Vv. 4-10. Superiority of Melchizedek to Levitical priests. The argument is: he was greater than Abraham, the great fountain of the people and of blessing. How much more is he greater than the descendants of Abraham, the Levitical priests ?
Ver. 4. Θεωρεῖτε δὲ πηλίκος οὗτος. “Βμὲ observe how great this man was.” His greatness is recognisable in his re- ceiving tithes of Abraham, and in giving him his blessing, cf. vv. 1, 2. These
3—6.
ΕΣ - , ᾿Αβραὰμ ἔδωκεν ἐκ τῶν ἀκροθινίων ὁ πατριάρχης. 3 - εκ ες La ε , , 2 ᾿ 3 ἐκ τῶν υἱῶν Λευΐ την ἱερατειᾶν λαμβάνοντες, ἐντολὴν εχουσιν ἄπο- A , > a δεκατοῦν τὸν λαὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον, τουτέστι, TOUS ἀδελφοὺς αὐτῶν,
καίπερ ἐξεληλυθότας ἐκ τῆς ὀσφύος ᾿Αβραάμ." 6. "ὁ δὲ μὴ γενεα.
points are emphasised by several details. The first evidence of greatness is that it was no less a man than Abraham who gave him a tithe of the spoils ᾧ δεκάτην, κιτιλ. ᾿Αβραὰμ is in em- phatic place, but the emphasis is multi- plied by the position of 6 πατριάρχης. It is as if he heard some of his readers saying, ‘‘ He must be mistaken, or must refer to some other Abraham and not the fountain of all our families and of Levi and Aaron”. He adds 6 πατρ. to in- dicate that it is precisely this greatest of men to whom the people owe even their being, of whom he says that Mel- chizedek was greater. ἀκροθινίων is perhaps chosen also for the purpose of magnifying the gift. The Greeks after a victory gathered the spoils in a heap, θῖνι, and the top or best part of the heap, ἄκρον, was presented to the gods. Cf. Frazer’s Pausanias, v. 281. Ver. 5. The significance of this tithing is perceived when it is considered that, although the sons of Levi take tithes of their brethren, this is the result of a mere legalappointment. Those who pay tithes are, as well as those who receive them, sons of Abraham. Paying tithes is in their case no acknowledgment of per- sonal inferiority, but mere compliance with law. But Abraham was under no such law to Melchizedek, and the pay- ment of tithes to him was a tribute to his personal greatness. καὶ adds a fresh aspect of the matter. οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν υἱῶν Aevt... “those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly service have an ordinance to tithe the people in accordance with the law, that is, their brethren, although these have come out of the loins of Abraham”. Not all the tribe of Levi, but only the family of Aaron received (cf. v. 4) the ἱερατεία (also in Lk. i. 9), which Bleek shows to have been used by
classical writers of priestly service, while ἱερωσύνη was used of the priestly office. See vv. 11, 12, 24. ἀποδεκατοῖν, “The best MSS.
make the infinitive of verbs in -όω to end in -otv’’ (Westcott and Hort, G., T. ii., sec. 410, and cf. Jannaris, Greek Gram., 851). The verb occurs only in