Collected a tenth (tithe) (1183) dekatoo

Collected a tenth (1183) (dekatoo from dekatos = tenth) means to take tithes or a tenth from (active voice as in Hebrews 7:6) or to pay tithes (passive voice in Hebrews 7:9). There is one use in the Septuagint (LXX)... Nehemiah 10:37 We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes (Hebrew = 'asar = to take or give a tenth; Lxx = dekatoo) in all the rural towns. The perfect tense signifies that this collection was made historically at a point in time in the past and that it remains on the written record of Scripture. Vincent explains it this way... Melchisedec, who has no part in the Levitical genealogy, and therefore no legal right to exact tithes, took tithes from the patriarch himself. Hence he was greater than Abraham. The right of the Levitical priest to receive tithes was only a legal right, conferred by special statute, and therefore implied no intrinsic superiority to his brethren; but Melchisedec, though having no legal right, received tithes from Abraham as a voluntary gift, which implied Abraham’s recognition of his personal greatness. MacDonald comments that this... was an unusual and unconventional transaction. Abraham, called to be the father of the nation from which Messiah would come, was paying deference to one who was not connected with the chosen people. Melchizedek’s priesthood leaped over racial barriers. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos) AND BLESSED THE ONE WHO HAD THE PROMISES: kai ton echonta (PAPMSA) tas epaggelias eulogeken (3SRAI): (13-Heb.6.15" class="scriptRef">Hebrews 6:13-15; 11:13,17; Genesis 12:2,13; 13:14-17; 17:4-8; 22:17,18; Acts 3:25; Romans 4:13; 9:4; Galatians 3:16) Melchizedek collected a tenth from Abraham, and also blessed Abraham, this latter act demonstrating (including Abraham's receipt of the blessing) the implied superiority of Melchizedek. Blessed the one who had the promises - Melchizedek accepted the exalted position Abraham accorded him, and gave the patriarch his blessing. Blessed (2127)(eulogeo from eu = good + logos = word) is the verb form meaning to speak well of, to celebrate with praises, to praise. When used by men toward men it means to speak well of with praise and thanksgiving (English "eulogize"). It means to invoke God’s blessing upon them. Blessed is in the perfect tense indicating that it has occurred at a point in time in the past and still remains on record in Genesis. Calvin writes that Let us first know what the word blessed means here. It means indeed a solemn praying, by which he who is invested with some high and public honour, recommends to God men in private stations and under his ministry. Another way of blessing is when we pray for one another, which is commonly done by all the godly. But this blessing mentioned by the apostle was a symbol of greater authority. Thus Isaac blessed his son Jacob, and Jacob himself blessed his grandsons (Gen. 27:27, 48:15). This was not done mutually, for the son could not do like the father; but a higher authority was required for such a blessing as this. And this appears more evident still from Num. 6:23, where a command is given to the priest to bless the people, and then a promise is immediately added, that they would be blessed whom they blessed. It hence appears that the blessing of the priest depended on this,—that it was not so much man’s blessing as that of God. For as the priest in offering sacrifices represented Christ, so in blessing the people he was nothing more than a minister and legate of the supreme God Adam Clarke quotes Macknight... The blessing here spoken of...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. Leon Morris explains that... There are senses of the word "bless" in which men "bless" God, i.e., praise him, or in which an inferior prays that God will prosper some superior. But the word is not used in such a way here. It is rather the official pronouncement given by an authorized person. When that happens, there is no denying that it proceeds from a superior. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing) Who had the promises - This descriptive phrase is used as a "synonym" for Abraham ("the possessor of the promises") who had received the promises. The writer by using this description exalts Abraham in order still more to exalt Melchizedek. The promises include those described in the following passages (these Scriptures are not an exhaustive record of the promises to Abraham, eg, Psalm 105:42, Acts 7:17, Romans 4:13ff, Hebrews 119, 17, et al)... Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."...7 And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Genesis 13:15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. 16 "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. 17 "Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you." Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates Genesis 17:4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 "And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. 7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8"And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Genesis 22:17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. Acts 3:25 "It is you who are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.' Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. Hebrews 6:13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU, AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU." 15 And thus, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. Normally one would suppose that the one who had the promises (Abraham) might be considered to have been above being blessed by any other man. However, as the writer has made amply clear, Melchizedek is not "any other man" but is indeed a unique and great king-priest. This fact again accentuates that the Priesthood of Jesus according to the Order of Melchizedek was greater than the Levitical priesthood. This may seem repetitious to us today for the Temple in Jerusalem has long disappeared and most of us are "wild olive branches" (Gentiles) and not likely to seek to cling to the old ways of the Levitical priesthood. But for a Jew in the time of this writing (the Temple was still standing), this paradigm shift called for such inspired repetition. Promises (1860) (epaggelia from epí = intensifies verbal meaning + aggéllo = to tell, declare) originally referred to an announcement or declaration (especially of a favorable message) but in later Greek came to mean a declaration to do something with the implication of obligation to carry out what is stated (thus a promise or pledge). Epaggelia was primarily a legal term denoting summons, a promise to do or give something (or to refrain from doing something). The NT promises refer almost exclusively the promises of God. For more on promise see ISBE article. Clearly promise is a key word in this epistle where epaggelia is used 14 times in 13 verses (27.4% of the 51 NT uses) (See notes Hebrews 4:1, Hebrews 6:12, 6:15, 6:17, Hebrews 7:6, Hebrews 8:6, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 10:36, Hebrews 11:9, 11:13, 11:17, 11:33, 11:39) Expositor's Greek Testament writes that... The point which the writer here brings out is that although Abraham had the promises, and was therefore himself a fountain of blessing to mankind and the person on whom all succeeding generations depended for blessing (cp Ge 12:3 "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."), yet Melchizedek blessed him! Vincent explains that... Melchisedec accepted the position accorded to him by Abraham’s gift of tithes by bestowing on Abraham his blessing, and Abraham recognised his superiority by accepting his blessing. He who had received the divine promises might have been supposed to be above being blessed by any man. The significance of this acceptance is brought out in the next verse. Hebrews 7:7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. (NASB: Lockman) Greek: choris de pases antilogias to elatton hupo tou kreittonos eulogeitai. (3SPPI) Amplified: Yet it is beyond all contradiction that it is the lesser person who is blessed by the greater one. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) KJV: And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. NLT: And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed. (NLT - Tyndale House) Weymouth: And beyond all dispute it is always the inferior who is blessed by the superior. Young's Literal: and apart from all controversy, the less by the better is blessed-- BUT WITHOUT ANY DISPUTE THE LESSER IS BLESSED BY THE GREATER: choris e pases antilogias to elatton hupo tou kreittonos eulogeitai (3SPPI): (1 Timothy 3:16 ) (Hebrews 11:20,21; Genesis 27:20-40; 28:1-4; 47:7-10; 48:15-20; 49:28; Numbers 6:23-27; Deuteronomy 32:1; 2 Samuel 6:20; 1 Kings 8:55; 2 Chronicles 30:27; Luke 24:50,51; 2 Corinthians 13:14) This verse represents a brief "parenthesis" in which the writer states a generalization that everyone recognizes. Vincent states the writer is... Asserting a principle which no one thinks of questioning: it is the less who is blessed, and the greater who blesses. The International Children's Bible paraphrase accurately conveys the sense of this verse rendering it... And everyone knows that the more important person blesses the less important person. The NLT accurately paraphrases it... And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed. Without (5565) (choris) as a preposition (its more frequent use) means “apart from, without, separate from.

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Collected a tenth (tithe) (1183) dekatoo

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