Melchizedek Priesthood 1 - Hebrews 7:1-3

This chapter is very deep and I like it a lot but it’s really heavy with content. Paul finished chapter 6 saying that he wanted to move on to more complex gospel doctrine so he starts talking about the concept of the priesthood which he has mostly avoided when addressing gentile audiences, and this makes sense because they probably had no concept of what the priesthood is thus didn’t have a problem accepting that Jesus had the highest of it. But for the Jewish Christian converts who Paul is addressing, the role of the priesthood in both ancient Judaism and recent Christianity might have been a stick in the bicycle wheel. Those Jews who accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ probably knew more about the scriptures and the Law of Moses than the average, “don’t really think about it much” member of Judaism. This would provide a firm foundation for them to transition from the law of Moses to the higher law, but it could also be problematic because it seems to me that there isn’t a clear cut definition of how the law of Moses could be true at the time, but isn’t anymore. That would be a tough concept to reconcile, especially for Jews who truly loved and believed in the Law of Moses. The end of chapter 6 has Paul declaring that “Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” And it also says that he “interest into that within the veil.” The IM tells us “’Veil’ in Hebrews 6:19 is a reference to the veil of the temple. The high priest entered through the veil into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to symbolically cleanse Israel. In the same way, Jesus, the great High Priest, entered through the veil into heaven to prepare the way for us to return to heaven.” Let’s remember that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple ripped in half, symbolizing the destruction of the separation of man from God. The only person allowed to even think about entering the Holy of Holies, where the veil is, was the high priest who was assigned as the officiator at the time on Yom Kippur, no one else could even get close to approaching it. So Paul is bringing up a huge problem here by referencing Jesus as the High Priest and officiant at the veil. The big problem is that only men born to the tribe of Levi can be high priests, and Jesus was born from Judah. Paul gets into this later, but I want to bring it up now so that there is some context because I read this chapter and all the accompanying explanations, and my question just kept coming up, “did the Jews reading this Pauline letter even know that there were two priesthoods?” Once I got the answer to that, the whole concept became clearer. I think it would be one thing for Paul to teach that the one priesthood and law (Aaronic and Mosaic) that they were already familiar with feeds directly in to a secondary priesthood and law (Melchizedek and higher law). But it would be a pretty hard sell for Paul to expect them to believe that not only was what they already knew wrong, but that they now had to believe in this new thing that they had never even heard of. Because he’s talking to them in a way that implies, “hey guys, the Law of Moses only had the Aaronic priesthood, but Jesus had the Melchizedek priesthood and we want that too right?” So here’s what is discussed later that would have helped me understand better had I learned it in the beginning of the chapter. So for my question of “did the Jews at the time know that there were two priesthoods and that they had the lesser one?” we find the answer in verse 19 which says, “for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” The IM comments, “One of Paul’s purposes in Hebrews 7 was to show the Melchizedek Priesthood’s superiority over the Levitical or Aaronic Priesthood and its accompanying ordinances. If perfection and exaltation were attainable through the Levitical Priesthood, why was there a need for a change to the higher priesthood?” This statement implies that the people knew of a need to change to the higher priesthood, so it seems that Paul only had to convince them that Jesus held the Melchizedek priesthood, instead of that Jesus held the Melchizedek priesthood and that they needed it too. Basically, this is all cross-referenced with Exodus 34:1-2 which is the time in between when Moses crushed the first set of commandments given to the people by God because they were in the throes of major wickedness and when he got the second set and can only be understood the JST version which says, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two other tables of stone, like unto the first, and I will write upon them also, the words of the law, according as they were written at the first on the tables which thou brakest; but it shall not be according to the first, for I will take away the priesthood out of their midst; therefore my holy order, and the ordinances thereof, shall not go before them; for my presence shall not go up in their midst, lest I destroy them. But I will give unto them the law as at the first, but it shall be after the law of a carnal commandment; for I have sworn in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my presence, into my rest, in the days of their pilgrimage. Therefore do as I have commanded thee, and be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me, in the top of the mount.” This makes it clear that the Israelites knew that the Law of Moses was a downgraded version of the gospel of Jehovah, that they lost the higher priesthood as well as the order and ordinances. So clearly the people are missing something and know it because it’s recorded there in the Torah. But wait, wasn’t this a JST? Correct, but I think that the version of the Torah that Paul is using and the version that Joseph Smith produced was probably the same one because at this point, the