| Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 7:11-25 The priesthood and law by which perfection could not come, are done away; a Priest is risen, and a dispensation now set up, by which true believers may be made perfect. That there is such a change is plain. The law which made the Levitical priesthood, showed that the priests were frail, dying creatures, not able to save their own lives, much less could they save the souls of those who came to them. But the High Priest of our profession holds his office by the power of endless life in himself; not only to keep himself alive, but to give spiritual and eternal life to all who rely upon his sacrifice and intercession. The better covenant, of which Jesus was the Surety, is not here contrasted with the covenant of works, by which every transgressor is shut up under the curse. It is distinguished from the Sinai covenant with Israel, and the legal dispensation under which the church so long remained. The better covenant brought the church and every believer into clearer light, more perfect liberty, and more abundant privileges. In the order of Aaron there was a multitude of priests, of high priests one after another; but in the priesthood of Christ there is only one and the same. This is the believer's safety and happiness, that this everlasting High Priest is able to save to the uttermost, in all times, in all cases. Surely then it becomes us to desire a spirituality and holiness, as much beyond those of the Old Testament believers, as our advantages exceed theirs. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleFor it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah,.... Out of the tribe of Judah; it is certain that the Messiah was to spring from that tribe, Genesis 49:10 he was to be of the family of Jesse, and of the house of David; and hence he is sometimes called David himself; and so the Jews expect that he will come from the tribe of Judah, and not from any other (p); and it is evident that Jesus, who is our Lord by creation, redemption, and the conquest of his grace, sprung from this tribe: this is clear from the place of his birth, Bethlehem of Judah; and from his reputed father Joseph, and real mother Mary, being both of the house of David; and this was known to the Jews, and it is owned by them that he was near to the kingdom (q), which he could not be if he was not of that tribe; and hence he is called the lion of the tribe of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood: he said many things of it in Deuteronomy 33:8 and relates many things concerning it as spoken by Jacob, but nothing about the priesthood, as if it belonged to that, or that any that should spring from it should exercise that office, The Alexandrian copy, the Claromontane manuscript, and the Vulgate Latin version, read, "concerning the priests"; whence it follows that there is a change of the priesthood, and that the Messiah, as he was not to be, so he is not a priest of Aaron's order, not being of the same tribe. (p) Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Exod. fol. 49. 3. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 62. 2.((q) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary14. evident—literally, "manifest before the eyes" as a thing indisputable; a proof that whatever difficulties may now appear, then Jesus Christ's genealogy labored under none. our Lord—the only place where this now common title occurs without "Jesus," or "Christ," except 2Pe 3:15. sprang—as a plant, and a branch. Judah—Ge 49:10; Lu 1:27, 39 (Hebron of Judah, where Lightfoot thinks Jesus was conceived) Lu 2:4, 5; Re 5:5. of which tribe … priesthood—"in respect to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests" (so the oldest manuscripts read, nothing to imply that priests were to be taken from it).
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