PRIEST
568
PRIEST
the Sept. gives Uptvg. It is noticeable that this use of the title is confined to the reigns of David and Solo- mon, and that the synonym "at the king's hand" of 1 rim. i). xviii. 17 is used in xxv, •-' of the sous of Asaph as "prophesying" under their bead "r father, and of the relation of Asaph himself to David in the choral .service of the I
•_'. Essential Idea of th Hebrew Priesthood. — This may l<e called mediation} hence the fact that in the epistle to the Hebrews mediator and priest are consid- ered as synonymous. Yet by this the speeilic object of the priesthood, in contradistinction to the two other theocratical offices of prophet and king, is by no means sufficiently expressed. The prophet is also a mediator between God and man. since he speaks to the latter in the name of the former: while the king is the mediator of the judicial and executive power of God among his people, acting in the name of Jehovah. The priest also was clothed with representative power (Dent, xviii, 5) ; but this power was mainly directed to represent the people as a holy people in the presence of Jehovah, and to prepare a way by which they themselves might ap- proach God.
Israel was the full-grown family of God, and the do- mestic priesthood was to become a nation of priests, a royal priesthood (Exod. xi\. 3 6; Deut. vii, 6; Numb. xvi, 3). But that Israel was chosen to be the royal priesthood with respect to other nations, like many other tilings, was only expressed in idea, and not actu- ally realized in fact. Israel was incapacitated by its natural sinfulness, and by its incessant transgressions of the very law through the fulfilment of which it was tobe sanctified, to penetrate into the immediate presence of God (Exod. xix, 21). Hence the necessity of the nation having individual representatives to mediate be- tween them and Jehovah. As a separate element the priesthood represented the nation as yet unfit to ap- proach God. The people offered their gifts to God by means of a separated class from among themselves, and
in co iction with the propitiatory sacrifices this was
calculate 1 to keep alive the consciousness of their es- trangemi nt from God. The very place assigned to the pri>— 1> in the camp was expressive of this idea, that they keep "the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel" | Numb. iii. 38).
The insufficiency of the priesthood was expressed by their being excluded from the most holy place. Only the high-priest, in whom the idea of ibis typical insti- tution concentrated, could penetrate thither; and be only as the type o'f the future .Mediator who was abso- lutely to lead us into the most holy of the world of spirits. Because the priests were not altogether re- moved from the sins of the people, even the chief-priest hail access only once a year to the most holy, and that just on the day when the entire guilt of the nation was to be atoned for. He had on that occasion to confess bis own sin. ami bring a sin-offering; to lay aside his magnificenl robes of office, and to officiate in a plain linen garment Moreover, when lie entered the dark, narrow space of the most holy, the cloud of incense was to cover the mercy-seat " that he die not" (Lev. xvi, 13).
The idea of mediation between <i"<l ami the people
is expressed by the priest presenting the atonement for the congregation, and the gifts of a reconciled people i -"~~~. l.e\. \\i. 7: Numb, xvi, 5; xvii, 5). Again, he brings hack from God's presence the blessing of grace, mercy, and peace (Lev. ix, 27, etc.; Numb, vi, 22 27). In the earliest families of the race ofShem the offices of priesl ami prophel wen- undoubtedly united ; so thai the werd originally denoted both, and at last the He- brew idiom kept one pari of the idea and tl another (Gesenius, Hebrdisches und Chalddisches Hand- worterbuch [Leips. 1823 ). h is worthy of remark that
all the persons who are recorded in Scripture as having
legally performed priestly acts, but who were not strictly sacerdotal, come under the definition of a prophet. viz.
persons who received supernatural communications of knowledge generally, as Adam. Abraham Mien, xx, 7). Isaac, Jacob, Moses. Job. Samuel, Elijah (comp. Luke i, 70). The following definition ofa priest may be found sufficiently comprehensive: A man who officiates or transacts with God on behalf of others, statedly, or for the occasion.
:;. Origin of the Sacerdotal Order.— The idea ofa priesthood connect- ii-< If, in all it- forms, pure or cor- rupted, with the ( sciousness, more or less distinct, of
sin. -Men feel that they have broken a law. The pow- er above them is holier than they are. and they dare not approach it. 'liny crave lor the intervention of some one of whom they can think as likely to be more acceptable thau themselves. He must offer up their prayers, thanksgivings, sacrifices. He becomes their representative in "things pertaining unto God." He may become also (though this does not always follow) the representative of God toman. The functions of the priest and prophet may exist in the same person. The reverence which men pay to one who bears this conse- crated character may lead them to acknowledge the priest as being also their king. The claim to till the office may rest on characteristics belonging only to the individual man, or confined to a single family or tribe. The conditions of the priesthood, the office and influ- ence of the priests, as they are among the most conspic- uous tacts of all religions of the ancient world, so do they occupy a like position in the history of the religion of Israel.