The History of Antiquity Volume Ii Part 13

[336] A similar vessel of stone, 30 feet in circ.u.mference, adorned with the image of a bull, lies among the fragments of Amathus in Cyprus: O.

Muller, "Archaeologie," -- 240, Anm. 4.

[337] 1 Kings ix. 25.

[338] 1 Kings vii. 1-12.

[339] 1 Kings x. 12; 2 Chron. ix. 11.

[340] 1 Kings vii. 7.

[341] 1 Kings x. 18-20.

[342] The Song of Solomon says, "There are 60 queens, 80 concubines, and maids without number."

[343] 1 Kings ix. 10, 24.

[344] 1 Kings ix. 15-19.

[345] 1 Kings xi. 27; ix. 15-24.

[346] 1 Kings iv. 26; x. 26.

[347] 1 Kings iv. 20, 25; v. 4.

[348] 1 Kings ix. 19.

[349] 1 Kings x. 29.

[350] 1 Kings ix. 26-28; x. 22.

[351] Judges xvii. 10. The Hebrew silver shekel is to be reckoned at more than 2_s._ 6_d._; the gold shekel from 36 to 45_s._ Cf. Vol. i.

304.

[352] 2 Sam. xxiv. 24.

[353] Song of Solomon viii. 11; cf. Mover's "Phoenizier," 3, 48 ff, 81 ff.

[354] 1 Kings x. 14.

[355] 1 Kings ix. 19.

[356] 1 Kings x. 21; 2 Chron. ix. 20.

[357] Song of Solomon iii. 7-10.

[358] 1 Kings x. 27.

[359] 1 Kings x. 27.

[360] 1 Kings iv. 29-34.

[361] 1 Kings iv. 22, 23, 26-28.

[362] 1 Kings ix. 20, 21. In order to prove that Solomon used these and no others for his workmen, the Chronicles (2, ii. 16, 17) reckon this remnant at 153,000 men, _i.e._ exactly at the number of task workmen with their overseers given in the Book of Kings. According to this the incredible number of half a million of Canaanites must have settled among the Israelites. The general a.s.sertion of the Books of Kings (1, ix. 22) is supported by the detailed evidence in the same books, 1, v.

13; xi. 28; xii. 4 ff.

[363] 1 Kings iv. 11-15; v. 13-18.

[364] 1 Kings ix. 10-14. The contradictory statement in Chronicles (2, viii. 2) cannot be taken into consideration.

[365] 1 Kings xi. 4-9, 33. Though this account belongs to times no earlier than the author of Deuteronomy, yet since the destruction of these places of wors.h.i.+p "set up by Solomon" is expressly mentioned under Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 13), it cannot be doubted.

[366] 1 Chron. xxiv.-xxvii. Here, as is usual in the Chronicles, the division of the priests is given systematically, and the idea of such a division is ascribed to the last years of David. "The Levites were numbered according to David's last commands," 1 Chron. xxiv.; cf. cap.

xxvii. Throughout the Chronicles make a point of exhibiting David as the originator, and Solomon as the executive instrument. We must content ourselves with the result that the temple is of decisive importance in separating the priests from the people, and for gathering together and organising the order.

[367] It appears that the lists of the priestly families were taken down in writing when the organisation of the order was concluded: Nehem. vii.

64.

CHAPTER IX.

THE LAW OF THE PRIESTS.

