Hebrews 7:3

Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. WITHOUT FATHER ... - explained by 'without genealogy' or 'descent' (cf. ); i:e., his genealogy is not known: whereas a Levitical priest could not dispense with the proof of his descent. HAVING NEITHER BEGINNING OF DAYS, NOR END OF LIFE - namely, history not recording his beginning or end, as it has of Aaron. "Days" mean his time of discharging his function. So the eternity in is that of the priestly office chiefly. MADE LIKE - not that he was absolutely "like:" made like, in the particulars here specified. Nothing is said in Genesis of the end of his priesthood, or of hi...

3._Without father, etc. _I prefer this rendering to that of “unknown father;” for the Apostle meant to express something more emphatic than that the family of Melchisedec was obscure or unknown. Nor does this objection disturb me, that the reality does not correspond with the figure or type, because Christ has a Father in heaven, and had a mother on earth; for the Apostle immediately explains his meaning by adding _without descent, _or kindred. He then exempts Melchisedec from what is common to others, a descent by birth; by which he means that he is eternal, so that his beginning from men was not to be sought after. It is indeed certain that he descended from parents; but the Apostle does not speak of him here in his private capacity; on the contrary, he sets him forth as a type of Christ. He therefore allows himself to see nothing in him but what Scripture contains. For in treating of...

1-3 Melchizedec met Abraham when returning from the rescue of Lot. His name, "King of Righteousness," doubtless suitable to his character, marked him as a type of the Messiah and his kingdom. The name of his city signified "Peace;" and as king of peace he typified Christ, the Prince of Peace, the great Reconciler of God and man. Nothing is recorded as to the beginning or end of his life; thus he typically resembled the Son of God, whose existence is from everlasting to everlasting, who had no one that was before him, and will have no one come after him, in his priesthood. Every part of Scripture honours the great King of Righteousness and Peace, our glorious High Priest and Saviour; and the more we examine it, the more we shall be convinced, that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy....

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 of the Jews against the legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, taken from the stock from which he proceeded. The objection is this: If the Messiah is to be a true priest, he must come from a legitimate stock, as all the priests under the law have regularly done; otherwise we cannot acknowledge him to be a priest: but Jesus of Nazareth has not proceeded from such a stock; therefore we cannot acknowledge him for a priest, the antitype of Aaron. To this objection the apostle answers, that it was not necessary for the priest to come from a particular stock, for Melchised

WITHOUT FATHER - The phrase “without father” - ἀπάτωρ apatōr - means literally one who has no father; one who has lost his father; one who is an orphan. Then it denotes one who is born after the death of his father; then one whose father is unknown - “spurious. Passow.” The word occurs often in these senses in the classic writers, for numerous examples of which the reader may consult Wetstein in loc. It is morally certain, however, that the apostle did not use the word here in either of the senses, for there is no evidence that Melchizedek was “fatherless” in any of these respects. It was very important in the estimation of the Jews that the line of their priesthood should be carefully kept; that their genealogies should be accurately marked and preserved; and that their direct descent from Aaron should be susceptible of easy and certain proof. But the apostle says that there was no s...

EXPOSITION THE PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. The exposition of Christ's heavenly priesthood is now at length taken up and carried out. It extends to Hebrews 10:19, forming the central part of the whole Epistle; and in the course of it is set forth also how the whole Jewish economy did in fact only prefigure and prepare for this one availing priesthood of the true High Priest of mankind. The peculiar thesis of Hebrews 7:1. is "after the order of Melchizedek," the question being—What is signified by this designation of the Messiah in the hundred and tenth psalm? The remarkable import of that psalm, in that it assigns priesthood as well as royalty to the Son, wa

WITHOUT FATHER, WITHOUT MOTHER, WITHOUT DESCENT,.... Which is to be understood not of his person, but of his priesthood; that his father was not a priest, nor did his mother descend from any in that office; nor had he either a predecessor or a successor in it, as appears from any authentic accounts: or this is to be interpreted, not of his natural, but scriptural being; for no doubt, as he was a mere man, he had a father, and a mother, and a natural lineage and descent; but of these no mention is made in Scripture, and therefore said to be without them; and so the Syriac version renders it; "whose father and mother are not written in the genealogies"; or there is no genealogical account of them. The Arabic writers tell us who his father and his mother were; some of them say that Peleg was his father: so Elmacinus d, his words are these; Peleg lived after he begat Rehu two hundred and nin...

Hebrews 7:1. _For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace._ His very names being instructive, Righteousness first, and Peace afterwards, as it is with our divine Lord, who has brought in everlasting righteousness, and speaks peace to guilty men. Hebrews 7:3. _Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually._ Melchisedec just passed across the page; he has no predecessor, he has no successor. We see him in

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The priesthood of Melchisedec in contrast with the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:1)_ 2. The holy and heavenly priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7:20) Hebrews 7:1 The interrupted argument concerning the priesthood of Christ is now resumed. It connects with Hebrews 5:10. There we find Melchisedec mentioned for the first time, and here the historical Melchisedec is first of all described. The record is given in Genesis 14:18. He met Abraham, who returned from the smiting of the Kings, and blessed him. Abraham gav

THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. It is shown that Scripture itself makes reference to a type of priesthood which is quite distinct from the Levitical. The nature of this priesthood is set forth (Hebrews 7:1) in terms of the description given in Genesis 14 of the priest Melchizedek. That some peculiar significance attached to him may be inferred from his name, and the name of his city. Still more suggestive is the fact that nothing is said as to his parentage, or his descent, or his birth and death. He was not one of a family of priests, but stands solitary, a priest in his own right, who never assumed and never lost his office. In all his attributes he comes before us as an earthly type of the Son of God (Hebrews 7:1)....