I believe that what I'm about to say — you got a minute? this could get lengthy — was the understanding of the apostles. It pertains to the priesthood chapters in the book of Hebrews, but I'm only going to give the background — you can fill in the details and apply to the book of Hebrews yourself. And if this isn't your cup of tea then toss it and we'll call it even.

Anyway I have just three points: 1) The priesthood of Aaron is forever, 2) Jesus was not eligible to serve in that priesthood, and 3) Messiah's priesthood was anticipated by another type — the priesthood of the firstborn. Let me cover these in more detail.

1. The priesthood of Aaron is forever

God made Aaron's priesthood an eternal priesthood at the time Phinehas displayed his fierce zeal for God (Nm 25:11-13): "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."

Now God's Covenant with Israel is a "Covenant of Peace" that will last forever:

"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee." (Is 54:10)

"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." (Ezek 37:26)

Linked to God's covenant of peace is a royal throne:

"And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods." (Ezek 34:23-25)

Also connected is a priesthood to teach the people God's law:

"And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." (Mal 2:4-7)

Then of course there is the eternal promise in Jeremiah 33. Here, let me quote at length just in case you don't have time to look it up yourself:

"For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them." (Jer 33:17-26)

2. Jesus was not heir to Aaron

It is likely that Jesus' mother — maybe not incidentally named after Aaron's sister Miriam — was of the daughters of Aaron (Lk 1:5; Lk 1:36), but because the priesthood is inherited through the Y-Chromosome, Jesus was not eligible — as it says (Hb 7:13-14), "For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda [Matthew 1; Luke 3]; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood."

3. The priesthood of the firstborn

Israel is God's firstborn, as it says (Ex 4:22), "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn" — which implies that other nations are to come (Is 19:24-25): "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance."

What does it mean to be the firstborn among brethren? In the case of Israel and the nations, it means that Israel is to be "a light of the nations" (Is 42:6; Is 49:6; Is 60:3), or as God said at the time of his marriage covenant (Ex 19:6): "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."

The role of the firstborn as priest is evident when God chooses Levi to the exclusion of the firstborn of Israel —

"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD. ... And thou shalt take the Levites for me(I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel." (Num 3:11-13; Num 3:41)

Nowhere (that I know of) is Levi called God's firstborn. Adam first held the offices of priest and king (Gn 1:26; Ps 8:4-9) as a type (Rm 5:14) of the Messiah or Second Adam (Col 1:15) "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature".

Adam's priesthood became Noah's (Hb 11:7): "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

And Noah passed this blessing of the firstborn to his son Shem when he prophesied (Gn 9:27), "and he [God] shall dwell in the tents of Shem".

Melchizedek
Now if we knew where God dwells we would know the location of "the tents of Shem", and indeed we do know (Ps 76:2): "In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion." It is for this reason that all early Jewish and Christian commentary insisted that "Melchizedek king of Salem" (Gn 14:18) was Shem.

Elam was Shem's firstborn (Gn 10:22) and, as was likely — the time element supports it — "Chedorlaomer king of Elam" (Gn 14:1; etc.) was none other than Elam himself — "Chedorlaomer" was likely an Elamite royal title (it is composed of two known Elamite words). There is therefore more to Abram's "slaughter of Chedorlaomer" (Gn 14:17) than one might think from a cursory reading. Abram had just slaughtered Shem's firstborn when (Gn 14:18) "Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God."

Here Shem is recognizing that Abram is to inherit the rights of the firstborn!

When Abraham proved willing to sacrifice his son God swore an oath (Gn 22:16-18), "And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son ... ... And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

This is the event referred to in the Psalms (Ps 110:4), "The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."

Thus Shem's priesthood of the firstborn passed to Abraham with its promise, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed".

The Promise
This is the promise of Messiah's priesthood, as preached by Peter (Acts 3:25), "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." And as argued by Paul (Gal 3:8), "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."

Isaac, of course, was a type of the Messiah who was to be sacrificed, and so after Abraham the promise fell to Isaac (Gn 26:4-5): "and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

And after Isaac the promise went to Jacob (Gn 28:14): "and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

OK then, as I like to ask, where did this promise of justification through faith (Gal 3:8) go then? How does it get to Christ? Does it proceed from Jacob through Judah and David to Christ? No!

The birthright of the firstborn landed on Joseph (1Chron 5:1-2): "Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)"

The Fulness of the Gentiles
When Jacob crossed his hands and placed his right hand upon Ephraim saying (Gn 48:19), "and his seed shall become a multitude of nations" — it was then that Ephraim received the birthright.

However, we never understood Ephraim's birthright this way. We saw this scripture as referring to the British Commenwealth of nations, but this was because we did not understand the Hebrew (מלא־הגוים - mlô’-haggôyim) — literally 'the fulness of the nations' — and because we did not understand its import in its only other occurrence in all the Bible — "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." (Rm 11:25-27)

Thus Ephraim's singular seed (Gn 48:19; Gal 3:16) which was to be "the fulness of the Gentiles/nations" was the same messianic seed (Gn 22:18; "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed") through which "God would justify the heathen through faith".

