Having explored the concept of Jesus as a faithfulhigh priest (3:1-4:14), the writer proceeded next to develop the idea that Jesus is a mercifulhigh priest in the service of God (cf. 2:17). A high priest must be faithful to God and compassionate with people. This section is entirely exposition, except for 4:16, which is an exhortation to pray. Verses 15 and 16 of chapter 4 announce the perspectives that the writer developed in 5:1-10.
"AThe old office of high priest (5:1)
BThe solidarity of the high priest with the people (5:2-3)
CThe humility of the high priest (5:4)
C'The humility of Christ (5:5-6)
B'The solidarity of Christ with the people (5:7-8)
A'The new office of high priest (5:9-10) . . .
"As a unit 4:15-5:10 lays the foundation for the great central exposition of Jesus' priesthood in 7:1-10:18, where the emphasis will be placed on his dissimilarity to the Levitical priesthood."143
4:15 Jesus experienced temptation in every area of His life, as we do. Obviously He did not experience temptation to waste His time by watching too much television, for example. However, He experienced temptation to waste His time and to do or not do things contrary to God's will. His temptations did not come froma sinful nature as some of ours do since He had no sinful nature, but He suffered temptation as we do. Since He endured every temptation successfully He experienced temptations more thoroughly than we do when we yield to them before they pass. Consequently He can sympathize (feel and suffer) with us when we experience temptation. The writer's point was that Jesus understands us, He sympathizes with us, and He overcame temptation Himself.
As an illustration of the thoroughness of Jesus' temptations, imagine a large bolder on the sea coast. Since it does not move, it experiences the full force of every wave that beats against it. Smaller pebbles that the waves move around do not because they yield to the force of the waves. Similarly Jesus' temptations were greater than ours because He never yielded to them. Likewise a prizefighter (Jesus) who defeats the champion (Satan) endures more punishment than other contenders who throw in the towel or are knocked out before the end of the fight.
". . . in this epistle as high a Christology as is conceivable is combined with an emphasis on the real humanity of Jesus. Nobody insists on the limitations of Jesus' human frame as does the writer of Hebrews."144
4:16 Since we have such a High Priest to intercede for us with God, we can approach God confidently in prayer (cf. 3:6; 10:19, 35). Every Christian can come to God's heavenly throne, not just the high priests of Judaism. The high priests of Judaism could only approach God at His earthly throne, in the holy of holies in the tabernacle or temple, once a year. God's throne of judgment has become a throne of grace (undeserved help) for us now. Our Sovereign will be merciful (not giving us what we deserve) and gracious (giving us what we do not deserve). This verse again contrasts the superiority of Christianity over Judaism.
5:1 To qualify for the high priesthood in Israel one had to be a man. He also had to stand between God and people as their representative before Him. His services included presenting gifts (offerings) of worship and sacrifices for sin.
"Although it would be natural to distinguish between dora, gifts' (i.e., peace and cereal offerings), and thysiai, sacrifices' (i.e., the sin and trespass offerings), in later statements in the OT all sacrifices pertain to the procuring of atonement and the removal of sin (cf. Ezek 45:15-17). The bloody offerings for the Day of Atonement are in the foreground of the discussion of the sacrificial ministry of the Levitical high priest here and elsewhere in Hebrews (cf. 7:27; 10:4, 12, 26)."145
5:2-3 He also had to be a compassionate person. This grew out of his own consciousness of being a sinner himself. In other words, he needed not only to carry out his duties acceptably, but he also needed to do so with the proper attitudes and feelings. "Deal gently with"(Gr. metriopathein) means neither indifferent to moral lapses nor harsh. The evidence of his sinfulness was the fact that he had to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for those of the people. Since Jesus Christ was sinless he did not need to do this (4:15; 7:27). However, Jesus Christ's compassion exceeded that of other high priests.
5:4 Finally a man could attain the high priesthood only by divine appointment.
