Its Ceremonials by J. O. Corliss

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 29, 1910

Its Ceremonials

By J. O. Corliss

History of the Jewish Priesthood — No. 5

Its Ceremonials

J. O. CORLISS

Besides the national functions of the Levitical priesthood, there were other duties of a more distinctly religious character, which the priests were supposed to perform. These included ceremonial offerings, which doubtless were designed as object-lessons, to accompany oral teaching regarding moral precepts and the plan of salvation. Deut. 21: 5; 17: 11. This seems evident from the urgent counsel: “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.” Then, as if to encourage effort to obtain these results, the Lord adds: “I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” Ps. 132: 9, 16.

The fact that the priests were collected together in particular cities would tend to show that they were not expected to go to the homes of the people with their message, but that the people were to go for their education to the place where typical demonstrations might be made the basis of the lessons to be taught. Through this means, the priest was a “messenger of the Lord of hosts,” and so was expected to impart knowledge of God, as revealed in his spoken law. Mal. 2: 7.

Having performed all else in behalf of the voluntary worshiper, the last act of the priest was to raise his hand aloft, and pronounce a solemn benediction in these words: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” Num. 6: 24-26. This ceremony was supposed to communicate to the individual that power from God which would keep him pure and true in his life-work. This doubtless was a source of encouragement and joy to the one thus blessed, to lift him over difficulties to be met along the way. So impressive, indeed, was this formula of benediction, that in one form or another it has passed into custom in the Christian church, and no congregation is satisfied unless the minister, with uplifted hand, pronounces upon all the benediction of God’s blessing.

Formality, however, gradually crept into the Jewish priestly services, until, aside from the sacrificial offerings, little if any oral teaching was done. The result was that in the days of King Asa, the house of Israel had been for a long time without a knowledge of the true God, and therefore were ignorant of the moral law, because no “teaching priest” had been among them. 2 Chron. 15: 3.

It was because of this priestly laxness that the Israelites became so excessively exact in their forms of worship without receiving spiritual benefit. To them the tabernacle, and later the temple, were much like great slaughter-houses, where droves of oxen, sheep, and goats crowded the outer enclosures. The altar was there, upon which was poured the blood of victims (Deut. 12: 27), only to trickle its way down through the drains provided for its passage. The arrangements for cooking those parts of the sacrifices claimed by the priests had their fixed positions. Amid such scenes there could be very little to inspire prayer and praise.

But while the apparently mechanical observance of that sacrificial system had no power to convey deep religious thought, yet there lay within it an essential though not entirely obvious meaning. It was designed to be no less than an offering of personal life dedication as well as a symbol of faith in the vicarious death of One yet to come. This seems, at least, apparent from the words of the psalmist: “Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Ps. 51: 16, 17.

All this, however, was in time lost sight of. The work of the priests came to be regarded in the minds of the people as a coarse and altogether human occupation. The work of priest and butcher had become almost identical. The endless routine which required the steady aim and strong arm to give the fatal stroke, and to stand in the blood of sacrificial victims, would naturally nerve one in time to shed the blood of a human enemy. It is therefore not strange that the Levitical priesthood came to have a strong warrior caste. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, fell in battle. 1 Sam. 4: 17. Zadok the priest (2 Sam. 8: 17) was a young man “mighty of valor” in David’s army. 1 Chron. 12: 28. Benaiah, captain of the king’s guard in David’s reign, and captain of the host under Solomon, was a priest. 1 Chron. 11: 23, 24; 27: 5.

To the chief or high priest alone was given the power of oracular response to inquiries in times of great emergency. These answers of the high priest did not depend on his moral standing. They seem to have been conveyed more particularly by the outer vestments he wore, as the breastplate of jewels, or the ephod, the priest simply repeating the words thus made known.

The messages thus given were quite in contrast with those delivered through prophets, which were the utterances of the Spirit dwelling within the prophet himself. These were in the individual style of each prophet who spoke, and the message of each was clothed in his own peculiar imagery. Not so with the priestly responses. They were very brief, even laconic, covering hardly more than a bare answer to some question asked. For example, see 1 Sam. 23: 9-12.

The last record of any inquiry through the ephod was about 1056 B. C., under Abiathar, as noted in 1 Sam. 30: 7. He was the last member of the house of Ithamar. The urim and thummim (light and truth) in the breastplate, seem, however, to have been available as an oracle to a later date. At least the people of Ezra’s generation appear to have understood its nature and importance. In the reorganization of the priesthood, after the return from Babylon, some descendants of the early priests presented themselves for recognition, to find their places in the courses, but their names were not to be found in the preserved genealogy. The decision was then rendered by the governor that these could not be permitted to eat of the holy things until a priest should stand up with the aforesaid urim and thummim. Ezra 2: 63; Neh. 7: 65.

This reference indicates that the speaker understood the oracular power of this jeweled breastplate as something not long departed. Yet there is no record that any high priest possessed it after the captivity. One high priest, however, did venture a prediction, which seemed quite like inspiration, so terrible was its consequences upon the future history of the Jewish nation, and of the whole world. John 11: 49-51.

*Mountain View, Cal.