s. But in the record of
his intercourse with Abraham there is an accumulation of historic
circumstances arranged by God's providence to shadow forth the higher
priesthood of Christ. (1.) He united in his person the _kingly and
priestly offices_, as does the Messiah. In the hundred and tenth Psalm
it is, in like manner, a king invested by God with universal
sovereignty, to whom the declaration is made: "The Lord hath sworn, and
will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of
Melchizedek." (2.) In _official dignity_ he was higher than Abraham, and
thus higher than any of Abraham's descendants by natural generation; for
Abraham paid tithes to him, and received from him the priestly blessing
(Gen. 14:19, 20); "And without all contradiction the less is blessed of
the better." Heb. 7:7. (3.) His priesthood _was without limitation_, and
had thus the attribute of _universality_. It was not restricted in its
exercise by nationality, for Abraham was not one of his people. (4.) He
did not belong to a line of priests, who transmitted their office from
father to son. He was, so far as we know from the record, _without
predecessors, and had no successor_ in his priesthood. The author of the
epistle to the Hebrews describes him as one who is "without father,
without mother, without pedigree" (marginal rendering), "having neither
beginning of days nor end of life: but made like unto the Son of God;
abideth a priest continually." Heb. 7:3. In the interpretation of this
difficult passage, we must begin with the axiomatic principle that
Melchizedek was a _human being_. He could not have been, as some have
thought, the Son of God himself; for how could the Son of God be "made
like unto the Son of God?" Nor could he have been an angel; for angels
are not partakers of human nature, and cannot therefore typify him who
came in human nature to deliver those who are "partakers of flesh and
blood." Heb. 2:14-18; 4:15; 5:1, 2. And if he was a proper man, then he
was "without father, without mother, without pedigree," not in an
absolute sense, but with reference to his priesthood. He was a priest
whose genealogy is not mentioned, because his priesthood was not
restricted, like that of the Levitical priests, to any particular line
of descent. He held his priesthood from God, without predecessors or
successors. The words that follow--"having neither beginning of days nor
end of life: but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest