Hebrews 7:8

7:4-10 That High Priest who should afterward appear, of whom Melchizedec was a type, must be much superior to the Levitical priests. Observe Abraham's great dignity and happiness; that he had the promises. That man is rich and happy indeed, who has the promises, both of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This honour have all those who receive the Lord Jesus. Let us go forth in our spiritual conflicts, trusting in his word and strength, ascribing our victories to his grace, and desiring to be met and blessed by him in all our ways.

Here (ὧδε) In the Levitical economy. Men that die receive tithes The emphasis is on ἀποθνήσκοντες dying. The Levites are dying men, who pass away in due course, and are succeeded by others. But there (ἐκεῖ δὲ) In the case of Melchisedec. (He receiveth them of whom) it is witnessed that he liveth (μαρτυρούμενος ὅτι ζῇ) The Greek is very condensed: being attested that he liveth. The A.V. fills it out correctly. Melchisedec does not appear in Scripture as one who dies, and whose office passes to another. See on abideth continually, Hebrews 7:3.

Hebrews 7:8-10 . And here — In the Levitical priesthood; men that die, receive tithes, but there — In the case of Melchisedec; he of whom it is witnessed that he liveth — Who is not spoken of as one that died for another to succeed him, but is represented only as living, being mentioned in such a way as if he lived for ever. And even Levi, who received tithes — Not in person, but in his successors, as it were, paid tithes in the person of Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father — “This might justly be said of Levi, who descended from Abraham in the ordinary course of generation. But it cannot be said of Christ, who was born in a miraculous manner, without any human father. While, therefore, the apostle’s argument, taken from Abraham’s paying tithes to Melchisedec, and his receiving the blessing from him, proves that both Abraham and the Levitical priests, his natural descendants, were inferior to Melchisedec, it does not apply to Christ at all.” — Macknight.

Hebrews 7:8 . Another note of the superiority of Melchizedek. καὶ ὧδε μὲν δεκάτας … “And here men that die receive tithes, but there one of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.” ὧδε “here,” i.e. , in this Levitical system with which we who are Hebrews are familiar, ἐκεῖ , “there” in that system identified with that ancient priest. ἀποθνήσκοντες ἄνθρωποι , “dying men,” who therefore as individuals passed away and gave place to successors, and were in this respect inferior to Melchizedek, who, so far as is recorded in Scripture, had no successor. Giving to the silence of Scripture the force of an assertion, the writer speaks of Melchizedek as μαρτυρούμενος ὅτι ζῇ , a person of whom it is witnessed; note absence of article. So Theoph., ὡς μὴ μνημονευομένης τῆς τελευτῆς αὐτοῦ παρὰ τῇ γραφῇ . Westcott distinguishes between the plural of this verse, δεκάτας , appropriate to the manifold tithings under the Mosaic system and the singular, δεκάτην , of Hebrews 7:4 , one special act.

Hebrews 7:8 . Μαρτυρούμενος ) He of whom it is witnessed ( Who was honoured with the testimony ).— ὅτι ζῇ , that He liveth ) The death of Melchisedec is not mentioned in the Old Testament. That circumstance is positively expressed by the term, life , for the sake of the Apodosis, respecting Christ.

8 . And here ] As things now are; while the Levitic priesthood still continues. men that die ] “Dying men”—men who are under liability to die (comp. Hebrews 7:23 ), as in the lines “He preached as one who ne’er should preach again And as a dying man to dying men .” it is witnessed that he liveth ] i.e. he stands as a living man on the eternal page of Scripture, and no word is said about his death; so far then as the letter of Scripture is concerned he stands in a perpetuity of mystic life. This is the third point of superiority.

