The author’s advancement of
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek as the priesthood to which Jesus
belongs.
If Jesus cannot belong to a
technical priesthood, and more particularly, if the Aaronic priesthood is ruled
out for him, to what priesthood can he and does he belong? If Jesus is a
priest, and of this the author is certain, then there must be another
priesthood of which Jesus is a member. Priests belong to priesthoods, i. e.
orders of priests, according to all accepted ideas of priests. A priest
cannot be a priest all by himself. He cannot be a free lance like a prophet. He
is part of a system. He is a member of a profession. He is linked with other
priests, and all of them are linked to a priestly code which gives them their
status, their duties and their validity.
Therefore, the author casts
around for another priesthood for which Jesus can qualify as a member. The
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek seemed made to order for his purpose.
It was a priesthood to which the Messiah was assigned by God himself, according
to Psalm 110:4, and all Christians held Jesus to be the Messiah. Furthermore,
as far as anything was known of it, it was a priesthood without professional,
technical or ceremonial requirements, the only kind of a priesthood to which
Jesus could belong. The author uses this Melchizedek priesthood as a deus ex
machina to resolve the dilemma in which he finds himself. He is forced to
eliminate all ecclesiastical technicalities in connection with Jesus’
priesthood and still legitimize him as a priest. He does this by saying that
Jesus belongs to a priesthood other than the Aaronic, the priesthood of
Melchizedek, which has no debarring ecclesiastical requirements.
The proof text which the author
uses to show that there is a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is found
in Psalms 110:4. The speaker is God and he is addressing the Messiah, so it is
thought. “Thou are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” The first
reference to this priesthood after the order of Melchizedek with the suggestion
that Jesus belongs to this order is found in the fifth chapter of the epistle.
Four verses later the author speaks of Jesus more directly as “named of God a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek.” But then he drops the subject and turns
to exhortation until the end of the sixth chapter when again he speaks of Jesus
as “having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” In
dealing with the Melchizedek priesthood he uses the same technique as in
speaking of the priesthood of Jesus. He introduces the subject hintingly but
makes no further comment until the unfamiliar suggestion has had a chance to
sink into his reader’s minds. (Paul Hydon, “The
priesthood of Jesus as presented by the Epistle to the Hebrews” [PhD
Dissertation; Boston University, 1941], 156-59, emphasis in bold added)
