A Commentary in Simple English on the letter to Jewish Christians

CHAPTER 5

Verses 1-10: Jesus is a better Priest than Aaron

In many parts of the world, people who tell a story will start at the beginning and tell their story. But when they get to the end, they go back over it from the end to the beginning. [5.1]. One Psalm which is built up like this is Psalm 27. The shape of Psalm 27 is like this: -

Courage	Verse 1	A1
Deliverance	Verses 2,3	B1
Seeing God	Verse 4	C1
Triumph	Verses 5,6	D
Seeking God	Verses 7,8,9	C2
Deliverance	Verses 10,11,12	B2
Courage	Verses 13,14	A2

 

Now Hebrews 5:1-10 is put together like this. So we can see that the first four verses are about the Jewish priests. Verses 5-10 are about Jesus, our High Priest.

The first part of verse 1 tells us that God chose the High Priests from among men. In the same way God the Father has made it known that He has chosen Jesus as a High Priest. (verse 10). We will leave' Melchizedek’ for the moment and talk about that later.

The second part of verse 1 sets out for us the work the Jewish High Priest had to do. Men cannot come to a holy God in any way that they choose. God has the right to say how men can come to Him in worship and prayer. So God says that men should have a priest to act for them. The priest's work was to bring the gifts of the people to God. When they sinned the priest had to kill animals as their offerings to get rid of their sins. This was all going from man to God. Verse 9 tells us what Jesus does. Eternal salvation comes to men from Him when they put their faith in Him. This is what 'obey' means here. Jesus is our Priest; He has offered Himself to God to get rid of our sins. Jesus was always 'perfect', of course. He did not sin, but He is now the perfect Saviour for sinners like us. He rescues from sin all who obey Him. He does not only save Jews; He saves people from every race and nation.

Verse 2 tells us what the High Priest should have been like. The people sometimes did not know what was right, and so they did what was wrong. They were 'ignorant'. But sometimes they did know what was right, and still did what was wrong. Then they were 'going astray', like sheep going in the wrong path (Psalm 119:176). The High Priest was no better than the people were. He should be able to help them and feel for them. He should 'deal gently with them'. That means that he should not lose his temper with the people when he saw them doing wrong: nor should he just say: 'Never mind. It does not really matter'. I do not know that the High Priests were really like that. I am afraid some of them were proud, and wealthy. They were men with power who did little to help people. Verse 8 tells us that Jesus is different. He learnt for Himself how much people have to suffer when they obey God. As children, we often did not obey our fathers. They punished us. We learned to obey them by what we suffered. Jesus always obeyed His Father, yet He suffered. He knew what obeying God and suffering mean to us.

Verse 3 tells us again what we said about the High Priest on the 'Day of Atonement'. Because he was a sinner, he had to kill a bull and bring its blood into the Most Holy Place. Only then could he kill the goat as an offering for the sin of the people. Verse 7 tells us that Jesus did not need to make an offering for His sins, for He did not have any. (See 4: 15 and 7:27.) So His offering was made up of prayers. When He prayed, He did not ask for anything good for Himself. (See Luke 22: 42-44.) He asked God whether it was possible for Him to be spared the horrible death of the Cross. God the Father was the One who could save Him. Jesus died, so He was not saved from dying. He went into death, but God brought Him out of death when He rose again. God saved him from the power of death. Death has had power over all men, but God saved Jesus from death and He will save us from the power of death too. The prayer of Jesus was 'heard'. This is what we need to know when we pray. We may not get what we want from God; but we know that our Father in heaven has heard what we say. God heard Jesus because His heart was right. He said: 'Not my will, but Yours, be done'. That was His 'godly fear'.

So now we look at verse 4, and verses 5 and 6 which go with it. Some people are always ready to push themselves forward to gain honour. This was not the way that Aaron became High Priest. God chose him. In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ did not push Himself forward. (verse 5). The writer then uses the words of Psalm 2: 7 again as he did in 1: 5.

So our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross and was buried, has risen from the dead. He has gone through the heavens (4:14) to God's glory and in verse 6, we hear God the Father speak. He says to Him, 'You are a priest'. Now these words come from Psalm 110: 4 and much of Chapter 7 will be taken up by them.

However, at this stage we should remember that we have already met Psalm 110. The writer used the first verse of the Psalm in 1:13.

We find the story of Melchizedek and Abram in Genesis 14: 18-20.God had not yet changed Abram's name to ‘Abraham'. Some kings from the north had come into Canaan and fought with the rich cities which at that time still stood by the Dead Sea. Abram chased these kings and fought them. He took back from them everything that they had stolen. The name Melchizedek means 'King of Righteousness'. He was king of 'Salem' which means peace. We think that he was king at Jerusalem. He came to meet Abram with bread and wine. We may think when we read this about the Last Supper of our Lord. Melchizedek was a priest of the living and true God, and he told Abram how good God would be to him. Then Abram gave to Melchizedek one tenth part of what he had taken back from the kings he had beaten in battle. [5.2].

There are two points that the writer makes here. Jesus is 'a priest forever'. Other priests died. Jesus is alive for ever, so we have a High Priest who is alive for ever. His work for us has no end. Then Jesus is a priest in a different line. He does not belong to the line of the Jewish High Priest at all.

Verses 11-14: The Third Warning: Grow up!

The writer has a great deal more to say about Jesus, but it is hard to make it clear to his readers. When men and women first put their faith in Jesus, they usually learn a lot quickly. These Jewish Christians had been believers so long that they ought to have been teaching others. They needed someone to teach them again the simple truths of the Good News - the 'A.B.C.'. They needed milk, like babies. Solid food belongs to people who have grown up and who have learnt the difference between right and wrong. (See I Corinthians 3: 1-2 and 14: 20.)

Of course, there is no better food for a baby than its own mother's milk. Fresh goat's milk or cows milk is also very good, except that sometimes illness can be passed from a cow to someone who drinks its milk. We know that milk is also good for children and for mothers who are going to have babies. (See I Peter 2:2.)

This 'warning' goes on into the next Chapter, as far as verse 8.