c. The hirfh priest. — At the head of the priestly liody stands, in the time of Moses, his orother Aaron, and in later times always one of the descendants of the latter (E.\ 29'^'- etc.). After the death of Aanm the functions of chief priest are undertaken by his eldest son Eleazar, who in turn is succeeded by his son Phinehas (Nu 25""-) ; which seems to assume an arrangement for the succession of the firstborn. Aaron, like the other priests, usually bears the simple title hn-kohcn (Ex 29™ 31'° etc.). There are few passa-ies in which the chief priest receives the name of honour 'the anointed priest' {ha-kdltcn ha-nutihiah, Lv 4s, e. i« gis . cf Gcsrh. p. 26 ; these ]ias.sagcs, and, in general, the majority of those in P in which an anointing is mentioned, are considered by Weinel [ZATW, 1S9S, p. 30 if.] to be additions). Equally seldom, three times onlj', does the chief priest bear the title ' high priest' {ha-kulu'n ha-fjddid, Lv 21'°, Nu 35-^- **). The high-priestly digiiitv is clearly thought of aa conferred for life (Nu 35-^- **). With solemnities lasting for seven days each new high priest is to be installed in ollice, with putting on of the holy attire, anointing, and filling the hand (Ex 29""'-) ; he has on this occasion, like Aaron on the day of his anointing, to offer a minliah (L^- e"" ; so at least according to the present text, 8e« Dillm. ad loc.).
64
PKIESTS AND LEVITES
PRIESTS AND LEVITES
The chief priest is distinguished by two minutely described official costumes. One of these is wholly of linen. He wears this only when he goes into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (Lv Kjj. 5S. 82) i„ discharging the rest of his functions, lie has to wear above the white kcthoneth of shPsh worn by all the priests, a variegated dress of tlie four colours of the sanctuary, blue-purple, red-purple, crimson, and white, interwoven witli gold (Ex2S°°'-, Lv 8'"- nl. ). The difi'erent parts of this dress are de.scribed in detail, yet their exact structure is not quite clearly recognizable. Above his under- garment the high priest wears his distinguishing ciiliod, ke]it together at the shoulders by a couple of clasps formed of shoham stone, upon each of which are engraved six names of tne tribes of Israel (cf. art. EPHOD). Upon his breast, above the ephod, the hirfi priest wears the four-cornered hdshen suspended by little chains. Set in this externally are twelve precious stones in four rows, having engraved upon them the names of the twelve tribes. The hdshen must be conceived of as a species of pocket (cf. art. Breastplate of THE High Peiest), for in it are deposited the Urim and Thummim, which evidently are to be thought of as tangible objects (cf. art. Urim AND Thummim). Upon the hem of the upper-garment (me'il) which was attached to the ephod, there iian" alternately pomegranates and little bells. In the front of his turban (miznephcth) the high priest wears upon his forehead a golden diadem mscribed ' Holy to Jahweh.' The high priest alone is entitled to carry the Urim and Thummim (Ex 28™, Lv 8"), and to pronounce the 'judgment of the Urim ' before Jahweh ; and by this decision, as that of a Divine oracle, Israel has to abide (Nu 27^).
None but the high priest may go into the Holy of Holies on the yearly Day of Atonement, to make propitiation for the priests and the congrega- tion, and carry through the ceremony with the two goats, in which he has to make atonement also for the sanctuary (Lv W^-, cf. Ex SO"). Above all, it rests with hmi alone to make atonement for his own guUt and that of his house (Lv 4'"-, cf. 9"'-), as well as for the community as a whole (Lv 4'*^-, cf. y*; differently,, as it would appear, Nu 15^, see Gesch. p. 27, note). He has to ofl'er a daily minhdh (Lv 6'^"'*, where ' on the day of his anoint- ing' [v."] is probably a later addition, by which the daily offering is transformed into one offered once for all at the time of his installation in the priestly office). Moreover, he has to take his share in the service rendered by the other priests (Ex 27"'). The r61e of mediator, apart from the above- luentioned atoning transactions, he assumes by bearing upon his breastplate the names of the children of Israel, when he goes into the sanctuary (Ex28-'»).
The high priest Eleazar is named in the first rank, along with Joshua, the prince of the tribes (Nu 34""-, cf. Jos 14'). At his word, spoken by means of the Urim, the whole congregation is to go out and come in (Nu 27^°''-). After the death of the high priest the manslayer is safe to leave the city of refuge (Nu 35^- ^). The duration of the high priest's office is treated in tliis enactment as an epoch at whose close certain questions that have remained open are to be regarded as now settled (the interpretation proposed in Gesch. p. 28, and approved by Van Hoonacker, Sacerdoce, etc. p. 340, linds no justification either in the Priests' Code or in the OT generally). The high priest holds no other position ol secular authority. When Moses and Aaron together number the people (Nu 1'- "), Aaron acts in this matter simply as the brother of Israel's leader. Special injunctions regarding purity are laid