A Priesthood That Does Not End at a Grave

Psalm 76:2 sets Salem beside Zion, “In Salem also is his tabernacle”, and Josephus identifies it with Jerusalem. “The most high God” is El Elyon of Genesis 14:18. Hebrews passes over the bread and wine Melchisedec brought out, a detail later Christian writers such as Cyprian made much of.

This is the first tithe in the Bible. The Hebrew of Genesis 14:20 says only “he gave him tithes of all”, leaving the giver unnamed; Hebrews reads it as Abraham paying Melchisedec. Philo also interpreted the name as “king of righteousness” and Salem as peace, a way of reading names Hebrews shares.

Genealogy was a legal requirement for priests: in Ezra 2:62 men who could not find their register “among those that were reckoned by genealogy” were “put from the priesthood” as polluted. Hebrews turns the absence of a pedigree into a sign of a different kind of priesthood. “Without descent” is agenealogetos, found nowhere else.

“Consider” is theoreo, to gaze at, the root of theatre. The Greek places “the patriarch” last for weight. “Spoils” is akrothinia, literally the top of the heap, the choicest pieces of booty that Greeks dedicated to their gods after a victory; the word is found only here.

Numbers 18:21-26 gives the Levites the tithes of Israel and requires them in turn to give a tenth of those tithes to the priests. “Though they come out of the loins of Abraham” underlines the oddity: the Levites collect from their own kinsmen, every payer and receiver being Abraham’s descendants alike.

“Whose descent is not counted from them” uses the verb genealogeo: his family line is not traced back to Levi. The blessing is recorded in Genesis 14:19, “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” The man who already held God’s promises (Genesis 12:2-3) stands to receive a blessing from someone else.

“Without all contradiction” means beyond any dispute. The principle concerns formal blessing by one with standing to give it, which makes Genesis 47:7 all the more striking, where the aged Jacob, a guest in Egypt, blesses Pharaoh. The argument is from rank in the sacred order, not from wealth or power.

“Here” is the law’s arrangement, “there” is Genesis. The present tense of “receive tithes” has been used to argue that the temple was still standing when Hebrews was written, before AD 70; the tense could also describe what the law prescribes. “Witnessed that he liveth” rests on Scripture’s silence about his death and on Psalm 110’s “for ever”.

“As I may so say” is hos epos eipein, a classical Greek idiom used by Plato and Philo to apologise for a bold expression, found only here in the New Testament. The writer knows the argument that follows is a figure and says so before making it.

Levi was Abraham’s great-grandson, through Isaac and Jacob. The idea that descendants are present in an ancestor’s body runs through Genesis, as in God’s word to Jacob, “kings shall come out of thy loins” (Genesis 35:11). Levi paid tithes a century and more before he was born.

“Perfection” is teleiosis, the noun the Greek of Leviticus 8:33 uses for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the days of their ordination. “Rise” is anistemi, the verb also used of resurrection. The bracket makes the point that the whole law was given on the basis of the priesthood, so the two stand or fall together.

“Being changed” is metatithemi, to transfer or move to another place, the verb 11:5 uses of Enoch, who “was translated”. The noun “change” is metathesis, which 12:27 translates “removing”. A new priesthood requires the law built around the old one to be moved as well.

“Gave attendance” is prosecho, to devote oneself to a task. One king of Judah had tried: Uzziah went into the temple to burn incense and was struck with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). “Pertaineth to” is metecho, the verb of 2:14, took a share: he took his share of humanity in the tribe of Judah.

“Sprang out” is anatello, the verb for the sun rising or a shoot springing up. The Greek of Numbers 24:17 uses it for the star that “shall come out of Jacob”, and the Greek Old Testament calls the promised Branch of Jeremiah 23:5 and Zechariah 3:8 Anatole. The genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 both run through Judah.

“Far more evident” uses katadelos, thoroughly clear, found only here. “Similitude” is homoiotes, likeness, from the root of “made like” in verse 3. The new priest is described as arising in Melchisedec’s likeness, not as descending from him.

“Carnal” here is sarkinos, made of flesh, a word for the material a thing consists of, not the moral “fleshly”. “Endless” is akatalytos, indissoluble, found only here, from the verb katalyo, to destroy or dissolve, which the false witnesses used in Mark 14:58: “I will destroy this temple.” His life died and was not dissolved.

Psalm 110:4 is quoted in full for the second time (after 5:6) and will be quoted again at verse 21. “He testifieth” treats the psalm as sworn evidence. Of all its words, the argument now rests on “for ever”, the one word no Aaronic priest could claim.

“Disannulling” is athetesis, the legal term in Greek papyri for cancelling a decree or striking a debt from the record; 9:26 uses it for putting away sin. Paul says the same of the law in Romans 8:3, “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.”

“The bringing in” is epeisagoge, an introduction of something additional, brought in on top, found only here. “Draw nigh” is engizo, once the privilege of priests: “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me” (Leviticus 10:3). What was reserved for Aaron’s sons is extended to all who come through Jesus.

The Greek builds its point with a double negative, “not without an oath”, and uses horkomosia, oath-swearing, a word that occurs only in this chapter of the New Testament. The sentence begun here is interrupted by the bracket of verse 21 and resumes in verse 22.

The Aaronic priesthood was established by command (Exodus 28-29), with no oath attached. Psalm 110:4 opens with one: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent.” “Repent” is metamelomai, to change one’s mind, and 1 Samuel 15:29 says of God, “the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent.”

“Surety” is engyos, a guarantor who pledges himself for another’s debt, found only here. Readers may recall that Judah, the tribe of verse 14, offered himself to Jacob as “surety for the lad” Benjamin (Genesis 43:9). “Testament” is diatheke, the word’s first appearance in Hebrews, which uses it seventeen times, more than any other New Testament book.

Josephus (Antiquities 20.227) counts eighty-three high priests from Aaron to the destruction of the temple. “Not suffered to continue” means they were prevented: death took each one out of office, and each needed a successor.

“Unchangeable” is aparabatos, found only here. It can mean inviolable, or it can mean “not passing to another”, a priesthood that is never handed on to a successor. The second sense fits the contrast with the many priests of verse 23 exactly.

“To the uttermost” is eis to panteles, which can mean completely or for all time; its only other New Testament use describes the bent woman who “could in no wise lift up herself” (Luke 13:11). “Make intercession” is entynchano, the verb of Romans 8:34, “who also maketh intercession for us.”

The Mishnah (Yoma 1:1) records that the high priest was removed from his house and kept apart for seven days before the Day of Atonement to protect him from defilement. Jesus is “separate from sinners” without that seclusion. “Became us” is prepo, was fitting for our need. “Undefiled” is amiantos, unstained.

The great sacrifice for the high priest’s own sins came yearly, on the Day of Atonement, but there were daily offerings too (Exodus 29:38-42), and Philo says the high priest offered prayers and sacrifices daily. “Once” is ephapax, a strengthened form, once for all, a word Hebrews uses again in 9:12 and 10:10.

Three contrasts are packed into one sentence: law against oath, men against the Son, infirmity against a perfection that lasts for evermore. The oath “was since the law”: David’s psalm came centuries after Moses, so the later word governs. Paul argued the reverse order in Galatians 3:17, where the promise before the law cannot be annulled by it.