Possibly more than the prophetic office and the monarchy, the relation of the priesthood to Israel was the most ancient and essential aspect of the Hebrew people and their covenant with God. Thus any proper understanding of the Israelites necessarily includes an investigation into the role of the priesthood. Unfortunately, this is an extensive and complicated field that many scholars, often disagreeing with each, have written a number of books upon and certainly will continue to do so. While admitting this fact, the present paper will attempt to present the Old Testament Priesthood in it essentials, so to speak, by giving a simple overview of its origins and the basic components which make up this sacred institution.

              The Hebrew word used exclusively in the Old Testament for priest is Kohen (the Greek translates it as Hiereus) even if it refers to a non-Hebrew priest. From the out start, however, we have difficulty in understanding what exactly Kohen means etymologically. Some scholars believe that it comes from a root which means “to bow down” or “do homage.” In that case, the priest would be the one who would bow down before the divinity. However, other scholars see it as coming from a root word meaning to “to be firm.” The priest, then, is the one who stands up before the divinity. Others, such as Fr. Aelred Cody, think that it comes from a root word which meant “abundance” or “to make prosperous” Fittingly, the priest would be one who brings blessings or abundance upon the people. Despite these differing explanations, scholars really don’t know if it is either, any, or a combination of all these meanings which adequately describes the genealogical history of the word. Yet, it is helpful to note these various meanings since they seem to point to some aspect of the priest as he was seen in the Old Testament and even today.    

              Before the Egyptian exile, the Hebrew people didn’t function by means of a special priesthood constituted of a divinely instituted family line. Usually the heads of the Hebrew household would perform what would later come to be recognized as properly priestly functions (i.e. such as the offering of sacrifice). This is easily seen through a mere cursory familiarity with the patriarchs of Israel. After the exile, however, we see that God institutes a new covenant with Moses, and part of that covenant is a special priesthood with restrictions on who is included or can be admitted into that priesthood.        

              How did this institution take place? Exodus 29 records the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. Sometime after this Moses goes up Mt. Sinai to converse with the Lord leaving the people for Aaron to govern. The people become tired of waiting for Moses to return and persuade Aaron to allow for the making of a golden calf to worship. Once the calf is formed the Israelites celebrate and seem to break out into all kinds of immoral revelry. Upon returning, Moses is distressed by the fickleness of his people and cries out: “Who is for Yahweh? To me!” The Bible notes that all the sons of the tribe of Levi come at the beckoning of Moses and, following his orders, they slaughtered about three thousand idolaters and bring the revolt to a halt. Moses applauds the Levites and rewards their zeal by stating that their entire tribe would be the priestly tribe of Israel.

              It is important to note from the preceding that the priesthood was a part of the covenant before Israel’s apostasy. Many scholars believe that before the Israel’s fall there would not have been the priesthood, at least not in the same way it occurred. As we can see by the fact that Aaron and his sons were invested as priests before Israel’s revolt, the priesthood was going to be a part of the covenant in some manner. Therefore, it must have been that while there might have been priests, it would not have been made up of Hebrews exclusively from the family of Levi.

              This brings in the question: who would be considered a Hebrew Priest? Some might think that since Levi was the priestly tribe than all Levites could be rightly considered as priests of the Lord. Such an explanation, however, would be misleading. For, while Moses did consecrate the tribe of Levi to act as the priestly tribe of Israel, not all were allowed to perform the properly priestly functions. Thus there was a kind of hierarchy within the priestly class. The only Levites who could be legitimately called priests would be the direct descendants of Aaron. And from among these priests were chosen the high-priest or the ruling priest who would govern over the other priests. The rest of the Levites then were not priests per se but were assistants to the priests as commanded by Moses.  

              With these distinctions in mind, we will finish this short overview with a description of the duties of the priests. Most scholars divide the duties of the priest into four general areas: Sanctuary, Oracle, Teacher, and Offerer of Sacrifice. Some of these duties apply to all three classes of Levites and others only to one. But despite their differences each of these duties can be seen, as Fr. Roland de Vaux notes, in the light of one single idea: the priest as mediator between God and man.    

              Fr. Roland de Vaux writes that “The priest is chosen and installed for the service of the Sanctuary.” Fr. De Vaux identifies the priestly tribe of Levi was mainly set apart to attend  to the sanctuary of the Lord. This unique task, given to them by the Lord, affected the entire lives of all of the Levites. There was a greater need to be ritually pure: for example, priests were not allowed to drink wine nor could they attend funerals (unless it was a close relative). Moreover, this idea of being set apart for God was also shown in the fact that they received no land, for their inheritance was the Lord. Some of the basic functions of being ministers of the sanctuary included: guarding the sanctuary, looking after the furnishings, and transporting the tabernacle.  

              Another power of the priesthood was that of the communicator of the divine will, or the oracle. Especially in they early history of Israel, priests were sought in order to discover God’s will, and this would apply to all Levites. One of the main ways the priest would seek out the Lord’s will was by the Ephod and the Urim and Thummin. The use of these objects, however, was restricted to the high priest only. The Ephod refers to a number of different things. Two traditions in the Bible speak of the Ephod as a special part of a priest’s clothing while another tradition speaks of it as merely an object used for consulting the Lord. While the two definitions might not necessarily be mutually exclusive it is plain to most scholars that the Ephod contained the Urim and Thummin. No one really seems to know what exactly the Urim and Thummin were—they may have been small stones or sticks. What is clear is that they seemed to work a lot like lots. A person would ask the priest a question and the Urim and the Thummin would be cast to seek out the Lords’ answer. An example of their use can be found in Kings when Saul consults the priest. After the reign of David, however, it seems that the use of the Urim and Thummin slowly disappears. Along with it, but not necessarily related to it, is the exclusivity of the priest as the one who oracles and the rise of the prophet as the Lord’s instrument of choice to communicate His will to Israel.    

              In Deuteronomy, we read that the Levites will “teach thy decisions to Jacob, and thy instructions to Israel.” This refers to the priestly office of teacher in the Hebrew nation which all Levites could participate in. This consisted in interpreting the law of the Lord and teaching it to the people. Usually this teaching office was performed within or around the temple area. One of the main ways the priest-teacher taught was by way of the torah. These were short teachings on particular topics typically about a practical conduct or ritual purity. Yet Fr. de Vaux believes that the priest’s teaching authority was not necessarily limited to interpreting the law or to determining ritual purity. One can see the influence of the priest’s teaching in the very name of the Pentateuch: the Torah. Like the office of oracle, as the priesthood developed the office of teacher slowly expanded to those who were not Levites. By the time of Jesus, the teaching of the law had moved out of the temple into the synagogue and was performed mostly by the rabbis instead of the priests.  

              Finally, the priest was the Offerer of Sacrifice as Deuteronomy notes: “They shall put incense in thy Nostrils, and the sacrifice upon thy altar.”  In some sense, all Levites shared in this ministry, but only in degrees. On the lowest end, the non-priestly Levites would help in administration to the altar by doing basic and practical tasks such as transporting the animal sacrifices, or even slaughtering them. Only the priest, however, could perform those tasks which required some kind of necessary contact with the altar such as the sprinkling of the victim’s blood or offering the incense. Yet there were also tasks which only the high-priest could perform. This included the entering of the Holy of holies and blessing the people by pronouncing the name of Yahweh during the feast of Yam Kippur.