4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
The tithe or tenth part that Abraham gave was perhaps more precious than the translation hints at. The word akrothinion means the “top” of the heap; the best part of the spoils. In classical Greek literature, this is a word used to describe an offering given to the gods, as in “the best of the [Persian] spoils” (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War I:132). The application here is that Abraham did not just give Melchizedek a tithe, but he tithed the best of the spoils to the king of righteousness. We should likewise give our very best to the King of Righteousness.
5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. 6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor. (NIV)
Here our writer explains more clearly why Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, was superior to Abraham. The tithe—which was the right of the Levitical priests to collect—was not given to Abraham (the ancestor of Levi and the priests) but was given by Abraham to Melchizedek. “No doubt,” our author says, “the lesser is blessed by the greater.” This is because the Levitical priests were priests only because of their family—they were Levites—and not because of any other qualification apart from genealogy. Melchizedek was priest and king, but without any genealogy at all.
In verse 9, he writes “one might even say…”, because he is introducing an idea that may never have occurred to his readers. Levi was was not yet born but was a descendant of Abraham, so the one who was the father of those who collected the tenth (the tithe), paid it instead through Abraham to Melchizedek.
We are building up to a clear application of these thoughts: Now that we have Christ, there is no reason to return to Levi or to the priests descended from him through Aaron. Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice are superior to that the of Old Testament priests because they had to sacrifice again and again, but Christ sacrificed once paying for all sins. That sacrifice was the one that gave us peace, freedom from guilt, and eternal life.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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