The Greatness of Melchizedek – Hebrews 7:4-10

You turn now to the book of Hebrews chapter seven, Hebrews chapter seven.

When you find your place there, let's bow our heads in prayer before we begin. Our father, we pray that you would grant us understanding in your word and illumination, which is the work of the

Holy Spirit. We thank you that your spirit dwells within each one of us and that we can be empowered and illumined and enlightened by the work of your spirit, the

Holy Spirit in your word and in our desire to understand it. And so we pray that you would grant that to us this morning and may your spirit be our teacher and your word be our guide and may our attentiveness to your word be our concern here this morning.

We ask this in Christ's name, amen. Well, the intention of the book of, the author of the book of Hebrews is to demonstrate and establish the preeminence, the superiority of Jesus Christ over anything and everything that we could point to in the

Old Testament. And there's nothing in the Old Covenant associated with the law of Moses or the

Levitical priesthood or the feasts and the festivals and the sacrifices, the tabernacle or the temple. There are none of those things to which we can point and say that they are in any way equal to or superior to the

Lord Jesus Christ. And by the time we get through the end of the book of Hebrews, you're gonna see that the author leaves almost no stone uncovered as he examines the

Old Testament, the Old Covenant and all of the things associated with that pointing to Jesus Christ as being superior and preeminent over all of them.

And you can see that this is how the author of Hebrews sort of makes his argument as we've tracked it all the way through since the beginning of the book of Hebrews.

In chapters one and two, the author was intended to show us that Jesus is greater than the angels.

Those angels who were mediators of the Old Covenant, Jesus Christ is not equal to them, he is not one of them. He rules them, he created them, he is supreme over them, preeminent over the angels.

He's not one of the angels. And then in chapter three, he wanted to show us that Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses was a servant in God's household,

Jesus is the builder of the house. Moses served God, but Jesus is the God whom Moses served.

And then in chapter four, we saw that Jesus is greater than Joseph, not

Joseph, sorry, Joshua. All these names to keep track of. Wait till we get later on the message, there'll be more names.

Jesus is greater than Joshua. Joshua being unable to take the children of Israel into the promised land and fulfill all that God intended there, unable to give to the children of Israel the rest, to God's people rest,

Jesus has provided that rest. Jesus is that rest. So he's greater than the angels, he's greater than Moses, he's greater than Joshua.

And now in chapters five through chapter 10, the author of Hebrew wants to show us that Jesus is greater than all of the

Old Testament priests and all of the Old Testament priesthood. And in order to do that, he singles out one sort of obscure character from the

Old Testament that if it weren't for the book of Hebrews, we would probably never pick up on it, we would never understand who he is or what he is about, we would never probably really even notice

Melchizedek if it weren't for the long treatment that we have of him in the book of Hebrews. And Melchizedek who is only mentioned in two places in the

Old Testament, Genesis chapter 14 and in Psalm chapter 110 verse four, those two little places tell us very little about this character of whom so much is made in the

New Testament. But the author of Hebrews sees in the reference to Melchizedek a symbol, a type, a parallel to the

Lord Jesus Christ. And so he spends all of these chapters talking to us about Melchizedek and his significance and the purpose being this, he wants to show to us that the priesthood that Jesus Christ possessed is greater than and superior to all of the

Old Testament priesthoods. The particularly the priesthood associated with Aaron and the tribe of Levi.

He wants to show us that Jesus as a high priest is greater than all of the Old Testament high priests.

In order to do that, he has to show us that the priesthood that Jesus possessed, the priesthood that Jesus had is greater than the

Levitical priesthood. And how does he do that? He does that by taking us back to Melchizedek. And one of the things that the author is intending to do in showing us how great

Jesus is over all of the Old Testament priests and the Levitical priesthood, he's doing this because central to all of the

Old Covenant, central to all of the Old Testament were the sacrifices and the feasts and the festivals and the offerings and the animals and the blood that was shed and all of the work that went on in the tabernacle and later in the temple, all of that mediated by and through those priests.

