Hebrews 5:1-4: High Priest Taken from Among Men
2022-11-02
For the next four verses, there is a discussion about the earthly high priests. This sets up to show us how Jesus is a better high priest in the subsequent verses.
Hebrews 5:1-3
Here, we see that the high priest was “taken from among men” as opposed to the Lord. The Lord our high priest indeed became a man, but He was not always man; He is the Son of God. This “taken from among men” is a contrast to our “great high priest” discussed in the previous section.
These verses gives us a good summary of the high priest’s role.
- He was ordained “for men.” His purpose was for human beings’ benefit. He went to God on behalf of the people to make offerings. He existed for their benefit.
- He was ordained “in things pertaining to God.” He goes before the Lord on behalf of the people.
- He offers “gifts and sacrifices for sins.” These could not be offered by anyone at any time; there was a system established by God. People that offered their own sacrifices without the priest were punished, as we shall see shortly.
- He had “compassion on the ignorant.” He too was a sinner. He offered sacrifices for his own sins. Having meditated on the God’s law, he would have to conclude that he was no better than those he offered sacrifices for. Everyone was a sinner and need to offer sacrifices for their sins.
Here is a summary of priestly duties:
Their brethren also the Levites were appointed unto all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God. But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. (1 Chronicles 6:48-49)
A major role of the high priest was the involvement in the Day of Atonement. He went into the holy place annually. He had to make sin offerings for himself. This was the quintessential day of sacrifice dealing with sin. The high priest was not alone in needing atonement for sin; he was “compassed with infirmity.”
Hebrews 5:4
Aaron was not chosen to the office of high priest by men. God chose who would be a part of the priesthood. We see that when the people were in sin, they chose whoever they wanted to be priests. They went beyond the parameters set by God. On the other hand, when the people were right with God, they made sure the priesthood was just as He defined it: “And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons” (Exodus 28:1). There became a clear succession, Aaron, and because of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar became high priest after his father, and then Eleazar’s son Phinehas.
Pertaining to the Aaronic priesthood, we consider 2 Chronicles 26:16-21. Uzziah became a powerful king, and he let that get to his head. He decided to offer incense, which is what only priests do. God punished him to be leprous and in quarantine for the rest of his life. Again, Jeroboam changed the priesthood to be a cheap rip-off, with low people serving the golden calves and not from Levi: “And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi” (1 Kings 12:30-31).
The postexilic people got it right by making sure only the correct people served in the priesthood. “These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood” (Ezra 2:62; cf. Nehemiah 7:64).