Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the Book of Hebrews. We are continuing our series today, “Christ Supreme in All Things.” And in this passage of Scripture, Hebrews 7:1-10, the main character is this guy from the OT named Melchizedek. His name shows up at the beginning (7:1) and the end of this passage (7:10). And even though Abraham’s name shows up more, the appearance of Abraham in this text is really as a foil, or as a color contrast, to highlight the superiority of Melchizedek. ‘

And some might ask, “What’s all this talk about Melchizedek? Why are we even having this conversation? What about Jesus?” Well eventually this author will explicitly link Jesus to Melchizedek. He’s already done that to a certain degree in chapter 5. But even though Jesus isn’t explicitly highlighted in this passage, he still is emphasized in verse 3. Look at verse 3 with me for a moment.

3 He [Melchizedek] is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

 Who is “the Son of God” referenced there? The reason that Melchizedek gets so much publicity in the book of Hebrews is because of that statement right there—“resembling the Son of God.” The Greek is something like this… “being like unto the Son of God.” Melchizedek is “like unto the Son of God!” And it’s because of that “likeness” that we’ve got to deal with Melchizedek in depth. It’s because of this “Jesus connection” and “Jesus typology” that you’ve got to know about this important figure from the OT and how he connects to the NT. And that’s what we’re going to do for the next several weeks. 

And today is really just an introduction to this person, Melchizedek. Today, we’re just going to get everyone up to speed on who Melchizedek is, and I also what to cover who Melchizedek isn’t. More on that in a second. 

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So here we go. Here’s your outline for today. Three statements about the superiority of this King-Priest, Melchizedek, from the text. Here’s the first.

1) Melchizedek is superior to the OT Kings (7:1-3)

“How is Melchizedek superior to the OT Kings?” Well he’s the “king of righteousness” according to verse 2. That’s striking. Righteousness was a rare commodity among kings in the OT world. And he’s not just called a righteous king, He’s called a “king of righteousness.” 

He’s also called the “king of peace” in verse 2. That’s an even rarer commodity in the OT world—peace. But a king of righteousness and a king of peace! That’s unheard of! That sounds like something eschatological concerning Christ!

But that’s not really what makes Melchizedek unique. What makes him unique was his role as priest and king. We’ve talked about this already. In the Israelite world, everyone had to stay in their lane. Kings were kings, and priests were priests. When King Uzziah tried to do the duty of the priests he got struck with leprosy (2 Chron 26:16-23). And he was a good king too, who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. In ancient Israel there was separation of powers, not unlike what we have in the US government. The President has his lane. The Congress has its lane. The Supreme Court had its lane. Our founding fathers set it up that way so that power was shared between those three branches of government and so that too much power wasn’t seized by any one person. They were smart. They understood human depravity. 

But Melchizedek wasn’t beholden to the strictures of the Israelite priesthood or kingship. He predated those institutions. And that’s what makes him and his “order” superior. 

By the way, keep Hebrews 6:19-20 in mind for this passage. “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus isn’t expressly mentioned or emphasized in 7:1-10, but his presence casts a huge shadow over everything that this author is saying about Melchizedek. 

Look at verse 1 with me. 

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem [Jerusalem ], priest of the Most High God, 

Whoever this Melchizedek was, he was no stranger to the God of the Universe. He was a priest of the “Most High God,” the Hebrew אֵל עֶלְיוֹן. This was another name for Yahweh in the book of Genesis and elsewhere; אֵל is a generic word for “god” and עֶלְיוֹן is the Hebrew for “Most High” (Gen 14:18-22; Pss 57:2; 78:35). So we are not dealing here with a pagan priest or a pagan king. Melchizedek knew God. He worshipped God. He led other people to worship God. Someday in heaven, we will interact with a group of Salemites who lived under Melchizedek’s leadership. The Bible doesn’t say much about this king. But it does say this. He truly knew and worshipped God. 

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 

In 1976, a group of Palestinian armed operatives hijacked an Air France plane and its 91 passengers. Those hijackers took the plane to Central Africa where the president of Uganda gave them cover. Some of you might remember that incident. Well, in Tel Aviv, 2,500 miles away, a group of Israeli commandos prepared a rescue mission. They traveled to Africa, they found that plane, and they attacked those hijackers in the cover of darkness. They killed the terrorists. They rescued the hostages. And on July 4, 1976, Israel’s premier Yitzhak Rabin triumphantly declared that this mission “will become a legend”! 

