“For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.”
King James Version (KJV)
7:8 And here - In the Levitical priesthood. But there - In the case of Melchisedec. He of whom it is testified that he liveth - Who is not spoken of as one that died for another to succeed him; but is represented only as living, no mention being made either of his birth or death.
7:9 And even Levi, who received tithes - Not in person, but in his successors, as it were, paid tithes - In the person of Abraham.
7:11 The apostle now demonstrates that the Levitical priesthood must yield to the priesthood of Christ, because Melchisedec, after whose order he is a priest, Is opposed to Aaron, #Heb 7:11 |- 14. Hath no end of life, #Heb 7:15 |- 19, but remaineth a priest continually. If now perfection were by the Levitical priesthood - If this perfectly answered all God's designs and man's wants For under it the people received the law - Whence some might infer, that perfection was by that priesthood. What farther need was there, that another priest - Of a new order, should be set up? From this single consideration it is plain, that both the priesthood and the law, which were inseparably connected, were now to give way to a better priesthood and more excellent dispensation.
7:12 For - One of these cannot be changed without the other.
Heb 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. All Israel, kings and priests, though yet unborn, were represented in Abraham. Hence Levi paid tithes, and thus confessed the superiority of the priesthood of Melchizedek.