PRIESTS A^'D LEVITES
PEIESTS AND LEVITES
71
Is used of the ofi'ering which was presented at the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priestly office. This oU'ering has the characteristic rite that Moses places certain portions of the sacrificial animal upon the hands of^ Aaron and his sons — in other words, fills the hands of those about to be consecrated with these portions of the sacrifice. What are specified are the parts of the animal which in sacrifice were burned upon the altar or which fell to the priests. The consecration cere- mony was meant thus to express that the priest is empowered to lay these pieces upon the altar, or, as the case may be, to take them for himself. Accordingly, it is, to say the least, not improbable that the expression ' fill the hand,' used of installa- tion in the priestly office, had in view from the first such a handing over of sacrificial portions as pointed to the priestly functions {GascA. p. 183 f.; so also Weinel, art. ' n^o und seine Derivate,' in ZATW xviii. [1898] p. 61). Such a solemn intro- duction to office might well be employed even by the layman Micah in the case of the Levite, as of one who was not installed by him as a priest in general but as his own priest (otherwise Nowack, p. 121).
But it may be, further, that the expression ' fill the {hand ' had not originally a special refer- ence to introduction to the priestly office, for in Assyrian the corresponding kdtH mullU has the general sense of 'give, appoint, enfeoff, present' (Nowack, p. 120 f., following Hal^vy ; cf. on the Assj'rian expression, Frd. Delitzsch, Assyr. Hand- worterb. s.v. k'jd, p. 409). Even if the above was the original sense of the Hebrew expression, it was no longer understood in Ex 32^.
In early times the priest, even when he was a young man, was called by the title of honour, ' father ' (Jg 17'" 18"). The priests who served at any of the sanctuaries of ancient Israel were marked outwardly by the linen ephod they wore (1 S 2"). They lived, as we learn in the case of Eli and Samuel, in the sanctuary (1 S 3^-)- There thej offered the sacrifices on the altar, a work in which at the more frequented places of worship they were assisted by servants ( 1 S 2''- "). Portions of the offerings presented were assigned thera for their maintenance (1 S2'"'-); whether these were definitely fixed (Gesch. p. 208, and against this Nowack, p. 125), or were left to the pleasure of the offerer, can scarcely be determined.* At the private sanctuaries, as we are told of Micah the Ephraimite, the owner of the sanctuary paid his priest a salary and supplied his clotliiiig and hia food (Jg 17'°). While the offering of s.ic rifice was in early times open to others as well as to the priests, it is only of professional priests that it is recorded that they gave oracles. Micah's Levite consults fiod at the request of others (Jg 18° ; on the giving of oracles by the priests among the ancient Arabs, see Wellhau.sen, Ecite', p. 131 if.).
As would appear from what we hear of Ahijah (Ahimelech) tne descendant of Eli (1 S 14'), and his son Ebiathar (Abiathar) the priest of Nob ( 1 S -3"), it was only the chief priest of a considerable sanctuary who had another eiiliod different from the linen one, by means of which he cave oracles ( 1 S 14""-, where for '(lr6n read 'ephud). In this must have been kept the oracle - lots, the prototype of the Urim (cf. 1 S 28") and Thuniniim of the later high priest. In the Blessing of Moses (Dt 33"), Thuiiiiiiini and Urim are tluMight of as the special dower of Levi, and probably more specifi- callj' as that of Aaron. The name thummim,
* NVe And traces that amon^ the Phoenicians and the liiihy- loniana, aa was doui>tlc8s tlic casn with all liighly {levetaped cults, the priests ho'l ttieir allowance from the otTerinf^s (Mce F. C. Movers, Da« Opfencetteii der Karthager^oininenlar zur Op/eHaJel txm ilarmUle, Phonlilsche Texte, Thell il., Brcslau, IS47, pp lis, 1269.).
'right,' points to the fact that the giving of priestly oracles originally served mainly the interests of the administration of justice, which was in the last resort the task of the priests. In order to decide a difficult lawsuit the parties are required by the Book of the Covenant to appear 'before God' (Ex 22'), i.e. to appeal to a decision by the priestly lot. The same place which bciirs the name ^dae-iA, 'sanctuary,' is called also '.£'re- ■mishpdt, ' well of decision ' (Gn 14').
In the administration of justice, but no doubt also in the indication of what was ritually proper, and in general of what was well-pleasing to the deity, will thus have consisted the turdh, ' instruc- tion ' or ' direction ' (see La\v IN OT, vol. iii. p. 64''), which from ancient tunes appears as the duty of the priests (Dt 33'"). It has been suggested that the root-word (hGrdh) in this notion of 'instructing' should be traced back to the casting of the sacred lots. But this is scarcely probable in view of the use of turdh also for the teaching of the prophets, which has notliin" to do with oracles obtained by lot. Rather had Yi6rdh, which is used of shooting arrows (1 S 20^ al.), the meaning of 'aim at some- thing,' and then ' lead to a goal,' ' point out some- thing' (Gn 46'*), 'instruct' {Ge.'<ch. p. 207, note 1).