Hebrews 7:4 - Exposition

Now consider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham, the patriarch, even gave a tenth of the spoils . The typical significance of Melchizedek is now further seen in what passed between him and Abraham, in respect to tithe and blessing. Alford's inference, that πηλίκος οὕτος , referring as it does, not to the antitype, but to the man himself, implies some mysterious greatness beyond what appears in the original record, does not follow. Of one who simply blessed and received tithes from the great patriarch, the expression is not too strong. Observe the emphatic position, at the end of the Greek sentence, of ὁ παριάρχης , equivalent to "he, the patriarch." Abraham's being this, the father and representative of the chosen race, is what is shown in what follows to give peculiar significance to the transaction. The word ἀκροθίνια (properly, "the chief spoils"), which is not in the LXX ., seems introduced to enhance the picture: " Quae Abrahami proprie fuerant, ut victoris " (Bengel).