“And having been made perfect, He became a cause of age-enduring salvation to all those obeying Him, having been addressed by God as a Kohen Gadol according to the order of Mal’kiy-Tzedeq.” (He. 5:9-10, mjlt)

The book of Hebrews speaks of a mystery central to our faith: How did the great High Priest, Yeshua, arise from outside the priestly tribe of Levi, and why? Though the question may seem obscure to us now, thousands of years after the line of priests was broken, the answer is still as important as ever. Grasping it not only illuminates the magnificence of the Master’s sacrifice, but also illustrates how the Father continually maintains His covenants—sometimes in unexpected ways.

The sons of Levi were men burdened by a special calling. As the tribe that alone answered Adonai’s call to righteousness (Exo. 32:26), God gave them a great blessing, promising that He Himself would be their inheritance (Deu. 10:9). Seeing that Levi “walked with [Him] in peace and uprightness, and… turned many from iniquity” (Mal. 2:6, esv), Adonai made a covenant with him, and laid on him a great charge: “the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts” (2:7, esv).

The problem with this high calling, however, was that the men of the priesthood were still—sadly—men. Though expected to perfectly represent God and make atonement for the people, they were pitifully flawed. Take, for example, Hophni and Phinehas—“worthless men” (1Sa. 2:12, esv) who profaned the offerings and defiled the Tent of Meeting, while their father Eli honored them above Adonai (2:29). Or consider the priest Pashhur, who—disapproving of Jeremiah’s prophecies against Jerusalem—beat the prophet of God and locked him in the stocks (Jer. 20:2). Even after the Babylonian captivity, the priests could not remain faultless. They polluted the altar by offering defective sacrifices to Adonai (Mal. 1:6-14); they were unfaithful to their wives (2:14) and “corrupted the covenant of Levi” (2:8, esv). Later, it was the high priest Caiaphas who first suggested that Yeshua should be killed, and it was the priests who presided over His sham trial, ultimately handing Him over to death. Priests participated in the brutal stoning of Stephen, and priests ordered the persecution of the early believers.

From the time of Aaron himself—who fashioned a golden calf for the people to worship (Exo. 32:2-5)—until the time of Yeshua and beyond, the priesthood could not stand guiltless before the Father. And there was nothing that could be done. The line of Aaron—perpetually needing to offer sacrifices for themselves, to intervene on their own behalf—could never fully cleanse Israel from its missteps, because of its own, human condition.

And yet, God does not abandon His covenants. The imperfection of the descendants of Levi did not negate the perpetual call of the priest: to make atonement for the people; to guard knowledge and instruct righteousness; to present God’s children to Him, clean and holy. There can be no doubt, imperfect is what they were, for “if indeed, then, perfection were through the K’hunah [priesthood] of Leviy…, what further need had they for another kohen [priest] to arise…” (Heb. 7:11). A new type of priest was needed—a priest of a different order, not of Levi but “according to the order of Mal’kiy-Tzedeq.” Priest by righteousness. Priest eternal. And how much more perfect His offering would be! Because “every kohen [priest], indeed, has stood daily, serving, and is offering many times the same sacrifices that are never able to take away sins. But this One, having offered one sacrifice for sin to the end of time, sat down at the right hand of God…. For by one offering, He has perfected to the end those who are set apart…” (10:11-14).

The first priesthood had merely sought to cover over sins, but “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take [them] away” (10:4). Yeshua—“[High Priest] of the good things that have come” (9:11)—would surpass them in every way. By offering His own “pure, innocent, undefiled” blood (7:26), He was able to fully cleanse our sins with a single sacrifice. And “because of His remaining to the age… He is also able to save to the very end… because He is ever living to make intercession for [us]” (7:24-25). By all this, the Master “obtained a more excellent service” and became “mediator of a better b’riyt [covenant]” (8:6). Bringing perfection, our High Priest “made the first K’hunah [priesthood] old, and… obsolete…” (8:13); “He takes away the first K’hunah [priesthood], so that He may establish the second” (10:9).

By sending His Son Yeshua, the Father not only perfected us all, but also provided the solution to repair the broken priesthood of Levi. He has not done away with any of His covenants; on the contrary, our great High Priest has brought perfection to both the first and the new. For “the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming… He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord” (Mal. 3:1-3, esv). All praise to the One who alone can change men’s hearts!

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