Out of the peculiar relation in which Israel stood from all antiquity to his G.o.d, out of the protection and prosperity which he had granted to the patriarchs and their seed, out of the liberation from the oppression of the Egyptians, which Jehovah had prepared for the Israelites with a strong arm, out of the bestowal of Canaan, _i.e._ the promise of Jehovah to conquer the land, which the Israelites had now possessed for centuries, there grew up in the circles of the priests, from about the time of Samuel, the idea of the covenant which Jehovah had made with the patriarchs, and through them with Israel. Jehovah had a.s.sured Israel of his protection and blessing; on the other hand, Israel had undertaken to serve him, to obey his commands, and do his will. If Israel lives according to the command of Jehovah, the blessing of his G.o.d will certainly be his in the future also; the reward of true service will not and cannot be withheld from him. The will of Jehovah which Israel has to obey, the law of Jehovah which he has to fulfil, was contained in the moral precepts, the rules of law, and rubrics for purification and sacrifice, the writing down of which in the frame-work of a brief account of the fortunes of the fathers, the slavery in Egypt, the liberation and the conquest of Canaan, on the basis of older sketches of separate parts, was brought to a conclusion at Hebron, in the priestly families of the tribe of Aaron, about the first decade of David's reign (I. 385). In this writing were laid down the views held by the priesthood on the life pleasing to G.o.d, on the past of the nation and the priests, and of the correct mode of wors.h.i.+p. It was the ideal picture of conduct in morals, law and wors.h.i.+p which the priests strove after, which must in any case have existed in that great period when Jehovah spoke to the Israelites by the mouth of Moses. And, as a fact, the foundations of the moral law, the fundamental rules of law and customs of sacrifice, as we found above (I. 484), do go back to that time of powerful movement of the national feeling, of lofty exaltation of religious emotion against the dreary polytheism of Egypt.

It is doubtful, whether the families of the priests and sacrificial servants who traced back their lineage to Levi, the son of Jacob (p.

197), and were now united by David and Solomon for service at the sacred tabernacle, for sacrifice and attendance at the temple, had of antiquity formed a separate tribe, which afterwards became dispersed (I. 488),--or if this tribe first was united under the impression made by the idea of true priesthood, which those writings denoted as an example and pattern, and under the influence of the change introduced by the foundation of a central-point for the wors.h.i.+p of Israel in the tabernacle of David, and then in the temple of Solomon, for the priestly families scattered through the land, by means of a gradual union of the priestly families; at all events, a position at least equal in dignity to the rest of the tribes ought to be found for the tribe of Levi, which knew the will and law of Jehovah, and the correct mode of sacrifice. It was not indeed possible in Israel to give the first and most ancient place to the tribe of the priests, as has been done in other nations where a division of orders has crystallised into hereditary tribes. In the memory of the nation Reuben was the first-born tribe, _i.e._ the complex of the oldest families, the oldest element of the nation, and the importance of the tribes derived from Joseph and the tribe of Judah in and after the conquest of Canaan was so firmly fixed that the tribe of Levi could not hope to contend with them successfully in the question of antiquity. But what was wanting in rank of derivation could be made up by special blessings given by Jehovah, and by peculiar sanct.i.ty. According to an old conception the first-born male belonged to Jehovah. In the sketch of the fortunes of Israel and of the law, Jehovah says to Moses, he will accept the tribe of Levi in place of the first-born males of the people.

The number of the first-born males of one month old of all the other tribes was taken--they reached 22,373; the number of all the men and boys down to the age of one month in the tribe of Levi was 22,000. These 22,000 Levites Jehovah took in the place of the first-born of the people, and the remaining 373 were ransomed from Jehovah at the price of five shekels of silver for each person.[368] Thus the Levites were raised by Jehovah to be the first-born tribe of Israel. Levi was the tribe which Jehovah had selected for his service, the chosen tribe of a chosen nation. Moses and Aaron were of this tribe, and if, instead of a few families who stood beside Moses when he led Israel out of Egypt, and restored the wors.h.i.+p of the tribal deity, the whole tribe of Levi was represented as active in his behalf, and as a supporter of Moses, the consecration of age was not wanting to this tribe, and reverence was naturally paid to it in return for such ancient services.

