Tribe of Judah and priests

[Clive]

What tribe do high priests come from?

[DCHindley]

What tribe do high priests come from?

Theoretically, any family of priests descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, from the tribe of Levi, can be the high priest. In Judahite literature, King David supposedly chose a certain Zadok to be high priest, and for many years the HP was from this family line. That changed after the time of Seleucid king Demetrius, who appointed Jonathan as HP, and at the Feast of Tabernacles of the Seleucid year 160, in the autumn of B.C. 153, he put on the sacred vestments (ohhh, I'm getting goose bumps). Jonathan was of the family Hasmoneus, of priestly descent but not of the family of Zadok.

DCH

[ficino]

Is there any reason besides Hegesippus to think that James the Just was a priest, let alone high priest?

[DCHindley]

Is there any reason besides Hegesippus to think that James the Just was a priest, let alone high priest?

I do not believe so.

DCH

[Clive]

Was King David a Levite? Was Jesus a Levite? Where does Melchizedek fit?

[Charles Wilson]

1 Chronicles 24: 1 - 19 (RSV):

[1] The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abi'hu, Elea'zar, and Ith'amar.
[2] But Nadab and Abi'hu died before their father, and had no children, so Elea'zar and Ith'amar became the priests.
[3] With the help of Zadok of the sons of Elea'zar, and Ahim'elech of the sons of Ith'amar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service.
[4] Since more chief men were found among the sons of Elea'zar than among the sons of Ith'amar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers' houses of the sons of Elea'zar, and eight of the sons of Ith'amar.
[5] They organized them by lot, all alike, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both the sons of Elea'zar and the sons of Ith'amar.
[6] And the scribe Shemai'ah the son of Nethan'el, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahim'elech the son of Abi'athar, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and of the Levites; one father's house being chosen for Elea'zar and one chosen for Ith'amar.
[7] The first lot fell to Jehoi'arib, the second to Jedai'ah,
[8] the third to Harim, the fourth to Se-o'rim,
[9] the fifth to Malchi'jah, the sixth to Mij'amin,
[10] the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abi'jah,
[11] the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecani'ah,
[12] the eleventh to Eli'ashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
[13] the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jesheb'e-ab,
[14] the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,
[15] the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Hap'pizzez,
[16] the nineteenth to Pethahi'ah, the twentieth to Jehez'kel,
[17] the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,
[18] the twenty-third to Delai'ah, the twenty-fourth to Ma-azi'ah.
[19] These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.

The old Pre-Destinated, Hard Shell Baptists would joke - as far as they would joke about anything - about memorizing the Bible: "Includin' all them "Begats..."?"
Here's a stream of names in the same vein as the "Begats" and yet it is still important to see what is going on. The Priesthood runs through these 24 Groups. The first 16 are of the House of Eleazar and the order is given here as starting with "Jehoiarib".

Guess which Group the Dynastic Hasmoneans place themselves? There are other lists which do not have this order and the Settlement of Jabnit in "Upper Galilee" - occupied by the last member of the House of Eleazar, Immer - believe that the Hasmoneans came from them. Jehoiarib is given in 1 Chronicles 24 as the first Group and they contain the Hasmoneans. Jehoiarib is supposedly on Duty for the Destruction of the First AND Second Temple.

If you don't see the Symbolism here with this, it's not for lack of me a-tryin' to get people to see.

'N Immer is the last of the House of Eleazar, sorta' like the Alpha and Omega kinda' stuff. So David talks about his enemies and footstools and He's talking about the Priesthood he set up in the Houses/Families. 'N the Rank is of "Malachi-Zadok".

Revelation 5: 5 - 6 (RSV) [Again]:

[5] Then one of the elders said to me, "Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."
[6] And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth;

Jehoiarib is Claiming the Line for the Kings, by way of the Dynastic Hasmoneans. After the Passover Slaughter, during the Service of Immer, there is now another important Group, The Lamb, the Bookend for Jehoiarib, First and the Last of Eleazar/Lazarus. Herod's last speech is given and what does he ramble on about? How he had accomplished more during his reign than the Hasmoneans had accomplished in 125 years. "Now why would he go and say all that?..."

Any of this makin' sense? (Stephan, you don't have to answer.)

CW

[Charles Wilson]

Jewish Virtual Library, "Jehoiarib":

JEHOIARIB (Heb. יְהוֹיָרִיב; "YHWH champions the cause," or "YHWH replaces"), the first of the 24 priestly divisions that served at the First Temple (I Chron. 24:7). They are not mentioned among the four major priestly families, who returned from exile and were divided into 24 divisions (as described in Ta'anit 27a–28b) for the purpose of serving at the Second Temple, the families Jedaiah, Immer, Pashhur, and Harim (Ezra 2:36–39; Neh. 7:39–42). In the Book of Nehemiah (12:1–7) 22 or 23 such divisions, including Jehoiarib, are listed (see *Jedaiah). But neither the Jehoiarib nor the Jedaiah-Jeshua houses are mentioned among the families who signed the covenant (amanah). Japhet (429–30) suggests that Jehoiarib is an alternative of Joiarib, who is named as the father of Jedaiah the priest in Nehemiah 11:10. The Hasmoneans descended from the Jehoiarib family, which lived at first in Jerusalem and later, possibly during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, moved to Modi'in (I Macc. 2:1). A later descendant of the family was the historian *Josephus.

[DCHindley]

Was King David a Levite? Was Jesus a Levite? Where does Melchizedek fit?

King David was a member of the tribe of Judah. Judean scriptures speak of him as if he performed some acts reserved to priests but was definitely not a priest of Aaron.

Melchizedek was just king of Salem, and a priest of El Elyon ("God most high"), who brought bread and wine to bless Abram and El Elyon after Abram had defeated king Chedorlaomer, and "he gave him tithe from all." It is tradition that it was Abram who gave a tithe from the booty to Melchizedek as if he were a priest of YHWH. This is well before Moses and the start of the priesthood of Aaron, which was the only "official" priesthood recognized in Judean tradition.

Another people who were regarded as a kind of popular priests were Rechabites. I've heard some suggestions that Rechabites may have married into priestly families but that is speculative.

DCH

[Clive]

So Jesus being a priest is very iffy - why is it claimed then?

[rakovsky]

Was King David a Levite? Was Jesus a Levite? Where does Melchizedek fit?

Good point. Levies were the basic priestly line, but you don't have to be a levity to be some kind of priest. See eg Paul citing Psalms YOU WILL BE A PRIEST IN THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.
Also check Ezekiek where he predicts a future apocalyptic priest king. In Israel, that would sound odd, because it could either mean a levic king or a David priestly nonlevitic king like Jesus was considered.