Reading: Hebrews 5:1-10
Speaker: Paul McCabe
This Week’s Thoughts
When we talk about priests today, we think of different things. Some picture a man in a robe or a backwards collar who goes around blessing people, passing out religious elements, or performing certain rituals. But if you’re currently reading Leviticus – or if you’ve skipped ahead in Hebrews – you probably picture a Jewish priest, with his many duties of service and sacrifice.
Priests today are offbeat, existing in a religious world all their own. And that goes for all priests, be they Catholic, Buddhist, Shinto, Hindu, or even Zoroastrian. But to Israelites, priests were exalted and intrinsic to the faith. Our word for priest comes from the Latin pontifix. Taken apart, pontifix means bridge-builder, and this is how Jews saw their priests. They were descendants of Aaron whose work bridged the gap from fallen man to transcendent God.
To Jews, religion was access to God. And since they couldn’t go directly to God, they needed a mediator. Priests were those mediators. Those middlemen who received tithes and sacrifices like doves or lambs, then offered them to God to cover sin. “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). But we’re getting aheads of ourselves, and of Hebrews.
With such importance assigned to Jewish priests, we could be forgiven for thinking priests don’t arrive in the Bible until Leviticus. But we would be wrong. In fact, the first priest in Scripture is the illusive and illustrative Melchizedek, “the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High” (Genesis 14:18). This Melchizedek appears then disappears just as fast. He brings out bread and wine to Abram and blesses the great patriarch at a moment of triumph. And in return, Abram gives this mysterious kingly priest a tenth of all his war-spoils. End of story…but not quite.
God saw fit to recall Melchizedek not only in Psalm 110 – describing Messiah who was to come – but in even greater detail in Hebrews 5, 6 and 7. Now, if Hebrews succeeds in proving Jesus is a superior priest in every way, it behoves us to see the ways in which even Melchizedek surpassed the Levitical priesthood. To do this, let’s compare and contrast.
While Aaron’s priesthood was national and strictly Judaistic, Melchizedek represented all men as he predated Aaron. Second, Levitical priests were under the rule of Israel’s largely awful kings, never being kings themselves. Third, Aaron’s priesthood did not offer permanent peace or righteousness, but a perpetual need to sacrifice. And fourth and fifth, the priesthood was hereditary and timed. It didn’t matter how noble or crooked you were, Aaron’s heirs served from the age of 25 to 50, then it was forced retirement.
Are you starting to see it? Melchizedek’s priesthood was greater in every way! This king-priest was universal. He ruled and offered worship. He was righteous in name and deed. He had no need to offer sacrifice. And he had no lineage to speak of, no beginning or end to his reign or work on the earth. To ancient Jews, these truths were a brief curiosity sequestered to Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. But to New Covenant believers coming out of Judaism and into Christ, such facts meant the world.
The fact that ancient an king-priest superseded God’s ordained Levitical priest put Jesus into a whole new focus. The true King of Righteousness – Jesus Christ – was here. He came with bread and wine, asking only for tithes of faith. In return, He gives eternal life, not just to Abram’s seed, but to all who trust Him. And “this High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:15-16).