Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Without father, without mother - The object of the apostle, in thus producing the example of Melchisedec, was to show,
1.That Jesus was the person prophesied of in the 110th Psalm; which psalm the Jews uniformly understood as predicting the Messiah.
2.To answer the objections of the Jews against the legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, taken from the stock from which he proceeded.
The objection is this: If the Messiah is to be a true priest, he must come from a legitimate stock, as all the priests under the law have regularly done; otherwise we cannot acknowledge him to be a priest: but Jesus of Nazareth has not proceeded from such a stock; therefore we cannot acknowledge him for a priest, the antitype of Aaron.
To this objection the apostle answers, that it was not necessary for the priest to come from a particular stock, for Melchisedec was a priest of the most high God, and yet was not of the stock, either of Abraham or Aaron, but a Canaanite. It is well known that the ancient Hebrews were exceedingly scrupulous in choosing their high priest; partly by Divine command, and partly from the tradition of their ancestors, who always considered this office to be of the highest dignity.
1.God had commanded. Leviticus 21:10, that the high priest should be chosen from among their brethren, i. e. from the family of Aaron;
2. that he should marry a virgin;
3. he must not marry a widow;
4. nor a divorced person;
5. nor a harlot;
6. nor one of another nation.
He who was found to have acted contrary to these requisitions was, jure divino , excluded from the pontificate. On the contrary, it was necessary that he who desired this honor should be able to Proverbs his descent from the family of Aaron; and if he could not, though even in the priesthood, he was cast out, as we find from Ezra 2:62, and Nehemiah 7:63.
To these Divine ordinances the Jews have added,
1.That no proselyte could be a priest;
2.nor a slave;
3.nor a bastard;
4.nor the son of a Nethinim;
5.nor one whose father exercised any base trade.
And that they might be well assured of all this, they took the utmost care to preserve their genealogies, which were regularly kept in the archives of the temple. When any person aspired to the sacerdotal function, his genealogical table was carefully inspected; and, if any of the above blemishes were found in him, he was rejected.
He who could not support his pretensions by just genealogical evidences, was said by the Jews to be without father. Thus in Bereshith Rabba, sect. 18, fol. 18, on these words, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, it is said: If a proselyte to the Jewish religion have married his own sister, whether by the same father or by the same mother, they cast her out according to Rabbi Meir. But the wise men say if she be of the same mother, they cast her out; but if of the same father, they retain her, shein ab legoi , "for a Gentile has no father;" i.e. his father is not reckoned in the Jewish genealogies. In this way both Christ and Melchisedec were without father and without mother; i.e. were not descended from the original Jewish sacerdotal stock. Yet Melchisedec, who was a Canaanite, was a priest of the most high God. This sense Suidas confirms under the word Melchisedec, where, after having stated that, having reigned in Salem 113 years, he died a righteous man and a bachelor, , ̔, , ̔, ̔ , he adds, "He is, therefore, said to be without descent or genealogy, because he was not of the seed of Abraham, but of Canaanitish origin, and sprung from an accursed seed; therefore he is without the honor of a genealogy." And he farther adds, "That, because it would have been highly improper for him, who was the most righteous of men, to be joined in affinity to the most unrighteous of nations, he is said to be , without father and without mother." This sort of phraseology was not uncommon when the genealogy of a person was unknown or obscure; so Seneca, in his 108th epistle, speaking of some of the Roman kings, says: De Servii matre dubitatur; Anci pater nullus dicitur . "Of the mother of Servius Tullus there are doubts; and Ancus Marcus is said to have no father." This only signifies that the parents were either unknown or obscure. Titus Livius, speaking of Servius, says he was born of a slave, named Cornicularia, da patre nullo , of no father, i.e. his father was unknown. Horace is to be understood in the same way: -
Ante potestatem Tulli, atque ignobile regnum,
Multos saepe viros, Nullis Majoribus ortos,
Et vixisse probos, amplis et honoribus auctos .
Serm. l. 1. Sat. vi., ver. 9.
Convinced that, long before the ignoble reign
And power of Tullius, from a servile strain
Full many rose, for virtue high renown' d,
By worth ennobled, and with honors crown' d.
Francis.
The viri nullis majoribus orti , men sprung from no ancestors, means simply men who were born of obscure or undistinguished parents; i.e. persons, who had never been famous, nor of any public account.
The old Syriac has given the true meaning by translating thus: -
\ri720 Dela abuhi vela emeh ethcathebu besharbotho .
\ri720 \cf1 Whose father and mother are not inscribed among the genealogies.
The Arabic is nearly the same: -
\ri720 He had neither father nor mother; the genealogy not being reckoned.
The Ethiopic:
\ri720 He had neither father nor mother upon earth, nor is his genealogy known.
As this passage has been obscure and troublesome to many, and I have thought it necessary to show the meaning of such phraseology by different examples, I shall, in order to give the reader fall information on the subject, add a few observations from Dr. Owen.
1. "It is said of Melchisedec in the first place that he was , , without father and without mother, whereon part of the latter clause, namely, without beginning of days, doth depend. But bow could a mortal man come into the world without father or mother? ' Man that is born of a woman' is the description of every man; what, therefore, can be intended! The next word declares he was · ' without descent,' say we. But is a generation, a descent, a pedigree, not absolutely, but rehearsed, described, recorded. is he whose stock and descent is entered on record. And so, on the contrary, is not he who has no descent, no genealogy; but he whose descent and pedigree is nowhere entered, recorded, reckoned up. Thus the apostle himself plainly expresses this word, Hebrews 7:6 : ̔ , ' whose descent is not counted;' that is, reckoned up in record. Thus was Melchisedec without father or mother, in that the Spirit of God, who so strictly and exactly recorded the genealogies of other patriarchs and types of Christ, and that for no less an end than to manifest the truth and faithfulness of God in his promises, speaks nothing to this purpose concerning him. He is introduced as it were one falling from heaven, appearing on a sudden, reigning in Salem, and officiating in the office of priesthood to the high God.
"2.On the same account is he said to be ̔, , ' without beginning of days or end of life.' For as he was a mortal man he had both. He was assuredly born, and did no less certainly die than other men. But neither of these is recorded concerning him. We have no more to do with him, to learn from him, nor are concerned in him, but only as he is described in the Scripture; and there is no mention therein of the beginning of his days, or the end of his life. Whatever therefore he might have in himself, he had none to us. Consider all the other patriarchs mentioned in the writings of Moses, and you shall find their descent recorded, who was their father, and so up to the first man; and not only so, but the time of their birth, the beginning of their days, and the end of their life, are exactly recorded. For it is constantly said of them, such a one lived so long, and begat such a son, which fixed the time of birth. Then of him so begotten it is said, he lived so many years, which determines the end of his days. These things are expressly recorded. But concerning Melchisedec none of these things are spoken. No mention is made of father or mother; no genealogy is recorded of what stock or progeny he was; nor is there any account of his birth or death. So that all these things are wanting to him in his historical narration, wherein our faith and knowledge are alone concerned."
Made like unto the Son of God - Melchisedec was without father and mother, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. His genealogy is not recorded; when he was born and when he died, is unknown. His priesthood, therefore, may be considered as perpetual. In these respects he was like to Jesus Christ, who, as to his Godhead, had neither father nor mother, beginning of time nor end of days; and has an everlasting priesthood. The priesthood of Melchisedec is to abide continually on the same ground that he is said to be without father and mother; i.e. there is no record of the end of his priesthood or life, no more than there is any account of his ancestry.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Hebrews 7:3:
Genesis 14:18
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