Well, believe it or not, father Abraham did something similar to that 4,000 years earlier in the book of Genesis. Genesis 14 tells the story of how a group of rebellious kings conspired together to start a war with the king of Sodom and another group of kings. And after winning the war, they kidnapped a bunch of people from Sodom and Gomorrah, including Abraham’s hapless nephew Lot, and took them captive. 

Now Abraham didn’t care about Sodom and Gomorrah, but he did feel compelled to rescue his brother’s son. So Abraham cobbled together a little army of 318 people, and he went and rescued all these people and brought back the plunder. This is what the author of Hebrews refers to as “the slaughter of the kings” in verse 1. You can read all about this in Genesis 14. 

And that story is interesting enough, because we don’t often think of Abraham as a warrior leading an army. But what’s even more interesting is what happens next. After Abraham returned from that battle with all his plunder, this mysterious king-priest comes out to meet him. And Abraham pays homage to Melchizedek.

Look at verse 2 with me. 

2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. 

Who’s the “him” in verse 2? Melchizedek. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. And look at verse 1. Melchizedek blessed “him.” Who’s the “him” at the end of verse 1? That’s Abraham. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, and Melchizedek blessed Abraham. That’s very strange. More on that blessing in just a second. 

Look at the middle of verse 2.

He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 

There’s some great Hebrew wordplay here. The word מֶלֶךְ means “king” in Hebrew, and צֶדֶק means “righteous.” So melek-tsedek (Hebrew: מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק) or Melchizedek (when we anglicize it), means “King of Righteousness.” And Salem or שָׁלוֹם in Hebrew means “peace.” So he’s a king of righteousness and a king of peace.  

Look at verse 3.

3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, 

That is a shocking statement right there! If you know anything about the book of Genesis, you know that genealogies are important. Everyone has a genealogy! In fact the whole book of Genesis is structured around what are called toledots (Hebrew: תּוֹלֵדוֹת). And everyone has a toledot! Even the heavens and the earth have a toledot in Genesis 2:4: “These are the generations (toledot) of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” But you know who doesn’t have a toledot? You know who doesn’t have a recorded mother and father? This mysterious priest-king, Melchizedek. And it’s not that he doesn’t literally have a mother and a father. I’m sure he did. But it’s not recorded. That’s the point. He’s a different kind of priest. 

He’s definitely not like the Levitical priests, because the Levitical priests had to have a genealogy to back up their priesthood. In fact, when the Jews got back from exile, there were people who were excluded from the Levitical priesthood in the book of Ezra, because they couldn’t prove genealogically that they were Levites (Ezra 2:61-63; cf. Neh 7:63-65). 

And look at the end of verse 3.

having neither beginning of days nor end of life,

Again this is not to be taken literally, like Melchizedek was not human. The idea here is that those things weren’t recorded. His birth and death aren’t recorded in Scripture. And those things were regularly recorded in the OT. For some of the kings of the OT, that’s about all we have recorded. They were born. They died. They did good in the eyes of the Lord, or they did bad in the eyes of the Lord.

having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God

Now this is where the typology starts taking effect. This is big boy exegesis right here. This is solid food, not milk. This is not for the “dull of hearing.” So lean in now, church. 

but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. 

That’s it, right there! That’s the mic-drop. That’s the payoff. Melchizedek is “like unto” the Son of God. And his priesthood is a continuous priesthood. Melchizedek is the type. Jesus is the antitype. Melchizedek is a non-Levitical priest who continues forever. And Jesus is “after the order of Melchizedek” (6:20). 

By the way, just a nota bene here. In Greek, Hebrews 7:1-3 is all one majestically long sentence with clauses galore all over the place. If a student of mine had submitted a paper with a sentence that long, I would rebuke them and tell them to tighten it up. But this author can get away with it because he’s an artist. 

And this is important. All these clauses in this sentence obscure this fact. And we can’t see this in English. But there is one main verb in this sentence. There is one main idea. Do you know what the main verb is in 7:1-3? It’s the verb at the end of verse 3—“continues”! So the simple statement here is this, “For this Melchizedek… continues a priest forever.” That’s the main idea here. Everything else in that sentence just sweetens the pot. But that’s the statement. Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, continues as a priest forever. And that’s what makes Melchizedek greater than the OT kings. 

