Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Donald Vance <donaldrvance AT mac.com>]

It seems to me that Psalm 110 comes into play here as well, since it 
specifies a non-Aaronic priesthood as having YHWH's approval. Interesting 
stuff. 

Sent from my iPad
Donald R. Vance
dvance AT oru.edu
donaldrvance AT mac.com

On Sep 16, 2011, at 8:34 AM, Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il> wrote:

> While it is true that according to the Priestly lay in the Pentateuch only 
> Levites descended from Aaron can be priests, this does not seem to have 
> been the historical reality of the pre-exilic period. Nowhere is there a 
> genealogy that ties Eli to Aaron, and Zadok, who becomes priest in 
> Jerusalem in David's day and is favored over Abiathar by Solomon, is only 
> listed as a Levitical Aaronide in the post-exilic books of Ezra and 
> Chronicles (and implicitly by Ezekiel as well). And of course, there is 2 
> Samuel 8:18, but even more so Ex. 19:22, in which "the priests who approach 
> the Lord" are told to sanctify themselves in preparation for the Mount 
> Sinai revelation, whereas Aaron and his sons are only told that they are 
> going to be appointed as priests in chapter 28. So what priests? 
> 
> There are several possible approaches, not all mutually exclusive. One is 
> to assume that "Kohen" has a wider semantic range than "priest", and can 
> also be used for "official", "elder" or "leader". This is certainly true in 
> modern Hebrew, in which while a Jewish "Kohen" is always a descendent of 
> Aaron, non-Jewish clergy are often referred to by the same term (although 
> there are specific terms for specific religions as well), but the term 
> "Kehunah" and the verb "lekhahen" mean "to hold office", for secular 
> officials as well. 
> 
> Another approach is to assume that while Mosaic Law proscribes that only 
> Aaronide Levites can be priests, many non-Aronides "usurped" the position. 
> For example, since Jeroboam I expelled the Levites from his kingdom, all 
> northern priest must have been non-Aaronides. Eli and Zadok "must have 
> been" Aaronides, even if the text does not mention the fact. Of course then 
> one would ask why the book of Samuel has no negative comment about David 
> making his sons priests. And a third approach is that the Mosaic Law was 
> actually written in the post-exilic period, when all Jewish priests were 
> considered to be Aaronides. This, of course, depends on one's general 
> approach to critical scholarship, which we will not discuss here. 
> 
> I'm not sure exactly what "David's sons were priests" means. The preceding 
> 3 verses list David's chief officials, and the list is very specific and 
> personal: Joab was over the army, Jehoshaphat was the recorder, Zadok and 
> Ahimelech were Priests, Seraiah was the scribe, Benaiah was over the 
> Cheretites and Peletites. And then, "David's sons were priests". Which 
> sons? All of them? Permanently? Once? There's a lot the text does not tell 
> us.
> 
> 
> As has been pointed out, in the 2 Chron. 18:17 parallel version, David's 
> sons were "first at the hand of the king". The post-exilic Chronicler 
> simply could not imagine that David's sons were actually priests, so he 
> "reinterpreted" the text. 
> 
> 
> Yigal Levin
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of K Randolph
> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 9:32 PM
> To: B-Hebrew
> Subject: [b-hebrew] 2 Samuel 8:18 “khmym”
> 
> B-Hebrew haburim:
> 
> This phrase, ובני דוד כהנים היו has always puzzled me. At first blush, it
> looks as if it is saying that David’s sons became priests. The problem is
> that in Israel’s religion, only the descendants of Aaron may become priests,
> so on the surface that seems to be an unlikely reading.
> 
> Possible resolutions:
> 
> כהנים had a broader meaning than just priest as we understand it, the
> position taken by the LXX which translated it as αυλαρχαι or palace
> officials.
> 
> Another possibility is copyist error.
> 
> Any other ideas?
> 
> What do you all think?
> 
> Karl W. Randolph.
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