In a previous post, I made the case that the author of Hebrews is clear about what he is doing with Melchizedek: He is reading Genesis 14 figurally, in light of Psalm 110, and he is making pattern matches between Jesus and Melchizedek.

The author of Hebrews considers this type of reading a really important skill because what he is teasing out about Jesus, from the his reading of the Old Testament, is an anchor for the soul (6:19).

Question

Here’s the question I want to tackle in this post: How does the comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek work?

Thesis

The author of Hebrews makes four pattern matches between Jesus and Melchizedek based on the following:

1. The translation of Melchizedek’s name is fulfilled by Jesus.
2. Melchizedek’s title is fulfilled by Jesus.
3. Melchizedek “lives forever” in a textual, figurative way, and Jesus literally lives forever due to his resurrection and ascension.
4. Melchizedek had a priesthood greater than Levi and so does Jesus.
   

1. Translation of Name

Hebrews 7:2 — “by translation of his name”

Pattern Match: Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness, and Jesus is literally the Messianic King distinguished by righteousness.

• Melchi (מלכי): “king of”
• zedek (צדק): “righteousness”
  

The Old Testament makes clear what it means to say Jesus is the “king of righteousness.” Listen to how Jeremiah 33:14–18 connects Messianic King, righteousness, and eternal priesthood:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’ For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.

2. Title

Hebrews 7:3 — “king of Salem”

Pattern Match: Melchizedek was “king of peace” in a figurative sense, and Jesus is the Messianic King who has and will bring ultimate peace.

• Salem is related to the Hebrew word shalom (שָׁלוֹם), meaning “peace, flourishing.”
  

3. Lives Forever

Hebrews 7:3 — “resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever”

Pattern Match: Melchizedek “lives forever” in a figurative, textual sense, but Jesus literally lives forever by virtue of his resurrection and ascension.

For more on this verse, see the previous post.

4. Priesthood Greater than Levi

Hebrews 7:4–28

Pattern match: Both Jesus and Melchizedek have a priesthood that is greater than the normal Old Testament priesthood. There’s two steps in this pattern match:

1. Melchizedek’s priesthood is greater than the priesthood of Levi (7:4–10)
2. Jesus’s priesthood is greater than Levi’s (7:11–28)
   

If you only get those two points above, then you can see the pattern match.

Here is a map of the complex argument the author makes to support those two points:

Melchizedek’s priesthood was greater than the priesthood of Levi (7:4–10)

1. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and Melchizedek blessed Abraham (Gen 14:18–20). Obviously Melchizedek is greater than Abraham because he received Abraham’s tithe and he blessed Abraham.
2. Melchizedek is greater than the normal Old Testament priests because they all descended from Abraham and they all therefore in a sense paid tithes to Melchizedek, too!
   

Jesus’s priesthood is greater than the priesthood of Levi (7:11–28)

1. Levi’s priesthood was weak because it was part of the old covenant law, which made no one whole (it was a pointer to wisdom, not Wisdom itself). Jesus’s priesthood was not weak like Levi’s. Jesus’s priesthood is based on (i) the fact that he rose from he dead and (ii) the fact that Psalm 110 says the Messiah’s priesthood is according to the greater priesthood of Melchizedek (7:11–19) — see the argument above concerning Melchizedek’s priesthood being greater than Levi.
2. In Psalm 110, Yahweh swore with an oath that the new covenant priesthood of the Messiah would be (i) according to the order of Melchizedek and (ii) it would be eternal. Yahweh didn’t bind himself with an eternal oath to Levi’s priesthood in this way (7:20–22).
3. There were many priests in Levi’s priesthood because they kept dying! Jesus is a priest forever because he lives forever (7:23–24). He can completely save even though the OT priests couldn’t (7:25)!
4. Because Jesus was without sin he didn’t have to offer sacrifices for himself like the old priests did (7:26–27).
5. Summary: The old covenant law made weak/insufficient priests — it was all pointing to the Messiah! — but the new covenant fulfillment has an eternal, perfect high priest. His name is Jesus.