If the author is going to show us that Jesus is better than the Old Covenant, then he has to show us that the priesthood that Jesus possesses is greater than that through which all of the sacrifices were made in the

Old Testament. And that's what he's doing by taking us to Melchizedek. He wants to show us that Jesus's priesthood is superior by nature, superior by calling, superior in its duration, and superior in its power to save.

And that's chapters five through 10. So we're talking a lot about the priests and the priesthood. It is somewhat appropriate that we do this today because this next week we're gonna celebrate the 502nd anniversary of the

Protestant Reformation. And do you know what is at the heart of some of the issues that surrounded the Protestant Reformation? Maybe if you were here for the

Reformation night celebration last night with all the kids playing their games, you might have picked up on this. What was at the heart of the

Reformation, at least one of the issues? It was the legitimacy of the priesthood of the papacy.

The Pope and the priests, were they able, qualified, and called to serve in that capacity?

Do we as individuals need a mediator between us and God? Or is

Jesus Christ and what he has done and what he does now for us sufficient by which we can approach

God on the merits of Christ and Christ alone? Or do we need to go through another earthly priesthood?

The Roman Catholic priestly system and all of the mass that they do, which they think is another sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that whole system is modeled after the

Levitical priesthood. And what is the argument in the book of Hebrews? That Jesus is greater than the Levitical priesthood.

So why then would you take something that is inferior to Jesus and then transfer that into our new covenant,

New Testament relationship with God, where we have direct access to him? And the Protestant reformers argued that is illegitimate and it is wrong because Jesus Christ is greater than that thing after which the

Roman Catholic system of priests is modeled and patterned after. Now, if you are sitting here and this is your first time this morning, you were here a couple of weeks ago,

I want to apologize. We are in the middle of a passage of Scripture that is very difficult. Hebrews is one of the most difficult books.

Chapter seven is one of the most difficult chapters and one of the most difficult books in all of Scripture. And we are working through the argument of Hebrews chapter seven and we're doing it slowly so that we make sure that we understand exactly what the author is laying out here.

Today, we're mostly gonna be talking about understanding what the point of the author is in the way that he is presenting this case for Jesus being greater than the

Old Testament priest. And as we do that, we have to keep in mind that the application for everything he is saying is toward the end of the chapter.

It is at the end of the chapter where he kind of lays out the significance of all of that. And unfortunately for us, we're not getting to the application today.

We're just kind of working through the argument and understanding what it is the case that he is trying to make. So if you're looking for something to take away from today's message,

I have two things for you. Either one, you're gonna be sorely disappointed or number two, you can just keep in mind that because of what

Jesus Christ has done, we do not have to go through any other priesthood. We have direct access to God on the merits of one who died in our stead and provides us that access so that we, in the words of the hymn that we sang, can boldly approach the throne of grace on our own with direct access through no other human mediator because of Christ who is our high priest.

That is how great he is. He is the one who intercedes for us. All right, so let's read now that we're in chapter seven.

Oh, verses one through three, we looked at the parallels between Melchizedek and Jesus. Can you remember that? There were significant parallels there, but it's not the parallels themselves that are the only thing that the author sees.

He also sees in the episode with Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14 a future or forward -looking aspect to Melchizedek's life, and we saw that in verses one through three, and the author here in Hebrews is looking not just to Genesis 14, but also to Psalm 110, where David talked about one who would come from him, from his lineage, who would be both a king and a priest, and that is what

Melchizedek was, both a king and a priest, and so there are these parallels between Jesus and Melchizedek. He lays those out in verses one to three.

We've gone through all of that. Now we come to verse four, and looking at verses four through 10, we're gonna read them here in just a moment, and I wanna show you that the author wants to show that there are two things that demonstrate that Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, and thus to all of the

Old Testament priests who came from Abraham's line. Melchizedek was superior, two things. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, number one, and number two,

Melchizedek blessed Abraham, so let's pick it up at verse four, and let's read it together. Now observe how great this man was, and he's speaking there of Melchizedek.

