Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76 49
consecration of priests and Levites is mentioned the verb הטהר is used exlusively:
Ezr. vi 20;73 Neh. xii 30; xiii 22.74
To sum up: the opposition in the use of these terms is very clear. The special
preparation of the priests and Levites for the ritual acts is designated by
Ezr.-Neh. as ‏,הטהר while התקדש is absent. In Chr. the same act is always called
in Chr. is confined to the cleansing of טהר The use of ‏.הטהר and never התקדש
the temple, the land and the people.
כהן הראש־כהן גדול .2
The object of this section is not a general discussion of these terms and their
development, but only their use in Chr. and Ezr.-Neh.
Of all the titles denominating the High Priest in the O.T.75 the Chr. chooses
the title ‎76‎‏.כהן הראש This expression is found in Chr. six times and very seldom
in the other parts of the O.T.77
Once the Chr. changes the כהן גדול of his sources into ‏;כהן הראש 2 Chr. xxiv 11
(2 Ki. xxii 10). The other instances are: 1 Chr. xxvii 5; 2 Chr. xix 11; xxiv 6;78
xxvi 20; xxxi 10.
The preference for כהן הראש in Chr. becomes more conspicuous when we
compare it to the use of the parallel title כהן גדול ‎79‎‏.כהן גדול is found in the
Chr.’s sources four times. It was shown above that one of these is deliberately
changed into כהן הראש (2 Chr. xxiv 11 // 2 Ki. xxii 10). The other three are dealt
with as follows: in one instance the whole section is missing in Chr. (2 Ki. xxii 4).
In another, the title alone is omitted: 2 Chr. xxxiv 15 (2 Ki. xxii 8).
Only once does the title כהן גדול remain untouched: 2 Chr. xxxiv 9 // 2 Ki.
כהן גדול xxii 4. In the other parts of Chr., not taken from his sources, the term
is never used.
73) Many scholars have commented on the great resemblance of this passage which describes
the Passover of the returned exiles to 2 Chr. xxx (Cf. J. M. Myers, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1965, pp. 53-54;
W. Rudolph, Esra-Nehemia, pp. 61-62). This similarity makes the contrast in the use of the terms
even more prominent.
74) In another passage dealing with a similar matter but presenting the subject more generally:
Neh. xiii 30: “Thus I cleansed them ‏(טהרתים)‏ from everything foreign and I established the duties
of the priests and Levites . . .”.
75) For example: כהן הראש ‏,הכהן ‏,כהן גדול and others. Cf. J. Baily: “The Usage in the Post-Restoration
Period of Terms Descriptive of the Priest and High Priest”; JBL 70, 1951, pp. 217-227.
76) We take for granted that כהן הראש is indeed the title of the High Priest (compare: 2 Ki. xxv 18
with 2 Ki. xxiii 4). This opinion is disputed by I. M. Grintz, op. cit., p. 133.
77) 2 Ki. xxv 18 and its parallel in Jer. lii 24. As to Ezr. vii 5, cf. further above.
78) “The chief ” is no doubt an eliptic phrase for “the chief priest”.
79) Cf. also Baily, op. cit., pp. 220-221.