HEBREWS 7

Structure of Hebrews 7

A. The Son--A Priest Forever (7:1-3)

        B. New Priest Superior to Abraham (7:4-10)

                C. Old Priesthood and Law Set Aside (7:11-14)

                        D. Another Priest Like Melchizedek Appears (7:15-16)

                                E. Psalms 110:4 (7:17)

                C'. Old Commandment Set Aside (7:18-19)

                        D'. The Lord Takes the Oath of Priesthood (7:20-21a)

                                E'. Psalms 110:4 (7:21b-22)

        B'. New Priest Superior to Old Priests (7:23-25)

A'. The Son is Appointed a Priest Forever (7:26-28)

Most High God (3x) appears elsewhere in NT, usually spoken by a non-Hebrew.

Read Psalm 110:1-4. When David captured (Jeru)salem he inherited the titles of king and priest held by Melchizedek. In turn, Jesus as the son of David, did the same thing. This point is not pursued by author of Hebrews because it would point specifically to Jesus as messianic king-priest which might confuse many Jews who believed in two coming messiahs, a king and a priest.

The author of Hebrews was not the first one to become fascinated by the story of Melchizedek. 

11QMelchizedek provides parallel showing exalted position of Melchizedek according to the Dead Sea 

community. It describes him as an angelic being who takes divine vengeance on evil. Another recently 

published Qumran text pictures him as a heavenly high priest. Jewish tradition links him to Shem, a 

survivor of the flood. Philo (time of Christ) calls him the Logos, the Word of God. Josephus says that 

Melchizedek was the first high priest of God. Some 4^th Cent. AD Christians thought he was the Holy 

Spirit. WHY?

1-2a This is almost word-for-word from the Genesis account (read Genesis 14:17-20), although the 

author leaves out the detail regarding bread and wine. The latter detail is, interestingly quoted by 

Catholics in the Mass. Giving him a tithe may be because he was king of an allied nation and deserved 

a tenth of the spoils of battle. However, this was not a regular practice so it more likely points to a 

religious activity.

2b Melchizedek means “my king is righteousness” or “legitimate king or righteous king” – it points to 

Christ. King of peace (shalom) is not a strict translation but the similar sounds express the same idea in 

terms of symbolic meaning. Albright reads it as “an allied king” using the word selom instead. 

Righteousness comes before peace always (also the order in Romans 5:1 and 14:17).

3 Some feel that the author is quoting a little pre-existing poem here. Neither his birth or death was 

recorded; he is eternal and his reign as priest never ends. This follows the rabbinical principle: “What 

is not mentioned in the Torah does not exist.” Another interpretation is that Jews felt that a heathen had 

no legal father or mother. And yet another interpretation is that he had no levitical genealogy that 

would qualify him for a priestly office. “One like the son of God” may be an echo or reference to the 

same phrase used of the one who appeared in the fiery furnace of Daniel 3:25.

4-6a Abraham paid him tithes. The author in verse 5 builds up the levites first, but then shows how 

Melchizedek is superior even to them.

6b-8 He is superior to Abraham since he blessed him. The rabbis objected to this story and said that 

Abraham rebuked Melchizedek at this point, calling him a mere servant. This general statement is not 

always true (witness people blessing God in worship) but does apply in human-human relationships.

9-10 These verses transition from talking about Abraham to talking about the levites. This is a strange 

argument to us perhaps. The opening phrase “you might even say” was a way of softening what was to 

follow; it can be interpreted as “If I may be allowed the expression” or “so to speak.” William Barclay 

makes the application that what we do in this life will have an effect on our descendants. The same 

thought appears in Deuteronomy 4 where the new generation of Jews in the wilderness are addressed 

as if they had been at Mt. Sinai during the giving of the law.

11 Some Christian groups take this to refer to a new order, or successions, of Christian priests. A better 

understanding is “a priest forever like Melchizadek. The Greek word for perfection (teleiosis) only 

appears again in the Bible at Luke 1:45, where it means “fulfilling Israel's expectations.” The 

priesthood and the law were obviously not perfect.

12 If the priesthood is changed, then so is the law (discussed in the foloowing section).

13-14 The new priest will not come from the tribe of Aaron.

