war.

Consider the influence on the kingship, on the nobles and on the people, of war between the two kingdoms, civil war, successful foreign war, and unsuccessful foreign war. 3. What modern kingship seems to approximate most nearly that of the Hebrews? What parallels could be drawn?

4. What were the good and evil elements in the Hebrew kingship? Was the evil inevitable in the institution? Why did certain of the prophets look for an ideal state under an ideal king?

5. How would you estimate the economic results of the system of taxation employed by the kings?

6. What were the elements of social value in the old Hebrew eldership? How far were these conserved under the monarchy? Could they have been more fully conserved and at the same time maintain a strong central government?

7. Compare the development of the Hebrew aristocracy with that of France?

8. Both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms fell before great eastern empires; what elements in the royal and aristocratic organization contributed to the fall?

9. What kind of aristocracy may develop in a republic? Compare it with a court aristocracy. What would be the social influence of each?

10.

What is the religious conception of political duty as expressed by the prophets in the book of Kings? How far would this idea modify modern political conditions?

CHAPTER XII

THE PRIESTLY ARISTOCRACY

81. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRIESTHOOD DURING the monarchy the priests both in Jerusalem and in the Northern Kingdom were of two kinds, those who served at the royal sanctuaries and were practically part of the court, and those who served at the high places or local shrines and subsisted on the offerings brought by the people. The Deuteronomic reform, which centered all worship at Jerusalem, disposed of the priests of the high places, and gave an additional dignity to the Jerusalem priesthood. The deportation to Babylon included the king, the princes, and most of the priests, together with the elders who had been the local dignitaries of the cities and of the tribes. The kingship ceased with the fall of Jerusalem. The nobles suffered a loss of prestige with the disappearance of the court. It was the opportunity for the priests to come forward. They had a great representative in the priest-prophet Ezekiel, who devoted himself to the preparation of a constitution for the reorganization of the state when the people should be able to return to Jerusalem. In his system, the temple became the center of the people's life, and the priests were, of course, the dignitaries of the temple.

During the Babylonian period also was developed the Priest Code now found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, in which the functions and privileges of the priests were elaborated with great care.

This extended influence of the ecclesiastical leaders did not become operative at once. It is evident that during the captivity the elders, whose dignity had been so much overshadowed by the court nobility, became again significant

(Ezra 5. 5, 9; 6. 7, 14; 10. 8; Ezek 8. 1, 11; 14. 1; 20. 1); and in the development of the Jerusalem community the prince of the Davidic line, Zerubbabel, was for some time the center of the national hopes (Ezra 5. 2; Hag 2. 20-23; Zech 4). Yet already beside him, and practically equal in dignity, was Jeshua the high priest (Ezra 3. 2; 5. 2; Hag 2. 2; Zech 3 and 4). When Nehemiah became governor of Jerusalem it was a fundamental principle of his plan of reconstruction of the Jewish state that the religious constitution provided in the developed Pentateuch should be accepted by the people. Thus in the great covenant which the people made under his leadership the most significant requirements were for the upkeep of the temple service and for the support of the priests (Neh 10. 32-39).

This elaborated law greatly enhanced the significance of the temple and of the sacrificial system. Costly offerings were to be made daily, and at all the great festivals. The worship was to be accompanied with sacred song by great Levitical choirs, for which large numbers of the Levites were to be set apart. The various inclosures of the temple were to be carefully guarded from any profane approach, and for this large numbers of Levitical doorkeepers were required. Moreover, practically everything within the sacred precincts was in charge of ecclesiastical functionaries, the laymen, who had formerly been allowed much freer access, being further and further removed, and the slaves of the temple being replaced by Levites. The insistence upon the priestly mediation between God and man was carried so far that the holy place of the temple and the court of sacrifice were not to be entered by the people at all (Num 18. 1-7).

This ritualistic emphasis required a very considerable number of persons for the discharge of the sacerdotal functions. The list preserved in Neh 7. 39-42 gives a total of four thousand two hundred and eighty-nine priests who returned from Babylon out of a total of forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty people (v. 66), in addition to the

Levites. And it is probable that both the higher and lower orders of ecclesiastical functionaries became more numerous as time went on.

The entire priesthood was divided into twenty-four courses, each of which was to give service for one week (Josephus, Vita, 1), the change being made on the Sabbath. At the three great festivals when the Judaistic religion was to be expressed in its greatest magnificence the whole body of the priests was to be present. At the head of each course was a chief (1 Chron 24. 6; Ezra 8. 24, 29; 10. 5; Neh 12.7).

§ 2. THE EMOLUMENTS OF THe Priesthood

This great hierarchy necessitated considerable provision for its support from the Jewish community. As we have seen, the priest from the earliest times received as his due certain portions of the animals that were sacrificed. The Deuteronomic law increased the emoluments of the priesthood, and the Levitical law added many further provisions in view of the enlargement of the sacerdotal order. In later times, when these two laws stood side by side in the Pentateuch, the problem of harmonizing them arose. This was done for the most part by the simple process of addition, so that all that was given to the priests in each of the codes became the law of Israel.

Schürer1 summarizes the revenues of the priests as follows: As regards the animals that were offered, they would receive (1) the sin offerings and trespass offerings entire (Num 18. 9f.). (2) The greater part of the meal offerings (Lev 2. 3, 10; 6. 16-18; 7. 9, 10, 14). As these offerings were very frequent, they constituted a large meat and meal provision. (3) The twelve cakes of shew bread which were renewed weekly (Lev 24. 5-9). (4) Of the peace offerings, the festal meals, the priests were to receive the breast and the right shoulder (Lev 7. 30-34; 10. 14f.). (5) The burnt offerings were, of course, consumed entire, yet even of these 1 History of the Jewish People in the Time of Christ, ii, I, pp. 231ff.

the priests were entitled to the hides, which, as a great many animals were offered, would yield a considerable

revenue.

A much larger element of priestly income was derived from the taxes levied upon the agricultural products. These consisted of (1) the first fruits. Of the seven principal products wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, honey (Deut 8. 8), a portion was to be brought to the priests with a confession and thanksgiving (Deut 26. 5-10). (2) A further portion of the choicest of all the fruits, especially of the wheat, wine and oil (Num 18. 12), was to be paid. The required fraction to fulfill this obligation was not determined, but later usage fixed it at about one fiftieth. (3) The tithe. A tenth of everything that grew on the earth was to be paid to the Levites, who were in turn to give a tithe of the tithe to the priests (Num 18. 20-22). This was practically a transfer of the tithe which had been paid to the king (1 Sam 8. 15). (4) The second tithe. The old tithe of the Deuteronomic time was not intended for the priest but was to be used for a family festival for the owner. This still continued as an added religious requirement, though it does not properly belong in an enumeration of the priestly emoluments (Deut 14. 22-26). (5) The third tithe. Once in three years, according to Deuteronomy (14. 28f.; 26. 12), the tithe was to be given to the poor. This was probably originally the only tithe of that year, but later practice made it a third impost on the faithful Jew. This, again, was not for the benefit of the priests, although the Levites shared in it. (6) The dough. The priests were entitled to an offering from the kneaded dough (Num 15. 17-22). In practice this was one twentyfourth from private persons, and one forty-eighth from bakers.

While the tithe was restricted to agriculture, the increase from flocks and herds of the Hebrews was also subject to taxation. Originally, the first-born male was to be sacri