8. Second point of superiority: Melchisedec's is an enduring, the Levitical a transitory, priesthood. As the law was a parenthesis between Abraham's dispensation of promise of grace, and its enduring fulfilment at Christ's coming (Ro 5:20, Greek, "The law entered as something adscititious and by the way"): so the Levitical priesthood was parenthetical and temporary, between Melchisedec's typically enduring priesthood, and its antitypical realization in our ever continuing High Priest, Christ. here—in the Levitical priesthood. there—in the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec. In order to bring out the typical parallel more strongly, Paul substitutes, "He of whom it is witnessed that he liveth," for the more untypical, "He who is made like to Him that liveth." Melchisedec "liveth" merely in his official capacity, his priesthood being continued in Christ. Christ, on the other hand, is, in His own person, "ever living after the power of an endless life" (Heb 7:16, 25). Melchisedec's death not being recorded, is expressed by the positive term "liveth," for the sake of bringing into prominence the antitype, Christ, of whom alone it is strictly and perfectly true, "that He liveth."

(8) “Here,” under the Levitical economy, dying men receive the various tithes. Men enter by birth into a state with which this right is associated, and by death again pass out of it. No special significance, therefore, attaches to the men themselves. “There,” in the history now considered, one (receives tithes) of whom the Scripture simply witnesses that he lives. The narrative of Genesis gives no other basis for his priesthood than the mere fact of his life. What he holds, he holds by personal right.

Verse 8. - And here (in the case of the Levitical priesthood) men that die (literally, dying men ) receive tithes; but there (in the case of Melchizedek) one of whom it is witnessed that he liveth . The difference here noted is between a succession of mortal priests and one perpetually living, who never loses his personal claim, which is inherent, in himself. But how so of Melchizedek? For it is to him, and not to Christ the Antitype, that the words evidently apply. Is it at length implied that he was more than mortal man? No, if only for this reason; that the witness appealed to ( μαρτυρούμενος ) must be that of Scripture, which nowhere bears such witness of the historical Melchizedek. The words, μαρτυρούμενος ὅτε ζῇ , are, in fact, only a resumption of what was said in ver. 3: "having neither beginning of days nor end of life;" and hear the same meaning; viz. (as above explained) that he passes before our view in Genesis with no mention of either death, birth, or ancestry, and thus presented the ideal of "a priest for ever" to the inspired psalmist. The witness referred to is that of the record in Genesis, viewed in the light of the idea of the psalm. Hebrews 7:8

His greatness as to his priesthood above the Levitical, is proved from its immortality. Immortal is greater and better than mortal; such is his order of priesthood. This argument he brings in to heighten the former, and so connects it to it. And here men that die receive tithes: the particle wde, here, if referred to time, notes during Moses’s economy, while the Levitical law lasted; if it refer to place, it notes Jerusalem in the land of Canaan, where the temple was: in that habitation of the Israelitish church the Levitical priests were not only as to their nature and persons withering and decaying, ceasing to be on earth, though they had the honour to decimate their brethren, but as to their order and office, mortal, they were no better than the tithed and blessed by them, in prospect of death. Aaron himself, the first of the order, died, and so did all his successors, as well as Israel. But there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth: but how much better is Melchisedec and his order! ekei, there, may refer either to the place where his business was transacted with Abraham, near Salem; or to the place of Scripture record concerning him, either Genesis 14:18-20 , where there is no account of his death, or in Psalm 110:4 . By the prophet David is the testimony borne, that his order is for ever; that Melchisedec, as to his order and office of priesthood, now liveth and subsisteth in the Son of God incarnate, and continueth for ever.

It is suggested by a great light in the church, as if Melchisedec was translated as Enoch was, and so continued a priest to the very moment of his translation; and that neither his person nor priesthood died, but liveth for ever: but in this the Scripture is silent. An other refers it immediately to Christ, reading it thus: Here, i.e. in this world, they receive tenths, or are priests; but there, i.e. within the innermost of the veil, whither the foreranner is for us entered, Jesus; supplying this out of Hebrews 6:19,20 . Here, is to be understood, not who receiveth tithes, but who is, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. He saith this sense is to be found in so many words in Hebrews 7:23-25 , where those who receive tenths, and die, are no other men than those many priests who were not suffered to continue by reason of death, Hebrews 7:23 . Nor can he, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth, be any other than Jesus, who, Hebrews 7:24 , is the man that continueth for ever; and, Hebrews 7:25 , is ever-living.