Exposition of Hebrews 6-10, Exegesis of chapter 7 · Exegesis of verse 14
VER. 14.
For it is Evident (or Manifest) that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the Priesthood.
In the first part of the words there are two things considerable. The manner of the Proposition, or the Modification of the Assertion, foreign. The Conjunction foreign, foreign.for, doth only shew that a Reason or Proof of what was before laid down, is here introduced. And of this he saith, palam est, manifestum, it is manifest, open, a thing confessed; Evident, as we say, in it self. A thing easie to be proved, but that it is by no Man denyed. Only whereas foreign is manifest or evident, foreign seems to intimate what was manifest before-hand; as foreign is to Evidence a matter before-hand. And this may not only respect, but be confined unto the preceding Promises and Declaration that the Messiah should be of the Tribe of Judah. But we may consider in general how this is said to be a thing Evident or Manifest in its application unto our Lord Jesus Christ. And
1. This was included in the Faith of Believers, who granted him to be the Messiah. For nothing was more plainly promised under the Old Testament, nor more firmly believed by the Church, than that the Messiah was to be of the Tribe of Judah, and of the Family of David. And thus it was foreign manifest to them before-hand. For unto Judah the Promise was Solemnly confined, Gen. 49. 8, 9, 10. and frequently reiterated unto David, as I have shewed elsewhere. VVhoever therefore acknowledged our Lord Jesus Christ to be the true Messiah, as all the Hebrews did unto whom our Apostle wrote, though the most of them adhered unto the Law and Ceremonies of it, they must and did grant, that he sprang of the Tribe of Judah. And none of the Unbelieving Jews made use of this Objection, that he was not of the Tribe of Judah, which if they could have managed, had absolutely Justified them in their Unbelief. This was sufficient unto the purpose of the Apostle, seeing he proceeded not only on what was granted among them, but firmly believed by them, and not denied by their Adversaries.
2. It was in those days manifest by his known Genealogy. For by the Providence of God his Parents were Publickly enrolled of that Tribe and of the Family of David in the Tax and Recognition of the people appointed by Augustus Caesar, Luke 2. 4. And this was made yet more Famous by the Cruelty of Herod, seeking his Destruction among the Children of Bethlehem, Mat. 2. And the Genealogies of all Families, whilst the Jewish Common-wealth continued in any condition, were carefully preserved, because many legal Rights and Constitutions did depend thereon. And this Preservation of Genealogies was both appointed of God, and fenced with Legal Rights for this very End, to Evidence the accomplishment of his Promise in the Messiah. And unto this End was his Genealogy written and recorded by two of the Evangelists, as that whereon the Truth of his being the Messiah did much depend.
Sundry of the Ancients had an apprehension that the Lord Christ derived his Genealogy from both the Tribes of Judah and Levi, in the Regal and Sacerdotal Offices, as he who was to be both King and Priest. And there is a Story inserted in Suidas, how in the days of Justinian the Emperour, one Theodosius, a principal Patriarch of the Jews, acquainted his Friend, one Philip, a Christian, how he was enrolled by the Priests in their Order, as of the Linage of the Priests, by the Name of Jesus the Son of Mary and of God; and that the Records thereof were kept by the Jews at Tiberias to that very time. But the whole Story is filled with gross effects of Ignorance and incredible Fables, being only a Dream of some Superstitious Monastick. But the Ancients grounded their imagination on the Kindred that was between his Mother and Elizabeth the Wife of Zechariah the Priest, who was the Daughter of Aaron, Luke 1. 5. But this whole conceit is not only false, but directly contradictory to the Scope and Argument of the Apostle in this place. For the Authors of it would have the Lord Christ so to derive his Genealogy from the Tribe of Levi, as thence to be entitled unto the Priesthood, which yet it could not be, unless he was also proved to be of the Family of Aaron. And to assign a Priesthood unto him as derived from Aaron, is openly contradictory unto the Apostle in this place, and destructive of his whole Design, as also of the true real Priesthood of Christ himself; as is evident unto any one, who reads this Chapter. The Alliance and Kindred that was between the Blessed Virgin and Elizabeth was doubtless by an Antecedent intermarriage of those Tribes, as Elizabeth's Mother might be Sister unto the Father or Grand-father of the Holy Virgin. And this was not only Lawful between the Tribes of Judah and Levi or the Regal and Sacerdotal Families, whence Jehoshabeath the Wife of Jehoiadah, was the Daughter of Jehoram the King, 2 Chron. 22. 11. as some have imagined; but such Marriages were usual unto, and Lawful among all the other Tribes, where Women had no Inheritances of Land, which was expresly provided against by a particular Law. And this very Law of Exception doth sufficiently prove the Liberty of all others. For the words of it are, Every Daughter, that possesseth an Inheritance in any Tribe of the Children of Israel, shall be Wife unto one of the Family of the Tribe of her Father, that the Children of Israel may enjoy every one the Inheritance of their Father, Numb. 36. 8. Both the express limitation of the Law unto those who possessed Inheritances, and the Reason of it for the preservation of the Lots of each Tribe entire, as ver. 3, 4. manifest that all other were at liberty to Marry any Israelite, be he of what Tribe soever. And thus both the Genealogies of Matthew and Luke, one by a Legal, the other by a Natural line, were both of them from the Tribe of Judah, and Family of David. So
It pleaseth God to give sufficient Evidence unto the accomplishment of his Promise.
