fter the time of Moses, speaks of another and better day.
Similarly in the seventh chapter the Apostle finds an argument in the
mysterious words of the Psalm, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not
repent, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."[117]

The words are remarkable because they imply that in the heart of Judaism
there lurked a yearning for another and different kind of priesthood
from that of Aaron's order. It may be compared to the strange intrusion
now and again of other gods than the deities of Olympus into the
religion of the Greeks, either by the introduction of a new deity or by
way of return to a condition of things that existed before the young
gods of the court of Zeus began to hold sway. But, to add to the
mysterious character of the Psalm, it gives utterance to a desire for
another King also, Who should be greater than a mere son of David: "The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine
enemies Thy footstool." Yet the Psalmist is David himself, and Christ
silenced the Pharisees by asking them to explain the paradox: "If David
then call Him Lord, how is He his Son?"[118] Delitzsch observes "that in
no other psalm does David distinguish between himself and Messiah;" that
is, in all his other predictions Messiah is David himself idealised, but
in this Psalm He is David's Lord as well as his Son. The Psalmist
desires a better priesthood and a better kingship.

These aspirations are alien to the nature of Judaism. The Mosaic
dispensation pointed indeed to a coming priest, and the Jews might
expect Messiah to be a King. But the Priest would be the antitype of
Aaron, and the King would be only the Son of David. The Psalm speaks of
a Priest after the order, not of Aaron, but of Melchizedek, and of a
King Who would be David's Lord. To increase the difficulty, the Priest
and the King would be one and the same Person.

Yet the Psalmist's mysterious conception comes to the surface now and
again. In the Book of Zechariah the Lord commands the prophet to set
crowns upon the head of Joshua the high-priest, and proclamation is made
"that he shall be a priest upon his throne."[119] The Maccabaean princes
are invested with priestly garments. Philo[120] has actually anticipated
the Apostle in his reference to the union of the priesthood and kingship
in the person of Melchizedek. We need not hesitate to say that the
Apostle borrows his allegory from Philo, and finds his conc