“I was listening to the Former Adventist Podcast on Hebrews 7:11–22,” a new former Adventist wrote recently.
I continued reading; the writer was looking at the text and saw saw that Hebrews 7:15–16 said Melchizedek was not a priest on the basis of his inheritance as the levitical priests were, but he was a priest on the basis of an “indestructible life”. Then she made a perceptive observation.
After doing a Google search on Melchizedek, she saw that he was a priest and the king of Salem. “I was confused that a king could be a priest,” she wrote. “I searched more and found in 2 Samuel 6:14 and 1 Kings 8 that both David and Solomon offered sacrifices once during their reigns. I thought those were acts that only a levitical priest would carry out.
“Now if a king could act as a priest, I see the connection with Melchizedek. Am I seeing this correctly?”
The question is good—in fact, understanding Melchizedek’s dual role as king and priest is central to the Bible’s making him a type of the Lord Jesus. The writer correctly understood that according to the law of Moses, the offices of king and priest were strictly separated. Kings (from the tribe of Judah) could not be priests, and priests (from the tribe of Levi) could not be kings.
What about Melchizedek?
Before the law
Hebrews 7 walks through the details of Melchizedek’s interactions with Abraham (recorded in Genesis 14) and applies those details to Jesus. Importantly, after returning from battle, Abraham met Melchizedek and paid him a tithe of all his spoils of war. Then Melchizedek blessed Abraham. The author of Hebrews puts it this way:
See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 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. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him (Hebrews 7:4–10).
Melchizedek, that shadowy figure whom we meet in only three places in Scripture—Genesis 14, Psalm 110, and Hebrews 5 and 7—is considered greater than Abraham. Abraham—the one to whom God made unconditional promises and with whom He established a covenant that He would give him seed, land, and blessing—the man who became the father of all the faithful who believe God—this man was blessed by one greater than he was: the king and priest Melchizedek.
The fact that he was somehow greater than Abraham, though, is not the detail that makes his dual role so significant. For us who were taught as Adventists that the law is eternal and that Abraham, Adam, and even the angels in heaven were bound to keep it, the reality of Melchizedek’s priestly kingship is paradigm-shattering.
The thing that really sets Melchizedek apart from all other priests and kings is that he preceded the law. There was no law mandating levitical priests when Abraham paid him tithe. Whoever Melchizedek was, he was a king and a priest, and those two offices foreshadowed the Lord Jesus. Added to that fact, he was a greater than Abraham. Moreover, book of Genesis records no genealogy for him. Now, he was quite certainly a man, but his story leaves him “mysterious” and without lineage, foreshadowing the eternality of God the Son.
The thing that makes Melchizedek a priest that foreshadowed Jesus’ priesthood is that he was not a legal priest. He was not a priest according to the law. There were no tribes in existence yet, much less a nation of Israel, when Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham. His role as king and priest was entirely on the basis of God’s appointment of him.
Hebrews 7 goes to great lengths to explain that Jesus’ priesthood is not according to the law, that the law is based on the priesthood, and when the priesthood changes, the law also has to change (v. 11, 12). Melchizedek’s priesthood, which preceded the law, is the type that foreshadowed Jesus. Neither of them has priesthoods dictated by the terms of the law. Rather, their priesthoods are both on the basis of sovereign appointment by God.
Yes, both David and Solomon did have episodes of functioning in priestly ways, but they were not ever considered priests. (It might be argued, though, that those events were part of their foreshadowing of Jesus as the eternal King who would come from the line of David. Clearly God did not judge them for those moments.)
The singular thing about Jesus, however, is that He fulfilled all of the offices God gave Israel: king, priest, prophet, and also judge. He is unique in holding all the offices which God through the law mandated and established for Israel.
In short, the thing that makes Melchizedek such a powerful foreshadowing of Jesus is that he was a king and priest who was NOT under the law but came BEFORE the law—as Jesus Himself was before the law (as well as AFTER the law)—facts which make Jesus a priest not governed by law—just as Melchizedek was not governed by law.
We serve a High Priest who is according to the order of Melchizedek, and His unique priesthood has ushered us into the very presence of God by the once-for-all sacrifice of His sinless blood. He is our anchor in the heavens, and He is pulling us home as he lives forever to make intercession for us (Heb. 10:20; 6:19; 7:25). †
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