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Go ahead and write this down as #2. Melchizedek is superior to the OT Kings. But also… and this would’ve been shocking to the original audience that the author of Hebrews was writing to…

2) Melchizedek is superior to Abraham (7:4-7)

Now quickly, before I unpack verses 4-7, let me address some theories that have emerged over the years about Melchizedek. Charles Spurgeon said once about Melchizedek, “We see but little of him, yet we see nothing little in him.” That’s true. And because of that, some have tried to connect Melchizedek to something other than we clearly have presented in Genesis 14, Psalm 110, or Hebrews 7. 

For example, some people have asserted that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Technically speaking this is what we call a Christophany. And that’s a possibility. I believe that there are Christophanies elsewhere in the OT. The Commander of the Lord’s Army in Joshua 5:13-15 is a Christophany. The “three men” who appear to Abraham in Genesis 18:1-21 probably includes a Christophany, or at least a Theophany. I believe that the fourth person in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was a Christophany (Dan 3:24-24). And to be fair, the language of verse 3 could be taken that way—“He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” The problem with that view is the end of verse 3—“resembling the Son of God.” If Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, then I think the author of Hebrews would have told us that. And I don’t think he would have used this “resembling” language. 

Also some people, including those in the Jewish Qumran community have assumed that Melchizedek was an angel of the Lord, perhaps even an angel of final judgment in the end of days. I don’t think that’s a reputable view, though. Priests in the OT had to be human (Heb 5:1).

Others thought that Melchizedek was divine rather than human and may have even been a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the form of a man. There was even a group who held to this view who went as far as to call themselves “the Melchizedekians!” I don’t think that view passes muster, though. It’s all too speculative and has a gnostic flavor to it. And besides, priests have to be human. That’s part of the argument of Hebrews as well, that Jesus was human and therefore can offer up a better sacrifice as a priest. 

Some people have also assumed that Melchizedek was Noah’s son Shem, or maybe even someone from the line of Shem. This was popular in some Jewish traditions. And it’s quite possible that Shem, Abraham’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, was still alive at this time (see Gen 11:10-26). And that’s why Abraham paid homage to him. Martin Luther gave some credence to this view, as did some of the church fathers. The problem with that view is that we know the line of Shem. He has a genealogy in the Bible. So how could it be said of him that “he is without father or mother or genealogy?” Also there’s a statement later that Levi was in the loins of Abraham. And that’s part of the argument of how Melchizedek and Melchizedek’s priesthood is better than Levi and Levi’s priesthood. It’s because Levi, in the loins of Abraham, paid a tithe to Melchizedek. Well if Melchizedek is Shem, and Shem is Abraham’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, than Levi is in the loins of Melchizedek too. The argument falls apart. John Calvin said about this view, “It does not seem a likely conjecture of those who accept Melchizedek as Shem, the son of Noah. If we try to refer to some definite and known man, then this… likeness between Melchizedek and Christ will not hold.” 

Some among the church fathers and others have advocated for a view that Melchizedek is the high priest of the uncircumcised Gentiles and therefore trumps the need for any reliance upon circumcision. And that’s the implicit message in Hebrews. But this view is faulty on several levels, including a strain of antisemitism built into it. The view fails because at this time Abraham himself wasn’t even circumcised! Abraham tithed to Melchizedek in Genesis 14, and God enacted the covenant with circumcision in Genesis 17. So that theory doesn’t work. 

The best view is the view that sees Melchizedek as a real human king. He is this obscure, Gentile king who knew God and feared God. And his role as priest-king was typological of Christ Jesus who became our great high priest and also our great king. Melchizedek is the type. Jesus is the antitype. 

And by the way, we don’t just have Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7. We also have Psalm 110. I’ve talked about this already. A thousand years after Abraham, King David prophesied that a king-priest like Melchizedek would come. And a thousand years after David, voila, a priest-king like Melchizedek came. And his name is Jesus. He’s a true and better priest for us. He’s a true and better king for us. He’s a true and better king of righteousness. 

He’s a true and better king of peace for us! Right? He’s a son of Abraham according to Matthew 1, but his priesthood didn’t come from Abraham. It came directly from God by the order of Melchizedek. 

Okay, back to the text. Look at verse 4 with me. 

4 See how great this man was 

What man? Melchizedek. There’s another reason he can’t be an angel. He’s called a “man”! 

4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!

Do you see that exclamation point at the end of the sentence? That’s good translation work right there. Because there is something emphatic going on here. The author of Hebrews is saying insistently, “Do you see how great this man was?” “Do you see it, church!!!???” “Abraham, the patriarch, gave him a tenth!” 

“No! Seriously!”

