Hebrews 7:4-10. Part of our series through Hebrews. Preached at The Valley Remnant Church on October 4, 2026.
As we keep working through Hebrews, the text is getting harder. Chapter 7 is not light reading. But never go to your Bible thinking you cannot understand it. Some passages are so plain a child can grasp them. Others are debated and difficult. Both kinds are still understandable, and the hard ones usually bring the greatest growth when understanding finally comes.
So do not be intimidated by this text. Verse 4 opens with one simple command: consider. Put real effort into it. Do not treat it as something extra. As you grow in your understanding of this passage, you will grow in your understanding of how great and how superior Christ’s high priestly office is.
Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him. (Hebrews 7:4, CSB)
The Truth: Abraham Gave a Tenth
Many people measure their Christianity by their emotions. If they feel God near, everything is fine. If they stumble, they assume he has left them for good. Emotion has a place in worship, and the truth of God’s Word should move us. But songs and settings should never be used to manipulate us into a response. We come to the text first to learn what is true, not to ask how it makes us feel.
The truth here is about Melchizedek. Scripture says little about him outside of Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. What it does say is enough. Abraham met him after the battle, and Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils. Nobody commanded him to. He did it freely, because he understood who Melchizedek was: king of righteousness, king of Salem, and priest of God Most High.
For a Jewish reader, Abraham was the patriarch. Greater than Moses, greater than Aaron, greater than David. Out of Abraham came the nation and its priests. So when the writer of Hebrews shows Abraham bowing to someone greater, he is pushing his readers to see that Christ is greater still.
Notice what happened next in Genesis 14. The king of Sodom offered Abraham the plunder, and Abraham refused it. He would not let anyone say that Sodom had made him rich. He wanted no blessing from the world. He gave his best to God’s priest and took nothing from the world’s king. As the spiritual seed of Abraham, we should be the same. We are not to be indebted to this world, chasing its wealth or its popularity.
So let me ask you: have you been giving the Lord your very best? Your best time, your best thoughts, your devotion and honor? I wish I could say I always do. I desire to give the Lord more. But desire alone does not make it happen. Abraham was not pressured to give. He knew whose presence he was in. He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Giving freely flowed out of that faith.
The Tenth: Two Kinds of Priesthood
The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people… But one without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promise. Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. (Hebrews 7:5-7, CSB)
The Levites collected tithes because the law told them to. Their right came from a command, not from anything special in them. They were not spiritually better than the other tribes. God simply appointed them. Melchizedek had no such command behind him. His priesthood was not granted by a later law. As Dr. Robert Martin put it, the Levites had a law-based priesthood, while Melchizedek’s rested on his life.
Abraham himself did priestly things. He built altars, offered sacrifices, called on the name of the Lord, and interceded for Sodom. Yet he never received a tenth. He gave one. That tells us who was greater.
We are called a priesthood of believers. We intercede for others. We speak to God directly. We do not need an altar or a sacrifice, because Christ has made the one sacrifice. And part of our worship is giving, including our money. We do not pass a plate, but giving is still an act of devotion. Give out of faith, not compulsion. But remember that God delights in obedience more than sacrifice. You cannot give on Sunday and then live however you want the rest of the week. That is a works system. We give because he first gave to us.
The Testimony: Levi in Abraham
In one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives. And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham, for he was still within his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. (Hebrews 7:8-10, CSB)
This is the hard part. Levi was Abraham’s great-grandson, not yet born when Abraham met Melchizedek. Yet the writer says Levi paid a tenth through Abraham. Biblical thinking understood that an ancestor carries his descendants within him. So the priests who received tithes had, in a sense, already paid a tithe to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham and greater than Levi. And Christ, the priest after the order of Melchizedek, is greater than them all. That is the writer’s point: do not go back to the old system. Christ is better.
We struggle with this because we are individualists. Do not tell me what I owe. I am only responsible for me. But Scripture thinks corporately. Adam’s sin is counted to every one of us, and we inherit his sinful nature from birth. Thanks be to God, the same principle works for our good. Our sin was laid on Christ at the cross, and his righteousness is counted to everyone who believes. That is the double imputation of the gospel.
There is a difference, though. Adam’s sin passes down by birth. Christ’s righteousness comes only by faith. Having believing parents does not make a child a Christian. Every person must trust in Christ Jesus. That has always been true, from Adam to Abraham to today.
Frail People, Great Priest
John Owen observed that God chose to use frail, tempted, sinning, dying people to carry the gospel, so that it would be plain that the power is his and not ours. God could have used angels. He used Abraham. He uses us. Christ came to broken people to give us his perfection and take away our unrighteousness, and then he sends those same broken people to tell others.
So consider how great he is. Keep considering Christ’s supremacy in his high priestly office, and give our great high priest all that he is due. All of our worship, all of our adoration, all of our love. Not because we loved him first, but because he first loved us.
Watch the full sermon on YouTube. If you are in the Belle Vernon area, we would love to have you with us. Sunday School begins at 10:15 AM and worship at 11:00 AM. You can plan your visit any time.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Phil Pagliari
Frequently asked questions
Who was Melchizedek in Hebrews 7?
Melchizedek was the king of Salem and priest of God Most High who met Abraham in Genesis 14. Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils and received his blessing. Hebrews presents him as a type of Christ, whose priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood.
Why did Abraham give a tenth to Melchizedek?
No law required it. Abraham gave freely because he recognized Melchizedek as a priest of God Most High and as greater than himself. Hebrews 7:7 says the inferior is blessed by the superior.
What does it mean that Levi paid tithes through Abraham?
Levi was not yet born, but he was Abraham’s descendant. Biblical thought saw an ancestor as representing his descendants. So in a sense, the Levitical priests honored Melchizedek through Abraham, showing that Melchizedek’s priesthood, and ultimately Christ’s, is greater.
