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3:14 gegovnamen . 4:2 ejsmen eujhggelismevnoi . 4:14, 15 dielhluqovta ... pepeirasmevnon . 7:3 ajfwmoiwmevno" .
7:13
metevschken .
7:14
ajnatevtalken .
8:5
kecrhmavtistai .
8:6
tevtucen .
nenomoqevthtai .
9:18
ejnkekaivnistai .
9:26
pefanevrwtai .
10:14
teteleivwken .
11:5
memartuvrhtai .
11:17
prosenhvnocen , note.
11:28 pepoivhken .
12:2
kekavqiken .
12:3
uJpomemenhkovta , note.
kai; ... eujlovghken ...] Melchizedek received tithes: he gave a blessing. This exercise of the privilege of a superior is a second mark of preeminence; and he exercised it towards one who as having the promises might have seemed to be raised above the acceptance of any human blessing.

7:7. cwri;" de; p. ajnt. ...] But without any gainsaying ... Vulg. Sine ulla
autem contradictione
(O. L. controversia ).
to; e[l. ... tou' kr. ...] The abstract form offers the principle in its widest
application. Comp. 12:13.

7:8-10. Melchizedek was superior to Abraham: he was superior also to the Levitical priests generally. This is shewn both by the nature of the priests themselves (7:8), and by the position which the common ancestor occupied towards Abraham (7:9, 10).

7:8. kai; w|de mevn...ejkei' dev ...] And , further, while here , in this system which we see,... there , in that remote and solitary example...

The w|de refers to that Levitical priesthood which was nearer to the writer's experience than Melchizedek, though the latter is the immediately preceding subject. So ou|to" is used: e.g., Acts 4:11.

Under the Mosaic Law dying men ( ajpoqnhvskonte" a[nqrwpoi ), men who were not only liable to death, mortal, but men who were actually seen to die from generation to generation enjoyed the rights of priests. For such an order there is not only the contingency but the fact of succession. While Melchizedek was one to whom witness is borne that he liveth. (Euth. Zig. marturouvmeno" de; dia; tou' sesigh'sqai th;n teleuth;n aujtou' .) The writer recurring to the exact form of the record in Genesis, on which he has dwelt before (Heb. 7:3), emphasises the fact that Melchizedek appears there simply in the power of life. So far he does not die; the witness of Scripture is to his living. What he does is in virtue of what he is.

With marturouvmeno" o{ti (Latt. ibi autem contestatur quia ...Aug. qui testificatur se vivere ) compare Heb. 11:4 ( ejmart. ei\nai divk. ); id. vs. 5 ( memart. eujaresthkevnai ). Philo, Leg. Alleg. iii. § 81 (1.132 M.), Mwush'" a[rcei marturouvmeno" o{ti ejsti; pisto;" o{lw/ tw'/ oi[kw/ .
dekavta" ] The plural is used here and 7:9, as distinguished from the


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