Hebrews 5:10

In the 10th verse the apostle returns unto the improvement of the testimony given unto the priesthood of Christ taken from Psalms 110. And hereby he makes way unto another necessary digression, without which he could not profitably pursue the instruction which he intended [for] the Hebrews from that testimony, as we shall see in the following verses. He had drawn forth nothing out of that testimony of the psalmist, but only that the Lord Christ was a priest; and when he had done this in general, which was necessary for him to do, he declares his sacerdotal actings which he was enabled unto by virtue of that office: for a priest he must be who so “offered” unto God as he did. But he had yet a further and peculiar intention in the production of that testimony. And this was, not only to prove him to be a priest in general, and so to have right to perform all sacerdotal offices and duties in behalf of the people, which he did accordingly, verses 7-9, but withal to declare the especial nature and pre- eminence of his priesthood, as typed or shadowed out by the priesthood of Melchisedec. The demonstration and declaration whereof is that which he now designs. But so soon as he hath laid down his general assertion, in this verse, considering the greatness of the matter he had in hand, as also the difficulty of understanding it aright which he should find among the Hebrews, he diverts unto a preparatory digression, wherein he continues the remainder of this and the whole ensuing chapter, resuming his purpose here proposed in the beginning of the seventh chapter.

Hebrews 5:10. Προσαγορευθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀρχιερεὺς κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ. [7]

Hebrews 5:10. Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

[7] TRANSLATIONS. Προσαγ. Declared of God. Craik. Having been named of God. Conybeare and Howson. Genannt. De Wette. Craik justly remarks, “The term ought to be distinguished from καλούμενος, verse 4. It literally signifies ‘addressed,'and refers to the form of the declaration in Psalms 110.” ED.

Προσαγορευθείς, “called.” He refers unto the testimony produced, verse 6. And it is here manifest who it is that is intended in those words, “As he saith in another place, Thou art a priest.” That is, God said so; for he was προσαγορευθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, dictus, cognominatus, נִקְרָא; “called,” “pronounced.” “Salutatus,” as “salutare aliquem regem,” is to pronounce him so. And we may inquire into the reason of this peculiar expression. He had before declared that the Lord Christ, the Son of God, was “a priest after the order of Melchisedec.” Now there may be more supposed herein than is indeed intended. When we say that Phinehas, and Eli, and Zadok, were high priests of the order of Aaron, we intend that they had the very same priesthood that Aaron had. But that is not the meaning of the expression in this place and matter. The priesthood of Christ and of Melchisedec were not the same; for that of Christ is such as no mere man could possibly sustain or exercise: only these two priesthoods, as expressed in the Scripture, had an especial agreement in sundry things, the particulars whereof the apostle enumerates and explains, Hebrews 7. For on the account of sundry things that were singular in the person of Melchisedec (either absolutely, or as his story is related in the Scripture, which is the rule of our comprehension of sacred things), and suited to prefigure or shadow out the Lord Christ in his priesthood, above what was in Aaron or his office, he is said to be made “a priest after the order of Melchisedec,” or according to the things spoken of. Melchisedec. He is not said to be a priest of the order, but עלאּדִּבְרָתִי, κατὰ τάξιν, according to the things spoken of Melchisedec, as a priest; after the manner of what is related concerning him. And this, in my judgment, is the reason of the use of this word προσαγορευθείς in this place; for it doth not signify a call to office, that is κλητός constantly, but it is the denomination of him who is so called, for some certain reason. ‘Because,' saith the apostle, ‘of the especial resemblance that was between what Melchisedec was and what Christ was to be, God called his priesthood Melchisedecian; whereon I must necessarily declare wherein that resemblance did consist:'which he doth afterwards. So was his priesthood surnamed from his type, and not Aaronical.

“Called of God,” ἀρχιερεὺς. Verse 6, he renders the Hebrew כֹהֵן by ἱερεὺς only, “a priest.” And it signifies no more. For where the high priest in a note of distinction is intended, they call him כֹהֵן הַגַּדוֹל, the “great” or “high priest;” “sacerdos magnus,” “summus;” “pontifex,” “pontifex summus” But the whole nature, right, and privilege of the office, belonged unto any one as a priest. Every high priest was a priest absolutely; but every priest was not a high priest also. Aaron and his sons were together separated unto the same office of the priesthood, Exodus 28:1; but some duties in the execution of the office were peculiarly reserved unto him who was chief and singular. And because he who was singular had thus sundry pre-eminences above other priests, and also that the discharge of some duties, and offering of some sacrifices, as that of the great atonement, were committed unto him alone, which were peculiarly typical of the sacerdotal actions of Christ; as he is called ἱερεύς, a “priest” absolutely, as being invested in the real office of the priesthood, so is he termed by our apostle, the “chief” or “high priest,” not because there were any other in or of the same order with himself, but because all the pre- eminences of the priesthood were in him alone, and he really answered what was typed out by the singular actings of the Aaronical high priest.