The Levites were not to busy themselves with care for their maintenance, they were not to work for hire, or possess any property; they were to occupy themselves exclusively with their sacred duties. Instead of inheritance Jehovah was to be their heritage.[369] It is true that the plan for the maintenance of the tribe of Levi, sketched in the first text on the occasion of the division of Canaan, the 48 cities allotted to them in the lands of the other twelve tribes (13 for the priests and 35 for the a.s.sistant Levites[370]), could never be carried out; yet claims might be founded on it. Moreover, the necessary means for support were supplied in other ways. The firstlings of corn, fruits, the vintage, the olive tree, were offered by being laid on the altar. No inconsiderable portion of other offerings was presented in the same manner. All these gifts could be applied by the priests to their own purposes.[371] But by far the most fruitful source of income for the priesthood was the t.i.the of the produce of the fields, which was offered according to an ancient custom to Jehovah as his share of the harvest.

The law required that a tenth of corn, and wine, and oils, and of all other fruits, and the tenth head of all new-born domestic animals, should be given to the priests.[372] The statements of the prophets and the evidence of the historical books prove that the t.i.thes were offered as a rule, though not invariably. As the Levites who were not priests had no share in the sacrifices, the law provided that the t.i.the should go to them, but the Levites were in turn to restore a tenth part of these t.i.thes to the priests. Finally, the law required that a portion of the booty taken in war should go to the Levites; that in all numberings of the people and levies each person should pay a sum to the temple for the ransom of his life.[373]

Only the descendants of Aaron could take part in the most important parts of the ceremonial of sacrifice. From his twenty-fifth or thirtieth year to his fiftieth every Levite was subject to the temple service.[374] The law prescribed a formal dedication, with purifications, expiations, sacrifices, and symbolical actions for the exercise of the lower as well as the higher priesthood, for the offering of sacrifice and the sprinkling of the blood as well as for the due performance of the door-keeping. At the dedication of a priest these ceremonies lasted for seven days, but the chief import of the ritual was to denote the future priest himself as a sacrifice offered to Jehovah.

Only those might be dedicated who were free from any bodily blemish. "A blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crook-backt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken shall not come nigh to offer the offering of the Lord made by fire."[375]

No priest was to make baldness on his head or shave off the corners of his beard, or make any cuttings in his flesh;[376] before the sacrifice he might not take wine or any intoxicating drink; he was required to devote himself to especial purity and cleanliness, and observe in a stricter degree the laws concerning food; he might not marry a widow or a woman divorced from her husband, still less a harlot; he was to avoid most carefully any contact with a corpse: only in the case of his nearest relatives was this defilement allowed. The clothing of the priests was definitely prescribed. He must wear a robe of white linen (byssus), woven in one piece; and this robe was held together by a girdle of three colours, red, blue and white. The priest also wore a band of white linen round his head, and trousers of white linen in order that he might not discover his nakedness when he ascended the steps of the altar.[377]

The foremost place among the consecrated priests was occupied by the high priest. He alone had the right to enter the inner s.p.a.ce of the sanctuary, the cell in which stood the ark of the covenant--the other priests could enter the outer s.p.a.ce only; he alone could offer sacrifice in the name of the whole people, he alone could announce the will and oracle of Jehovah, and consecrate the priests. The ritual for the high priest was most strict. In the belief of the Hebrews the most accurate knowledge and the most careful circ.u.mspection was needed in order to offer an effective sacrifice and avoid arousing the anger of Jehovah by some omission in the rite, and if the law required of all priests that they should devote themselves to especial purity and holiness, this demand was made with peculiar severity upon the high priest. He might marry only with a pure virgin of the stock of his kindred; he must keep himself so far from all defilement that he might not touch the corpse even of his father and his mother; he might not, on any occasion, rend his garments in sorrow. The distinguis.h.i.+ng garb of the high priest was a robe of blue linen, which on the edge was adorned with pomegranates and bells; the bells were intended, as the law says, to announce the coming of the priest to the G.o.d who dwelt in the shrine of the temple, that the priest might not die.[378] Over this robe the high priest wore a short wrapper, the so-called ephod or shoulder-garment, and on his breast in front the tablet with the holy Urim and Thummim, by means of which he inquired of Jehovah, if the king or any one from the people asked for an oracle. The other priests also, at least in more ancient times, wore the ephod with the Urim and Thummim; but the ephod of the high priest was fastened on the shoulders by two precious stones, and the front side of his breastplate was made of twelve precious stones set in gold, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes. The head-band of the high priest was distinguished from that of the other priests by a plate of gold bearing the inscription, "Holy is Jehovah;"

he might not even uncover his head.[379]

