Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we drop back in on the book of Hebrews and its rich descriptions of Jesus and his supremacy over all things.

Chapter 7 opens by continuing to compare him to the Old Testament priest Melchizedek.

Some scholars believe he was a Christ type, while others believe he was God the Son, making

a special appearance on earth before he was born as Jesus.

They certainly have a lot in common.

For instance, Melchizedek's name means righteousness, and he was the king of a place called

Peace, and when he showed up in Genesis 14, he brought out bread and wine, and the author of

Hebrews makes a case for Melchizedek being greater than Abraham, because he bestowed a blessing

to Abraham.

The idea of someone being greater than Abraham was probably shocking to Jewish readers.

It's a pretty great story. Check it out if you have time. And if you want more information on the mysterious Melchizedek, we've linked to a video and an article again in today's show notes. Another interesting thing about Melchizedek is that he wasn't a descendant of the line of Levi, and all the priests during the Old Covenant were supposed to be descended from Levi. But there's a good reason he

wasn't a descendant of Levi, because he lived about 500 years before Levi was born. As a non-levitical

priest, one not descended from Levi, Malkisadet kind of sets a precedent for Jesus as priest,

because Jesus was also not a descendant of Levi. But Jesus, who is from the line of Judah,

gets his priestly authority based on the fact that he is eternal. That'll do it. If you joined us in the New Testament, it's possible that some of this may be lost on you, but I hope you'll stick around and join us when we start in Genesis 1 again, because it will help you see some of the really rich textures in this story. One of the things it points to is this. The old

law that the priests upheld was great for when they were under the old priestly system, but we have a new

system in place now because the priest has changed. It's kind of like how our laws change when we get

new leaders in office. Now that Jesus is our high priest, we operate under a new covenant. And verse 27 points out why this is infinitely better.

It says, he has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily,

first for his own sins and then for those of the people,

since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

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