Hebrews Chapter Seven, Made Priest With An Oath

 

Hebrews 7:20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath [21] (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’”), [22] by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

 

The comparison between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood continues. Jesus was made priest with an oath given by God the Father. God had sworn an oath over the Christ’s right to the priesthood, unlike the many priests that served the earthly tabernacle for hundreds of years from the time of Aaron until the destruction of Jerusalem’s temple in April of 70 AD by general Titus by order of his father, the emperor Vespasian.

The destruction of the temple by the Gentile Roman army certainly was a clarion call to Israel that the time of serving in the temporary tabernacle had come to a close. Jesus prophesied of the city’s destruction as a consequence of their rejection of His Messianic claims, Matthew 24:2, Luke 19:43, 44. About 35 years after our Lord uttered these prophecies Titus fulfilled them by destroying the city and burning the temple, the fire spreading over time until all Jerusalem burned. The priesthood was now bereft a place of sacrifice and its importance within Jewish culture in general, and Judaism in particular, waned. But there was no more need of sacrifice, because 35 (or so) years prior, Jesus Christ offered Himself spotless to God the Father through the Holy Spirit on our behalf.

 

Once more Psalm 110:4 is cited to testify to the veracity of the writer’s Biblical teachings. This verse is something of a golden theme in the epistle to the Hebrews, which is one reason why the author paused to explain the vital details about the relationship between Jesus our Lord and Melchizedek. Ignoring verse 21 for a moment to get the meaning of the passage without interruption, we read: “And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.” God’s promise indicated better things of the office Jesus would take up. The RSV renders verse 22 extremely plainly, stating, “This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.” Again, the oath God made stressed faithful reception of the surety. The oath is directed at the recipient of the priesthood, who is the object of the surety, or rather the surety itself.

 

The term “surety” is the Greek word, “egguos” and, “signifies the bail who personally answers for anyone, whether with his life or his property.” Bail, as we know in modern nomenclature, is the money used to release someone from jail. Jesus has become that surety. How? His death on the cross secured our release, because His death satisfied God’s judgment upon sin, which Christ took upon Himself at Calvary. “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit,” Zechariah 9:11, ESV. This verse follows the triumphant shout proclaiming the Coming King riding upon a donkey, just and having salvation. Zechariah attests that the Coming One will have dominion from “sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth,” Zechariah 9:10. Christ’s blood, or His death, ratifies this covenant, which facilitates release of Israel’s prisoners from the waterless pit. This new covenant, mentioned also in Jeremiah 31:31-34, is, the author states, simply a “better” covenant. It annuls the former one, which was temporary and weak, replacing it with one whose power rests in the endless life of the One who holds the title of High Priest forever, according to Melchizedek’s order.