Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. - Hebrews 7:23-28
The Pharisees of Jesus time had two conflicting problems: how to maintain the relative peace (albeit under the thumb of the Romans) and how to disrupt that peace if the Messiah should come. The New Testament period featured several attempts by would-be Messiahs to push the Romans out. These attempts would continue with the armed uprising in 70 AD continuing until about AD 135 with the final rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba. That means, shortly after Hebrews was written, the temple was destroyed, all residents of Jerusalem were forcibly exiled and foreigners were settled in much of Israel. No temple, no Jerusalem and no land.
This was partly the result of unresolved tensions, not between Israel and Rome, but within Judaism itself. Since the time of Moses, Israel understood the the priesthood was supposed to be held by descendants of Aaron, from the tribe of Levi and the after the time of King Saul, the kingship was supposed to be held by descendants of David, from the tribe of Judah. But in the time of Jesus, the king (King Herod) was not a Jew at all. He did not report to God but instead directly reported to Caesar. In the time of Jesus, the temple was not the first temple (build by David), nor the second temple (build after Nehemiah and Ezra), but a third temple built by this king Herod and governed by high priests hand picked by the king. Herod installed a rotating line up of Sadducees as high priest who we more liberal in their outlook and who accommodated Herod's moral failings (see John the Baptist!).
Into this setting, the author of Hebrew asserts that Jesus was superior to all of the high priests, past or present. He also wasn't a Levite (like Herod) but the author asserts that he comes from another priestly lineage--one whom pre-dated even their forefathers Abraham, Moses or Aaron-Melchezidek. He performed sacrifices, interceded with God and accepted the tithes of Abraham.
Priests acted as intermediaries between God and man, a bridge between the worlds, meeting the requirements of both the holiness of God and the participation in the suffering of man. As Hebrews says, "Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens." Jesus did these perfectly. He can hear our prayers, sympathize with our weakness and lead us into righteousness. And he can do this always because he still lives and he didn't get replaced when his "term" was over.
To me, the part that speaks most closely to my heart is that he can sympathize with the weakness that comes from being human and what comes from being tempted. (not just the weakness due to sin) Hebrews says he can empathize with us and deal gently with us. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin." (Hebrews 4:15) and "He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness." (Hebrews 5:2) Frankly, this is what I hope for-not a strict moralist but a loving savior.
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