Verse 4
"Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent:
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
This is a reference to the Melchizedek whom Abraham met following the slaughter of the kings (Genesis 14), and unto whom Abraham paid tithes. In our commentary on Hebrews (Vol. 10 of the New Testament Series), we have devoted eleven pages to the detailed discussion of this verse, along with the episode in Genesis involving Abraham and Melchizedek, and also the New Testament deductions founded upon those Scriptures. (See my comments in that volume, pp. 129-139.)
A brief summary of the important declarations of Hebrews 7:1-10 is here included.
<SIZE=2>MELCHIZEDEK; A TYPE OF CHRIST
Melchizedek's name (King of Righteousness).
His being king of Salem (King of Peace)
His receiving tithes of Abraham,
His blessing Abraham
His bringing forth Bread and Wine
His being served by both Jews and Gentiles
His being both king and priest
His having no beginning of life or end of it
His priesthood was like the endless priesthood of Jesus Christ
Only one of these resemblances between Melchizedek and Christ shall be noted here, namely, his having neither beginning of life nor end of days.
The meaning of this is simply, that as far as the scriptural record is concerned, this was true of Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews through inspiration saw that it was by God's purposeful design that the story of Melchizedek had been so deployed upon the sacred pages of Genesis that he appears in isolated splendor, and that the purpose of that was to make Melchizedek's priesthood suggest that of Jesus Our Lord. To be sure, in the case of Melchizedek, the record only suggests that; but it was and is literally true in Jesus Christ.
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