He was thus “called an high priest κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ,” “according to the order of Melchisedec.” This is not a limitation of his priesthood to a certain order, but a reference unto that priesthood whereby his was most eminently prefigured. And there are two things intended herein by the apostle. First, A concession that he was not a high priest according unto the constitution, law, and order of the Aaronical priesthood. And this he doth not only grant here, but elsewhere positively asserts, Hebrews 8:4; yea, and proves at large that it was impossible he should be so, and that if he had been so, his priesthood would not have been of advantage unto the church, Hebrews 7:11-14, etc. He was neither called as they were, nor came to his office as they did, nor was confirmed in it by the same means, nor had right unto it by the law, nor was his work the same with theirs. Secondly, That there was a priesthood antecedent unto and diverse from that of Aaron, appointed of God to represent the way and manner how he would call the Lord Christ unto his office, as also the nature of his person in the discharge there of, in what is affirmed and what is concealed concerning him who singly and alone was vested with that office; that is, Melchisedec. Look in what manner and by what means he became a priest; by the same, with other peculiar excellencies and pre eminencies added thereunto, was Christ also called, so as that he may be said, and is termed of God, a priest after his order or manner of appointment. For as he, without ceremony, without sacrifice, without visible consecration, without “the law of a carnal commandment,” was constituted a high priest, so was Christ also, by the immediate word of the Father, saying unto him, “Thou art my Son, a priest for every” or “after the power of an endless life.” And in this sense is he called “a priest after the order of Melchisedec.”

I have elsewhere evinced the corruption of the Targum on Psalms 110:4, whence these words are taken; also the malice of some of the late Jewish masters, who would have Melchisedec to be there called כֹהֵן, a “priest” improperly, as David's sons were said to be כֹהַנִים, that is, “princes.” So the Targum, “Thou art a great prince.” But the expression here used by the psalmist is taken directly from Genesis 14:18, וְהוּא כֹהֵן לְאֶל עֶלְיוֹן, “And he was a priest of” (or “unto”) “the most high God.” Here none of the Jews themselves are so profligate as to pretend that a prince is intended, a prince to the most high God! It is nothing, therefore, but that obstinacy which is the effect of their unbelief, which casts them on the shift of this evasion. Some observations do ensue:

Obs. 1. God was pleased to put a signal honor upon the person and office of Melchisedec, that in them there should be an early and excellent representation made of the person and priesthood of Jesus Christ.

I am not here to inquire who this Melchisedec was, nor wherein the nature of his priesthood did consist. I shall do it elsewhere. Here he is reflected on as an eminent type of Christ in his office. And in how many particulars the resemblance between them did consist, our apostle doth afterwards declare. In the meantime we may observe, in general,

1. That all the real honor which God did unto any persons under the old testament, it was in order unto the prefiguring of Christ, “that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.” Other reason of the great exaltation of Melchisedec in the church, even above Abraham, the father of the faithful, there was none.

2. He was the only type of the person of Christ that ever was in the world. Others were types of the Lord Christ in the execution of his office, but none but he were ever types of his person. For being introduced “without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days nor end of life,” he was “made like unto the Son of God,” and represented his person, which none other did.

3. He was the first personal type of Christ in the world. After him there were others; as Isaac and Aaron, Joshua, David, and Solomon; but he was the first, and therefore the most eminent.

4. He was a type of Christ in these two great offices of a king and a priest; which none but he ever was,

5. The circumstances of his name, and the place of his reign, whence he was a “king of righteousness and peace,” do most gloriously represent the whole effect of the mediation of Christ; all which may be spoken to afterwards. Now the exaltation of any one in the like kind is a mere act of sovereign grace in God. He might so honor whom he pleased. Hence is Melchisedec introduced without the consideration of any circumstances of prerogative on his own part whatever, that all his dignity might be owned to be of God's sovereign pleasure. God, therefore, having referred all to Christ, it is our wisdom to do likewise.

Obs. 2. As the Lord Christ received all his honor, as mediator, from God the Father, so the ground and measure of our giving glory and honor unto him as such depend on the revelation and declaration of it unto us, He was termed, called, and declared of God “an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” He made him so, which was his honor; he declared him to be so: whence we ought to give all honor unto him. But this hath been spoken unto elsewhere.

And from the respect that these words have unto the precedent verse, we may observe, that,

Obs. 3. It is an evidence and testimony that the Lord Christ was able to be, and is “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,” because he is “a priest after the order of Melchisedec;” that is, his priesthood is eternal.