Hebrews 7:5

“And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, etc..] Or Levites; who are of the tribe of Levi, whose descent is from him: who receive the office of the priesthood; as some of them were priests, though not all; and the Levites therefore are sometimes called priests. R. Joshua ben Levi says, that in twenty four places the priests are called Levites; and this is one of them, (<264415>Ezekiel 44:15) “and the priests and Levites”, etc.. f106 these have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law; the ceremonial law, (<041820>Numbers 18:20-26), these they took of all the people of Israel in the rest of the tribes, by the commandment of God, on account of their service in the…”

“sons of Levi--namely, those alone who belonged to the family of Aaron, to whom the priesthood was restricted. Tithes originally paid to the whole tribe of Levi, became at length attached to the priesthood. according to the law--sanctioned by Jehovah (Heb 9:19). of their brethren--with whom, in point of natural descent, they are on a level. though, &c.--Though thus on a level by common descent from Abraham, they yet pay tithe to the Levites, whose brethren they are. Now the Levites are subordinate to the priests; and these again to Abraham, their common progenitor; and Abraham to Melchisedec. "How great" (Heb 7:4) then, must this Melchisedec be in respect to his priesthood, as compared with…”

“And verily they that are of the sons of Levi - The meaning of this verse is, that the Levitical priests had a right to receive tithes of their brethren, but still that they were inferior to Melchizedek. The apostle admits that their superiority to the rest of the people was shown by the fact that they had a right to require of them the tenth part of the productions of the land for their maintenance, and for the support of religion. But still he says, that their inferiority to Melchizedek, and consequently to Christ as a priest, was shown by the fact that the illustrious ancestor of all the Jewish people, including the priests as well as others, had confessed his inferiority to Melchizedek by…”

“The sons of Levi take tithes of their brethren - Sprung from Abraham as well as themselves. The Levites therefore are greater than they; but the priests are greater than the Levites, the patriarch Abraham than the priests, and Melchisedec than him. Hebrews 7:6”

“7:5-6a Collecting the tithe was a requirement and an honor for the priests under the law of Moses (Num 18:21-32). • from the rest of the people of Israel: The reference is to the people of Israel as a whole. • Although Melchizedek was not a descendant of Levi, he collected a tenth from Abraham, the ancestor of the Levites. This demonstrates Melchizedek’s eminence over both Abraham and his descendants, including the priests (Heb 7:8-10).”

“who: Heb 5:4; Exo 28:1; Num 16:10, Num 16:11, Num 17:3-10, Num 18:7, Num 18:21-26 to take: Lev 27:30-33; Num 18:26-32; Ch2 31:4-6; Neh 13:10 come: Heb 7:10; Gen 35:11, Gen 46:26; Exo 1:5; Kg1 8:19 Hebrews 7:6”