What Is A High Priest?

1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for humans in issues with God, that he may bring both gifts and offerings for sins.

2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself also experiences human frailty.

3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.

4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

An Eternal Priest

5 So also Mashiach did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

to become High Priest... [See also in notes for Heb. 1:5.] Having established already that a priest, a cohen, is a mediator, not just any kind of mediator, or go-between, but a mediator who works for the offended party, who is God, to prepare the reconciliation that will be acceptable to the offended party, who is God, and who is also acceptable as a representative of and to the offending party, being one with them, and who does not act as a complete substitute for the offended party but as an enabler of that party to draw near to the offended party, we come to understand further that the High Priest fills that role on behalf of the whole nation and not only for any given individual in the nation. Should this be an eternal reconciliation then the high priest also is an eternal high priest, one who is able to enter into and stand in the eternal world to do an eternal work.

[Read a brief study about how the meaning of the name and office of Melekizedek connects to the episode of Hur and Aaron holding up the hands of Moshe and to the episode of the golden calf and then the building of the Tabernacle and the role of the Two Witnesses — under the heading:

Melekizedek and Bezalel on the Heb\wrk\nts page.]

6 As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”;

according to the order... That is to say, the order of the firstborn. Because of the promise of the Seed of the Woman which was made against the serpent there was a possibility of redemption for Adam. This possibility was immediately pointing to the firstborn, who was Able, and Seth came in his place, as Cain who killed him was disqualified from the position. This order passed to Noah and to Shem. It would have been realized in the firstborn of each of the tribes of Israel but could not be, due to the sin of the golden calf. Levi then was made of God to hold the place of the tribes in this calling, the order of the priesthood deriving from the firstborn of Levi alone, until the one who was promised should come. Had this sin not happened, the witness of the firstborn of the tribes would have been directly to Mashiach, the firstborn of Judah. We can see, therefore, that the present extended captivity has to do with the rectification of the sin of the golden calf. After this in the Millennial Temple, and now in heavenly places, Levi will be given a testimony of priesthood concerning these things, which does not take away from but adds to the priesthood of the firstborn. [See more on the meaning of the word, "order", below on verse 10.]

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,

8 though He was a son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

all who obey him... Even as All-Israel shall obey him, since All-Israel shall be saved, and is therefore revealed to be the object of his atonement.

10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”

the order of Melchizedek... And, as explained in Ps. 110:4, to this end was he called by God to be the eternal High Priest of Israel, according to the order of Melekizedek. The title, "Order of Melekizedek" Has the double meaning of not only the office of the firstborn as coming from Able, (see above), but also the meaning of the word, or saying, of Melekizedek. This was the saying of Melekizedek whereby he stated that he was blessing Hashem by blessing Abraham, just as God had declared to Abraham that it should be for the nations of Adam. And this acknowledgement of by Shem as Melekizedek transferred the office of priesthood to the firstborn to whom it belonged, who was now designated as the seed of a daughter of Sarah, as the wife of Abraham.

In doing this, the form of the blessing with which Melekizedek blessed Hashem and Abraham acknowledged that the promise of the death and resurrection of the Seed of the Woman, in his victory over the serpent, which promise was made against the serpent, was now, for the first and only time, a promise that was being given to an offspring and representative of Adam. For in calling Abraham and making a promise of blessing to him, God was giving him the promise of the Seed of the Woman, which he did not give to Adam or Eve, but allowed them to overhear his making this promise against the serpent while addressing the serpent. Nor did God give this as a promise to anyone, until he gave it to Abraham.

Shem, as Melekizedek, holding the office of the firstborn, knew that he held the office of the Seed of the Woman, and that his prays for Humanity, for Adam, could only be that the victory of the Seed of the Woman over the serpent would not only bring judgment upon the serpent but would result in the justification of life for Adam. When he heard of Abraham and knew the promise of blessing that had been given to him, and saw his prophetic commitment to the salvation of the nations, in his rescuing of Lot, he understood that his prayers were being answered in the setting apart of the family of Abraham as the People of Hashem. He knew that the position of the priest of God would not pass to his own firstborn son but would pass to the firstborn son of Abraham.

11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

dull of hearing... Again, this does not refer to a Christian idea of apostasy, but to the failure to understand as the Torah revelation ascends to a higher level.

Growing To Maturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

milk and not solid food... The meaning is that they have a true foundation that has been laid but it has been laid only for the building of a house to one story, one level. Now they must go back and connect to their foundation with a new approach, building in a new way upon the foundation of Mashiach so as to be able to build to a higher level, to build a two or three or four story house. It may be that they will find that they even have to rebuild their foundation itself in order to do this.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a newborn.

unskilled... It may be that they are able to faithfully communicate the word of righteousness, the word of Mashiach, to others on the p'shat level. But this will not bring them or those to whom they communicate to be able to be workers in the rectification of the world at the level that God Himself will come to finish the work in the world. For God will bring Humanity corporately to full and complete repentance for Adam's sin and for all the ages of rebellion against God. The repentance of individuals is not enough, even for the complete salvation of the individual. To be called to that work will require the understanding of the Torah and Prophets and Scriptures at a higher and more mature level, to receive the full light of the revelation of Mashiach.

14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.