“Yes, seriously! Father Abraham who had many sons… many sons had father Abraham… that guy… That guy gave a tithe to this other guy, Melchizedek!”

 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 

So real quick, here’s a sketch of a historical timeline for the OT. 2000 BC is Abraham and Melchizedek. 1000 BC is David. In between Abraham and David around 1500 BC, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. And it was during that time that the Levites received the priesthood. They were faithful to Yahweh, when the rest of the nation was not (see Ex 32:25-29; Num 3:11-13). Therefore they became priests. 

And as part of that priestly code written in the wilderness by Moses, the Levites were supported by tithes (Num 18:21-24). They didn’t get a land-allotment like the other tribes. They served the Lord directly, not the land. So the rest of the Israelites, their brothers, tithed so that the Levites could provide for their families. 

Okay. So follow the argument. 

6 But this man 

There’s that “man-talk” again. 

who does not have his descent from them 

In other words, Melchizedek was not a Levite. He doesn’t descend from them. And he’s not a Abrahamite either. He’s not an Israelite. He’s a Gentile. 

[this man] received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 

The superior blesses the inferior. That’s the argument here. Abraham got blessed. He got blessed by a greater person. Abraham has everything in the world. Who could be more blessed already than Abraham? He was one of the richest men in the world! And yet still, Melchizedek blessed him, not the other way around.  

I want you to put yourselves in the shoes of these readers of Hebrews for a moment. You love Abraham. We love Abraham too as Gentiles. But as a Jew in the first century, you really love Abraham! He’s your great Patriarch. He’s like a celebrity, a famous athlete, a famous politician, and your favorite grandfather all rolled into one. And now this author of Hebrews, this apostle, has the audacity to suggest that Abraham is inferior to some Gentile priest-king. “How dare you, author of Hebrews? Who do you think you are saying this?” Well, he’s an apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writing Scripture. That’s who he is. And he says that Abraham is inferior to someone else, this Gentile king. Look at verse 7. It’s right there. 

You know I wonder if this author is doing this because of what’s happening in that church. The Jewish Christians are being tempted to go back to Judaism. They are tired of suffering as Christians. They want to go back to Judaism. They want to go back to the Law. They want to go back to a pre-Christ era. They want to go back to Abraham. And this author is trying to shake them from that stupor. It’s like they are locked in a trance and he’s trying to snap them out of it. 

And this whole section really isn’t about Melchizedek. It’s really not about him. I hope you realize that. Melchizedek is the type. This passage is really about Jesus. And this author is using Melchizedek, the type, to shake up this group of Christians, and get them to recommit to the antitype, Jesus. And implicit to this whole section is one of the main themes of this book. The author’s saying, “Don’t you quit on your faith. Don’t you walk away from Jesus. Don’t you go back to your pre-Christian days. Don’t go back to Abraham without Christ. There’s nothing back there for you. Even Melchizedek was greater than Abraham, and Jesus is greater than Melchizedek!”

And it’s not as if Abraham is insignificant. Don’t misunderstand me here. Inferiority to Melchizedek doesn’t imply insignificance. Because Abraham has all the promises. Look at verse 6. Melchizedek blessed him who had the promises. That’s Abraham! Abraham is far from insignificant. But this author is trying to get the eyes of the people off of Abraham and ultimately back on Jesus. 

You might say, “Those silly Hebrews from the NT. We would never do that in our day. We never get distracted from focusing on Jesus.” Don’t we, though? Don’t we, though? Don’t we sometimes fixate on politicians instead of Christ, or preachers instead of Christ, or the idea of Christianity instead of the reality of Christ? Or sometimes maybe we confuse morality with the gospel? And we trust in our good works instead of the grace of God for our salvation or even our sanctification. 

No, we need to get shaken from our stupor too at times. I do. I get distracted from focusing on Christ. So I appreciate the argument in this book. And the argument is this, “Christ is supreme in all things!” Christ is superior to everything. Right? 

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Okay, let’s get back to the text. But first, write this down as #3 in your notes. Here’s another way that Melchizedek is superior. He’s superior to the OT priests. He’s superior to Abraham. And thirdly,  

3) Melchizedek is superior to Levi (7:8-10)

Look at verse 8 with me. This is a pretty complex argument, so stay with me here. 