Now observe how great this man Melchizedek was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choicest spoils, and those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest's office have commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham, but the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

You notice the reference there to those two things hearkening back to Genesis 14. He blessed the one, or sorry, he collected a tenth from Abraham, and he blessed the one who had the promises.

Now what's the point of that? In verse seven, without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater. Who's the lesser?

That would be Abraham. Who's the greater? That would be Melchizedek. So Melchizedek's greatness is evidenced in two things, that Abraham tithed to him, that Melchizedek collected from Abraham, and that Melchizedek then turned around and blessed

Abraham, verse eight. In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case, one receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.

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. Now, there is a complicated argument that's being laid out here. We're gonna look today at the first evidence that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham, the fact that Melchizedek collected a tenth from Abraham.

All right, so let's pick it up in verse four. You'll notice that he uses the word consider or observe in verse four.

It's an imperative, meaning it's kind of a polite command, but it is a command that emphasizes something that we are to do.

It's the same word that's used back in chapter 12 when he says, fix your eyes on Jesus. The author of Hebrews wants us to pause for a moment now, having brought up Melchizedek a number of times in chapter five, in chapter six, and now beginning this extended explanation of Melchizedek in chapter seven.

He wants us to pause, and he says to us, look, fix your eyes, consider, observe, pause for a moment, and really focus in on Melchizedek.

Because this is the central part of his argument to demonstrate that Jesus is superior to the Old Testament priesthood.

Observe or fix your eyes on Melchizedek, and what do we just observe about him? His greatness. Notice how great this man was.

He wants to argue that Abraham was inferior to Melchizedek, and that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.

His greatness is evidenced in the fact that Melchizedek received a tenth, or a tithe, from Abraham. And that's described back in verse one.

Look at chapter seven, verse one. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him.

That is all a reference back to Genesis chapter 14, when Melchizedek appears, and we looked at that. It is a reference to the time when

Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings, gave to Melchizedek a tenth of his spoils. And you'll notice that Hebrews calls

Abraham the patriarch. This is the author's way of designating or reminding, it's an admission, of the greatness of Abraham.

He's not denying that Abraham was great. He was great. He was the progenitor of the entire nation. All the

Jews descended from Abraham. He was a great man of faith. He's held up for us, even in Genesis chapter, or Hebrews chapter 11, there is a long explanation of Abraham and the greatness of his faith.

He's not denying that Abraham is great. He was great. So every Jew who could trace their lineage back to Abraham, who would say,

Abraham is our father. He's the greatest. He's the greatest human being who has ever lived. All the Jews would say that. And the author's not denying that Abraham is a great man, or that he was a great example of faith, or that he was a recipient of the promises, or that God had blessed him.

Abraham was all of those things. But there's one greater. And who is it? It's the one to whom

Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. That's the argument. No, it's actually two greater. Because there's one greater than Melchizedek, right?

And who's that? It's the one who fulfills the type of Melchizedek. So Abraham is great.

He doesn't deny that. He's the patriarch, the progenitor of the entire nation. And so he is great, but Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is the one to whom Abraham paid a tithe. And what was going on there? What was this tenth? The passage here in Hebrews chapter seven says,

Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. That word choicest spoils translates a word that means the top of the heap.

It's literally what it means, the top of the heap. And it is a reference back to the practice in ancient times of kings that when they would conquer other kings and take spoils and plunder from their victories they would put all of the spoils into one big pile and then they would take off the top of the heap and they would dedicate that to their gods whom they believed had given them the victory.

And so Abraham gave a tenth off of the heap, off the top of the heap of his spoils. Now what type of a spoil or a booty do you think

Abraham had when he came back from the slaughter of the kings? What was it? Do you remember back in Genesis chapter 14 when we looked at that?

There's no reason to think that Abraham's spoils that he brought back from that victory was small in any way.

