Today When You Hear His Voice by Lee Gregory W.;

Author:Lee, Gregory W.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Published: 2016-05-11T17:16:09+00:00

The Epistle to the Hebrews

The engagement with Ps. 110 in Hebrews is pervasive and unique.73 Citations or allusions to Ps. 110:1 appear throughout the epistle at significant junctures in the text: the exordium (1:3-4), the concluding verse of the subsequent scriptural catena (1:13), two important summary passages (8:1 and 10:12-13), and the climactic exhortation of 12:2.74 The epistle’s application of this verse to Jesus is not itself unusual: the New Testament witnesses indicate the psalm was understood messianically from a very early juncture,75 and the gospels attribute this tradition to Jesus himself.76 What makes the contribution in Hebrews distinct is the affirmation of a new priesthood through Ps. 110:4, first cited in 5:6, alluded to in 5:10 and 6:20, and discussed at length in Heb. 7, with two citations at 7:17 and 7:21.77 Since the addressee of Ps. 110:1 is easily identified with Jesus, it makes natural sense that Ps. 110:4 also be understood in this regard. If Jesus is the exalted Lord, he must be priest forever, too, after the order of Melchizedek.

The treatment of Melchizedek in Hebrews has attracted a fair amount of scholarly discussion and debate, especially concerning the relation between Hebrews and other Jewish traditions.78 For our purposes, the following (relatively non-­controversial) points bear mentioning. First, the interest in Melchizedek displayed by the author of Hebrews does not arise in a vacuum. Though Melchizedek appears at only two points in the Old Testament (Gen. 14:18-20 and Ps. 110:4), he attracts a wide range of attention in Second Temple Jewish literature: Jubilees, 1 Maccabees, the Assumption of Moses, various Targumim, Josephus, and Philo, as well as the oft-­discussed Melchizedek Scroll from Qumran (11QMelch). Second, the epistle’s appropriation of Melchizedek is quite distinct from the kind of allegorical speculation found in Philo.79 While Philo does pre­sent Melchizedek as a historical human figure, his chief concern is to depict Melchizedek as the eternal Logos. Melchizedek’s identity as “king of righteousness” and “king of peace,” for instance, means that reason is a good pilot for the proper conduct of life, able to bring order to unruly passions.80 Reason brings forth “food” full of cheerfulness and joy, and “wine” to intoxicate the soul with sober virtue. The treatment of Melchizedek in Hebrews is, by contrast, thoroughly Christological and historical in orientation. Third, whether or not 11QMelch influenced Hebrews, there are significant differences between the two in their depictions of Melchizedek.81 The Qumran community seems to have identified Melchizedek with the archangel Michael as a kind of heavenly redeemer-­warrior figure, who with the assistance of other angels will bring judgment upon the wicked and salvation for God’s elect. Hebrews treats Melchizedek as a prefigurement of Christ, not the actual agent of eschatological deliverance,82 and repeatedly stresses Christ’s superiority over the angels. The Qumran scroll also reveals little interest in Gen. 14:18-20 and Ps. 110:4, the chief foci of the epistle’s attention.83

These observations illuminate the kind of scriptural reasoning exhibited in Heb. 7, the entirety of which may be understood as a reflection upon Ps.

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