- Hebrews 7:11-15
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- Heb 7:11 (KJB)
- If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for
under it the people received the law,) what further need was there
that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be
called after the order of Aaron?
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- Perfection - Completion or finishing of anything
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- A major question to the readers in that if the Levitical priesthood was
able to effect salvation in the lives of who it interceded for, then there
would have been no further need for another priesthood. The priesthood of
Aaron could have continued in perpetuity and would have been sufficient to
bring salvation to all those who brought sacrifices and obeyed the dictates
of the law by bringing the proper thank offerings or sin offerings. If the
law was able to be an end in itself, bringing people to perfect standing
before the Lord, then an eternal priesthood would not have been necessary
since there would always be someone to fill the shoes of a priest when one
would die.
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- Heb 7:12 (KJB)
- For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a
change also of the law.
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- Being changed - Translate, transpose, or carry over
- Changed - Change of position or transfer
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- The Mosaic law is very intimate with the Levitical priesthood and now
since the priesthood is being changed from the earthly priesthood to one
that was akin to the eternal nature of the priesthood of Melchisedec. With
this type of change, the new priesthood could not be legislated from the old
order of Aaronic priesthood but a new method would have to be installed. It
is going back to the Lord’s statement of putting new wine into old
wineskins.
(Mat 9:17 KJV) Neither do men
put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth
out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and
both are preserved. The new priesthood must have a
new foundation and this we will see shortly.
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- Heb 7:13 (KJB)
- For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of
which no man gave attendance at the altar.
- The tribe in question here is the tribe of Judah. All the priests came
from the tribe of Levi but now there is going to be a change in the priestly
tribe. This also signals the end of the Levitical priesthood forever. No
longer will those who are being saved go to the priest and offer an animal
sacrifice as those were nothing but a foreshadow which could not save
anyway. The High Priest was of Aaron’s line but now the Lord Jesus Christ
being our High Priest was of the tribe of Judah, of which no one in the past
came forth to be a High Priest.
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- Heb 7:14 (KJB)
- For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
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- Evident - Open, manifest, or clear
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- When the genealogies are looked at in both Matthew and Luke, it becomes
very clear that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come from the priestly tribe
of Levi but came from the tribe of Judah.
(Gen 49:10 KJV) The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and
unto him shall the gathering of the people
be. The prophecy
of the Lord coming from Judah went back as far as Genesis. The Lord being in
the line of David was qualified to be the Messiah but because He was not
born in Levi, this disqualified Him from holding any type of priestly
office. He had to be born outside of Levi because if a change of priesthood
was evident, then if He came from within Levi, then no change would take
place. Since He came through the tribe of Judah, the change was complete
including a change of tribe and priesthood.
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- Heb 7:15 (KJB)
- And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude
of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
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- Evident - Very clear or quite plain
- The similitude - Likeness or in the same way
- Ariseth - Raised up or appears
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- The writer continues the thought from the previous verse that even
though Moses had mentioned nothing about any priests coming from the tribe
of Judah, yet it is extremely evident that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was an
eternal priest after the order of Melchisedec, sprang out of the tribe of
Judah thus effecting a change in the priesthood forever. No longer is the
temple system valid, it has been done away with since it was an earthly
priesthood and replaced by the eternal.
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