Hebrews 7:13-14 - Exposition

For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to ( μετέσχηκεν : literally, hath partaken of ; cf. μετέσχε , Hebrews 2:14 , with reference, as there, to Christ's assumption of humanity) another tribe, of which no man hath (ever) given attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood (or priests ; ἱερέων being a better-supported reading than the Textus Receptus ἱερωσύνης ). This is spoken of as evident ( i.e. plain to all, πρόδηλον ), not only because of the well-known prophecies that the Messiah was to spring from David, but still more (as is shown by the perfect ἀνατέταλκεν , pointing to an accomplished fact, and by the expression, ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ) because Jesus, recognized by all Christians as the Messiah, was known to have so sprung. For it is to Christian believers, with whatever Jewish prejudices, not to unbelieving Jews, that the Epistle is addressed. It is important to observe that the Davidic descent of our Lord is spoken of as an acknowledged fact, not merely as an inference from prophecy. "We have here a most significant proof that the descent of Jesus from the tribe of Judah was a well and universally known fact before the destruction of Jerusalem" (Ebrard). " Illo igitur tempore nulla difficultate laborabat genealogia Jesu Christi: et hoc ipsum difficultatibus postea exortis abunde medetur " (Bengel). The verb ἀνατέταλκεν may have been specially suggested by the prophetic figure of the Branch from the root of Jesse (see Isaiah 11:1 ; and Zechariah 3:8 ; Zechariah 6:12 , where the LXX . has ἀνατολὴ for 'Branch:' ἀνατολὴ ὄνομα αὐτῶ καὶ ὑποκάσωθεν αὐτοῦ ἀνατελεῖ ); though the figure of the sunrise is more frequently meant by the word when applied to Christ's appearance (el. Numbers 24:17 ; Isaiah 9:1 ; Ma Isaiah 4:2 ; Luke 1:78 ).