The Greater Priesthood Text: Hebrews 7:4-10
Introduction: A Stale and Crusty Religion
The book of Hebrews is written to a group of Christians who were being tempted to go back. They were feeling the pull of their old way of life, the tangible religion of their fathers. They had the temple, the sacrifices, the robed priests, the smell of incense. It was a religion you could see and touch. And in the face of persecution, the temptation was to retreat to the apparent safety of that old system, to trade in the vibrant, living reality of Christ for a stale and crusty religion that God was in the process of dismantling.
The author of Hebrews confronts this temptation head on, not by telling them to simply buck up, but by demonstrating with rigorous, scriptural logic that what they have in Christ is not just something new, but something profoundly, unassailably, and eternally better. Everything the old covenant pointed to, everything it shadowed, has arrived in substance and in person. To go back would be like seeing the bridegroom arrive and then deciding to go back to staring at his photograph. It is utter folly.
The central pillar of his argument is the superiority of Christ's priesthood. The entire Jewish system of worship revolved around the Levitical priesthood. It was divinely instituted, it was ancient, it was venerable. But the author's point is that it was also temporary and typological. It was a placeholder. And to prove this, he reaches back into the book of Genesis, to a mysterious and singular figure named Melchizedek. In our text today, he is going to lay out the evidence, like a skilled lawyer, to prove that the priesthood of Melchizedek, to which Christ belongs, is vastly superior to the priesthood of Aaron. And he does this by showing us a transaction that occurred between this Melchizedek and the great patriarch Abraham, the father of the entire Jewish nation.
What we are about to see is not some dusty theological fine point. This is about the very nature of our worship. Who is our priest? By what authority do we approach God? Is our access to God direct and final in Christ, or is it mediated by a lesser, temporary system? The answer to these questions determines everything about our Christian lives.
The Text
4 Now observe how great this man was TO WHOM ABRAHAM, the patriarch, GAVE A TENTH of the spoils. 5And those indeed of the sons of Levi, who receive the priest’s office, have a commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brothers, although these are descended from Abraham. 6But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them had collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8And in this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 9And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. (Hebrews 7:4-10 LSB)
The Greatness of Melchizedek (v. 4)
The author begins by inviting us to consider, to really look at and ponder, the greatness of this man Melchizedek.
"Now observe how great this man was TO WHOM ABRAHAM, the patriarch, GAVE A TENTH of the spoils." (Hebrews 7:4)
The first piece of evidence for Melchizedek's greatness is the tithe. Abraham, the patriarch, the fountainhead of the covenant people, the one to whom the promises were given, paid a tithe to this man. A tithe is not a tip. It is not a charitable donation. A tithe is tribute. It is a recognition of superior authority. When you pay a tenth of your income, you are acknowledging that the recipient has a rightful claim on you and your property. You are acknowledging that they represent God to you.
Abraham had just returned from a great military victory, slaughtering kings who had taken his nephew Lot captive. He was flush with the spoils of war. And in this moment of triumph, he meets this king-priest of Salem, and he immediately renders to him a tenth of the best. This was not done under the compulsion of the Mosaic Law; the Law would not be given for another four centuries. This was a voluntary act of worship, flowing from Abraham's recognition of who Melchizedek was: a priest of the Most High God. This tithe establishes a principle that predates and transcends the Levitical code. It is grounded in creation, in the very fabric of how God has ordered the world. We give a tenth to acknowledge that He owns the whole hundred percent.
The Argument from the Tithe (v. 5-6)
The author now draws a sharp contrast between the Levitical priesthood and this mysterious priest-king.
"And those indeed of the sons of Levi, who receive the priest’s office, have a commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brothers, although these are descended from Abraham. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them had collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises." (Hebrews 7:5-6 LSB)
The argument here is a brilliant piece of covenantal logic. The Levites, under the Mosaic Law, had a right to collect tithes. But from whom? From their brothers, their fellow Israelites. It was an internal, family arrangement. They were all descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek is an outsider. His genealogy is not from Levi; he is not part of that system at all. And yet, he received tithes not from some ordinary Israelite, but from Abraham himself, the very father of Levi.
Do you see the force of the argument? The Levitical right to tithe is derivative; it comes from their descent from Abraham. But Melchizedek's right is inherent. He stands outside and above the entire Levitical structure. Abraham, the great patriarch, submitted to his authority. If the father submits, how can the sons claim superiority? The entire Levitical system is downstream from Abraham, and Abraham himself is downstream from Melchizedek.
