upon the high priest, which are stricter than those for the rest of the priests. Like the latter, they are found in the Law of Holiness. According to them, ' the priest who is greater than his brethren ' may marry only a virgin of his people, and not, .as is permitted to the other priests, a widow (Lv 21'^*-). He is not to delile himself through any dead body, even that of a father or mother (v."). He is forbidden, as a sijjn of mourning, to let his hair grow long or to rend his clotlies (v.'").
If the high i)riest have brought guilt upon the people through any sin of his, he has to present a sin-offering, with ceremonies specially prescribed for this particular case (Lv 4''''), because a sin on the part of the spiritual head of the people is looked on as bringing special trouble upon the whole community. Sms affecting the priesthood, i.e. violations of the laws given to the priests, have to be expiated by Aaron and his sons (Nu 18'; not by the high priest alone [Benzinger, p. 422], but by him and the rest of the priests).
d. The Lemtcs. — The Aaronite priests are, in the Priests' Code, a special family of the tribe of Levi. The designation ' Levites ' is only in isolated instances used of all that belong to this tribe, including the Aaronites^Ex 6=», Lv25'='-, NuSo'") ; it is usually applied to the non-Aaronite Levites alone. The whole tribe is, like the other tribes, divided into ' fathers' houses ' with their heads or princes (Ex 6^, Nu 3'^"). The tribe as a whole is considered as consecrated to God, this by w.ay of compensation for the firstborn of man in Israel who all rightfully belonged to the Deity (Nu 3'^'- al.). The Levites in the narrower sense are not, like the Aaronites, servants of Jahweh, but are given to the priests or to Jahweh for the service of the tabernacle, as is emphatically ex- pressed in the designation of the Levites as nethihilni, 'given' (Nu 3" 8" 1S«), wliich cleariy stands in some relation to tlie name a)>plied to the foreign temjile-slaves in the Bks. of Ezr and Neh, namely, Nethinim. In other passajjes, without the term nithuvim being employed, it is said of the Levites that they serve the dMelling-place of Jahweh, or that they serve Aaron, or the congre- gation. Here, as in the case of the priestly service, the verb shdreth is used, but not, as in that case, absolutely, but with the object of service: the 'dwelling-place,' i.e. the tent of meeting, ' Aaron,' or ' the congregation ' (Nu 1" 3" \& 18'). The Levites minister to the priests ' before ' the tent of meeting. The Levites are forbidden to approach, like the priests, the vessels in the inner sanctuary or the altar ; by doing so they would bring death upon themselves and upon the priests (Nu 18-'-). The technical term for the service of the lievites is shumnr, ' guard,' which suits the Levites of the Priests' Code in so far as they, in the arrangement of the camp, have to encamp with the priests immediately around the tabernacle, so that in point of fact they do guard the latter (Nu P»- ''^ al.). A 'stranger,' i.e. one who is neither priest nor Levite, who intrudes into this circle round the holy dwelling-place, shall lie (Nu 3^). The standing employment of the verb s/uiinar for the service of the Levites indicaftea clearly that the ]irescription for the (purely ideal) arrangement of the camp corresponds to some actual duties performed by tliose whom the Priests' Code calls Levites. Surely the shdmar of the Levites has some connexion with the work of the doorkeepers of the temple in the Bk. of Ezra. The Levites are called in the Priests' Code directly shomrS mishmfrclh, ' guardians ' of the sanctuary or 'the dwelling-place' of Jahweh (Nu 3j«. 3J 31^0. 47). i„ j^u 33a ti,g tgrn, jg extended
even to the priests, with reference to the arrange- ment of the camp. Besides, the same verb shdmat
PRIESTS AND LEVITES
PRIESTS AND LEVITES
85
is employed in an untechnical sense, in a few isolated instances in the Priests' Code (Nu 3'° IS'), of tlie priestly service in general (so also in the post - exilic Zechariah), and then, further (so akdmar is used in the Priests' Code), of the ser- vice of God in general, i.e. of one's attitude towards His coniniandnients (Gn 26'). All this shows that we have here to do with a very ancient teriuinolo^'j', which probably reaches back far bej'ond the time when there was a special class of doorkeepers of the temple. Perhaps it preserves a trace that the Levitus were originally the ' guarding ' escort of the sacred ark, which would be quite conceivable, even if the name lewt has nothing to do with this duty (.see above, § 1). In any case, it may be gathered from the above use otshdmar that the guarding of a sanctuary in some form was at one time the essential task of tlie Levites. It has been suggested that it was the guarding of a divine image, as was the main duty of the priest among the ancient Arabs (Well- hausen, Bcste", p. 130). But tliere appears to be a special reference to the escorting of the sacred ark, which accompanied Israel in Uieir joumeyings and campaigns, in the remarkable term, likewise used very occasionally of the LeWtes' service, zdba', ' to render military service ' (Nu 4" al.).