Monday, June 26, 2023

A. F. Kirkpatrick on the Priesthood of the King in Psalm 110:4

  

4. The priesthood of the king.

 

Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent] The king is also priest by an immutable Divine decree. The immutability of this decree is affirmed in the most solemn manner possible. The ‘oath’ of Him who cannot lie is no stronger than His word; He who knows all things from the beginning cannot repent or change His purpose (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29), though man’s failure or change may necessitate a temporary interruption of His purpose which appears to finite man in the light of a ‘repentance.’ But He who is absolutely true and unchanging condescends for man’s sake to confirm His word by an oath. Cp. Am. 6:8; Ps. 132:11.

 

Thou art a priest for ever after the order (or, manner) of Melchizedek] Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of God Most High (El Elyōn), appears in Gen. 14:18ff. as the representative of a true faith in the primitive world. He was a type of that union of civil and religious life, which must be the ideal of the perfect state. The thought here affirmed is that the new king of Jerusalem must hold a position in no way inferior to that of the ancient king of Salem. As the representative of “a kingdom of priests and an holy nation” (Ex. 19:6) he had a priestly character. As the representative of God to the people and of the people to God he had a mediatorial office. David, when he brought up the Ark into the city of David, laid aside his royal robes and wore the dress of a priest (2 Sam. 6:14): both he and Solomon exercised priestly functions in offering sacrifice, or at least in directing the sacrifices, if they did not actually offer them (2 Sam. 6:17, 18; 1 Kings 8:62ff.), and in blessing the people (2 Sam. 6:18; 1 Kings 8:14, 55); Solomon deposed and appointed a high-priest (1 Kings 2:27, 35). David’s sons, in whatever sense the term may have been used, were styled priests (2 Sam. 8:18). But the priesthood of the king is here implicitly distinguished from the hereditary priesthood of the family of Aaron, as a priesthood ‘after the manner of Melchizedek.’

 

For ever, as applied to an individual, may be a relative term, as in 1 Macc. 14:41, quoted above, p. 663. Cp. 1 Sam. 1:22. But the promise of an eternal priesthood corresponds rather to the promise of eternal dominion in 2 Sam. 7:13, 10, 25, 29. Made to an individual, it is realised in his descendants. Jeremiah speaks of the priestly right of access to God which is to be conferred upon the Messianic prince (30:21); and the union of civil and religious life was symbolised under the altered circumstances of the return from Babylon by the coronation of Joshua (Zech. 6:12, 13).

 

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews dwells upon this verse in his exposition of the typical significance of the priesthood of Melchizedek, quoting it to illustrate the divine appointment of Christ to his high-priestly office, and the eternal duration and unique character of that office (Heb. 5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21). (A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms [The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1906], 668-69)

 

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