The Scripture behind the Scripture

A Priest After the Order of Melchizedek

Psalm 110:4 adds a startling oath, that the king is a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The letter to the Hebrews builds an entire argument on it in Hebrews 5:6 and Hebrews 7:17.

“The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”Psalm 110:4

“As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”Hebrews 5:6

“For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”Hebrews 7:17

In its own place

In its own place. This verse belongs to the same royal psalm of David that seats the king at God's right hand. Having promised the king dominion, the psalm turns to an even stranger gift, a divine oath, The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek appears only briefly in Genesis, as the king of Salem and priest of God Most High who blessed Abraham and received his tithe. He stands outside the later Levitical priesthood entirely, a priest before Israel or Aaron existed. For the Davidic king to be called a priest in Melchizedek's line is remarkable, since in Israel kingship and priesthood were normally kept separate, kings from Judah and priests from Levi. The psalm envisions a ruler who is also a priest, and whose priesthood is permanent, sworn by an unbreakable divine oath. In its own setting this stretched the imagination, since no ordinary Davidic king held a lasting priesthood. The verse plants a hope for a coming figure who would unite throne and altar in a way the Levitical system never could, and whose priestly ministry would not end.

Where the New Testament takes it up

This is a direct quotation, and it is the backbone of the letter to the Hebrews. Hebrews 5:6 introduces the verse to show that Christ did not take the honor of high priest on himself but was appointed by God, who declared him a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Then Hebrews 7 unfolds the logic at length, quoting the verse again in 7:17. The writer argues that because Melchizedek's priesthood predates and outranks Levi's, and because Scripture gives Melchizedek no recorded genealogy, beginning of days, or end of life, he stands as a figure of a priesthood not based on ancestry or mortality. Christ, from the tribe of Judah rather than Levi, could not be a Levitical priest, but Psalm 110:4 authorizes a different and superior priesthood. The divine oath, which God swore and will not repent, guarantees its permanence, unlike the Levitical priests who died and had to be replaced. Hebrews follows the Greek text and reads the for ever with full seriousness. This one line lets the writer argue that the entire sacrificial system has been surpassed by a single, unending, oath sworn priesthood held by the risen Christ.