A Priest Who Deals Gently
Priests are appointed by our Father rather than self-chosen, and can be gentle because they share the weakness. Christ was appointed the same way, and learned obedience through what he suffered. Then the chapter breaks off in frustration: you should be teaching by now, and instead you need milk.
5 1Every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in matters relating to our Father, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He can deal gently with the ignorant and straying, since he himself also is subject to weakness. 3Because of this weakness, he must offer sacrifices for sins—for the people as much as for himself. 4No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by our Father, as Aaron was.
5So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but the one who said to him: "You are my Son; today I have fathered you."
6Just as he also says elsewhere, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." a a v6 Melchizedek, priest-king who blessed Abraham (Gen 14:18–20); with no recorded beginning or end, a picture of Christ's eternal priesthood.
7During his earthly life, Jesus offered prayers and pleas—with loud cries and tears—to the one able to save him from death, and was heard for his godly fear. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9And having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10having been appointed by our Father as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Milk or Solid Food
11We have much to say about this, hard to explain, since your hearing has grown dull. 12For though you should be teachers by now, you need someone to teach you the basics of our Father's word again. You've come to need milk, not solid food. 13Everyone living on milk lacks skill in the word of righteousness, since he's an infant. 14But solid food is for the mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.
