Because the Jews were trusting in their levitical priesthood in order to have a relationship with God, they were considered babes. This chapter shows through the example of Priest Melchizedek, a type of Christ who was alive before Levi, that the levitical priesthood was inadequate. God’s redemptive plan needs to be viewed from the beginning of history to its end. Emphasizing the Old Testament priesthood as all encompassing caused Jews to be blinded and shortsighted struggling to see Jesus as the great High Priest.
Correlating Melchizedek to Christ shows the superiority of Christ as the great High Priest. Christ’s priesthood is universal and not subject to one people (v.3). Now there is permanent righteousness and peace whereas before it was fleeting (v. 2). The Jews relied heavily on Abraham’s heritage but Christ supersedes this as well. Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jews, gave tithes to Melchizedek and Melchizedek, the better, blessed Abraham the lesser (v. 7).
Inferiority permeated the levitical priesthood because it could never bring the Jews into the presence of God. Consequently, the old covenant could not just be added to, it had to be scrapped completely for a new and better priesthood through Jesus Christ. This new covenant was guaranteed to be overwhelmingly
better than the old (v.22). Jesus Christ was made a priest with an oath from God Himself which could not be broken (v. 20). Therefore, our salvation through Jesus Christ is eternal and can never be taken away!