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Aaron, Levi, Melchizedek and Jesus Let Me Begin with a Little Editorial Comment Before I Get Too Far Into This

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Aaron, Levi, Melchizedek and Jesus Let Me Begin with a Little Editorial Comment Before I Get Too Far Into This Hebrews Small Groups Week 3 Hebrews 4:14-7 Teaching: A Brief Introduction to the Priesthood: Aaron, Levi, Melchizedek and Jesus Let me begin with a little editorial comment before I get too far into this. We’re going to talk about priests, a very important element in Old Testament practice. But it’s important for me to assert one point first: no less than Peter (1 Peter 2:9, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…”) and John (Revelation 1:6, “[Christ] made us to be a kingdom, priests to serve our God”) have identified every believer as a part of the priesthood. In the history of the Church, two great errors have occurred (well, if I wanted to spend a week or two writing this, I’d have to say HUNDREDS of errors have been made, but since I want to make a point, let’s overlook all those other ones for the moment, thank you very much!). Okay, now that I’ve gotten THAT out of the way… The first great error was separating the people of God from the Word of God. Not trusting the “common folk” to translate and understand and learn the Word correctly, somewhere along the line the Church felt it had to protect the Word, so it quite literally took it away from the people of Christ. By the time of Luther this was manifested in having Bible’s chained to the pulpit so no one could take them home and interpret them for themselves, study of the Scriptures was done in Latin, a dead language even by that time, and translating the Bible into any language of the day was punishable by a little thing called DEATH! So the first Reformation, in the sixteenth century, was all about giving the Word of God back to the people of God. The second great error, by my calculations, was taking the Work of God away from the people of God. Somewhere in time, the Church forgot that every person received the same Holy Spirit and that the whole Church worked together to be the Body of Christ by that means. Everyone was needed because the gifts were spread across the spectrum of believers in any given congregation to fulfill the work and will of God. But power and mistrust intervened, and a professional clergy was raised up, a reversion to Old Testament practices as we shall see, and inevitably they took over the work of the people. The result is that today we tend to hire one or two persons in a congregation to do the work of “church” for us (not that I’m complaining too loudly, since that is my current employment!) But what that effectively did was isolate the work of God in the hands of one or two leaders, built up a hierarchy to control that process, and cut out the body. It was about power over, not empowering for…. Okay, to summarize my “little editorial comment” let me just say that I think the current Reformation that is occurring is all about returning the Work of God to the people of God, helping each and every follower discover and discern their giftedness, their “SHAPE” (remember that little acronym: Spiritual gift; Heart or passion; Abilities; Personality and Experiences) and then empowering each for their own particular ministry alongside everyone else in the congregation, so that the WHOLE Body does the whole work and will of God together. I’m just saying…! Okay, then, let me get to my brief introduction now that I’ve got that off my chest. Whew! The word for priest is used 34 times in the letter to the Hebrews, either describing Jesus’ role or contrasting that role with that of the Jewish orders of priests. So let’s look at the latter first. God established the Levitical priesthood, way back in Exodus, for the purpose of an orderly process for public worship and sacrifice. The Levites were a tribe of Israel, descended from one of twelve sons of Jacob, about 200 years after his time, set apart for particular labor in the Tabernacle of God, often called “the Tent of Meeting.” Their purpose was to set up and tear down the Tent and its equipment, and to carry it and its furniture in order and festal parade whenever God directed the people of Israel to move on, and remember they “moved on” for 40 years out there in the Wilderness. They were also tasked with keeping the Tabernacle clean, supplied, and in good repair, following the prescribed orders for near constant animal and grain sacrifices, providing music and lectors for particular celebrations, and as helpers to the High Priest. They had to be born into the tribe of Levi, and actually their birth gave them little alternative as to participation. There were literally thousands of Levitical priests at any given time, and often they were assigned portions of the year for service (kinda like our usher corps). There are many rules and regulations they were required to follow, and to follow meticulously. On a number of occasions, their failure to “do the right thing” meant they “did the left thing,” by which I, of course, mean they were left buried where they died (I think I just heard a couple ushers faint! No worries…) The other common order of priesthood was that of the High Priest. We know the term from the New Testament because Jesus was constantly being challenged by the High Priest’s envoys, and it’s before the High Priests Caiaphas and Annas that Jesus is tried and condemned by Jewish law on the charge of blasphemy. Interesting that there are two “High Priests” listed at the time. Actually, Annas had been High Priest from 6-15 AD, but was deposed, either by Rome or Herod, no one is sure. He is followed by 5 of his sons at various times, but it’s his son- in-law Caiaphas that has been recognized as the present “High Priest” serving at the time of Jesus’ trial. However, Annas, though deposed by the political powers, still maintained a modicum of religious power, and in fact John states that Jesus is first taken to Annas, not Caiaphas, on the night of his arrest. Like the Levitical priesthood, the role of High Priest was established at the time of the Exodus as well, actually prior to the establishment of the Levitical priesthood. The first High Priest was Aaron, Moses’ older brother. Aaron and Moses were also descended from Levi, but God chose Aaron’s lineage to be the order for High Priests. Thus, every High Priest had to be descended from Aaron, hence the designation of the “Aaronic priesthood.” There was to be only one High Priest at a time, and they were to serve from the time of their appointment until their death or incapacitation (I don’t think I need to say, “Whichever came first…”). They served over the operations of the Tabernacle, and performed the most important sacrifices on the highest feast days, like Pentecost (yes, it was a Jewish first-fruits festival long before God used it in raising up and empowering the “first fruits” of the Church), Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, the highest holy day also called the Day of Atonement. Then comes Jesus; His priesthood is of such a greater magnitude than those of the Levites or Aaronic High Priests that a new order, in reality and ancient order, had to be referenced. And that’s where things get interesting. Hebrews’ author digs into a rather obscure passage, only three verses long, to pull up a guy named Melchizedek. Here’s the entire reference: And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Three verses from obscurity become three and a half chapters in the hands of our author. Jesus is described with a BETTER priesthood than either the descendants of the Levites or Aaron. And of course, you’re going to have to pay close attention on Sunday, April 29 at worship to find out what THAT was all about! (Ha-ha! Cliff hanger…!) Jesus Christ, Our Great High Priest, is a Better High Priest than Aaron and His Descendants Chapter 5: A Better High Priest than Aaron Chapter 6-7: A Better Priesthood than Levi Discussion questions: 1. List some of the key words and give meanings to them in Hebrews 4:14-16. 2. What new things do you learn about Christ in Hebrews 5:7-10? 3. Compare and contrast Aaron’s and Jesus’ priesthoods (4:14-5:10). How is Jesus’ priesthood superior to Aaron’s? 4. Underline the warnings and circle the encouragements in Chapter 5:11-6:18. 5. The author then compares the priesthood of Levi with that of the mysterious figure Melchizedek. Read Genesis 4:18-20 to get the only glimpse of this “Priest.” Read also Hebrews 7:1-4. Discuss the meaning of the following points: Melchizedek’ designation as “King of Salem” (Salem is a form, of the Hebrew word “Shalom” = peace) Melchizedek is the “priest of the Most High God” (at least three hundred years before the establishment of the priesthood at Sinai) Abraham gives a tithe of the spoils from his defeat of the kings who had captured Lot at Sodom to Melchizedek (again long before the tithe was established as a law) 6.
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