2. For the manner of the proceeding of the Lord Christ from that Tribe, the Apostle expresseth it by foreign, He sprang; foreign is usually taken in an foreign.active sence, to cause to rise, Mat. 5. 45. foreign, he causeth his Sun to rise. And sometimes it is used Neutrally, for to rise; and so as some think it peculiarly denotes the rising of the Sun, in distinction from the other Planets. Hence is foreign, the East, from the rising of the Sun. So the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is called the rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings, Mal. 4. 2. foreign, Luke 1. 78. The day-spring from on high. Thus did the Lord Christ arise in the light and glory of the Sun, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of his People Israel. But the word is used also to express other springings; as of Water from a Fountain, or a Branch from the Stock. And so it is said of our Lord Jesus, that he should grow up as a tender Plant, and as a Root out of a dry Ground, Isa. 53. 2. A Rod out of the Stem, and a Branch out of the Roots of Jesse, Chap. 11. 1. Hence he is frequently called the Branch, and the Branch of the Lord, Isa. 4. 2. Jer. 23. 5. Chap. 33. 15. Zech. 3. 8. Chap 6. 12. But the first, which is the most proper sense of the words, is to be regarded; he arose eminently and illustriously from the Tribe of Judah.
Having laid down this Matter of Fact, as that which was evident, and on all hands confessed, he observes upon it, that of that Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the Priesthood.
foreign, with reference unto which Tribe, foreign, de qua Tribu. Being to prove that the Priesthood did no way belong to the Tribe of Judah: So that the Introduction foreign.of a Priest of that Tribe must necessarily exclude those of the House of Aaron from that Office, he appeals unto the Law-giver, or rather the Law it self. For by Moses, not the Person of Moses absolutely is intended; as though these foreign.things depended on his Authority: but it is his Ministry in giving of the Law; or his Person only as Ministerially employed in the Declaration of it, that our Apostle respects. And it is the Law of Worship that is under consideration. Moses did record the Blessing of Judah, as given him by Jacob, wherein the Promise was made unto him, that the Shilo should come from him, Gen. 49. 10. And this same Shilo was also to be a Priest. But this was a Promise before the Law, and not to be accomplished until the expiration of the Law, and belonged not unto any Institution of the Law given by Moses. Wherefore Moses as the Law-giver, when the Office of the Priesthood was Instituted in the Church, and confirmed by especial Law or Ordinance, spake nothing of it with respect unto the Tribe of Judah. For as in the Law, the first Institution of it was directly confined unto the Tribe of Levi, and House of Aaron, so there is not in all the Law of Moses the least intimation, that on any Occasion in any future Generations, it should be translated unto that Tribe. Nor was it possible without the alteration and abolition of the whole Law, that any one of that Tribe should once be put into the Office of the Priesthood: The whole worship of God was to cease, rather than that any one of the Tribe of Judah should Officiate in the Office of the Priesthood. And this silence of Moses in this matter, the Apostle takes to be a sufficient Argument to prove that the legal Priesthood did not belong, nor could be transferred unto the Tribe of Judah. And the Grounds hereof are resolved into this general Maxime, that whatever is not revealed and appointed in the Worship of God by God himself, is to be considered as nothing, yea, as that which is to be rejected. And such he conceived to be the Evidence of this Maxime, that he chose rather to Argue from the silence of Moses in general, than from the particular Prohibition, that none, who was not of the Posterity of Aaron, should approach unto the Priestly Office. So God himself condemneth some Instances of false VVorship, on this Ground, that he never appointed them, that they never came into his Heart, and thence aggravates the sin of the People, rather than from the particular Prohibition of them, Jer. 7. 31. VVherefore
Divine Revelation gives Bounds positively and negatively unto the Worship of God.