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| Aleph was used by the phony Tischendorf to designate the fraudulent Sinaiticus manuscript as the best. It was even newer than Codex Vaticanus. Guess which modern Greek New Testaments come from Sinaiticus and Vaticanus? RSV, NRSV, ESV, NIV, and evil Beck. |
KJV Hebrews 7
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
Explanation
We all encounter difficulties in Biblical reading that lead us to bypass the troublesome passage. Some resolve it by corrupting the original Greek New Testament, which is the handiwork of the Evil Four Plus Beck (RSV, NRSV, ESV, NIV plus Beck). In many cases, besides contradicting each other and themselves, they erase verses entirely or change the meaning for dunce readers.
In addition, the devilish dogmatics professors (Pieper, Braaten-Jenson, Tillich, Barth) covet prestigious positions and the awe of their groupies.
Difficult passages reward us when we are diligent and patient. The old adage is true - use the light passages to illuminate the apparent dark passages. The Canaanite woman's miracle (Matthew 15) is superficially seen as Jesus being hard-hearted and insulting. Through patient reading we can understand the intent, the actual meaning - the scales fall from our eyes.
Hebrews is written for the Jewish Christians who wanted to return to Judaism, perhaps because Judaism was a legal religion in the Roman Empire, Christianity not.
Melchisedec, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God
One is tempted to consider Melchisedec serving as the Son of God before His incarnation. Some think so, but I favor Lenski's interpretation. There are only three episodes in the entire Bible where Melchisedec is named.
1.
KJV Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
14:19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
14:20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
2.
KJV Psalm110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
3. Hebrews 5:6 - Hebrews 7:21
The Genesis example is mysterious, but Psalm 110 could easily be named the Melchisedec Psalm, and Jesus quoted it in the famous passage.
KJV Matthew 22:44 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Jesus applied the two Melchisedec passage from the Old Testament to Himself, silencing His Jewish opponents. Therefore, the Jewish Christians who were tempted to go back to Judaism without the Lord were trapped by their own Old Testament passages.
In Luther's unified approach to the Scriptures, we have to look far ahead to see the predictions of the future, because that is how the Holy Spirit works. My late brother-in-law worked at IBM and told us about the upcoming ability of their computers to see everything at once, unified information.
We also have to look back centuries in the past to comprehend Jesus using Psalm 100 about Himself, silencing the haters. The Lord Jesus Christ was not in the line of the ordinary priesthood but the direct line from Melchisedec, with so many honors, King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God. This also involves Abraham, the Father of Faith (sorry LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC), and Justification by Faith - the Chief Article of Christianity, not just Lutherans but all who acknowledge grace only comes through faith in Him.
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| Reubens - Abraham and Melchizedec |
