Bible Diary - Hebrews 7:1-10
July 27, 2008
The back story is found in Genesis 14, where some bad kings swooped down on Sodom and Gomorrah from north of Salem, won a battle there and headed back north with their booty and with Abraham’s nephew Lot and family. Abraham put together an army, headed north to defeat the kings and returned with the booty and the captured families.
Melchizedek is a shadowy figure mentioned only here and in a Psalm and in Genesis. I try to remember that the Bible is not a “normal” history book and to look for an underlying message or truth. The significant fact in this passage seems to be that Abraham offered a tithe of the battle spoils to Melchizedek, meaning that Abraham was subordinate to Melchizedek the priest.
The Nature of Melchizedek’s Priesthood
7:1 Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. 7:2 To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 7:3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time. 7:4 But see how great he must be, if Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of his plunder. 7:5 And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, although they too are descendants of Abraham. 7:6 But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise. 7:7 Now without dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior, 7:8 and in one case tithes are received by mortal men, while in the other by him who is affirmed to be alive. 7:9 And it could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid a tithe through Abraham. 7:10 For he was still in his ancestor Abraham’s loins when Melchizedek met him.
It makes sense to me, as it does to most commentators on this passage, that Melchizedek is a “type” of the Christ who was yet to come, and that the tithe he collected points to the tithes that were collected later by Levi. I understand that a biblical “type” is simply a literary device to point my thinking to a larger truth. In this case, the priest Melchizedek, being greater than Abraham, leads me to thoughts of Jesus Christ. I have become comfortable with the way the Old Testament continually pre-figures the New Testament.
Dave
-sdg-
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