Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 7:3

"without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God), abideth a priest continually." — Hebrews 7:3 (ASV)

Without father, without mother, without descent.—The last words, “without descent” (or rather, without genealogy), throw light on the meaning of those that precede. Not because we find no mention of the parents of Melchizedek is he spoken of in this way as fatherless and motherless, but because he is suddenly introduced as priest, without any indication whatever that he held the office by right of genealogy, the only claim familiar to Hebrew readers.

It is not necessary to offer proof of the care with which inquiry was made into the parentage of the Jewish priests (Nehemiah 7:64): in their marriages they were subject to strict restraints (Leviticus 21:13–14); their statement of pedigree (which included the name not only of the father, but also of every mother) had to be complete, ascending to Aaron, and containing no doubtful link. He who is a priest “like Melchizedek” holds a priesthood that rests on no such rights or claims. The words that follow are of a similar character. No beginning and no end of priestly position or function are recorded in the sacred history. As Scripture is silent regarding his reception of the office, so also regarding any transmission of it to another. In these respects, made like (as a divinely ordained type) to the Son of God, he perpetually bears the character of priest.

From the beginning, many have been dissatisfied with such an explanation of these remarkable words and have understood them to ascribe to Melchizedek a mysterious and superhuman existence and character. It has been maintained that he was the Son of God Himself, or the Holy Spirit—an angel or a Power of God.

This last tenet was the distinguishing mark of a sect bearing the name of Melchizedekians in the third century. The feeling that the most startling of the expressions used here must surely be intended to point to more than the silence of Scripture on certain points is not at all unnatural; but perhaps it is not too much to say that every such difficulty is removed by the consideration that here the writer is simply analyzing the thought of the inspired Psalmist.

Such an oracle as that of Psalms 110:4 must reveal its full significance to him. The divine words are not to be measured by the meaning that one may at first assign to them. The true significance of the prophecy that declared that the future priesthood would bear the likeness of Melchizedek’s can only be known when all the characteristics of that priesthood have been traced. The narrative of Genesis was the basis of the prophecy; all that the history presented was incorporated into the Psalm.