CHAPTER VII. _Concerning the greatness of Melchisedec, after whose order_ _Christ is a high priest_, 1-4. _The Levites had authority to take tithes of the people; yet_ _Abraham, their representative, paid tithes to Melchisedec_, 5-10. _Perfection cannot come by the Mosaic law, else there could... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:2. _GAVE A TENTH PART OF ALL_] It was an ancient custom, among all the nations of the earth, to consecrate a part or _tenth_ of the spoils taken in war to the objects of their worship. Many examples of this kind occur. This however was not according to any provision in law, but merel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:3. _WITHOUT FATHER, WITHOUT MOTHER_] The object of the apostle, in thus producing the example of Melchisedec, was to show, 1. That Jesus was the person prophesied of in the 110th Psalm; which psalm the Jews uniformly understood as predicting the Messiah. 2. To answer the objections... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:4. _CONSIDER HOW GREAT THIS MAN WAS_] There is something exceedingly mysterious in the person and character of this king of Salem; and to find out the whole is impossible. He seems to have been a sort of _universal_ priest, having none superior to him in all that region; and confesse... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:5. _THEY THAT ARE OF THE SONS OF LEVI_] The priests who are of the posterity of the Levites, and receive the priesthood in virtue of their descent from Aaron, have authority from the law of God to receive tithes from the people. _ACCORDING TO THE LAW_] That is, the Levites received... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:6. _BLESSED HIM THAT HAD THE PROMISES._] This is a continuation of the same argument, namely, to show the superiority of Melchisedec; and, in consequence, to prove the superiority of the priesthood of Christ beyond that of Aaron. As in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:7. _THE LESS IS BLESSED OF THE BETTER._] That the _superior_ blesses the _inferior_ is a general proposition; but Abraham was blessed of Melchisedec, therefore Melchisedec was greater than Abraham. "The blessing here spoken of," says Dr. Macknight, "is not the simple _wishing of good... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:8. _HERE MEN THAT DIE RECEIVE TITHES_] The apostle is speaking of the ecclesiastical constitution of the Jews, which was standing at the time this epistle was written. Under the Jewish dispensation, though the priests were successively removed by _death_, yet they were as duly replac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:9. _AND AS I MAY SO SAY_] και ως επος ειπειν. _And so to_ _speak a word_. This form of speech, which is very frequent among the purest Greek writers, is generally used to _soften_ some _harsh_ expression, or to _limit_ the meaning when the proposition might otherwise appear to be too... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:10. _FOR HE WAS YET IN THE LOINS OF HIS FATHER_] That is, Levi was seminally included in Abraham, his forefather.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:11. _IF THEREFORE PERFECTION WERE BY THE LEVITICAL_ _priesthood_] The word τελειωσις, as we have before seen, signifies the _completing_ or _finishing_ of any thing, so as to leave _nothing_ _imperfect_, and _nothing wanting_. Applied here to the Levitical priesthood, it signifies t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:12. _THE PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED_] That is, The order of Aaron being now abrogated, to make way for that which had preceded it, the order of Melchisedec. _THERE IS MADE OF NECESSITY A CHANGE ALSO OF THE LAW._] The very essence of the Levitical law consisting in its _sacrificial_ _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:13. _FOR HE OF WHOM THESE THINGS ARE SPOKEN_] That is, Jesus the Messiah, spoken of in Psalms 110:4, who came, not from the tribe of Levi, but from the tribe of Judah, of which tribe no priest ever ministered at a Jewish altar, nor could minister according to the law.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _FOR IT IS EVIDENT_] As the apostle speaks here with so much confidence, it follows that our Lord's descent from the tribe of Judah was incontrovertible. The genealogical tables, both in Matthew and Luke, establish this point; and whatever difficulties _we_ may find in them now, there were... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _AND IT IS YET FAR MORE EVIDENT_] Και περισσοτερον ετι καταδηλον εστιν. _And besides, it is more abundantly strikingly_ _manifest_. It is very difficult to translate these words, but the apostle's meaning is plain, viz., that God designed the Levitical priesthood to be changed, because of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _WHO IS MADE_] Appointed to this high office by God himself, not succeeding one that was _disabled_ or _dead, according_ _to that law_ or ordinance directed to _weak_ and _perishing_ men, who could not _continue by reason of death_. This is probably all that the apostle intends by the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _FOR HE TESTIFIETH_] That is, either the _Scripture_, in the place so often quoted, or God by that Scripture. _THOU_ ART _A PRIEST FOR EVER_] This is the proof that he was not appointed according to the carnal commandment, but according to the power of an endless life, because he is a pri... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _FOR THERE IS VERILY A DISANNULLING_] There is a total abrogation, προαγουσηςεντολης, _of the former law_, relative to the Levitical priesthood. See Hebrews 7:19. _FOR THE WEAKNESS_] It had no _energy_; it communicated none; it had no _Spirit_ to minister; it required perfect obedience, b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _FOR THE LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT_] It completed nothing; it was only the _outline_ of a great plan, the _shadow_ of a glorious substance; see on Hebrews 7:11. It neither pardoned sin, nor purified the heart, nor gave strength to obey the moral precepts. ουδεν, _nothing_, is put here for ο... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _NOT WITHOUT AN OATH_] "The apostle's reasoning here is founded on this, that God never interposed his _oath_, except to show the _certainty_ and _immutability_ of the thing sworn. Thus he sware to _Abraham_, Genesis 22:16-1, that _in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blesse... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _THOSE PRIESTS_] The Levitical, _were made without an_ _oath_, to show that the whole system was changeable, and might be abolished. _BUT THIS_] The everlasting priesthood of Christ, _with an oath_, to show that the Gospel dispensation should never change, and never be abolished. _BY HI... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _BY SO MUCH_] This solemn, unchangeable _oath_ of God, _was Jesus made a surety_, εγγυος, a _mediator_, one who brings the two parties together, witnesses the contract, and offers the covenant sacrifice on the occasion. See at the end of the chapter. _A BETTER TESTAMENT._] κρειττονος διατ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _AND THEY TRULY WERE MANY PRIESTS_] Under the Mosaic law it was necessary there should be a succession of priests, because, being mortal, they were not suffered to continue always by reason of death.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _BUT THIS_] οδε, _But he_, that is, Christ, _because_ _he continueth ever_ i s eternal, _hath an unchangeable priesthood_, απαραβατον ιερωσυνην, a _priesthood that passeth not away_ from him; he lives for ever, and he lives a _priest_ for ever.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _WHEREFORE_] Because he is an everlasting priest, and has offered the only available sacrifice, _he is able to save_, from the power, guilt, nature, and punishment of sin, _to the uttermost_, εις το παντελες, to all intents, degrees, and purposes; and always, and in and through all times,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _SUCH A HIGH PRIEST BECAME US_] Such a high priest was in every respect _suitable_ to us, every way qualified to accomplish the end for which he came into the world. There is probably here an allusion to the qualifications of the Jewish high priest:- 1. He was required to be _holy_, οσιος... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _WHO NEEDETH NOT DAILY_] Though the high priest offered the great atonement only once in the year, yet in the Jewish services there was a daily acknowledgment of sin, and a daily sacrifice offered by the priests, at whose head was the high priest, for their own sins and the sins of the pe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 7:28. _FOR THE LAW MAKETH MEN HIGH PRIESTS_] The Jewish priests have need of these repeated offerings and sacrifices, because they are fallible, sinful men: _but the word of the oath_ (still referring to Psalms 110:4) _which was since the law_; for David, who mentions this, lived nearl... [ Continue Reading ]