It was probably quite substantial. Why would I say it's quite substantial? Because remember there were four kings who had come into the southern region of the nation of Israel and they had conquered five kings.

The king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, and three others. Remember those four kings led by Cheddar Lamar? Do you remember that king,

Cheddar Lamar? If you were here for that, you remember Cheddar Lamar. He led those kings in conquering the southern region. He took all the spoil from five kingdoms and he headed up north.

And Abraham with his trained men in his household pursued him up north as far as Dan and even Damascus. And he conquered those four kings and brought back all of the spoil of the five kings from the south that the four kings had taken and the four kings whom

Abraham had slaughtered. You have nine kings and all of their wealth represented that Abraham has brought back.

And as he comes back into the south of the land of Israel, that is when Melchizedek met him. And Abraham gave to Melchizedek one -tenth of all of those spoils.

What do you think that that was like? That was a substantial gift. And Abraham in doing that is acknowledging the significance of Melchizedek.

Now here's what we don't know. We don't know how much Abraham understood of Melchizedek's significance, nor do we really understand or know for certain all that Melchizedek knew of Abraham's significance.

But this act of Abraham giving a tithe to Melchizedek does indicate that Abraham understood him to be a genuine and true priest of the

Most High God. Abraham would have understood him to be a priest of the God who had called him in Genesis chapter 12, who had promised him the land and who had given him victory over all of those enemies and who would still give him the fulfillment of all of the promises that he had given to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12.

Abraham didn't just give up a tenth or a tithe to any old king and any old priest of any old pagan religion in the land of Israel.

He could have done that. He probably would have passed a hundred priests of a hundred different religions as he made his way from the north end of Israel back down into the south where he was from.

He could have given, he didn't give a tithe to any of those, but he did give a tithe to Melchizedek. Why? Because he recognized that Melchizedek was a priest of Yahweh and he understood that.

And in offering that to him, to Melchizedek, it was an act of obedience, of humility, of worship, of thankfulness, and it was a gracious gift of a gratitude recognizing that the

God of whom Melchizedek served and whom he represented was the God who had given

Abraham victory over all of his enemies. It is a voluntary act of worship that Abraham did toward Melchizedek.

And it is the closest example in the Old Testament of the kind of giving that you and I do as Christians. When we give to the

Lord, we don't give based upon law. We give based upon what God has given to us. It is a recognition of God's goodness to us.

It's an act of humility and submission. It is a recognition that our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is worthy of our gifts.

All the gifts that we give to God, they're freewill offerings. They're based upon just what

God has provided for us and an act of our thankfulness to God. And Melchizedek, receiving those tithes and Abraham giving those tithes is an example of that very thing.

Now, there was a kind of tithing that the Jews were familiar with, but it wasn't this kind of giving. The kind of giving that the

Jews were familiar with was the kind of giving described in verse five of our passage. It was the kind of giving in the

Old Testament that was mandated by the law. That's mentioned and described in verse five, and it's important to notice when you read in verse five all of the various things that the author mentions that were different than this act of Abraham giving to Melchizedek.

Read verse five. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest's office had commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.

Now, what the author's doing in verse five is talking about the kind of giving that they were familiar with under the old covenant law.

And he is giving some details of that kind of giving and those tithes mandated by law, which evidenced the inferiority, the lesserness compared to the tithe that Abraham gave to Melchizedek.

And there are a number of things that he mentions here that distinguish it from the tithe that Abraham gave to Melchizedek. Let me give you them.

Here they are. First, the Levitical tithes came long after Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek.

Long after, not in terms of a couple of years, but long after in terms of a couple of centuries. And I know that sometimes our

Old Testament chronology is not as familiar to us as it ought to be, and I've fielded some questions in recent weeks, which

I love, and I'm not trying to discourage that in any way, which made me realize I cannot take for granted that all of us understand everything about the

Old Testament that we should, and some of the chronology of that. So I wanna lay out for you some of the chronology of the

Old Testament because this is tied in with the argument that the author is making here. And if you don't understand where these people fall in the timeline of history, then when the author begins to talk about this happening before that, and this person doing this before that, it's not gonna make any sense.

