No trace of a hereditary or caste priesthood meets us in the worship of the patriarchal age. (For its oc- casional appearance in a general form, see ij iii.) Abra- ham. Isaac, and Jacob perform priestly acts, offer sacri- fices, "draw near" to the I.ord ((.en. xii. * : xviii. 23; xxvi. 25; xxxiii. 20). To the eldest son. or to the fa- vored son exalted to the place of the eldest, belongs the "goodly raiment" (xxvii. 15), the "coat of many colors" (xxxvii. 3), in which we find perhaps the earliest trace ofa sacerdotal vestment (comp. Blunt, Script. Coincid. i. 1 : Qgolino, xiii, 138). ( >nce. and once only, does the word kohen meet us as belonging to a ritual earlier than the time of Abraham. Melchizedek is "the priest of the most high God" (xiv. 18). The argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews lias a historical foundation in the fact thai there are no indications in the narrative of Gen. xiv of any one preceding or following him in thai office. The special divine names which are con- nected with him as the priest of •■the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth." render it probable that he rose, in the strength of those great thoughts of God, above the level of the other inhabitants oft !anaan. In him Abraham recognised a faith like his own. a life
more entirely consecrated, the priestly character in its
perfection. See Melchizedek. In the worship of the patriarchs themselves, the chief of the family, as such, acted as the priest. The office descended with the birthright, and might apparently be transfi rred with it. As the family expanded, the head of each section prob- ably st 1 in the same relation to it The thought of
the special consecration of the first-born was recognised at the time of the Exodus (see below). A priesthood ofa like kind continued to exist iii other Shemitic tribes. The Book of Job. whatever may be its date, ignores al- together the institutions oi Israel, and represents the man of I'/ as himself "sanctifying'' Ids sous, and offering burnt-offerings (i, 5). Jethro is a "priest of Midian" (Exod. ii, 16; iii. I). Balak himself offers a bullock and a ram upon the seven altars on Pisgah (Numb, xxiii. 2, etc).
In Egypt the Israelites came into contact with a
priestl I of another kind, and that contact musl have
been for a time a Very close one. The marriage of Jo- seph with the daughter of the priest Of I "n a priest, as we may infer from hi r name, of the goddess X ■ i 1 1 1 -
(Gen. xli. 16) [see Vsenath the special favor which i he showed to the priestly caste in the years of famine
PRIEST
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PRIEST
(xlvii, 26); the training of Moses in the palace of the Pharaohs, probably in the colleges and temples of the priests (Acts vii, '22) — all this must have impressed the constitution, the dress, the outward form of life upon the minds of the lawgiver and his contemporaries. Little as we know directly of the life of Egypt at this remote period, the stereotyped fixedness of the customs of that country warrants us in referring to a tolerably distant past the facts which belong historically to a later period, and in doing so we find coincidences with the ritual of the Israelites too numerous to be looked on as accidental, or as the result of forces which were at work indepen- dent of each other, but taking parallel directions. As circumcision was common to the two nations (Herod, ii, 37), so the shaving of the whole body (ibid.) was with both part of the symbolic purity of the priesthood, once for all with the Levites of Israel (Numb, viii, 7), every third day with those of Egypt. Both are restrict- ed to garments of linen (Herod, ii, 37, 81; Plutarch, Be Tsid. iv; Juven. vi, 533; Exod. xxviii, 39; Ezek. xliv, 18). The sandals of byblus worn by the Egyp- tian priests were but little removed from the bare feet with which the sons of Aaron went into the sanctuary (Herod, ii, 37). For both there were multiplied ablu- tions. Both had a public maintenance assigned, and had besides a large share in the flesh of the victims of- fered (ibid. /. c). Over both there was one high-priest. In both the law of succession was hereditary (ibid.; comp. also Spencer, Be Ley. Ilebr. iii, 1, 5, 11 ; Wilkin- son, Anc. Egypt, iii, 116). They were exempt from taxes. Wine was allowed to them only in the strictest moderation, and entire abstinence from it was required during the fasts, which were frequent (Plutarch, Be Isid. 6). Each grade of the priests was distinguished by its peculiar costume. The high-priests, who, among other official duties, anointed the king, wore a mantle made of an entire leopard-skin; as did the king, when en- gaged in priestly duties. The sacerdotal order consti- tuted one of the four principal castes, of the highest rank, next to the king, and from whom were chosen his confidential and responsible advisers (comp. 2 Sam. viii, 18; 1 Chron. xviii, 17; Isa. xix, 11; Diodorus, i, 73); they associated with the monarch, whom they assisted in the performance of his public duties, to whom they explained from the sacred books those lessons which were laid down for his conduct (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. i, 237, 257-282). See Egypt.