dissoluble life."[D] As such, He is the Priest
not of an introductory and transient "commandment" but of that "better
hope" which (ver. 19) has at last "made perfect" the purpose and the
promise, fulfilled the intention of eternal mercy, and brought us, the
people of this great covenant, absolutely nigh to God. _Thirdly_ (verses
20, 21), this second aspect of the supremacy of the greater Priesthood
is emphasized and solemnized by one further reference to Psalm cx. 4.
There the Eternal, looking upon the mysterious Partner of His throne, is
heard not to promise only but to _vow_, with an oath unalterable as
Himself, that the Priesthood of "His Fellow" shall be everlasting. No
such solemnity of affirmation attended Aaron's investiture. There is
something greater here, and more immediately Divine. The "covenant"
(ver. 22) committed to the administration of One thus sealed with the
oath of Heaven must indeed be "better," and cannot but be final; the
goal of the eternal purpose.

[D] [Greek: kata dunamin zoes akatalytou].

_Then_ (verses 23-28) the discourse passes into what we may call its
epilogue. The thought recurs to the sublime contrast between the
pathetic numerousness of the successors of Aaron, "not suffered to
continue by reason of death," and the singleness, the "unsuccessional"
identity for ever, of the true Melchizedek, who abides eternally. And
then, moving to its end, the argument glows and brightens into an
"application" to the human heart. We have in JESUS (the Name has now
already been pronounced, ver. 22) a Friend, an Intercessor, infinitely
and for ever competent to save us, His true Israel. We have in Him a
High Priest supreme in every attribute of holiness and power, and
qualified for His work of intercession by that sacrifice of Himself
which is at once solitary and all-sufficient. Behold then the contrast
and the conclusion. To a great Dispensation, the preparatory, succeeds a
greater, the greatest, the other's end and crown. To the "weak" mortal
priesthood of the law, never warranted by the vow of God to abide always
in possession, succeeds One who is Priest, and King, and SON, sealed for
His office by the irrevocable vow, "consecrated for evermore."

Such on the whole, as I recall it, was the exposition of my venerable
friend, in 1887. Each new reading of the chapter seems to me to bear out
the substantial accuracy of it; indeed the symmetry and order of the
chapter make it almost inevitable that s