And so in the New Covenant sense — and indeed in the New Covenant chapter — Ephraim is God's firstborn (Jer 31:9): "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." Thus Jesus in his capacity as "Messiah ben Ephraim" is (Col 1:18) "the firstborn from the dead", (Rm 8:29) "the firstborn among many brethren."

The New Testament opens with a genealogy showing Jesus to be heir to the throne of David. Nevertheless the angel appears to Joseph in a dream saying (Mt 1:21), "and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Thus the Messiah bore the name of Joshua the chief heir of Ephraim (Num 13:8; Num 13:16; 1Chron 7:20-27).

Joseph's Dreams
Now recall that the original Joseph was also a dreamer (Gn 37:5-8): "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words."

Ephraim's sheaf is the first of the firstfruits, as it says in the Torah (Lev 23:11), "And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it."

And this sheaf symbolized Messiah ben Ephraim who said to Mary Magalene (Jn 20:17), "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

Joseph dreamed again (Gn 37:9-11), "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying."

According to the Midrash this was fulfilled in Joshua a type of the Messiah (Josh 10:12-14):

"Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel."

Christians like to say that Jesus is more like the sun, as in (Mal 4:2) — "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings" — but this is not the role of the Son but of our Father (Ps 94:11): "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

Rather Jesus/Joshua was he of whom the sages of the east (likely Jewish or Israelite) came inquiring (Mt 2:2), "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."

The promise was to the congregation of the 4th millennium (Rv 2:28), "And I will give him the morning star." Israel's Messiah explains (Rv 22:16), "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David [Messiah ben David], and the bright and morning star [Messiah ben Joseph]."

Messiah as Priest and King
According to the Talmud (Sukkah 52a) the redemption of Israel comes via two messianic types, Israel is made ready for Messiah ben David through the redemptive work of Messiah ben Joseph. We now know that our Messiah plays both roles.

Also according to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a), "The academy of Eliyahu (Elijah the prophet] taught that the world will exist six thousand years, two thousand desolate (תהו - tōhû), two thousand Torah, two thousand the days of the Messiah." The rabbis interpret this to mean that Messiah ben Joseph could have come any time within the last two thousand years!

So he did come right on schedule the first time! Though he was born heir to the throne of David, he was sacrificed as prefigured when God asked of Abraham (Gn 22:2), "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Joseph also serves as a type (Gn 37:31-32): "And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no."

Thus we read of Messiah ben Joseph (Rv 19:13), "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."

Joseph was given authority over the nations/Gentiles (Gn 41:40): "Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou." He saved the world from the physical famine (Gn 41:57), "And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands."

In like manner there was to come a spiritual famine (Amos 8:11-12): "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it." Just as God saved the world from the physical famine through Joseph, so he will save the world from the spiritual famine through Joshua ben Joseph (Jn 6:35), "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool
God's throne over all nations is called Heaven (Is 66:1), and for two thousand years now Messiah ben Joseph has been sitting there at the right hand of God much as Joseph sat next to the King in Egypt (Ps 110:1): "The LORD said unto my Lord (אדני ’ădōnî), Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." [Incidentally the word אדני ’ădōnî 'my lord' is descriptive of Israel's royal throne — David, for example, applied it to Saul (1Sm 24:6-6): "And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master (אדני ’ădōnî), the LORD's anointed (משיח māšîah), to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed (משיח māšîah) of the LORD. ... David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord (אדני ’ădōnî) the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself."]

Thus our Messiah promises the millennial congregation (Rv 3:21), "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne [David's throne in Jerusalem], even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne [in the office of messiah ben Joseph]."

But for how long? How long will Messiah ben Joseph remain in heaven as our High Priest?

He will remain there as long as Israel remains blinded, as Paul says (Rm 11:25), "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."

This time of Israel's blindness equates with Elijah's prophesied two thousand year reign of Messiah (Messiah ben Joseph at the right hand of the Father in Heaven on his throne over the nations/Gentiles) — this is the prophesied "times of the Gentiles" during which Jerusalem is trodden under foot of the Gentiles (Lk 21:24): "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

When Jesus came the first time the multitudes shouted the words of the Messianic Psalm (Mt 21:9), "And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest."

Interestingly the words of this Psalm were recited by the priests in the Temple each day during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles — once each day for six days and then seven times on the seventh day (called the Great Hosanna). The people, however, would have hurried it up, and so they shouted the hosannas just before Passover. Jesus, however, said he would not return until the leaders in Jerusalem will make the same request (Mt 23:39), "For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Well folks, that about does it for now. I say the book of Hebrews was written to people with this background. If there are one or two of you who actually read this and find this interesting, please let me know, especially anything that clarifies and simplifies and applies to the book of Hebrews.

25 October 2001
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