Hebrews 7:14

14 For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda, as to which tribe Moses spake nothing as to priests.

Hebrews 7:14 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 7:14

For 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 ) ( 1 Chronicles 5:2 ) 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 F16; 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 F17, 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Exod. fol. 49. 3. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 62. 2.
F17 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1.

Hebrews 7:14 In-Context

12 For, the priesthood being changed, there takes place of necessity a change of law also.
13 For he, of whom these things are said, belongs to a different tribe, of which no one has [ever] been attached to the service of the altar.
14 For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Juda, as to which tribe Moses spake nothing as to priests.
15 And it is yet more abundantly evident, since a different priest arises according to the similitude of Melchisedec,
16 who has been constituted not according to law of fleshly commandment, but according to power of indissoluble life.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or 'arisen.' It is a question whether the word alludes to arising, as the sun, or springing up, as a plant: 'the branch.' For 'the branch' was translated 'dayspring' by the LXX, and the verb is used for both in Greek: see Jer. 23.5; Zech. 3.8.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.