Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
9
Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation.
10
For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake
*
in serving the saints, as you still do.
11
And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end,
12
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13
When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,
14
saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.”
15
And thus Abraham,
*
having patiently endured, obtained the promise.
16
Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute.
17
In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath,
18
so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.
19
We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain,
20
where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
7
This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him”;
2
and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.”
3
Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
4
See how great he is! Even
*
Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils.
5
And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes
*
from the people, that is, from their kindred,
*
though these also are descended from Abraham.
6
But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes
*
from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises.
7
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
8
In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.
9
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
10
for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
11
Now if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron?
12
For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
13
Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
14
For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15
It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek,
16
one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.
MELCHIZEDEK
Although Melchizedek is mentioned only briefly (Gen 14.18–20 and Ps 110.4), this ancient personage received substantial attention from later commentators who recognized his special status as a priest-king (Philo,
Migr
. 235;
Leg. all
. 3.79–82; Josephus,
Ant
. 1.177–82). Among the DSS, an entire work is devoted to him (11QMelch); there he becomes a superhuman figure, who executes divine judgment. The text does not describe him as a priest, but he is described as having priestly functions (11QMelch 2.6). In rabbinic tradition, Melchizedek bestows the priesthood on Abraham, who then becomes a “priest forever” (
b. Ned
. 32b;
Lev. Rab
. 25.6). Some rabbinic texts identify Melchizedek as descended from Noah’s son Shem, which may be a polemic against Hebrews’ claim that Melchizedek lacks human genealogy (
b. Ned
. 32b;
Num. Rab
. 4.8;
Pirqe R. El
. 27.3).
2 En
. 71–72 describes Melchizedek’s miraculous birth to Nir, the wife of Noah’s brother. Melchizedek is chosen to be saved from the flood so that he might continue the priestly lineage inaugurated by Seth (see 71.29, 32).
17
For it is attested of him,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
18
There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual
19
(for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God.
20
This was confirmed with an oath; for others who became priests took their office without an oath,
21
but this one became a priest with an oath, because of the one who said to him,
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever’”—
22
accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23
Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office;
24
but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
25
Consequently he is able for all time to save
*
those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26
For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
27
Unlike the other
*
high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.
28
For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
8
Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2
a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent
*
that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.
3
For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
4
Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
5
They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent,
*
was warned, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”
6
But Jesus
*
has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises.
7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.
8
God
*
finds fault with them when he says:
“The days are surely coming, says the
Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah;
9
not like the covenant that I made with
their ancestors,
on the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land
of Egypt;
for they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I had no concern for them, says
the Lord.
10
This is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11
And they shall not teach one another
or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12
For I will be merciful toward their
iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no
more.”
13
In speaking of “a new covenant,” he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.
9
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
2
For a tent
*
was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence;
*
this is called the Holy Place.
3
Behind the second curtain was a tent
*
called the Holy of Holies.
4
In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
5
above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
*
Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.