Here are two items from Wednesday’s church Bible study:
A. The Book of Hebrews interacts with Psalm 110. Psalm 110 opens: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (KJV). Within the New Testament, “my Lord” in Psalm 110:1 is interpreted as the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see here). Psalm 110:4 goes on to say, presumably still to “my Lord”: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” According to a New Testament interpretation of Psalm 110, the LORD is telling David’s Lord, the Messiah, not only that the coming Messiah will sit at God’s right hand and rule his enemies, but also that the Messiah will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a priest prior to the time of the Levitical priesthood (Genesis 14), so Hebrews 7 argues that the Messiah, Jesus, is high priest, even though he did not descend from Aaron or any other Levite. The pastor speculated that, upon receiving the revelation that the coming Messiah would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, David moved the Ark to Jerusalem, the site of Melchizedek’s old kingdom Salem.
B. The pastor said that the Ark of the Covenant was not inside of the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple. Instead, there was a stone, believed to be the stone on which Jacob slept and poured oil in Genesis 28. In Genesis 28, Jacob saw a ladder going up to heaven. The stone in the Second Temple reinforced that the Temple was a place to encounter God: it was where people could meet God, and God could meet people. There are rabbinic traditions about a stone in the Temple, first and second, and some of them associate it with Jacob’s stone (m. Yoma 5:2; Pirke R. Eliezer 35; see here for more information).
A. The Book of Hebrews interacts with Psalm 110. Psalm 110 opens: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (KJV). Within the New Testament, “my Lord” in Psalm 110:1 is interpreted as the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see here). Psalm 110:4 goes on to say, presumably still to “my Lord”: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” According to a New Testament interpretation of Psalm 110, the LORD is telling David’s Lord, the Messiah, not only that the coming Messiah will sit at God’s right hand and rule his enemies, but also that the Messiah will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a priest prior to the time of the Levitical priesthood (Genesis 14), so Hebrews 7 argues that the Messiah, Jesus, is high priest, even though he did not descend from Aaron or any other Levite. The pastor speculated that, upon receiving the revelation that the coming Messiah would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, David moved the Ark to Jerusalem, the site of Melchizedek’s old kingdom Salem.
B. The pastor said that the Ark of the Covenant was not inside of the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple. Instead, there was a stone, believed to be the stone on which Jacob slept and poured oil in Genesis 28. In Genesis 28, Jacob saw a ladder going up to heaven. The stone in the Second Temple reinforced that the Temple was a place to encounter God: it was where people could meet God, and God could meet people. There are rabbinic traditions about a stone in the Temple, first and second, and some of them associate it with Jacob’s stone (m. Yoma 5:2; Pirke R. Eliezer 35; see here for more information).