PRIEST
578
PRIEST
8), weeks (xxix, 27), distinction of the Hebrews by] their families (Exod. ii, 1 I, the office of elder during the bondage in Egypt (iii, 16), and a place of meeting with Jehovah (v, 22; comp. xxv. 22)— would favor the supposition that the Mosaic dispensation, as it is called, was but an authoritative re-arrangement of a patri- archal Church instituted at the fall. The fact that Noah officiated as the priest, of his family, upon the cessation of the Deluge, is clearly recorded in Gen. viii, 'in, where we have an altar built, the ceremonial dis- tinctions in the offerings already mentioned, and their propitiatory effect, ••the sweel savor," all described in the words of Leviticus (comp. i. '.» ; xi, 47). These acts of Noah, which seem like the resumption rather than the institution of an ordinance, were doubtless continued by his sons and their descendants, as heads of their n- tpectivi families. Following our arrangement, the next glimpse of the subject is afforded by the instance of .lob, who "sent and sanctified his children" after a feast they had held, and offered burnt-offerings, r"5", "according to the number of them all," and " who did this continu- ally," either constantly or after every least (i, 5). A direct reference, possibly to priests, is lost in our trans- lation of xii, 19, "he leadeth princes (D^fTS; Sept. itpiic; Vulg. sacerdotes; a sense adopted in Dr. Lee's Translation \ Lond. 1837 1 1 away spoiled." .May not the difficult passage, Job xxxiii, 23, contain an allusion to priestly duties? A case is there supposed of a person divinely chastised in order to improve him (xix, 22): "If then there be a messt ngi r | ~xb"£, which means priest, Eccles. v, G; Mai. ii, 6) with him," "an interpreter" {Y'k'O, or mediator generally, 2 Chron. xxxii, 31 ; Isa. xliii, 27. one among a thousand, or of a family. Judg. vi, 15, "my family," literally "my thousand," comp. Numb, i, 16, "to show to man his uprightness," or, rather, "duty," Prov. xiv, 2, part of the priest's office in suck a case, Mai. ii. 7; comp. Dent, xxiv, 8), then such an individual " is gracious," or. rather, will suppli- cate for him, and suit//, " Deliver him from going down into ihe pit," or grave, l<>r " I have found a ransom," a cause or ground in him for favorable treatment, namely, the penitence of the sufferer, \\ ho consequently recovers (xxv, '-".'). The case of Abraham and Abimelech is very similar i Gen. xx. :! 17 i, as also that of Job him- self, and his three misjudging friends, whom the Lord
commands to avert chastisement fr themselves by
taking to him bullocks and rams, which he was to offer for them as a burnt-offering, and to pray for them ( xlii. 8). The instance of Abram occurs next in historical order, who, upon his first entrance into Canaan, attended by his family, " built an altar, and called upon I he name of the Lord" (Gen. xii, 7.. S). [Jpon returning victorious from the battle of the kings, he is congratulated by Mel- chizedek, the Canaanitish king of Salem, and "priest o| the most high God" ( xiv, 18). for the ancient union of the royal and sacerdotal offices, in Egypt and other countries, see Wilkinson's Manners "»•/ Customs of the Ami,,,! Egyptians (Lond. 1842), i, 245. Abram next appears entering into covenant with God as the head
and representative of his seed ; on which occasion i hose creatures only are .slain which were appointed for sacri- fice under the law (Gen. xv, 9 --'l I. [saac builds an al- tar, evidently as the head of his family | \\\i. 25); lii- youngt r son Jacob oilers a suci ijin , "T (xxxi, 54), and '■call- his brethren to eat of it" (comp. Lev. vii. 15): builds an altar at Shalom (Gen. xxxiii, 2D), makes an- other bj divim command, and evidently as the load of
his 1 sehold, at Bethel ixxxv, 1 7), and pours a
drink-offering, ~zi (c p. Numb. xv. 7, etc.), upon a
pillar (ver. 1 1 ).
i ■_'. i We next lind Jethro, priest of Midian, the fa- ther-in-law oi Mos,-s. probably a priest of the true God (Exod. iii, 1), and possibly his lather also iii. 16), in the same capacity. In Exod. v, 1. 3, the whole nation .,t the Israelites is represented as wishing to sacrifice and
to hold a feast to the Lord. The first step, though very remote, towards the formation id' the Mosaic system of priesthood was the consecration of the first-born, in memory of the destruction of the first-born of Egypt i xiii, 2, ld-16); for, instead of these, God afterwards took the Levites to attend upon him (Numb, iii, 12). As to the popular idea, both among Jews and Chris- tians, that the right of priesthood was thus transferred from the first-born generally to the tribe of Levi, or. rather, to one family of that tribe, we consider, with Patrick, that it is utterly groundless (Commentary on Exod. xix, 22; Numb, iii, 12; see Vitringa, Obserca- tiones Sacra, ii, 33; Outran), 1>< Sacrificiis, i, 4). I hi substance of the objections is thai Aaron and his sons were consecrated before the exchange of the Le- vites for the first-born; that the Levites were afterwards given to minister unto them, but bad nothing to do with the priesthood ; and that the peculiar right of God in the first-born originated in the Exodus. The last al- tar, before the giving of the law, was built by Moses, probably for a memorial purpose only (Exod. xvii, 15; comp. Josh. xxii. 26, 27 >. At this period the office of priest was so well understood, and so highly valued, that Jehovah promises as an inducement to the Israel- ites to keep his covenant, that they should be to him "a kingdom of priests" (Exod. xix. 6), which, among other honorable appellations and distinct ions originally belonging to the Jews, is transferred to Christians (1 Pet. ii, 9). The first introduction of the word priests, in this part of the history, is truly remarkable. It oc- curs just previous to the giving of the law, when, as part of the cautions against the too eager curiosity of the people, lest they should "break through unto the Lord and gaze" (Exod. xix. 21), it is added, -and let the priests which come near unto the Lord sanctify them- selves, lest the Lord break through upon them" (ver. 22). Here. then, priests are incontestably spoken of as an already existing order, which «:is now about to be remodificd. Nor is this the last reference to these ante- Sinaitic priests. Selden observes that the phrases "the priests the Levites" (Dent. xvii. !• I and " the priests the