sons of Levi" (xxi, 5), and even the phrase "the Le- vites alone" ixviii. 6; comp. 1). are used to include all others who bad been priests before God took the sons of Aaron peculiarly to serve him in this office (Ife Syn- edr. ii, 8, p. 2, 3). Aaron is summoned at this junct- ure to go up with Mosi - unto the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exod. xix, 21). Another remarkable circumstance is then recorded. Moses, now acting as "mediator," and endued with an extraordinary commission, builds an altar under the hill, and sends "young men of the chil- dren of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord" (xxiv, 5). Va- rious interpretations are given to the phrase "young men;" but. upon a view id' all the circumstances, we incline to think that tney were young laymen, purposely selected by Moses for this act, in order to form a com- plete break between the former priesthood and the new, and that the recommencement and re-arrangement of the priesthood under divine authority might be made more palpably distinct. In the same light we consider the many priestly acts performed bj Most > himself, at this particular time, as in xxix. 25; xl. 25, 27, 29; like those ot Gideon (Judg. vi. 25 27), of Samuel (1 Sam. vii, 9), and of David (1 Chron. xxi. 26). Vet these especial permissions, up imergencies and extraordi- nary occasions, had their limits, as may be seen in the fate of -the men of Bethshemesh" i l Sam. vi, l'.". and of Uzzah (2 Sam. vi. 7).
2. Thi Aaronic Priesthood. — (1.) Early Period. — The
next l vent in the history of the subject IS the public consecration of Aaron and his sons, according to the preceding regulations (Lev. viii). At their tirst sacer- dotal performances (ix) the divine approbation was in- timated bj a supernatural tire which consumed their burnt-offering (ver. 21). The general satisfaction ot
Ijie people With these events wa>. howc\ er. soon dashed
PRIEST
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PRIEST
by the miraculous destruction of the two elder sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, for offering strange fire (x, 1), probably under the influence of too much wine, since the prohibition of it to the priests when about to enter the Tabernacle seems to have originated in this event (ver. 9). Moses forbade Aaron and his sons to uncover their heads, or to rend their clothes on this occasion ; but the whole house of Israel were permitted to bewail the visitation (ver. 6). The inward grief, however, of Eleazar and Ithamar caused an irregularity in their sacerdotal duties, which was forgiven on account of the occasion (ver. 16-20). Aaron now appears associated with Moses and the leading men of the several tribes in taking the national census (Numb, i, 3, etc.), and on other grand state occasions (xxvi, 2, 3 ; xxxi, 13-26 ; xxxii, 2; xxxiv, 17). The high-priest appears ever after as a person of the highest consequence. The dig- nity of the priesthood soon excited the emulation of the ambitious; hence the penalty of death was denounced against the assumption of it by any one not belonging to the Aaronic family (ver. 10), and it was soon after miraculously inflicted for this crime. This instance proves that the Aaronic line did not establish itself without a struggle. The rebellion of Korah, at the head of a portion of the Levites as representatives of the first-born, with Dathan and Abiram as leaders of the tribe of the first-born son of Jacob (Numb, xvi, 1), showed that some looked back to the old patriarchal order rather than forward to the new, and it needed the witness of " Aaron's rod that budded" to teach the peo- ple that the latter had in it a vitality and strength which had departed from the former. It may be that the exclusion of all but the sons of Aaron from the ser- vice of the Tabernacle drove those who would not resign their claim to priestly functions of some kind to the worship (possibly with a rival tabernacle) of Moloch and Chiun (Amos v, 25, 26; Ezelc. xx, 16). The death of Aaron introduces the installation of his successor, which appears to have simply consisted in arraying him in his father's pontifical garments (Numb, xx, 28). Thus also Jonathan the Asmona?an contented himself with putting on the high-priest's habit, in order to take possession of the dignity (I Mace, x, 21 ; comp. Josephus, Ant. xiii, 2, 3). The high esteem in which the priest- hood was held may be gathered from the fact that it was promised in perpetuity to Phinehas and his family as a reward for his zeal (Numb, xxv, 13). Prominent as was the part taken by the priests in the daily march of the host of Israel (Numb, x, 8), in the passage of the Jordan (Josh, iii, 14, 15), in the destruction of Jericho (vi, 12-16), the history of Micah shows that within that century there was a strong tendency to relapse into the system of a household instead of an hereditary priest- hood (Judg. xvii). The frequent invasions and con- quests during the period of the Judges must have in- terfered (as stated above) with the payment of tithes, with the maintenance of worship, with the observance of all festivals, and with this the influence of the priest- hood must have been kept in the background. If the descendants of Aaron, at some unrecorded crisis in the history of Israel, rose, under Eli, into the position of na- tional defenders, it was only to sink in his sons into the lowest depth of sacerdotal corruption. For a time the prerogative of the line of Aaron was in abeyance. The capture of the ark, the removal of the Tabernacle from Shiloh, threw everything into confusion, and Samuel, a Levite,but not within the priestly family [see Samuel], sacrifices, and "comes near" to the Lord; his training under Eli, his Nazaritish life, his prophetic office, being regarded apparently as a special consecration (comp. Augustine, c. Faust, xii, 83; De Civ. Dei, xvii, 4). For the priesthood, as for the people generally, the time of Samuel must have been one of a great moral reforma- tion ; while the expansion, if not the foundation, of the schools of the prophets at once gave to it the support of an independent order, and acted as a check on its corruptions and excesses, a perpetual safeguard against