7:6,7
Jesus was not a Levite, being in the line of David (as foretold in the Old Testament). Melchizedek was also not a Levite, with no record of his ancestry being given. Yet Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham, the father of the nation. The writer is addressing the question that Jews and Jewish Christians may have had about how can Jesus’ priesthood supersede that of the Levitical priesthood. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, and received a blessing from him, so he has set a precedent. The writer stresses the point in verse 7, “the inferior is blessed by the superior”. So Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, and Ps 110, an acknowledged messianic psalm, foretold that the Messiah would be a priest like Melchizedek.
7:8
The Levitical priests were just normal men, who died like anyone else. There is no record of Melchizedek’s ancestry, nor of him dying. Jesus rose from the dead and still lives today. The resurrection demonstrates the superiority of Jesus.
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