The Argument from the Blessing (v. 7)
The second piece of evidence is even more potent. It is the blessing.
"But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater." (Hebrews 7:7 LSB)
This is presented as a self-evident truth, an axiom. A blessing is not an exchange between equals. It is a bestowal of favor from a superior to an inferior. A father blesses his son. A priest blesses the people. God blesses man. The flow is always downwards. And in Genesis 14, Melchizedek blesses Abraham. He pronounces God's favor upon the man who held the promises of God.
Think about this. Abraham was the recipient of the most glorious promises God had ever made to a man. He was promised a seed as numerous as the stars, the land of Canaan, and that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). He was the covenant head of God's people. And yet, here he stands, receiving a blessing from someone greater than himself. If Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, then he is necessarily greater than the entire Levitical priesthood that would come from Abraham. The logic is inescapable.
Mortal Men vs. The One Who Lives (v. 8)
The author adds another layer to the argument, contrasting the temporary nature of the Levitical priesthood with the permanence of Melchizedek's.
"And in this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on." (Hebrews 7:8 LSB)
The Levitical priesthood was a constant relay race of death. A priest would serve, grow old, and die, and his son would take his place. It was a succession of mortal men. But with Melchizedek, the scriptural record is silent about his origins and his end. Genesis introduces him without a genealogy, without mention of his birth or death. As the author argued earlier in the chapter, he is "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3).
The point is not that Melchizedek was some kind of eternal phantom. He was a real historical man. But the Holy Spirit deliberately shaped the Genesis narrative to present him as a type of Christ. The silence of the text is the point. The record witnesses that "he lives on." His priesthood is not interrupted by death. This is in stark contrast to the Aaronic priests, whose entire ministry was defined and limited by their mortality. This points us to Christ, our great high priest, who "because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently" (Hebrews 7:24).
Levi Tithed in Abraham (v. 9-10)
Finally, the author lands his conclusive point with the doctrine of federal headship.
"And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." (Hebrews 7:9-10 LSB)
This is a concept that our individualistic modern minds struggle to grasp, but it is absolutely central to biblical thought. Federal headship means that a father represents his descendants. What the covenant head does, his posterity does in him. When Adam sinned, we all sinned in him (Romans 5:12). He was our representative. In the same way, Abraham acted as the representative for his entire lineage.
Levi, the ancestor of the priestly tribe, was not yet born. He was still "in the loins" of his great-grandfather Abraham. But because Abraham was his federal head, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek. The entire Levitical priesthood, in embryonic form, acknowledged the superiority of Melchizedek's priesthood. The argument is complete. The case is closed. The priesthood of Melchizedek, and therefore the priesthood of Christ, is not just an alternative to the Levitical priesthood; it is of a completely different and higher order.
Conclusion: No Going Back
So what does this intricate argument about ancient priests and patriarchs have to do with us? Everything. The author of Hebrews is dismantling every possible reason for these wavering Christians to retreat to their old religion. He is showing them that the old system, in the person of its founding fathers Abraham and Levi, bowed the knee to the new system, in the person of its great forerunner Melchizedek.
The Levitical priesthood dealt with sin through an endless succession of animal sacrifices, offered by a constant rotation of dying priests, in an earthly temple. It was a system of shadows that could never make the worshiper perfect (Hebrews 10:1). But we have a High Priest, Jesus Christ, after the order of Melchizedek. He is not a mortal man; He is the eternal Son of God, of whom it is witnessed that He lives on. He did not offer the blood of bulls and goats; He offered Himself, once for all (Hebrews 9:12). He does not minister in a tent made with hands; He has entered the true holy place, into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24).
Because His priesthood is superior, His sacrifice is final. Because He is greater than Abraham, He is greater than all that came from Abraham. There is no going back. To leave Christ and return to the shadows is to abandon the king for his portrait, the substance for the symbol. It is to prefer the priesthood that paid the tithe over the Priesthood that received it.
Therefore, let us "observe how great this man was," and in doing so, let us see how infinitely greater our Lord Jesus is. He is our King of Righteousness and our King of Peace. And because He lives forever, we who are in Him can draw near to God with full confidence, knowing that He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).