Every high priest chosen from among men
is appointed for men in things that relate to God,
so that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Who can have compassion on the ignorant,
and on them that are on the wrong path;
because he himself also is surrounded with frailty.
And for this reason he ought
(is obligated, is expected, is weak, should),
for the people, and also for himself,
to offer for sins.
Notice how the description of high priest
fits exactly what Jesus was. Jesus offered Himself as a gift and sacrifice
for our sins, he had compassion on the unlearned, and those being led
astray. And He was flesh and blood, so he was surrounded with his own human
weakness, as well as the weakness of mankind.
And no man may volunteer for this honor,
only he that is called by God, as was Aaron.
So also Christ didn’t exalt himself to be made an high priest;
but it was God who glorified Him saying,
Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
Psalms 2:7
And He said also in another place,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Psalms 110:4
We’ll be studying more about Melchisedek in
the upcoming chapters of this letter to the Hebrews, so keep an eye out for
that. Now Paul tells more about Jesus’ priesthood.
In the days of His flesh,
when He offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears to God,
who was able to save Him from death,
and was heard that He feared;
though He were God’s Son,
still, He learned obedience by the things that He
suffered;
and being made perfect,
Jesus became the author of eternal salvation
to all them that obey Him;
called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Of whom we have many things to say,
and hard to be expressed,
because you are slow of understanding.
The Hebrews were difficult to teach. They were probably so
attached to the old ways of thinking from being raised with unmovable
dedication to the Old Testament, that they had a hard time holding on to the
understanding of the Gospel of Christ. They probably slipped back into their
old habits frequently, so Paul encourages them to change their habits by
practicing their new ones.
For the time when you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you again
what the first principles are of the oracles (messages,
sayings, TRUTH) of God;
and seem again to have need of milk (like babies),
and not of strong meat.
For every one that uses milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness:
for he is a babe.
But strong meat is for those that are mature,
that is, those who by practicing have their senses trained
to tell the difference between good and evil.
You don’t have to
be Jewish to be slow of understanding. We all have our moments. Christianity
is a lifestyle that requires constant refreshing, maintenance and reminder.
Challenge yourself to establish new good habits that strengthen your
Christianity and glorify God, and also ones that help you to recognize and
discern good and evil. This could include more Bible study or a reflection
of each day by writing a journal and documenting your daily trials and
tribulations and how you dealt with them. Don’t forget to write the good
stuff too! For an interesting look at how to establish a new habit or break
an old one, see The Mercy Seat in our Exodus section of Daily Bread. Can’t
wait until next time when we share more Daily Bread together, so hurry back!
