and, so to speak, through Abraham, Levi also, who received tithes, has been made to pay tithes.
Abraham once met a priest named Melchizedek and gave him a tenth of everything. Hebrews 7 says Levi was in that moment too, unborn inside his ancestor, so the tribe that later collected Israel's tithes had already paid them.
Levi's tribe collected tithes from the rest of Israel. Hebrews turns that privilege around.
The very sign that proves Levi's rank as priest is the receiving of tithes. That same sign makes him a witness to the greater honour of the earlier priest. For Abraham carried all his unborn descendants within him when he met Melchizedek. Levi did homage when his father bowed. And so the very man who takes his brothers' tithes had earlier paid tribute to one greater than himself.
Why should one man's gift count for someone not yet born? Levi had no separate life of his own, and his line of priests did not yet exist.
The whole Levitical priesthood did not yet exist. Levi was unborn, still inside Abraham. So in Abraham, Levi gave tithes to Melchizedek... The priesthood of Melchizedek was therefore above that of the sons of Levi, the priesthood of Aaron.
Jewish readers could not brush this off as a Christian invention. The proof lay in their own Scriptures, and it swept Aaron in along with Levi.
After all, one telling fact stood in front of them. Whoever wrote the letter to the Hebrews, it was not a Christian who wrote the book of Genesis, but Moses. And Moses testifies to the honour Abram paid to Melchizedek by giving him tithes... No argument could be more clear or conclusive. The other descendants of Abraham honoured the house of Aaron as Levitical priests. But Abraham himself honoured Melchizedek — and so Levi himself, and of course Aaron, who were still inside him.
This is not just a question of rank. Israel's whole religious system rested on its priesthood, so a lower priesthood brings the system down with it.
All this argument is most effective with a Jew. Great as Aaron was, Melchizedek was greater. And Levi paid tithes in Abram. What the writer wants to show is that the whole Jewish system must go. It is set aside, so there must be another priest. There would have been no cancelling of the old thing if it were to continue. But the priesthood being changed, you must have the whole system changed.
Following the argument was one thing. Accepting where it left a Jewish believer was another.
Now that line of reasoning would be conclusive to a Jewish mind. The argument was faultless, and the development complete. But what an astounding conclusion! He had always looked up to the chief priests and all the leaders of the people as standing in the very place of God Himself. Now Another is presented to him. He knows who it is — Jesus, the Son of God. He has professed to believe in Him. This One sets aside all these priests.
The same reasoning reaches past Levi. What one man does can count for everyone still inside him. That is how the whole race fell in Adam — and why a second Head is good news.
"In Adam" speaks of representation, as the apostle argues about Levi and Abraham (Heb. 7:9-10)... In the same way we were still inside Adam when he fell and the sentence of death came on him. Thank God, we have heard the voice of Another — Head and Representative too of His race — who says, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19).
- One act. Abraham gave his tenth in one moment. Scripture counts it for everyone still inside him.
- One tribe. Levi was not yet born, yet he paid. So the tribe that later collected Israel's tithes ranks below Melchizedek.
- One argument. The proof comes from Moses' own record, so no Jewish reader could deny it. Abraham bowed, and Levi and Aaron bowed in him.
- One consequence. Change the priesthood and the whole system built on it goes too. The old order ends, which shows it was never meant to continue.
- One principle, twice used. What your representative does counts as yours. That is how all died in Adam — and how all who belong to Christ live, because He lives.
For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchisedec met him.
Genesis records one meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek, the priest who received a tenth of Abraham's spoil. The writer of Hebrews builds a whole argument on one point: Levi, whose line later collected Israel's tithes, did not yet exist when they met.
The wording pictures a family line before it exists. (Older translations read "his father" here.)
The loins are the part of a man that pictures the seat of strength. Descendants are pictured as coming out of the loins of a man. Genesis 35:11; Hebrews 7:10.
The timing is the hinge of the argument. One commentator points out what an earlier birth would have allowed Levi:
So, to put it this way, the same law testifies that Levi too — who receives tithes — paid tithes in principle, through Abraham as the go-between. This is because he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him and received the tenth of the spoils. Had Levi been born earlier, he might have claimed independence and exemption. As it was, Israel, Aaron, and all of them were joined together in the homage of that one man, the father of the chosen people.
Receiving a tenth was the very mark of Levi's rank. Here that mark turns against him.
Nor is this all (verses 9, 10). The receiving of tithes is the very sign that proves his priestly dignity. By that sign, Levi is himself a witness to the greater honour of that earlier priest. For Abraham carried all his unborn descendants within him when he met Melchizedek. Levi did homage when his father bowed. And so the very man who takes his brothers' tithes had earlier paid tribute to one greater than himself.
One man can stand for all who come from him. Commentators trace that same principle back to Adam and forward to Christ.
"In Adam" speaks of place — of one man representing others. The apostle argues in the same way about Levi and Abraham (Hebrews 7:9-10)... We too were in the loins of Adam when he fell and the sentence of death was passed on him; and in him we die. Thank God, we have heard the voice of Another, Head and Representative of His race too, who says, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19). In Adam we die: in Christ we live.
Another writer puts every reader inside the same picture:
The Spirit of God says of Levi, "He was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him" (Hebrews 7:10). In the same way, every one of us was represented in Adam when the old creation was on trial.
This is not a small point about family history. It settles the rank of two priesthoods, and of the systems built on them.
This whole argument is very effective with a Jew. Great as Aaron was, Melchizedek was greater. And Levi paid tithes in Abraham. What he is seeking to show is that the entire Jewish system must go; it is set aside, so that there must be another priest. There would have been no cancelling of the old thing if it were to continue. But since the priesthood is changed, you must have the whole system changed.
The lower rank is not Levi's alone. It belongs to everything built on him:
The entire legal system is therefore seen to be inferior to the blessed Person whom Melchizedek pictures, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The passage turns the reader away from ancestry and toward a Person.
The apostle says: dwell on the greatness of this man. Even the patriarch Abraham, the head of the Hebrew race, gave him a tenth of the spoil. The giving of the tenth was an acknowledgment of superiority. Tithes are given to a superior. So if there was One above the head of the whole Jewish race, think how much it mattered for the Hebrews. They were not to dwell on the greatness of Abraham, but on the One greater — Christ Himself!
- Unborn. "In the loins of his ancestor" is the Bible's way of speaking of descendants still to come. Levi was inside Abraham, not yet born, when Melchizedek met him.
- Bound. Because he was unborn, Levi could not claim exemption. Israel, Aaron, and all were bound up in the homage of that one man.
- Outranked. A tithe proves rank. So the tribe that collected Israel's tithes is on record as paying tithes to a greater priest.
- Represented. One head can act for all who come from him — the same principle by which we fell in Adam and now live in Christ.
- Replaced. If Levi is the lesser, the whole system resting on him must go. A change of priesthood brings a change of everything attached to it.