Let’s read Hebrews 7:9-10, “Even Levi, who receives tithes, PAID TITHES THROUGH ABRAHAM, SO TO SPEAK, FOR HE WAS STILL IN THE LOINS OF HIS FATHER when Melchizedek met him.” Hundreds of years before Levi was born, his great-grandfather Abraham paid “tithes” to a man named Melchizedek. We read of this in verses 1-3, “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, PRIEST of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a TENTH PART of all, first being translated ‘king of righteousness’ and then also king of Salem, meaning ‘king of peace,’ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.” Abraham realized this man, whom God had made a PRIEST and a KING, was greater than him, and thus he gave him tithes. Verse 4 says, “Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a TENTH of the spoils.” We also read that Melchizedek BLESSED Abraham, which also proves he was greater than Abraham. Verse 7 speaks to this: “Now beyond all contradiction the LESSER IS BLESSED BY THE BETTER.”

After Levi was born, God made “his sons PRIESTS” and they too received tithes, yet their priesthood was INFERIOR to the Melchizedek priesthood. This is borne out in verses 5-6, “And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive a PRIESTHOOD, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come FROM THE LOINS OF ABRAHAM; but he whose genealogy is NOT DERIVED FROM THEM received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.” As privileged as Levi and his sons were, the “Levitical priesthood” was not as great as the “Melchizedek priesthood” and thus when Abraham gave tithes to him, Levi is looked upon as giving tithes to him too, even though he would come from Abraham’s LOINS (the word “loins” in this verse is defined as “the seat of generative power” in Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words) hundreds of years later.

As we have seen, the focus in this passage of Scripture is that “Melchizedek is greater than Abraham and Levi.” Why did the Spirit of God (who is the author of Scripture…See 2 Peter 1:21) impress this truth on our hearts and minds? Melchizedek is first mentioned in Hebrews 5:5-6, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become a High Priest, but it was said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten you.’ As He says in another place, ‘You are a priest forever ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.” This last line was a quotation from Psalm 110:4 where it was prophesied that Christ’s priesthood would be patterned after the priesthood of Melchizedek, NOT after the Levitical (or Aaronic) priesthood. All through the book of Hebrews we are seeing that Christ is SUPERIOR to everyone (prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Aaron, and Levi) and thus the Holy Spirit uses Melchizedek (who was a real PRIEST who was greater than Abraham and Levi) as a PICTURE of Christ’s superior and endless priesthood. The Levitical priesthood, as important as it was, was INFERIOR in nature, as we see clearly in Hebrews 7:11, “Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received  the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?” The priesthood under the law was TEMPORARY because it failed to give man a righteous standing before God, but in Christ we have a CONTINUAL priesthood that blesses man with righteousness on the principle of grace. All of this is beautifully illustrated for us in this mysterious man (mysterious to us, that is) named Melchizedek.  (DO)  (732.5)