Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

50 S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76
The opposite is true in the other books of the same period. כהן גדול is found
five times in Haggai, three times in Zechariah and three times in Ezr.-Neh.80
These last are indeed found in Nehemiah’s memoirs but yet the redactor has
not altered them. כהן הראש is mentioned once in Ezr.-Neh., at least at first
sight. In Ezr. vii 1ff. the text runs as follows: “Now after this in the reign of
Ar-ta-xerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of . . . Phinehas, son
of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest—this Ezra . . .” etc. The Hebrew text
is אהרן הכהן הראש“‏ ‏.”בן It seems that the RSV has wrongly understood the
words כהן הראש as a fixed title for Aaron. What it really means is: “The son of
Aaron the first priest”. It has nothing to do with the priest’s rank.81 We might
ask whether the expression כהן הראש originated here and then crystallized
into a fixed term.
כהן and prefers כהן גדול In conclusion: The Chr. deliberately avoids the title
which is a characteristic trait of his style. In Ezr.-Neh., as well as in other ‏,הראש
books of the same period, כהן גדול alone is used. When כהן הראש is mentioned
once, in Ezr.-Neh., it is not a title and its meaning is different.82
מחלקת־)משמרת(‏ .3
According to the Chr.’s view the people of Israel were organised into smaller
administrative units. The schematic organization was established by David
and it included both the people and the different classes of the cult personnel.83
The term used to designate the single unit is division.84‎‏—מחלקת
80) Haggai i 1, 12, 14; ii 2, 4; Zach. iii 1, 8; vi 11; Neh. iii 1, 20; xiii 28.
81) So Batten, Ezra and Nehemia, p. 304 and others. In Hebrew the meaning “first” or “beginning”
for ראש is quite frequent, cf. Exod. xii 2, and others. Although it is here a question of interpretation,
it is worthwhile comparing the various versions of the Septuagint. 1 Esd. viii 2 renders: τοῦ
πρώτου ἱερέως. Since the usual translation of כהן הראש in 1 Esd. is ἀρχιέρευς (ix 39, 40, 49) the
deviating use of πρῶτος in this verse is not without significance. The version of Ezr. in Vaticanus
is: ὑιοῦ Ααρον τοῦ ἱερέως τοῦ πατρώου. If πατρώου is not a mere textual error for πρώτου it should be
translated as “the priest of the fathers”.
82) An interesting aspect, which is outside this present study, is the various stages through which
כהן became dominant in the Rabbinic literature, while הכהן הגדול passed. these terms have
4, was taken over by the sect of the Judean desert. Cf. The War of the Sons of Light, ii 1, xv הראש
xvi 11, xviii 5.
83) In the schematic picture drawn by the Chr. three main elements can be traced: I. An historical
nucleus from the first Temple, such as the division of the land into twelve tax districts. II. Orders
of the Second Temple, such as the ramified organisations of cult personnel, even if we admit to
some historical nucleus even here. III. Unrealistic elements which issue from the Chr.’s inclination
to schematisation and to exaggerated numbers.
84) The word is found in the O.T. 42 times, and only 6 in addition to Chr. The other instances are:
Jos. xi 23; xii 7; xviii 10; Ez. xlviii 29; Neh. xi 36, once more in the Aramaic portion, Ezr. vi 18.