Some of us have grown up in churches where the Old Testament is not taught like it should be in most settings.

And some of us, even if you grew up in this church, for instance, you're gonna, if you're in first, second, third grade, you're gonna go through the

Old Testament survey by the time you get out of third grade Sunday school. And by the time you get into Miss Diane's Sunday school class, then you're gonna go through the book of Judges, you're gonna learn some more

Old Testament history and things of that nature, but then you get to be an adult, and you have a family, and you get married, like some of the young folks that we have sitting up front here, and you probably forgot everything you learned in first, second, third grade, and Miss Diane's class.

So I don't wanna take for granted or assume that all of us understand where all of these people fall in terms of the timeline with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, et cetera.

So I'm gonna quickly lay that out for you. Let's, that's not quick, but it's gonna be, it's,

I'm gonna quick, I'm gonna go through 500 years of world history here just briefly, okay? In order to do this, we don't have to go back any further than Abraham.

Abraham lived 2 ,000 years B .C., so I'm gonna work from this side to this side, because as you're going from left to right, you're thinking in terms of a timeline of world history, so we're starting over here on this side.

We go back to Abraham, 2 ,000 years before Christ, Abraham lived. Genesis chapter 12,

God called Abraham to leave Ur the Chaldees, where he was living, and to go into a land that he had never been to, and he had never seen, and God promised three things, that he would give him that land, that he would give

Abraham that land, that he would give Abraham a multitude of descendants who would possess and live in that land forever, and then that he would provide one person from Abraham's lineage that would be a seed, a person through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Those were the three promises given to Abraham. Now, Abraham never saw possession of the land,

Abraham never saw the one through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and Abraham never saw the multitude of descendants, but Abraham did see one particular descendant, his son,

Isaac. Now, to Abraham were born Isaac and Ishmael, Ishmael born by Abraham's handmaid,

Isaac born by Sarah in her old age as the fulfillment of the promise, Isaac was the one through whom all these promises would be fulfilled, so you have

Abraham, and then you have Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, one of them was the son through whom all these promises would be fulfilled.

Jacob had four wives, and obviously a lot of patience, park there a while, yeah, that'll preach.

Scripture says Jacob never showed up anywhere on time, I mean, it doesn't actually say say that, but it's implied very strongly in the statement that he had four wives, and he also had 12 sons, a number of daughters, but also 12 sons, these 12 sons became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 12 sons.

Now, I know that there's, one of those sons disqualified himself for a moral reason from receiving any kind of the inheritance, and then

Joseph, who was one of those 12 sons, had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they became the two to replace

Joseph and the other kid, the guy who disqualified himself. I understand all that technical stuff, but just for the sake of argument, just keep in mind,

Jacob had four wives, 12 sons, and I'm gonna move on.

Four wives and 12 sons, and those 12 sons became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. Now, that whole family, by the way, we're 150 years away from Abraham by this time, a long time has come by the time that they go down into Egypt, where they seek refuge from a famine, and then they are kept in bondage there by several pharaohs, and over the course of a number of years, they're in slavery, and then

Moses is born, and Moses delivers them, and Moses has a brother named Aaron, so we have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then

Jacob's 12 sons, those 12 tribes, down into Egypt, Moses and Aaron were two brothers who were descendants of one of those 12 sons, and it was

Levi, Levi, one of Jacob's 12 sons. Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, took them into the

Sinai Peninsula, where God made a covenant with the nation of Israel. It was a quid pro quo covenant, a covenant of doing righteousness and receiving the blessing from God.

