Hebrews 7:1-10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 7:9

And as l may so say ,.... With truth, and with great propriety and pertinence: Levi also who receiveth tithes ; or the Levites, who receive tithes according to the law of Moses from the people of Israel: paid tithes in Abraham ; that is, to Melchizedek; and therefore Melchizedek must be greater than they, and his priesthood a more excellent one than theirs; since they who receive tithes from others gave tithes to him. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 7:10

For he was yet in the loins of his father ,.... Abraham; namely, Levi and his whole posterity; which is to be understood seminally, just as all mankind were in the loins of Adam, when he sinned and fell, and so they sinned and fell in him; and so Levi was in Abraham's loins, when Melchisedec met him ; which, as it proves Melchizedek to be greater than Levi, and much more Jesus Christ, who is a priest of his order, which is the grand thing the apostle has in view; so it serves to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:1

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem - See the whole of this history largely explained in the notes, See Genesis 14:18 ; (note), etc., and the concluding observations at the end of that chapter. The name Melchisedec, צדק מלכי is thus expounded in Bereshith Rabba, sec. 43, fol. 42, יושביו את מצדיק matsdie eth Yoshebaiv , "The Justifier of those who dwell in him;" and this is sufficiently true of Christ, but false of Jerusalem, to which the rabbins apply it, who state that it was... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:2

Gave a tenth part of all - It was an ancient custom, among all the nations of the earth, to consecrate a part or tenth of the spoils taken in war to the objects of their worship. Many examples of this kind occur. This however was not according to any provision in law, but merely ad libitum , and as a eucharistic offering to those to whom they imagined they owed the victory. But neither Abraham's decimation, nor theirs, had any thing to do, either with tithes as prescribed under the Mosaic... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:3

Without father, without mother - The object of the apostle, in thus producing the example of Melchisedec, was to show, That Jesus was the person prophesied of in the 110th Psalm; which psalm the Jews uniformly understood as predicting the Messiah. To answer the objections of the Jews against the legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, taken from the stock from which he proceeded. The objection is this: If the Messiah is to be a true priest, he must come from a legitimate stock, as all... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:4

Consider how great this man was - There is something exceedingly mysterious in the person and character of this king of Salem; and to find out the whole is impossible. He seems to have been a sort of universal priest, having none superior to him in all that region; and confessedly superior even to Abraham himself, the father of the faithful, and the source of the Jewish race. See Hebrews 7:7 . The patriarch Abraham - Ὁ πατριαρχης· Either from πατηρ , a father, and αρχη , a chief... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:5

They that are of the sons of Levi - The priests who are of the posterity of the Levites, and receive the priesthood in virtue of their descent from Aaron, have authority from the law of God to receive tithes from the people. According to the law - That is, the Levites received a tenth from the people. The priests received a tenth of this tenth from the Levites, who are here called their brethren, because they were of the same tribe, and employed in the same sacred work. The apostle is... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:6

Blessed him that had the promises - This is a continuation of the same argument, namely, to show the superiority of Melchisedec; and, in consequence, to prove the superiority of the priesthood of Christ beyond that of Aaron. As in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, Abraham received a sacerdotal blessing from Melchisedec, who was the representative of the Messiah, the promised seed, to show that it was through him, as the high priest of the human race, that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:7

The less is blessed of the better - That the superior blesses the inferior is a general proposition; but Abraham was blessed of Melchisedec, therefore Melchisedec was greater than Abraham. "The blessing here spoken of," says Dr. Macknight, "is not the simple wishing of good to others, which may be done by inferiors to superiors; but it is the action of a person authorized to declare God's intention to bestow good things on another. In this manner Isaac and Jacob blessed their children under... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 7:8

Here men that die receive tithes - The apostle is speaking of the ecclesiastical constitution of the Jews, which was standing at the time this epistle was written. Under the Jewish dispensation, though the priests were successively removed by death, yet they were as duly replaced by others appointed from the same family, and the payment of tithes was never interrupted. But as there is no account of Melchisedec ceasing to be a priest, or of his dying, he is represented as still living, the... read more

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