Torah had been protected by the Jewish institution and probably not translated very much so it wouldn’t have lost much of its content. This explanation helped me understand that the people were aware of their inferior status as Aaronic priesthood holders and that they expected to be given the higher Melchizedek priesthood at some point. It was just Paul’s job now to teach them that their time had come through Jesus. Basically, what I think this chapter is for is to teach these Jewish Christian converts that the priesthood and ordinances that they loved and believed would save them was actually just a preparatory step to what would actually save them. 7:1-2 - Jesus is the “forerunner” and he was “made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” This begs the question, who is Melchizedek? It’s interesting because I didn’t even know that there was a man named Melchizedek and just thought that the name of this priesthood was just some foreign language thing. The information about him is incredibly limited, and here we are sitting 4,000+ years later trying to figure out why he’s important to our lives now. I read some Jewish interpretations of the priesthood and they claim that Melchizedek is really Shem, the son of Noah, which I didn’t see mentioned anywhere in the LDS discussions, so I’m not saying it’s not possible, but I’m not going to hang my hat on it because ultimately it doesn’t change anything. Interestingly, we get some of our best information about Melchizedek from the Book of Mormon in Alma 13:17-18 which says, “Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness; But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the Holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father. Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention.” The word “none” is cross-referenced with D&C 107:1-4 which explains why the higher priesthood is called the Melchizedek priesthood, “because Melchizedek was such a great high priest. Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence for the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.” It’s interesting how Melchizedek was a king over a righteous people, but they weren’t initially righteous, they had to be called to repentance and managed in a way. It’s like when I learned about the people of Enoch, how they were super righteous and that there were no poor among them. I thought “well of course it’s easy to be righteous when nobody is poor.” It didn’t occur to me until later that the level of equality that they were operating at took work on everyone’s part, it didn’t just naturally happen, it was a concerted effort to truly live the gospel of Christ. This just goes to demonstrate Melchizedek’s greatness because he could rule in righteousness not only when times were going well, but also when it took work to being about repentance and peace. This Melchizedek is the man “who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kinds, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all.” In our church today, progression from one priesthood office to another seems so mechanical that I missed the whole part about the differences in priesthood offices or when it’s like with only the Aaronic priesthood vs. having that and the Melchizedek priesthood. And I’m a single mom, I’ve never had a righteous priesthood holder in my home, even as a child, but I’ve never felt like I was missing anything when it came to the power of God working in my life. I don’t hold any priesthood office and honestly I don’t ever want to, however I have never experienced any lack in that department in my life just because some man wouldn’t honor his priesthood. So maybe it’s because of all that, that I lack clarity and sufficient understanding of the priesthood. 7:3 - Another JST come in handy here at the start of verse 3. So far in just the three verses Melchizedek, Abraham, and the Son of God have been referenced so when we read, “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but make like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.” This makes it sound like Melchizedek was born without parents and is timeless, which is pretty weird because in Exodus it says that he ruled under his father, but whatever. The JST of this verse makes some very significant points. It says, “For this Melchizedek was ordained a priest after the order of the Son of God, which order was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, now end of life. And all those who are ordained unto his priesthood are made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually.” The first point brought up in this JST is that it is the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God that is without parents. Fair enough, it is not a person, but what I think this means is that it’s referencing the fact that the Aaronic priesthood was given based on lineage (Levites) whereas appointment to the Melchizedek Priesthood is not based on ancestry but instead on the merits of your character. This answers the question raised in the last chapter of how Jesus could officiate as the High Priest in the Holy of Holies if he was from the tribe of Judah and not Levi, it’s because he has the higher Melchizedek priesthood which is superior to the priesthood of Aaron that the Levi priests operate under now. The second point brought up is that those who are ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood are promised that they “are make like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually.” This comes up again later in the chapter when Paul talks about the oath of the priesthood, but this promise here is in reference to that. Maybe it’s because I don’t have priesthood authority that I think, “oh you get to be a priest forever? Why is that a big deal?” We’ll cover that a little later when we get there but it’s an important point.