The Hebrews
community, the community to which this epistle was sent, could very
well be the Jerusalem community of Believers. This would be the
Jerusalem assembly of which James, the Master's brother, was leader
of. The internal evidence within the epistle would indicate that the
Believers no longer had access to the Temple. The Temple had been
the place of assembly for the Believers of Jerusalem. According to
the book of Acts, it was the disciples' custom to meet in the Temple
daily and to participate in the Temple services:
Day by day
continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness
and sincerity of heart, (Acts 2:46)
Now Peter and
John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of
prayer. (Acts 3:1)
And every day, in
the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and
preaching Yeshua as the Messiah. (Acts 5:42)
Apparently, at
some point, the disciples were ex-communicated from the Temple
assembly, just as the Master had prophesied:
They will make
you outcasts from the [assembly], but an hour is coming for everyone
who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. (John
16:2)
The writer to the Hebrews seeks to comfort and encourage the
Believers. With the Temple and the Temple service being such an
integral part of the Jerusalem Believers' lives, the disciples were
in need of answers to their many questions. Without access to the
Temple, the Believers could not participate in the sacrificial
service clearly outlined in the Torah. The Believers were, for all
practical purposes, in exile. How were the Believers to worship God?
How were they to bring sacrifices? The writer to the Hebrews seeks
to answer all of these questions and more.
The Perpetuity
of the Aaronic Priesthood
You shall gird
them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and
they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall
ordain Aaron and his sons. (Exodus 29:9)
The Torah says,
here in Exodus, that the priesthood belongs to Aaron and his sons by
a "perpetual statute." The phrase "perpetual statute" in Hebrew is "chukat
olam." This phrase, chukat olam, describes something that can never
be overturned or reversed. There will never be a time in This World
that the priesthood does not belong to Aaron and His sons. This is
confirmed further in Numbers:
Then the LORD
spoke to Moses, saying, "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of
Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel
in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did
not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say,
'Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him
and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood,
because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons
of Israel.'" (Numbers 25:10-12)
God additionally
confirms that the priesthood belongs to Aaron and his sons forever
by making a covenant with Phinehas (Aaron's grandson), promising his
descendants the priesthood forever. It certainly appears that as
long as we are in This World, the priesthood belongs to the house of
Aaron. Amazingly, generally speaking, descendants of Aaron have
maintained their lineage and there remain identifiable sons of Aaron
to this day. If a Temple were to be rebuilt, there would certainly
be sons of Aaron reporting for duty.
The
Contradiction of a Second Priesthood
The Torah is
clear: the priesthood belongs to the order of Aaron but the hundred
and tenth Psalm presents a seeming contradiction:
The LORD has
sworn and will not change His mind, "You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:4)
Here, the LORD is
speaking to the Messiah and promises Him a priesthood not
according to Aaron but according to Melchizedek. How can
there be a Melchizedekian priesthood if God promised the priesthood
to the house of Aaron? Furthermore, the writer to the Hebrews
states:
For when the
priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of
law also. (Hebrews 7:12)
How is it that
the priesthood could change? Even worse, how can the Torah change?
Granted, from the traditional Christian perspective, the Torah
changing is no big deal but from the Torah perspective, this is a
serious and problematic claim. According to the Torah, no one is to
add or take away from the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:2) and the
Master Himself says in Matthew 5:18 that not one letter will
pass from the Torah until heaven and earth pass away. Is it possible
that God has reversed His covenant promise to Aaron and Phinehas
that they will have the priesthood forever and has instead
established the Messiah's Melchizedekian priesthood? As we study
through chapters 7-10 of Hebrews, let's see if the writer to the
Hebrews can resolve this seeming contradiction for us.