The mode of wors.h.i.+p was regulated by the law in a systematic manner.

Beside the Sabbath, on keeping which the law laid special stress, and regarded it as a symbol of the relation of Israel to Jehovah, the Israelites celebrated feasts at the new moon and the full moon,[380] and held three great national festivals in the year. These festivals marked in the first instance certain divisions of the natural year. Yet the first, the festival of spring, had from ancient times a peculiar religious significance. It has been remarked above that at the spring festival not only were the firstlings of the harvest, the first ears of corn, offered to the tribal G.o.d, but that also, as at the beginning of a new season of fertility, a sin offering, the vicarious sacrifice of a lamb, was made for the first-born which were not offered. The spring festival was also the festival of the sparing of the first-born, the Pa.s.sah or pa.s.sover of Jehovah (I. 414). The priestly ordinance, which sought to give a definite historical cause for the customs of the festival, and to mark the favours which Jehovah had granted to his people, connects the old usages of this festival with the exodus from Egypt, and we have already seen how from this point of view old ceremonies of this festival were transformed, and new ones were added (I. 445). As the spring festival was kept in the first month of the Hebrew year, Nisan (March-April) (it began on the evening of the day after the new moon, at the rise of the full moon, when the sun is in the Ram), the exodus from Egypt was supposed to have taken place on the morning which followed this night. The Pa.s.sah continued for seven days, in which, from the morning of the second day to the evening of the seventh, only unleavened bread could be eaten, i.e. the firstlings of the corn in their original form, and no business could be carried on. On each of the seven days of the feast, according to the law, two young bulls, a ram and seven yearling lambs were offered as a burnt offering for Israel in the temple, and besides these a goat, as a sin offering.

The neglect of the festival, the eating of leavened bread on any of the days, was threatened by the law with extirpation from the community.[381] As the greater number of the tribes attained to a settled life and agriculture, the feast of the ripe fruits or harvest naturally rose to importance beside this festival of the earliest fruits. Seven full weeks after the commencement of the Pa.s.sah, or six weeks after the end of it, the feast of new bread was celebrated. The sheaves were brought, the corn trodden out, the first new meal prepared. According to the law, each house in Israel, _i.e._, no doubt, each which possessed land and flocks, had to bring two leavened firstling loaves of new wheaten meal and two yearling lambs as a thank offering. Before these were offered no one could eat bread made from the new corn.[382] The festival of autumn, which took place in the seventh month of the Hebrew year (September--October), from the fourteenth to the twenty-first day of the month, was merrier and of longer duration.

It was the festival of the completion of the in-gathering, and of the vintage, and consequently can hardly go back beyond the time of the settlement in Canaan.[383] It was customary to erect arbours of palm leaves, willows, and oak branches, as was indeed necessary at a time when men were occupied in remote orchards and vineyards, and in these the feast was kept, unless it was preferred to keep it at some important place of sacrifice, in order to offer the thank offering there,[384] and in this case those who came to the feast also pa.s.sed the day in tents or arbours. Like the feast of spring, the feast of tabernacles continued for seven days. According to the law, Israel was to offer 70 bulls, 14 rams, and seven times 14 lambs at this festival as a burnt offering. To this feast also a historical meaning was given; the tabernacles were erected to remind Israel of the fact that he had once dwelt in tents in the wilderness.