At the end of Nehemiah you suggest there is no Levite blood in Christ. Yet in Luke, Elizabeth is married to a Levite priest and Mary is her cousin. Doesn't this gives Jesus both priest and king blood, which Is also true for the Melchizedek order?
There is no such thing as “priest blood” under Jewish Levitical law. A man either qualifies as a priest or he doesn't, and that determination is based solely on the identity of the father’s identity. In Jewish reckoning according to their Law, a man born to a Levite's father is a Levite, but if a Levite daughter marries a layman (i.e., non-Levite), then she is no longer a Levite and her offspring no longer qualify as to be Levites.
The Law reflects this truth. For example:
Lev. 22:12 ‘If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts.
Marrying a layman disqualified a Levite daughter from sharing in the sacred food gifts from the tabernacle because she is no longer a Levite herself.
Therefore, since Mary married Joseph, who was not a Levite, Mary was no longer a Levite herself and her children could not qualify as Levitical priests. As the saying goes, “you can’t be a little bit pregnant,” and likewise Jesus couldn’t be a little bit of a Levitical priest. Jesus wasn’t a Levitical priest because He couldn’t meet the qualifications.
The writer of Hebrews stresses that Jesus was not qualified to be a Levite priest:
Heb. 7:12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.
Heb. 7:13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.
Heb. 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
Therefore, Jesus is not an Aaronic priest in the Levitical system, nor does He have the potential to qualify for the designation because the title is not assigned by degrees. It comes from the identity of the father, and if you are not born to a Levite father, you can’t be a Levitical priest. One either qualifies as a Levitical priest or doesn't, and Jesus doesn't.
On the other hand, Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek under a different law. Jesus priestly order is an entirely different order that doesn't originate in the Law even through Moses nor through a connection to Moses and Aaron (as the writer of Hebrews emphasized).
This is a complex topic, and our ministry features a detailed article explaining the Order of Melchizedek and how Jesus qualified to hold that title.
Furthermore, please take time to listen to our Hebrews Bible study, especially Lessons 7A & 7B.
