Hebrews 7:4-10: Melchisedec, How Great This Man Was
2022-12-31
Hebrews 7:4-5
Abraham, at the time of the slaughter of the kings, was considered a mighty man in that area of Canaan. God chose him and made a covenant with him and had demonstrated His power through him in the miraculous victory against four kingdoms. He was recognized by the king of Sodom for sure. However, this Melchisedec was a priest of renown in the area. The word “great” is used in terms of dignity and being distinguished. Abraham knew this about the priest-king and offered this tithe of the spoils to him.
What is significant of a “tithe” or the tenth? Consider the study here.
Later, as we have seen, Levites and priests receive the tenth of the goods from their fellow Israelites. This was required according to the Law of Moses. The Levites were all descendants of Abraham, just as the other tribes were his descendants, e.g., Judah, Ephraim, etc. The tithe was associated with the priest in both cases; the priest, Melchisedec or son of Aaron, was the one who received it.
Hebrews 7:6
Melchizedek, unlike the priests of Aaron, was not a part of the family line of Abraham at all. He was totally distinct from the line of Abraham. The king-priest was like Jesus in this way. We know there are two genealogies of Jesus Christ in the Bible. They are very different, and many explanations have been given for their differences, such as genealogies of Joseph versus Mary, kingly line versus literal line, etc. Jesus has been called the Branch of David, the Root of Jesse, the Branch of Joshua. He has been likened to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and other personages. However, the bottom line is that Jesus is not from them at all.
Consider Matthew 22:41-46. Everyone called the Christ the Son of David. This is accurate according to the flesh. Joseph, His adopted father, and likely Mary were descended from David. But Jesus Christ existed before His incarnation. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). People elevated David before Christ. People elevated Abraham since Christ was His seed also. Today, people elevate Mary before Christ. But those godly ones were not from eternity past. Christ always was, and He always will be.
Like Melchizedek being totally disparate from the line of Abraham, Christ is also. However, Christ is yet most distinct, as He is completely separate from the line of Adam.
Melchizedek, separate from Abraham’s lineage, was also the one who blessed Abraham, the federal head of the entire race of Israel.
Hebrews 7:7
The one with God’s promises, Abraham, was blessed by the “better,” or the nobler, Melchisedec. Consider previous examples:
Isaac blessed Jacob: “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee” (Genesis 27:28-29). Jacob had the promises of God because of the birthright being taken from Esau: “And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob” (Genesis 25:33).
Jacob blessed Joseph, and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh: “And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth” (Genesis 48:15-16). He passed the blessing he received to his descendants. Jacob also blessed his 12 sons with individual blessings. The emphases are on Judah, from whom came the King, and on Joseph on whom came the birthright.
Moses blessed the 12 tribes of Israel. Levi and Joseph received the longest blessings. Moses was from the tribe of Levi, yet was not from Aaron, but was Aaron’s brother. The Law put descendants of Levi as priests over the entire congregation. The more dignified Moses blessed them.
However, we see that these examples are all Hebrews blessing other Hebrews. Here again, we see Melchizedek and Jesus as those who came outside the family line and blessed the people.
Hebrews 7:8-10
The men that die are those children of Aaron who were priests. Aaron died in Numbers 20:28. His son Eleazar died in Joshua 24:33. All the high priests have long died. There is no record of the death of Melchisedec (though if he is not the preincarnate Christ, he would have died). The purpose here, as in Hebrews 7:3, is to show that Aaron’s priests have come and gone, but this Melchizedek remains enshrined here in Genesis 14, with no beginning or end.
Abraham paid tithes from his spoil to Melchisedec. The Levites, the Mosaic Law tithe-receivers, were not yet born, but had some manner of preexistence inside their progenitor, Abraham. The entire nation of the Jews paid homage in Abraham that day in Genesis 14.
We see this principle used elsewhere. The effects of sin are passed down from father to son. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth” (Genesis 5:1-3). “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Recall when Noah cursed Ham’s firstborn son, Canaan: “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant” (Genesis 9:25-27). That curse was passed down from father to son, with their being enmity between Canaan and God’s people through generations. The effects of the father’s actions were passed down to his sons for generations. Consider the following:
The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. (Numbers 14:18)
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (Ezekiel 18:20)
We are only responsible for our own sins, but we sure feel the effects of the sins of our ancestors. Our children are not judged for our sins, but they seem to do the same things. We pass much down to our own children, both good and bad, because they have some sort of preexistence in us before they are born. They were not conceived, but some reality of them existed. This is called traducianism. God did not create us from scratch at conception; otherwise, God would be creating sinners. We were rather formed from the existing material of our fathers before us. Likewise, Levi was there in Abraham when he met Melchisedec.