Sacrificing was, then, manifestly, in early times not the exclusive function of a priestly class. The latter was certainly in existence. Yet even for admittance to this no special descent was requisite. Samuel, by birth an Ephraimite, yet, according to the representation contained in tlie history of his childhood, becomes, in fulfilment of a vow of his mother, a servant of Jahweh, clothed with the priestly eiihod, at the sanctuary at Shiloh (1 S 1"- 211. 18) 'j'lje fjjgj that Samuel becomes a priest in consequence of a vow, shows that he was not one by descent ; and the representation of the Chronicler (1 Ch 6''- '*), according to which he is a Levite, is not, with Van Hoonacker {Sacerdoce, etc. p. 265 f.) and Girdlestone ('To what tribe did Samuel be- long ? ' in Expositor, Nov. 1899, pp. 385-388), to_ be ju'tified, as if Samuel were a Levite from Ephraira. ^n the descriptions of Samuel's later life he appears not as a priest, but as one who, in the extraordi- nary capacity of shophet and nabV, presents the ofi'erings of the people (1 S 7°'' 16-^-)- A priestly class is presupposed by the oldest collection of laws, the so-called Book of the Covenant (Ex 22'), and yet, in an enactment later prefixed to this, the general right to sacrifice is assumed in the demand made of the Israelites as a whole : ' An altar of earth thou shall make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt - ofi'erings and thy shUnmim- offerings' (Ex 20^). When, on the other hand, in the .lehovistic book the people of Israel is called 'a kingdom of priests' (Ex ly""), this is certainly to be understood not of the actual exercise of priestly rights, but in a transferred sense as meaning that the whole of Israel stands in a priestly relation to God.
Where a professional priest was not available, young men appear to have, by preference, replaced the father of the house in the exercise of his priestly function, or even to have acted as priests for a larger body. Of Moses we found it recorded that he aj)pointed young men to offer sacrifice. The Ephraimite Micah installs one of his sons as priest. Certain traces appear to point to a prefer- ence at one time for making firstborn sons priests, or even to indicate that in earlier times the whole of the firstborn sons were regarded as destined for holy service — an idea which certainly can hardly at any time have been strictly carried out in practice. The circumstance that Samuel, accord- ing to the story of his childhood, was a firstborn Eon, is of no importance, because it was not as lach that he was set apart for priestly functions.
bat in consequence of a vow of his mother. But in the ancient code, the Book of the Covenant (Ex 22'^ [Eng. »]), the demand is made that the firstborn son be given to Jalnveh. The spirit of this book, whether it belongs to the time of the Judges or to the earlier monarchical period, appears to exclude the intcrjiretation that the firstborn is to be oti'ered in sacrifice to the deitj' ; and then there remains scarcely any other possibility except to understand the ' giving ' to mean consecration to holy service [Gesch. p. 55 ff.; Smend, Alttut. Religionsgeschichte'', Freiburg i. B., 1899, p. 282 f., note 3; cf. Kamphauscn, Das Verlialtnis dea Mcnschenopfers zur israel. Religion, Bonn, 1896,
£66). In the Priestly Writing it is said of the evites that they are ' given ' to Jahweh (Nu 8"), and even the consecration of Samuel is described by the term ' given '(IS 1").
In spite of this freedom in the matter of sacri- ficial arrangements, from early times it was con- sidered an advantage in the regular and constant service of a sanctuary to have a ' Levite ' for priest. When one of these happens to pass the sanctuary of Micah the Ephraimite, the latter gives the preference to hira as priest over his own sin (Jg IT'""-) ; and the Uanites v ho wi«ih to establish for themselves a new sanctuary in their new home, do not let the opportunity slip to obtain by force the services of this same Levite (18'"'-)- Even if in the time of Moses a single family amongst the Levites had possession of the priesthood proper, in subsequent times, at all events, this was viewed not as their exclusive privilege, but as that of the Levites in general. Nevertheless, the term 'Levite' nowhere occurs as the exact equivalent of ' priest,' a circumstance which is not without importance in its bearing upon the origin of the term. The above-named Micah the Ephraimite is represented as saying, ' The Levite has become my priest' (Jg 17^').
As to the instalment in the priestly office, even that ancient narrative in the Bk. of Judges mentions certain formalities which in a modified form are retained in the later ceremonial law of the Pentateuch. Micah 'fills the hand' of one of his sons, so that he becomes his prie.st (Jg 17'). He does precisely the same thing afterwards to the Levite (v.'"). Wherein this ' filling of the hand ' consisted is not clear. It has been suggested that it means the handing over of the earnest money (Vatke, Wellhausen), which appears to be favoured by the fact that the Levite who renders priestly services to Micah certainly speaks of him- self as ' hired ' by the latter (Jg 18^). This hiring, liowever, need not refer to a sum of money paid down, but may consist in the arrangement about an annual salarv, clothing, and maintenance (17'°). It is not at all likely that Micah hired his own son with a piece of earnest moneys and in any case the narrator in the Jehovistic book (Ex 32'^) was not thinking of earnest money when he makes Moses say to the sons of Levi tliemselves : ' Fill your hands to-day for Jahweh.' Still less likely is it that the expression ' till the hand ' refers to the handing over of the arrows which are alleged to have been used in giving tlie priestly oracle (Sellin, p. 118 f.). This interpretation is based upon Ex 32-'', where, however, Ic-Jahivch stamling alone cannot mean 'on behalf of Jahweh ' (sc. take hold of the arrows), but shows that 'fill your hand' refers in some way to a consecration to Jahweh, an instalment into sen-ice related to Him (still an- other interpretation of the 'filling the hand' in Ex 32™-" is adopted by Van Hoonacker, Sacerdoce, etc. p. IS'il. In the Priestly Writing the ex- pression ' fill the hand ' is retained in speaking of instalment into the priestly office (Ex 28'" al.), and the term 'fill-offering' (mllluim. Ex 29-- al.\