It wasn't the new covenant, it wasn't what we are familiar with, it wasn't a covenant of grace in that way, it was a covenant of works, and they were to keep the law, they were to be

God's special people, and then this was all before they even went into the land of Israel. Now, Aaron and Moses, being of the tribe of Levi, they were

Levites, to the Levites, God specifically commanded that of all of the

Levites, Aaron was to be the head of the priestly family. All of the Levites were supposed to help with the priestly work, but Aaron was to be the one through whom all the priests would come, so that in the

Old Testament, all of the priests, not all who did the priestly work, because that was the whole tribe of Levi, but all of the priests who served as high priests were descendants of Aaron.

Between Moses and Abraham, we have about 400 years.

So here's the argument of the book of Hebrews. Who is greater as a high priest?

Melchizedek, who comes four centuries before that old covenant priesthood, or Aaron, who is greater, who came first?

Melchizedek came first. And all of the ties that were paid to Levi and to his tribe, and all that functioned with Moses and Aaron and all that took place there, all of that was long after Abraham.

So Abraham never saw the fulfillment of any of those promises in his own lifetime. He looked forward in faith, and he believed that God would fulfill those promises, but he never saw the fulfillment of any of those three.

It's not until you're long after Abraham is dead that you start to see how God's gonna fulfill that promise when

Jacob, with his four wives, has 12 sons, and that they go down into Egypt, and then they come out of that, and then by the time they come out of the land of Egypt, you're talking about in excess of a million people leaving the land of Egypt and going into the

Sinai Peninsula, getting ready to take possession of the land that God had promised Abraham five centuries earlier.

And so we got the chronology, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 12 sons, they go down into Egypt, they come out of Egypt, and we're five centuries now away from Abraham when we're talking about Levi, which is key in Hebrews chapter seven, we're talking about Levi, and we're talking about Aaron and the family of Aaron, five centuries after Abraham met

Melchizedek. So that's the timeline. Second, you'll notice the reference to the genealogy, and those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest's office, and this is significant because the

Old Testament priesthood, the Levitical priesthood, under Aaron, remember, tribe of Levi, Aaron is the priest, under Aaron and his lineage, that priesthood was transferred not by specific divine choice in every instance, it wasn't transferred by God individually selecting people within the tribe of Levi, it was transferred by genealogy.

You could not possess the priesthood under the Old Covenant unless you were a descendant of Aaron, and you had to be able to trace your lineage all the way back up to being a descendant of Aaron, specifically of the tribe of Levi.

But with Melchizedek, Melchizedek was not a descendant of Levi, Melchizedek lived four centuries before Levi, so he's not part of this priesthood, and this is what's significant.

God appointed Aaron as a priest, and his children to serve as priests, but four centuries before that, there is this mysterious figure in the

Old Testament who is already serving Yahweh as a priest. He is already representing

God and interceding between God and man, who knows his God, he is righteous, he is a king, and he is serving

Yahweh, and he knows God, he was obviously called to be a priest, not based upon genealogy, because that wouldn't take place until Aaron 500 years later.

He was obviously called to be a priest directly, specifically, and individually by God. That makes him greater, because his priesthood is not hereditary, he stands above the nation of Israel, outside the nation of Israel, before the nation of Israel, as a priest of the

Most High God. He is therefore, in the argument of Hebrews, greater and more superior than that priesthood which comes later, which was only for a certain people, and was limited in time and space.

Melchizedek's priesthood is greater. Third, Melchizedek's priesthood, and these ties were based on law.

You'll notice in verse five, he says, indeed the sons of Levi who received the priest's office, that was hereditary, they have commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people.

And you'll notice the statement, and this is the emphasis of this verse, that they had a commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people.

This was something that the law commanded them to do, so that the offerings that are described here that were given to the sons of Levi, they're not free will offerings, in the sense.

They're mandated by law. These were commanded in the law. Was Abraham's offering to Melchizedek commanded in the law?

It was five centuries before there was a law. Abraham wasn't required to give that offering. He did it willingly.

Why? He recognized the greatness of Melchizedek. And so since he gives his offering willingly, it is not commanded by law, the law which came 500 years after Abraham met

Melchizedek. When the children of Israel took the possession of the land, after they came out of the land of Egypt, and they took possession of the land,

God apportioned to each of the tribes a certain little section of it. You can read this in Joshua. They get in there and they cast lots, and they have these detailed descriptions of the portions of the land that are given to each of the tribes.

