Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Hebrews 7:8

Another note of the superiority of Melchizedek. καὶ ὧδε μὲν δεκάτας … “And here men that die receive tithes, but there one of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.” ὧδε “here,” i.e., in this Levitical system with which we who are Hebrews are familiar, ἐκεῖ, “there” in that system identified with that ancient priest. ἀποθνήσκοντες ἄνθρωποι, “dying men,” who therefore as individuals passed away and gave place to successors, and were in this respect inferior to Melchizedek, who, so far as is recorded in Scripture, had no successor. Giving to the silence of Scripture the force of an assertion, the writer speaks of Melchizedek as μαρτυρούμενος ὅτι ζῇ, a person of whom it is witnessed; note absence of article. So Theoph., ὡς μὴ μνημονευομένης τῆς τελευτῆς αὐτοῦ παρὰ τῇ γραφῇ. Westcott distinguishes between the plural of this verse, δεκάτας, appropriate to the manifold tithings under the Mosaic system and the singular, δεκάτην, of Hebrews 7:4, one special act.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Hebrews 7:8

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