestly authority.