There's one tribe that was not given any portion of land in the land of Israel. Do you know which one it was? It was the

Levites. They were not given any inheritance, no physical land to live on. And God's intention with that was twofold.

Number one, that the Levites would be dispersed throughout all of the land of Israel, so then they would be able to teach the people, and guide the people, and lead the people, et cetera.

And they would be sort of the religious leaders spread out amongst all of the tribes. They wouldn't be centrally located. But there would be a concentration of those

Levites in one particular location, and that would be around the temple or the tabernacle, where they would perform all of the priestly duties.

And that's where the family of Aaron would be, performing all of the priestly functions and the duties, the sacrifices, et cetera, that went with the tabernacle and the temple.

They were not given any inheritance, but instead, all of the other tribes of Israel were commanded to tithe to the tribe of Levi.

And there's a number of passages I can give you. I'll just read you one from Numbers chapter 18. Then the Lord said to Aaron, you shall have no inheritance in their land, nor own any portion among them.

I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for inheritance.

In other words, they didn't get land, they got the tithe. In return for their service, which they performed the service of the tent of meeting, so you shall also present an offering to the

Lord from your tithes, which you received from the sons of Israel and from it, you shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest.

And in fact, there's another part of Numbers chapter 18 where Moses talks about them giving a tithe of the tithe.

So you had 11 tribes who were to give a tithe to one tribe, Levi, because that was their inheritance. They didn't have any land.

That's how they lived. They couldn't take the land and farm the land and make produce and live off of the land. They were dispersed amongst all of them.

They had no land inheritance. So they needed something. They couldn't acquire land and have a business.

Their business was the temple and the religious life of the nation. So 11 tribes supported that one tribe.

And then in Numbers chapter 18, that one tribe is told to give a tithe of the tithe to Aaron's family.

So how did Aaron's family receive their income? All of the high priests and the people who served as priests, they got a tithe of the tithe.

So the Levites lived off of a tithe and Aaron lived off, Aaron and his family or his descendants, the descendants of Aaron lived off a tithe of the tithe.

And that's how the whole thing was set up. The law mandated this. And then later on you see, later on in the Old Testament, you see in the book of Nehemiah and Ezra and other places in the

Old Testament, the historical books, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, you look at the nation of Israel. There were times when the tithes dried up and the children of Israel, the other tribes, stopped giving to the tribe of Levi.

And you know what happened? The Levites had to go out and earn their own living.

So they went out and they had to acquire land and they had to start a business and they gave up the work of the temple and the religious life of the whole nation suffered as a result of it.

So there were tithes that were mandated by law. That's inferior to a tithe that you give generously and willingly.

We recognize that, don't we? If there were a law that you had to give a certain amount, you don't call that a gift, you call that what?

It's a bill. And when I pay my Avista bill, I don't think to myself, oh, I'm being so generous to Avista by paying them my bill every month.

I never think that, right? But when I give something to the Lord or I give something to somebody else, it is an expression of my graciousness or my love or my affection for them or my obedience to the

Lord. When I give something generously and freely and it's not mandated by law, that is a higher gift.

It is a better gift. Well, the Levitical priesthood was funded by a requirement out of the law.

The gift that Abraham gave to Melchizedek was 500 years before that law was even given. It's a greater gift.

A greater gift from a great man who recognized the greatness of another man,

Melchizedek. So here's the purpose of the comparison. Why does the author describe the Levitical offerings and the ties that were provided by the law?

Remember, the point is to demonstrate the superiority of Abraham's act of giving amongst the tribe of Israel to the

Levites. How is it superior? It is superior because, number one, it was preceded by four centuries, so it came prior to the law.

It came prior to any of the children of Israel in giving any of their gifts. It is superior because it was not one that was mandated or required by the law, but one graciously given.

