Hebrews 7:1-28. Resuming his argument, the writer proceeds to show that Jesus, belonging as He did to the order of Melchisedec, is superior to Aaron. In proving his point he first (1) treats of the priest king Melchisedec with reference to the history of Genesis (14), dwells upon his greatness (Hebr... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:1. FOR THIS MELCHISEDEC... ABIDETH A PRIEST CONTINUALLY. And who is he? KING OF SALEM, _i.e_ Jerusalem, as is taught in the old tradition given in the Targums (see Gill); and in Josephus (_Antiq._ i. 10, 2), the Salem of the 76th Psalm (Hebrews 7:3). The later tradition, though earlier tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:3. He is WITHOUT FATHER OR MOTHER, appearing out of the darkness without ancestors or successors; WITHOUT PEDIGREE either immediate or remote; owing his priesthood, therefore, and dignities to no connection with priests on his father's side or even on his mother's: his is a priesthood pure... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:4. NOW CONSIDER (consider further, a slightly transitional particle) HOW GREAT (applied to age, size, or, as here, to moral grandeur) THIS MAN WAS, TO WHOM EVEN ABRAHAM THE PATRIARCH (the father of the tribe, of the whole race of Israel) GAVE THE TENTH OUT OF THE BEST OF THE SPOILS. The wo... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:5. AND THEY VERILY (or, ‘indeed,' as in Hebrews 7:8; or better, the emphatic ‘ AND THEY,' the Greek particle calling attention to the contrast between those mentioned in this verse and in the following) THAT ARE OF THE SONS OF LEVI, WHEN THEY (not ‘ who ') RECEIVE... HAVE A COMMANDMENT, et... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:6. BUT HE (Melchisedec) WHOSE DESCENT (pedigree) IS NOT RECKONED FROM THEM HAS NEVER theless TAKEN TITHES OF ABRAHAM (when he contained in his own person both Levi and Israel). And not only did he receive tithes from the tithe-taking Levites, HE HATH ALSO BLESSED HIM WHO HAS (who is the po... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:7. AND BEYOND ALL CONTRADICTION (or without any contradiction), what gives a blessing is greater, (is raised above) what receives it. The neuter of the original seems used to express the universality of the statement, and to make the truth of it depend not on the person but on the act or r... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:8. AND HERE INDEED (as in Hebrews 7:5, ‘indeed' is useful only to make more clear the contrast of the following clause; an emphatic ‘ AND HERE ' would be better) refers not to the time of Melchisedec, though that is last spoken of, but to the time of the Levitical priesthood, which extends... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:9. AND SO TO SAY (a phrase which, like ‘as it were,' is used to moderate a strong expression or to qualify a statement that is not literally true; the other sense of the original, ‘in a word,' ‘to speak briefly,' is not appropriate here). An obvious objection to the previous reasoning is... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:11. IF THEREFORE PERFECTION WAS; better, ‘If again,' or ‘Now if,' a transitional particle indicating an argument bearing on the same subject (see Hebrews 9:1). ‘Was,' not ‘were;' the reasoning is not, ‘If there were perfection, there would be no need;' but, ‘If there was perfection, there... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:12. FOR THE PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED. This is true of an institution that forms the foundation of the law in the sense just described (Hebrews 7:11). If Christ is made priest, the law is changed in its ceremonial and political arrangements, and even in the ethical relation of the people to... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:13. The writer now proves the completeness of the change of the priesthood. FOR HE OF WHOM (not ‘to whom,' Dr. J. Brown and others, the preposition being used to denote that to which a word or thing refers) THESE THINGS (the words in Psalms 110) ARE SAID (see the end of Hebrews 7:11) HATH... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:14. FOR (the proof of the statement of Hebrews 7:13) IT IS EVIDENT (plain to all, an adjective found only in Paul, 1 Timothy 5:24; for proof that it is evident, see the passages in the margin above) THAT OUR LORD HATH SPRUNG as a _branch_ out of the root of Jesse, a common rendering of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:15-17. The writer now touches another point of the argument. AND IT IS YET FAR MORE EVIDENT. What is more evident? That the law is changed? as De Wette and Bleek hold. Hardly; for this is not the main thought, but the imperfection of the priesthood (Hebrews 7:11). That imperfection has be... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:18-19. These verses summarize the argument of the previous verses. FOR WHAT TAKES PLACE IS ON THE ONE HAND AN ANNULLING OF THE FORMER COMMANDMENT (concerning the priesthood) ON ACCOUNT OF WHAT IN IT WAS WEAK AND UNPROFITABLE (FOR THE LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT), AND ON THE OTHER HAND [ther... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:20-22. A third argument is now introduced. The oath which God sware in making His Son Priest gives to His office higher sanctions. AND INASMUCH AS (it is) NOT WITHOUT AN OATH; rather A simpler filling up of the omission than the Authorised Version, though ‘He was made (or came to be) pri... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:21. (FOR THEY, AS WE KNOW, WITHOUT AN OATH (literally, without the swearing of an oath as a solemn act) ARE MADE (have become and now are) PRIESTS; BUT HE WITH AN OATH BY HIM THAT SAITH, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:22. OF SO MUCH BETTER A COVENANT (or as in A. V., provided ‘a better covenant,' which comes at the end of the verse, is made emphatic) HATH JESUS BECOME SURETY, _i.e_ He has pledged Himself for the maintenance of it, and for the fulfilment of its promises. The covenant is the result of His... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:23-25. A fourth argument for the superiority of Christ's priesthood is that the priests under the law were continually removed by death, while Christ is undying. This argument has been touched upon before (Hebrews 7:8; Hebrews 7:16) in different connections. Here it is the personal contras... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:24. BUT HE BECAUSE OF HIS ABIDING FOR EVER (_i.e_ in His life, John 12:34) HATH HIS PRIESTHOOD UNCHANGEABLE (‘inviolable'). The active sense of the word rendered ‘unchangeable' (‘what does not pass over to another') is very unusual, and therefore less likely; but either meaning makes a goo... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:25. WHENCE, _i.e_ from the fact that He lives it follows the particle being generally used to introduce something of deeper significance. HE IS ABLE ALSO TO SAVE (in its completest sense, not from this evil or the other, but from all evil) TO THE UTTERMOST (not to save for ever, but, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:26-28. The final argument for this superiority is the moral fitness of the whole arrangement (see Hebrews 2:10). FOR SUCH A HIGH PRIEST WAS FOR US BEFITTING a high priest WHO WAS HOLY (giving to God the reverence and holy love that were due to Him), HARMLESS (innocent, guileless, unsuspec... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 7:28. FOR THE LAW APPOINTED MEN (emphatic) HIGH PRIESTS HAVING INFIRMITY; BUT THE WORD OF THE OATH (see Hebrews 7:21) WHICH WAS AFTER THE LAW five hundred years later as given in prophecy, and one thousand five hundred later still when fulfilled in Christ [appointeth] one WHO IS SON (see not... [ Continue Reading ]