So, who is Melchizedek, and why does our author spend so much time comparing Jesus to him? After all, at first glance, he seems like a very minor character in the grand story of God’s redemption, only being mentioned in three verses of Genesis chapter 14. But it’s also true that in Psalm 110, God Himself compares His Messiah to Melchizedek.

So, just how is Jesus similar to this rather obscure Old Testament priest? In the first place, Melchizedek was both a king and a priest – king of Salem (later to be known as Jerusalem), and also “priest of the Most High God” (7:4, see also Genesis 14:18). Jesus also holds both offices, something no priest descending from Levi had ever done. Our author’s point is thus that Jesus is far superior to the priestly tribe appointed during the days of Moses.

Moreover, when Abraham met Melchizedek after returning from his successful conquest of five kings, he gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had recovered from them (7:4, see also Genesis 14:20). Our author thus reminds us that Melchizedek had to be greater than Abraham, and thus greater than Abraham’s grandson Levi, since Abraham honored Melchizedek with a tithe.

But there’s one other reason that Jesus is greater than any of the priests that descended from Levi – he lives forever. David clearly records God as saying this in Psalm 110:4 (see also Hebrews 7:17). But how is this similar to Melchizedek? Well, in 7:3, our author reminds us that Melchizedek just pops into the story of Genesis 14 and just as suddenly disappears. Unlike so many of the other Old Testament kings, neither his genealogy nor his history is given – we have neither the beginning nor the end of his story. In this way, he is similar to Jesus, the One Who has always been and always will be, the One Who rules and reigns as our King and Who serves as our Great High Priest forever.

So what’s the point of this elaborate comparison? For the initial readers of this letter, to illustrate the folly of rejecting Jesus and putting themselves once again under the authority of a group of merely human priests to whom Jesus was obviously superior. But it is just as critical for us to cling only to Christ, to depend on Him alone for our salvation. After all, even following the Old Testament Law of Moses was never able to save anyone (7:18-19) – the only way anyone has ever been able to draw near to God is through the hope offered by our Great High Priest’s offering of Himself (7:19).

So let us turn away from our sin and ourselves. Let us abandon hope in any other savior and trust in Christ alone. For He alone is our king and our priest, and He rules over and intercedes for us forever.

Hebrews 7:1-21 (ESV)

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!
5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.
6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, 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 under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after 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 For 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 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.
17 For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness
19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath,
21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.'”