Melchizedek served God as a king and a priest
1 Melchizedek was the king of a city called Salem. He was also a priest of God who rules over all. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a war. Abraham's men had just won a battle against four kings with their armies. At that time, Melchizedek asked God to bless Abraham. 2 Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. The name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘king of everything that is right’. His other name, ‘king of Salem’, means ‘king of peace’. 3 Nobody wrote down that Melchizedek had a father or a mother. Nobody wrote down that he had any ancestors. Nobody wrote about when he was born or when he died. In that way, it seems like Melchizedek was a priest for ever. He is like the Son of God who continues to be a priest for all time.
4 So think about how great this man, Melchizedek, was! Even Abraham, the ancestor of all Israel's people, gave gifts to Melchizedek. Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. 5 The descendants of Levi who become priests receive gifts from their own people. God's Law says that the people must give the Levite priests a tenth part of what they have. But the priests and the other people are all descendants of Abraham. 6 As for Melchizedek, he was not a descendant of Levi. But he still received a tenth part of what Abraham had. He also asked God to bless Abraham. But Abraham was the one who had already received God's promises.
7:5The Israelites were descendants of Jacob, who was Abraham's grandson. God gave Jacob a new name, Israel. Jacob's 12 sons became the ancestors of Israel's 12 tribes. Levi was the ancestor of the tribe of Levi. Levites who were descendants of Aaron were priests who served God in the temple. The other Levites helped the priests. See Numbers 1:50; Exodus 28:1. 7 It is always the more important person who asks God to bless a less important person. We certainly know that! 8 The Levite priests receive gifts, and they are people who one day will die. Melchizedek also received gifts, but we are told that he continues to live. 9-10 The Levite priests receive their gifts from the people. But we could say that Levi himself gave a tenth part of what he had to Melchizedek. When Abraham gave his tenth part to Melchizedek, it was like Levi was there inside him. At that time, Levi was not yet born, but Abraham was his ancestor.
7:9-10See Genesis 14:18-20. All the Israelites had to give a tenth part of what they had to the Levites who served God in special ways. The Levites who gave a tenth part of this to the priests. See Numbers 18:21-32. 11 The Levite priests were a necessary part of God's Law for Israel's people. But those priests could not make the people completely right with God. If that had been possible, the Levite priests could have continued their work. But we see that God has chosen a different kind of priest to serve him. That priest is not someone from Aaron's family, as the Levite priests were. Instead, he is a priest in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest.
12 When there is a change in the kind of priest like that, there must also be a change in the law. 13 It is the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible speaks about in this way, as God's special priest. But he belongs to a different tribe. He is not a Levite. Nobody else from his tribe ever served God as a priest. 14 We know that our Lord came from Judah's tribe. Moses never said that priests could come from Judah's tribe. So we see that the old law has changed.
7:14Judah was the name of the Israelite tribe who were descendants of Jacob's son, Judah.
