Melchizedek was more important than the Levite priests
1This man, Melchizedek, was king of the city of Salem. He was a priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham came back after he had won the war_against the 4 kings. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. 2Abraham also gave Melchizedek one 10th of everything that he had brought back. Melchizedek's name means ‘The king who does things that are right’. The name Melchizedek also means ‘The king of Salem’.
Because the name Salem means peace, his name also means ‘The king who makes peace’.
3We do not read about Melchizedek's father or mother and there is no list of names of Melchizedek's forefathers. We also don't read about the beginning or the end of his life. He is like the Son of God, and he stays a priest forever.
4You must understand how important Melchizedek was. Our forefather Abraham gave Melchizedek one 10th of the best of everything that he had taken during the war. 5The laws of Moses say that the descendants of Levi may become priests and they may take 10ths from the Israelites. The Israelites are the Levites' brothers and the Israelites are the descendants of Abraham, but the Levites could take 10ths from the Israelites. 6But Melchizedek was not one of the Levite priests and he took a 10th from Abraham. God promised to be good to Abraham and Melchizedek blessed Abraham. 7Everyone knows that the one who is more important blesses the person who is less important.
8The Levite priests received 10ths and they are people who will die. Melchizedek also received 10ths, but the Old_Testament says that he did not die. He continued to live. 9One can say that the descendants of Levi who received 10ths also gave a 10th to Melchizedek, when Abraham met Melchizedek and gave him a 10th. 10Because at that time, Levi was not born and was still in his father Abraham's body, when Melchizedek met Abraham.
Jesus is a Priest forever, like Melchizedek
11When Moses gave the laws to the Israelites, he told them about the work of the priests, the descendants of Levi. If the priests from the Levi tribe had finished their work completely, why then did another Priest have to come? Why did He have to be a Priest like Melchizedek and not a priest like Aaron? 12Because when the rules about the priests change, then the laws also change. 13The Old_Testament made this promise about this other Priest and He came from another tribe. No other man from this tribe was a priest at the altar. 14We all know that the Lord came from the Judah tribe and Moses did not say that people from the Judah tribe could become priests.
15And if there is another Priest like Melchizedek, then everyone can understand even better 16that He did not become a priest as the laws and rules about the forefathers of priests say. No, He became a priest because He could not die. 17Because it is written in the Old_Testament:
‘You will always be a priest,
like Melchizedek.’
18There are no more priests because the laws about priests that were there before did not help the people. 19Yes, the laws did not make anything completely right like it should be. But now God has given us something better to hope for, and because we hope for it, we can come near to God.
20Jesus became a Priest because God had promised Him that. The Levites became priests, but God did not promise them anything. 21Jesus became a Priest because God had promised it to Him and God was the Witness. He said:
‘The Lord has promised,
and He will not change it:
You will always be a priest.’
22God promised this to Jesus and that is why Jesus is the One who makes sure that we will have a better covenant than the old covenant. 23The old covenant and the new covenant are not the same: The priests died and other priests had to come in their place. So there were many priests in the old covenant. 24But Jesus lives forever, so He continues to be a Priest. 25That is why Jesus can save the people that He leads to God, and save them completely. Jesus can do that because He lives forever and He can keep asking God to help the people.
26This is what our High-priest had to be like: He had to be consecrated to God, He had to be innocent and holy, and God had to take Him away from sinners and take Him to heaven. 27The high-priests, who were Levites, had to sacrifice_offerings for their own sins every day and then they could sacrifice offerings for the people. But our High-priest does not need to do that because He sacrificed Himself. He did it once and for all and He does not have to sacrifice offerings again. 28The laws of Moses chose people who were weak to be high-priests, but God's promise came after the laws. His promise chose the Son of God to be High-priest, and the Son did the work that a high-priest had to do, and finished it forever.