"The essential nature of a high priest is that he should be chosen by God to act for his fellows in offering sacrifices related to the removal of sin."146
Only those whom God chose served in this office. These people were primarily Aaron and his successors. This ceased to be true after Israel lost her sovereignty as a nation beginning with the Babylonian captivity. Then the high priesthood became a political appointment. However the writer was speaking of Israel as a sovereign nation. Disaster befell those individuals who took it upon themselves to perform high priestly duties without divine authorization (Korah, Num. 16; Saul, 1 Sam. 13:8-14; Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26:16-21). The writer stressed the essential humility of the high priest who stood in his privileged position only by divine appointment. He was not stressing the dignity of his office or the grandeur of his call to his office.147
5:5-6 God appointed Jesus as king when He sat down at the right hand of God following His ascension (1:5). He presumably appointed Him priest at the same time. These two offices and functions were primary in the writer's argument in this epistle. Psalm 2:7-9 and Psalm 110:1 (cf. 1:13) predicted Messiah's reign. Psalm 110:4 also predicted His priesthood.148The same God who appointed Jesus as His Son also appointed Him high priest forever(cf. 6:20; 7:17, 21, 24, 28)..
"The appeal to Melchizedek, who as the first priest mentioned in Scripture is the archetype of all priesthood, validates Jesus' priesthood as different from and superior to the Levitical priesthood."149
"When . . . Jerusalem fell into David's hands and became his capital city (II Sam. 5:6ff.), he and his heirs became successors to Melchizedek's kingship, and probably also (in a titular capacity at least) to the priesthood of God Most High."150
"All that a priest does in offering sacrifice for men Christ does. But whereas they do it only symbolically, he really effects atonement.
"There was no succession of priests from Melchizedek and thus no order.' Jesus, however, was a priest of this kind--not like Aaron and his successors."151
5:7 The phrase "days of his flesh [Gr. sarx]"draws attention to the weakness that characterized Jesus' life during His earthly sojourn. Jesus' offerings to God (cf. v. 1) included His prayers and petitions. Specifically Jesus' prayers from Gethsemane and the cross that were part of His offering of worship and expiation to God illustrate this (cf. Ps. 22:22-24; Heb. 2:12). However, Jesus' entire passion ministry is probably in view here.152God heard and granted Jesus' prayers the evidence of which is Jesus' resurrection (cf. Ps. 22:22-31). "Piety"means reverent submission, godly fear, and trust. Jesus' prayers show His ability to sympathize with those He represents (vv. 2-3; cf. John 17).153
5:8 Even though Jesus was the Son of God (Son though He was), and as such perfect in one sense, He gained something through His sufferings. He gained experiential knowledge of what being a human involves. Similarly Jesus grew in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). He learned obedience in the sense that He learned to obey His father's will as a human. For Jesus, God's will involved suffering (cf. Phil. 2:6-8).
"Innocence is life untested, but virtue is innocence tested and triumphant."154
5:9 This experience perfected Jesus Christ in the sense that it completed Him by giving Him experiential knowledge of what human beings must endure. Obeying God means trusting Him (cf. John 6:29; Acts 6:7; Rom. 10:16; 1 Pet. 1:22). Jesus is, of course, the source of eternal, not just temporal, salvation to all who initially believe on Him. However in view of the writer's emphasis it may be that he was also referring here to the ultimate aspect of our salvation, our eternal inheritance (1:14; 9:15). We obtain this to the extent that we "obey"God, and obey Him through suffering as Jesus did (cf. Mark 8:34-35).155Jesus Christ is the source (cause) of our inheritance not only because it comes from Him, but also because as our file leader He has blazed a trail through suffering for us (2:10). He is also the source of our inheritance because as our High Priest He provides what we need to live obediently to God.
"It is a nice touch that he who learned to obey brought salvation to those who obey."156
5:10 It was for this purpose that God appointed Jesus as our High Priest. The writer developed the subject of the order of Melchizedek later (ch. 7).
Jesus Christ is not only superior to angels (1:5-14) and Moses (3:1-6) but also Aaron (5:1-10).
"The orientation given to the exposition is intensely practical. The solidarity of the heavenly high priest with the community in its weakness provides a strong motivation for earnest prayer. The demand to draw near to the one who is thoroughly familiar with the human condition, who suffers with their suffering, and who is therefore qualified to mediate renewed strength (4:15-16) is an appeal to recognize the importance of prayer in the rhythm of Christian life."157