15-17 The Greek word translated here as “arise” is stronger than that used in verse 11. It implies rising 

to great prominence. The qualification of the new priest is his eternal life.

18-19 Replacement of the law with a better hope

20-21 Jesus' priesthood is confirmed with an oath. This time the quotation from Psalms 110 stops 

before mentioning Melchizadek; the emphasis will now switch entirely to Jesus.

22 It is a better covenant than the old covenant. Up to this point the author has been carefully 

developing his argument, but only now, for the first time, does he mention Jesus by name. This is also 

the first time in the letter that covenant appears; it will be the subject of later chapters.

This is the reversal of the usual procedure in which man swears by God to guarantee an oath. Here God 

chooses a man (Jesus) to be the guaranteer of His oath.

23-25 The permanence of Jesus' priesthood. Josephus said there were 83 high priests from the time of 

Aaron to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

Permanently = unalterably or non-transferrably.

The present tense of the verbs indicates that it is a continual action referring to those who make it a 

practice to come to him. Romans 8:34 is the only other place where it mentions that Jesus in heaven 

makes intercession for us.

26-28 “Fitting” in v. 26 implies an act that is not under constraint (he could have acted otherwise) but is 

absolutely necessary.

The use of the word “holy” in the absolute sense here is unique in the NT because elsewhere it is 

applied only to God. Jesus was sinless, unlike previous high priests.

The comment that the priests had to cleanse themselves daily does not fit Day of Atonement practices 

unless “daily” was a mistranslation by the author of an Aramaic document referring to “the Day.” 

Alternatively, it may refer to daily sacrifices as atoning sacrifices, although on those days there is no 

evidence that the priest first needed to purify himself.

27 Discuss the possible implications of this verse regarding (a) the Catholic idea of the mass where 

Christ is crucified anew or (b) the dispensational idea of resumed animal sacrifices in a new temple 

during the millennial reign of Christ. John Walvoord (The Millennial Kingdom, p. 312), for example, 

explains it by saying, “While the sacrifices Israel brought one had a prospective meaning, the sacrifices 

brought in the millennial temple have a retrospective meaning...The resumed sacrifices will be the 

memorial of the Cross and the whole wonderful story of the redemption for Israel and the nations of the 

earth, during the kingdom reign of Christ.”

Several times in Chapter 7 (vv. 12, 18-19, 28) there is the mention of a new law to replace the old one. 

This idea echoes throughout the New Testament, most prominently during the Sermon on the Mount.

Mark 7:14-19 All foods are clean.

Acts 15:19-20 Decision of the Jerusalem Conference

You shall have no other gods before me.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Colossians 3:5) Greed is idolatry.

You shall not make for yourself an image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.

Deuteronomy 4 gives the reason—God cannot be seen. Jesus—He who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 12:45, etc.)

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain.

Matthew 5:33-37 and James 5:12 Let your yea be yea. Do not swear, either by heaven or earth or by any other oath, etc, etc.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.

Mark 2:23-27 I am the Lord of the sabbath. Pick grain on sabbath. Sabbath was meant for the people, not vice versa. Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:2: Christians met on Sunday, not the sabbath.

Honor your father and your mother.

My mother and father are those who do the will of God. Matthew 10:37--Love me better than mother and father. Give more than lip service to command—Matthew 15:1-6

You shall not murder.

Whoever is angry with his brother has sinned. James 5:6—You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.” Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard it said..'You shall not murder'...but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment...and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

You shall not commit adultery.

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said,'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery. James 4:4 – “Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”

You shall not steal.

James 5:4 – Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

John 8:44 on lies in general; Satan as the father of lies. James 4:11: ”Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.”

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

This was already a commandment that deals with motive and heart rather than external actions. James 

3:16: “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every

kind.” 4:1-2: “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come 

from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit 

murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts.”

At one church I attended, conflicts arose after our Senior Pastor resigned. At a subsequent and heated 

business meeting, one member stood up and said that we suffered from a “power vacuum.” I countered 

this by stating that there was no lack of people in our congregation who were fighting to take control; 

the problem was that we suffered from a "servant vacuum" instead.