Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Hebrews 7:2 - 7:2
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Heb_7:2. To whom also Abraham portioned out the tenth of all (sc. that he had gained as booty; comp. ἐκ τῶν ἀκροθινίων , Heb_7:4).
πρῶτον μὲν ἑρμηνευόμενος βασιλεὺς δικαιοσύνης ] he who first, interpreted (i.e. if one translates his Hebrew name îÇìÀëÌÄéÎöÆãÆ÷ into Greek), is King of Righteousness. Comp. Josephus, Antiq. i. 10. 2 : Μελχισεδέκης , σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο βασιλεὺς δίκαιος .
Bell. Jud. vi. 10 : ὁ δὲ πρῶτος κτίσας ( Ἱεροσόλυμα ) ἦν Χαναναίων δυνάστης , ὁ τῇ πατρίῳ γλώσσῃ κληθεὶς βασιλεὺς δίκαιος · ἦν γὰρ δὴ τοιοῦτος . The author of the epistle, however, following more closely the sense of the Hebrew words, renders the name by βασιλεὺς δικαιοσύνης (instead of rendering it βασιλεὺς δίκαιος , as Josephus does), and thereby brings out more clearly the part sustained by Melchisedec as a type of Christ, inasmuch as the latter is not only Himself righteous (comp. Zec_9:9; Jer_23:5), but also the mediatorial author of righteousness for others. Comp. 1Co_1:30; Jer_23:6; Mal_4:2; Dan_9:24.
ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ , ὅ ἐστιν βασιλεὺς εἰρήνης ] and then also king of Salem, which is (denotes) king of peace. Comp. with regard to Christ as our peace and peace-bringer, Eph_2:14-15; Eph_2:17; Rom_5:1; also Isa_9:6-7.
ὅ ἐστιν ] corresponds to the ἑρμηνευόμενος of the previous clause.
There is no reason for taking Salem, with Böhme and Bleek, after the precedent given by Petrus Cunaeus, de Rep. Hebraeorum, Heb_3:3, as not being the name of a place at all, but βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ together as forming the further name of the man, since the author of the epistle might discover a typical reference to Christ not only in the personal name of Melchisedec, but also in the name of the state over which he ruled as king and prophet. The author, for the rest, interprets the name of the place as though not ùÑÈìÅí (peaceful) but ùÑÈìå̇í (peace) had been written in the Hebrew,—a mode of rendering in which Philo had already preceded him. Comp. Legg. allegor. iii. 25, p. 75 (with Mangey, I. p. 102 f.): καὶ Μελχισεδὲκ βασιλέα τε τῆς εἰρήνης
Σαλὴμ τοῦτο γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται
ἱερέα ἑαυτοῦ πεποίηκεν ὁ θεός .