8 In the one case [that is in the case of the Levitical priesthood] tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case [in the case of the Melchizedekian priesthood], by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 

Now again, this is poetic and typological language here speaking of Melchizedek as one who “lives.” There’s no record of his death in Genesis, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t die. What it does mean, and I think this is the inference here, is that his priesthood lives on. Psalm 110 said it’s an eternal priesthood. And that’s not like the Levitical priesthood. We know when Levi died (Ex 6:16). We know when Aaron and Moses died (Num 20:22-29; 33:38-39; Deut 34:1-8). Those deaths are recorded in the pages of Scripture. 

And the Levitical priests were limited too. They had term limits. They couldn’t serve more than twenty five years. Numbers 8:23-26 says that they could only serve from age 25 to 50. Then they had to retire. There’s no limit like that on Melchizedek.   

And also the Levitical priesthood comes to an end. Just as a reminder, this book of Hebrews was written sometime before 70 AD. So there’s a good chance that there were still animal sacrifices going on in the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of this writing. But all of that came to an end in 70 AD. The Romans destroyed the Temple and put an end to that. And that continues even today. There is no sacrificial system in Israel right now. The Levitical Priesthood is over. But the eternal priesthood of the line of Melchizedek continues, in fact it continues forever. And that’s why it’s greater. Melchizedek is greater than Levi. And the eternal Melchizedekian Priesthood is ipso facto better than the temporal Levitical priesthood. 

Look at verse 9.

9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 

10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 

Now that’s an interesting statement right there. That’s an interesting way to argue that Melchizedek is greater than Levi and the Levitical priesthood. 

You know one of my favorite expressions in English is “back then, you were just a twinkle in your father’s eye.” Anyone heard that expression before? There was a member of my previous small group in Decatur, a young lady, who was born in 2001. And we were talking once about the late 1900s. And I was trying to explain to her the significance of the OJ Simpson trial. She just didn’t get it. And of course, that was like 1995. And I told her, “You know Emily, back then you were still just a twinkle in your father’s eye.”

Something like that is being said here, except we’re talking about 500 years instead of a few years. Levi, the great-great-great-great-etc. grandson of Abraham was still in Abraham’s loins when Abraham met Melchizedek. And the implication here is that—and this is pretty creative—the implication is that inferior Levi tithed to the superior Melchizedek centuries before he was even born. 

And the implication of this for the audience is as follows: “You sure you want to stick with Abraham and Levi? You sure you want to go back to a pre-Christ era? You sure you want to trade the superior for the inferior?” 

Because here’s what implicitly is being said throughout this whole section. Here’s what the author is really saying when you pull back the curtain of his argument. He’s really saying this. Melchizedek is greater than the OT kings, he’s greater than Abraham, and he’s greater than Levi. And Jesus, the high priest in the order of Melchizedek, is greater than Melchizedek. That’s the argument here. 

In fact, I would encourage you to do this. I would encourage you to change the outline of what I gave you. This is the first time I’ve ever done this. I’ve been preaching as a senior pastor for fifteen years; this is a first. Your outline looks like this: 

1) Melchizedek is superior to the OT kings (7:1-3)

2) Melchizedek is superior to Abraham (7:4-7)

3) Melchizedek is superior to Levi (7:8-10)

It really should look like this:

1) (Jesus is superior to) Melchizedek (who) is superior to the OT kings (7:1-3) 

2) (Jesus is superior to) Melchizedek (who) is superior to Abraham (7:4-7)

3) (Jesus is superior to) Melchizedek (who) is superior to Levi (7:8-10)

How is Jesus superior to Melchizedek? Well, he’s the eternal prince of peace. And he’s the eternal king of righteousness. And he’s the only righteous one whose death on the cross imputes righteousness to us. Let me just state the obvious, Melchizedek didn’t die on a cross to save you from your sins. Neither did Abraham or Levi. Jesus did that. And by the way, Jesus died on the cross for the sins of Levi, Abraham, and Melchizedek too. Someday in eternity, Melchizedek will join us as we bow down to King Jesus. 

Why? Because Jesus is the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Son of David, and the Great I AM. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. He’s the New Adam. He’s the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Great High Priest, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, the True Vine, the Lamb of God, the Lord, the Messiah, the Logos. He’s the Morning Star. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He’s the Resurrection and the Life. 

And He’s our Great Redeemer. He redeems us with his blood. That is Jesus, who the writer of Hebrews calls, “The author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2, KJV). 

Some of you might say, “How do you know, Pastor Tony, that Hebrews 7:1-10, is really about Jesus? How can you be so confident?” Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve read ahead! And that’s what the author of Hebrews develops in verses 11-19 and beyond. And I’ll tell you all about it… next week.