Kollel Ki Tetze

Kollel Ki Tetze

Hebrews chapters 7 & 8

Heb 7:1 For this Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, Kohen of El `Elyon, who met Avraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

Heb 7:2  to whom also Avraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, king of righteousness, and then also king of Shalem, which is king of peace;

Heb 7:3  without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of Elohim), remains a Kohen continually.

The Sages agree that Shem, Firstborn of Noah, was the founder and king of Salem.  He was born about 100 years prior to the flood, and had a lifespan of 500 years after the flood.  To the much shorter lived-people who were born after the flood, it must have seemed like Shem had been king forever, because he was there from 1657, the year the flood ended, until about 2157, just before the lifetime of the 12 patriarchs.  In other words, Shem was still alive even in Jacob’s day, and Jacob could have studied with him on the way to his uncle Laban’s house.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:4  Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Avraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best spoils.

Heb 7:5  They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the Kohen’s office have a mitzvah to take tithes of the people according to the Torah, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Avraham,

Heb 7:6  but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Avraham, and has blessed him who has the promises.

Shem was the high priest under the old order of the Firstborns long before the Levites were appointed to serve in their place.   And it is very clear that he had complete authority as High Priest.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:7  But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

Heb 7:8  Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives.

Heb 7:9  We can say that through Avraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes,

Heb 7:10  for he was yet in the body of his father when Malki-Tzedek met him.

Abraham himself was a descendant of Shem, by the way.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:11  Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the Torah), what further need was there for another Kohen to arise after the order of Malki-Tzedek, and not be called after the order of Aharon?

Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made also in the Torah.

The Priesthood of the Firstborns was temporarily set aside at the time of Moses, which represents a substitution from the procedure that was in place from the time of Adam until the time of Moses.  As we now institute divorce for stoning, and as the ancients had to set aside the rules against marrying close kin at the time of creation and again after the flood, there are times when substitutions are made to the Torah.  However, these are understood to be temporary things, only lasting until the situation returns to “normal.”  Once the earth’s population was sufficient, the rules against marrying near relatives began to be enforced.  And once the Messianic Kingdom arrives, the Torah commandment to execute adulterers will be put back into place, among other things.

And, most importantly for this passage, at the time of the Resurrection of Yeshua, the order of the Firstborns was restored to the High Priesthood.  The Levites will henceforth only play a supporting role – their replacement of the Firstborns has ended, and the rules are returned back to their original place.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:13  For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

The altar he was referring to, of course, was that of the Temple Mount.  During the Priesthood of the Firstborns, a firstborn could establish a valid offer at any clean place, just as Adam did, and just as Abraham and the other patriarchs did.  Shem ruled at Jerusalem but the Temple was not built until much later.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:14  For it is evident that Adonai has sprung out of Yehudah, about which tribe Moshe spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

Heb 7:15  This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Malki-Tzedek there arises another Kohen,

Heb 7:16  who has been made, not after the Torah of a fleshly mitzvah, but after the power of an endless life:

Heb 7:17  for it is testified, “You are a Kohen forever, according to the order of Malki-Tzedek.”

This passage is from Psalms:

Psa 110:1  <<A Psalm by David.>> YHWH says to Adonai, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”   Psa 110:2  YHWH will send forth the rod of your strength out of Tziyon. Rule in the midst of your enemies.   Psa 110:3  Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.   Psa 110:4 YHWH has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a Kohen forever in the order of Malki-Tzedek.”   Psa 110:5  Adonai is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.   Psa 110:6  He will judge among the nations. He will heap up dead bodies. He will crush the ruler of the whole earth.   Psa 110:7  He will drink of the brook in the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:18  For there is a cancellation of a foregoing mitzvah because of their weakness and uselessness

Heb 7:19  (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to Elohim.

