This & Also That

Studying is not going great. But how about we avoid discussing that?

Recently, I have been reading the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews is likely either Barnabas or Apollos, those evangelists who worked with the Apostle Paul. I am assuming that it is Barnabas because why not. So one reason I had never particularly liked the book of Hebrews is because it has such a great focus on Jewish history, specifically regarding the use of sacrifices within the temple by the Levitical priests. The most annoying phrase in the book had previously been "a priest in the order of Malchezidek" because it never mattered to me all that much. But this time through, I wanted to get that full picture of what Barnabas was trying to say.

So he argued that Jesus was a priest in the order of Malchezidek, and this had a couple important reasonings. See, Jesus was in the tribe of Judah rather than Levi, so one would at first be inclined to think that He should have no business with offering sacrifices. However, Barnabas argues that if the Levitical priesthood was really that good, their sacrifices would have completed the task of acquiring forgiveness of sins; on the contrary, they had to repeatedly offer sacrifices over time because the sacrifices were not adequate to offer continued coverage. But with this new covenant, a new type of priesthood is required. That is when Malchezidek comes into play. Malchezidek did not belong to any tribe. He was a king and priest of his region, but Abraham still gave him his 10% tithe. So this gave some precedent for a priest outside of the Levitical priesthood. So because the Levitical priesthood was limiting in terms of its ability to cover sins and because that covenant was essentially over and done anyway, Jesus, who was from the tribe of Judah, was able to do things in a new (but also retro) way in the order of Malchezidek.

And in other news, I was got a call the other day from a reality performance show saying that they really liked me, and asked about my availability. Tomorrow, they will be doing a background check and wardrobe has asked for my measurements. So it is beginning to sound real. The only downside is that I will likely have to delay my Southeast Asia trip by a week or two in order to do it. It could be a dream come true.