―And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high
God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and
earth:‖ (Gen 14:18-19) This was the first priesthood.
YHWH then changed the priesthood as confirmed in Heb 7:11-12: ―If therefore perfection were by the
Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?‖ This second
priesthood was the Aaronic priesthood. The priesthood was introduced as seen in Exod 28:1: ―And take thou
unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister
unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons‖.
It is important to note that the high priest can only come out of the descendants of Aaron. This was now the
priesthood according to the order of Aaron, a high priest not for the Israelites. The rest of the priests that
served in the Temple came from the tribe of Levi. When YHWH starts something, He always accomplishes
His objectives! Moses ordained Aaron for the order of the second priesthood. The lineage was then passed
on from Aaron to his four sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
But Heb 7:11-12 states clearly that this priesthood will also be changed: ―If therefore perfection were by the
Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the
priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law‖.
The priesthood of the Old Covenant will be improved to introduce a new one, the third and final priesthood.
This Priest will be after the order of Melchisedec; in other words, ―the king of righteousness‖. But this Priest
will not be a normal priest and He will not be a High Priest; in fact, He will be the Great High Priest! Heb 4:14:
―Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold fast our profession‖.
It is interesting to note that the book of Hebrews portrays Y‘shua as all three. So here we have the three
orders of priesthood.
The first: after the order of Melchisedec – for all,
The second: after the order of Aaron – for the Israelites,
And the third and final: our Great High Priest Y‘shua HaMashiach – for Jews and non-Jews coming into
covenant.
If we look at Heb 5:10-11, we see that the writer wants to tell enough, but not everything. ―...and God
declared him (Y‘shua) to be high priest, in the priestly order of Melchizedek. There is much we have to
say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand‖.
(GOOD NEWS BIBLE)
By law, Y‘shua could not become a priest because he was from the tribe of Judah. As said earlier, you can
only become a priest if you are from the tribe of Levi or the lineage of Aaron.
Luke 7:24- 28 Y‘shua speaking: ―And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto
the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously
apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I
say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those
that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the
kingdom of God is greater than he‖.
Why was Yochanan the greatest? The answer is in Matt 3:13-15: ―Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee,
and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him‖. The reason: the water baptism brought
Y‘shua into full ministry. Also in Mark 1:9: ―And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from
Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan‖, and YHWH said... Mark 1:10- 11 ―And
straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove
descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased‖.