The commandments that put Aharon and his descendants in the High Priesthood were never meant to be the final word or the perfect solution – they were a temporary deviation from the established order and therefore intended to be set aside when the true order was re-established.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:20  Inasmuch as he [Aharon] was not made Kohen without the taking of an oath

Heb 7:21  (for they indeed have been made Kohanim without an oath), but he [Yeshua] with an oath by him [Elohim] that says of him, “Adonai swore and will not change his mind, ‘You are a Kohen forever, according to the order of Malki-Tzedek.’”

Aharon was not promised the High Priesthood in perpetuity, only that as long as his family line lasts they will serve Elohim at the Temple.  And they will – but not as High Priest.

Jer 33:16  In those days shall Yehudah be saved, and Yerushalayim shall dwell safely; and this is [the name] by which she shall be called: YHWH our righteousness.   Jer 33:17 For thus says YHWH: David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Yisra’el;   Jer 33:18  neither shall the Kohanim the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

So their service is changed slightly, but Elohim’s elevation of them to a priesthood, now part of the Torah, stands – but Aharon’s line is no longer High Priest.  That part was abrogated by the fact that the Firstborns were, well, there first and the ultimate Firstborn, Yeshua, reclaimed the High Priesthood legitimately.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 7:22  By so much, Yeshua has become the collateral of a better covenant.

Heb 7:23  Many, indeed, have been made Kohanim, because they are hindered from continuing by death.

Heb 7:24  But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable.

Heb 7:25  Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to Elohim through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

Heb 7:26  For such a Kohen Gadol was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Heb 7:27  who doesn’t need, like those Kohenim Gedolim, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.

Heb 7:28  For the Torah appoints men as Kohenim Gedolim who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the Torah appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

Heb 8:1 Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a Kohen Gadol, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

Heb 8:2  a servant of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which Adonai pitched, not man.

Heb 8:3  For every Kohen Gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this Kohen Gadol also have something to offer.

Heb 8:4  For if he [Yeshua] were on earth, he would not be a Kohen at all, seeing there are Kohanim who offer the gifts according to the Torah;

Heb 8:5  who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moshe was warned by Elohim when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.”

Exo 25:1  YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying… Exo 25:9 According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tent, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it…. Exo 25:40  See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 8:6  But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

Heb 8:7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and learned the Torah.  He passed it down by word of mouth from father to son, but over the generations peoples moved, set up new cities and new cultures developed, and while some kernels of truth remained, the stories became distorted as they were passed down from generation to generation.  By the time of Moses, it was clear that a stable source of information was needed – so the covenant was renewed on stone and paper.  But the Rabbis added their interpretations and traditions, created a thousand page “oral law” monstrosity that distorted Elohim’s true intentions – and the ministers and reverends and priests of the church claimed that the Torah commandments are “done away with” completely, leading millions of people astray.  So paper and stone turned out to be no more effective than word of mouth.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come,” says Adonai, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el and with the house of Yehudah;

Heb 8:9  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says Adonai.

Heb 8:10  “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra’el. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be to them a Elohim, and they will be to me a people.

Heb 8:11  They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

Heb 8:12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

This is supposed to be a direct quote from Jeremiah chapter 31, but look:

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el, and with the house of Yehudah:   Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says YHWH.   Jer 31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, says YHWH: I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people:   Jer 31:34  and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says YHWH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

Elohim says the he will write “MY TORAH” in their minds and write “IT” in their heart.  It is not the content of the Torah that has changed, only the location of it has changed.  No longer can misinformation be passed around, no longer can additions or subtractions or faulty interpretations be made of the written text – the Torah, Elohim’s written Word, will be engraved on our hearts and minds.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 8:13  In that he says, “A new covenant,” he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

Yes, paper and stone are becoming obsolete.  We need them now to study and learn, but the day is coming when the Torah will be programmed into your very heart and mind – the “new” covenant, new in strength and effectiveness (not in content).

And it’s very important to understand this, because only Torah observant Believers are “Philadelphians,” included in another promise made after the written Tanakh was completed:  the Parousia.

Next week:  Parashat Ki Tavo.