Hebrews 7:2

ᾧ καὶ δεκάτην … “to whom also Abraham divided a tenth of all” [the spoil]. The startling conclusion which this act carried with it is specified in Hebrews 7:4-10. The offering of a tithe of the spoils to the gods was a custom of antiquity. See Wetstein for examples and especially Arnold's note on Thucydides, 3:50. “Frequently the ἀναθήματα were of the nature of ἀπάρχαι, or the divine share of what was won in peace or war.… The colossal statue of Athena Promachos on the Athenian Acropolis hill was a votive offering from a tithe of the booty taken at Marathon” (Gardner and Jevon's Greek Ant., 181.) For the O.T. law of tithe see Numbers 18:21-24; Leviticus 27:30-32. In offering to Melchizedek a tithe Abraham acknowledged him as priest.

The following clauses ought not to be in brackets, because they are inserted as indicating the ground of the main affirmation, μένει εἰς τὸ διηνεκές. The name and description of Melchizedek already given are now interpreted, and are so interpreted as to illustrate the clause ἀφωμοιωμένος τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ and thus prepare for the closing statement. πρῶτον μὲν ἑρμηνευόμενος … “being first, by interpretation, King of righteousness and then also King of Salem, which is King of peace”. The form of the sentence is significant. [Cf. Plutarch, Timoleon, iv. 4, τοῦ δὲ Τιμοφάνους πρῶτον μὲν αὐτῶν καταγελῶντος, ἔπειτα δὲ πρὸς ὀργὴν ἐκφερομένου] “first” by his very name, “then” by his actual position; probably the peace of his kingdom is considered as a consequence of its righteousness. Righteousness and peace are characteristic properties of the Messianic Kingdom. “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth,” Psalms 72:7; similarly Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 9:9; cf. Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:4; Ephesians 2:15; Ephesians 2:17. In Genesis 14:18 the name and title occur together מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם. The chief point in this is that the priest is also a king. ἀπάτωρ, ἀμήτωρ, ἀγενεαλόγητος “without father, without mother, without genealogy,” that is, he stands in Scripture alone, no mention is made of an illustrious father or mother from whom he could have inherited power and dignity, still less can his priestly office and service be ascribed to his belonging to a priestly family. It is by virtue of his own personality he is what he is; his office derives no sanction from priestly lineage or hereditary rights; and in this respect he is made like to the Son of God. Of course it is not meant that in point of fact he had neither father nor mother, but that as he appears in Scripture he is without father. [τὸ δὲ ἀπάτωρ κ. τ. λ. οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν αὐτὸν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ κατὰ τὸ φανερώτατον ἐπωνομάσθαι. Epiphanius in Wetstein.] On Philo's use of the silence of Scrip see Siegfried's Philo., p. 179. Philo is quite aware that this kind of interpretation will be said γλισχρολογίαν μᾶλλον ἢ ὠφέλειάν τινα ἐμφαίνειν (De Somn., ii. 45). ἀπάτωρ, Wetstein quotes from Pollux.: ὁ μὴ ἔχων μητέρα, ἀμήτωρ, ὥσπερ ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ · καὶ ἀπάτωρ, ὁ μὴ πατέρα ἔχων, ὡς ὁ Ἥφαιστος. So Appollo was αὐτοφυὴς, ἀμήτωρ. Other examples in Wetstein. In a slightly different sense the word occurs in Iph, in Taur., 863; in Soph, Elec., 1154 we have μήτηρ ἀμήτωρ; and Ion (Eur. Ion, 109) says of himself ὡς γὰρ ἀμήτωρ ἀπάτωρ τε γεγώς.