And it is superior because Abraham's gift was given to those, to one who was outside of his family, and the gifts of the

Levites, the gifts given to the Levites were given by those who were within the family of Abraham. You'll notice that he says in verse seven, they were to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, even though these descended from Abraham.

So it wasn't in the gift of the Levitical priests mandated by law, it was given amongst brethren.

It was some tribes giving to another tribe. It was all the other tribes giving to one tribe to help them out for the purpose of benefiting all of the tribes, but it was all within the family.

It wasn't outside of the family. The gift given by Abraham was before all of that, and it was a gift given not to those who were inside of his family, or to his brother, or his cousin, or his peer in any way.

When somebody in the tribe of Judah or Nephilim gave to a Levite, they were giving mandated by law, but they were giving in many ways to their equals, their peers, their brethren.

They were all descended from Abraham, but one stands outside of that nation, above it, beyond it, before it, from whom, or to whom

Abraham gave a tenth, and that gift is not like gifts given amongst brethren inside and between tribes.

Abraham gives a gift to Melchizedek, and who is in the lineage, in the loins of Abraham at the time that he gives his gift to Melchizedek?

Who is it? It's everybody that comes from him. Abraham acts on behalf of the entire nation of Israel and every

Jew who has ever lived. Every gift given down the line is represented in the greatness of this gift given up here 400 years before any of those gifts were given and even mandated by law.

This gift by Abraham was not a gift given amongst the family. This was a gift given to one who stands above and beyond the family,

Melchizedek, and therefore, it is a greater gift. It is a greater tithe, and in giving that gift, Abraham acknowledged, excuse me,

Abraham acknowledged Melchizedek's supremacy. Melchizedek was a king. Melchizedek was a priest.

Melchizedek was righteous. He lived before any of the Israelites lived. He lived before Abraham.

He is outside of the nation. He is above it. He is beyond it, and in Abraham's act of giving to it,

Abraham acknowledges the superiority of Melchizedek over everybody who would come from him and all of their gifts.

Now, there's a second thing that happens in the passage that indicates Melchizedek's superiority, and it's the fact that he blessed

Abraham. Abraham paid to Melchizedek, and then Melchizedek blessed him, and we'll look at that next week.

Before we close, let me put something in your head, because this is something that occurred to me this last week, and I wasn't gonna do this, but this is at no extra charge.

I was wondering about something. The argument of Hebrews chapter seven, if you follow it, is that everybody who comes from Abraham is less than Abraham, right?

Abraham does this. Levi was in the loins of his father Abraham when Abraham paid the tithes. Therefore, Levi was paying tithes through Abraham to Melchizedek.

Melchizedek comes before him. He is outside of him and greater, and everybody who is under Abraham who comes from Abraham is lesser than Abraham, and so you have all those who are lesser acknowledging the greatness and superiority of Melchizedek, who is greater.

That's what we're gonna see next week. Here's what I want you to think about. Excuse me.

If Jesus comes from Abraham, isn't Jesus then, by the same argument, less than Abraham?

And if Jesus is less than Abraham, isn't Jesus acknowledging the superiority of Melchizedek when

Abraham tithes? How then do we say that Jesus is superior to Melchizedek?

If Jesus comes from Abraham, who is less than Melchizedek? I hope

I find an answer to that question before we come back here next week, or I have way oversold it. Let's pray, and then we'll enjoy our potluck together.

Our Father, we are so grateful for your word, the intricacies of it, they wrap beyond our minds and our ability to comprehend everything that is here.

We just would pray that we would all acknowledge and recognize the superiority of Jesus Christ and the greatness of what he has done on our behalf.

We thank you that we do have a high priest who intercedes for us and stands at your right hand, always making intercession for those who are his.

We thank you that his grace is sufficient and his work is sufficient for all of our needs and everything that we could need, all the righteousness that we need, and to atone for all of our sin.

We thank you for a high priest who loves us and gave himself in our stead that we may have life, and we praise you in his name, amen.