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Priests
Jean-Pierre Ruiz

In the land of Israel, priests were Jewish religious officials who served in the temple in Jerusalem. The priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that kind of priest. The people who first listened to the parables of Jesus would have known about such priests.

Priestly service included duties in four key areas: (1) leading worship, mainly in offering sacrifices and giving blessings; (2) deciding difficult cases that involved inquiries about God’s will; (3) diagnosing and treating ritual impurity and diseases; (4) teaching and judgment, especially about matters of morality and proper worship.

Priests needed to keep the highest standards of ritual cleanliness. They had to avoid contact with anyone or anything that would make them impure and therefore unfit for their sacred duties.

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Religious officials, called priests, were found in many religions during the first century A.D. In the land of Israel, priests were Jewish religious officials who served in the temple in Jerusalem. The priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that kind of priest. The people who first listened to the parables of Jesus would have known about such priests.

Priestly service in Israel included duties in four key areas: (1) leading worship, mainly in offering sacrifices and giving blessings; (2) deciding difficult cases that involved inquiries about God’s will; (3) diagnosing and treating ritual impurity and diseases; (4) teaching and judgment, especially about matters of morality and proper worship.

Entry into the priesthood was a matter of family descent. According to the book of Deuteronomy, only members of the tribe of Levi could become priests. They were experts in matters of Israel’s sacred traditions. Priests served as teachers and as judges in matters about the religious life of the Jewish community. In public worship, priests came into close and regular contact with God. They were specially appointed to offer sacrifices for the people. Priests offered petitions and requests to God, and answered the people’s questions in the name of God.

Priestly service was considered a privilege because it involved leadership in Israel’s worship. Priests had access to areas of the temple where most people were not allowed. It was also viewed as a benefit because the priests received portions of meat from the animals offered in sacrifice there. Priests slaughtered and offered these sacrificial animals at the altar. Also, they recited prayers, sang hymns, read portions of the Bible, and burned fragrant incense. They were assisted by the Levites in doing these tasks.

Exodus 28 describes the distinctive clothing that priests were required to wear while acting out their temple duties. They wore a cap or turban, a shirt or tunic, a sash around their waists, and shorts or loincloths. Priests needed to keep the highest standards of ritual cleanliness. They had to avoid contact with anyone or anything that would make them impure and therefore unfit for their sacred duties. For example, we read in Leviticus 21.1—3 that "No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister living in his house."

Many ancient rules of conduct are still observed today. For example, in Israel a main road between Jerusalem and Jericho now passes over a section of a cemetery. Modern road signs also indicate an alternate route. This way, priests can travel without the risk of contact with a corpse that traveling through the cemetery would involve.

The New Testament never uses the word "priest" to refer to the leaders of the earliest Christian communities. Jesus and his earliest followers were themselves members of the Jewish community. Therefore, they held the temple in reverence and respected the priests that served there. Many Christian churches today use the word "priest" to designate their leaders who preside over the church’s official worship.

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Religious officials designated as priests were found in many of the religions practiced by people who lived in the part of the world where the writings of the New Testament took shape during the first century A.D. Generally speaking, such priests (Hebrew kohen, Greek hiereus, Latin sacerdos) were cultic professionals who officiated in the service of a particular god or goddess at a particular shrine dedicated to that god or goddess. In the land of Israel at the time of Jesus, priests were Jewish religious officials who served in the temple in Jerusalem. The priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that kind of priest, and the people who first listened to the parables of Jesus would have been familiar with such priests.

The Jewish heritage of Jesus and of his earliest followers helps us to understand why the New Testament never uses the word "priest" to refer to those who held leadership positions in the earliest Christian communities. The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles give evidence that Jesus himself and his earliest followers were Jewish, and the temple was a key feature in their religious observance. Because of their reverence towards the temple, they respected the priesthood that served there. It was only later that the word "priest" was used by Christians to designate the leaders who officiated at their worship services.

Priestly service in Israel included responsibilities in four key areas: (1) leadership in worship, mainly connected with the offering of sacrifices and with the bestowal of blessings; (2) making decisions in difficult cases that involved inquiries about God’s will; (3) diagnosis and treatment of ritual impurity and diseases; (4) teaching and judgment, especially with regard to matters of morality and proper worship. Entry into priestly service in Israel was exclusively a matter of family descent. According to the book of Deuteronomy, the priesthood was an office reserved to members of the tribe of Levi. In Deuteronomy 10.8–9 we read: "The LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance with his kindred; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God promised him." While other tribes who were descendants of Jacob’s sons received an inheritance of land, the descendants of Jacob’s son Levi received the office of the priesthood. Because they had no land, the descendants of Levi received a tithe, an offering of ten percent of the fruits of the harvest and of the flocks, to provide for their material needs.

The Jewish priesthood in the first century A.D. shows evidence of a long development. Early in Israel’s history there were no professional priests. The male head of the family was mainly responsible for offering sacrifices to God on behalf of the family. Once the Israelites became settled in the land of Canaan, they established local sanctuaries or holy places throughout the land, as the Canaanites themselves had done earlier, and these shrines were entrusted to the care of priests. While sacrifices offered outside these shrines did not require the expert involvement of a priest, sacrifices offered at a shrine were conducted by the priest of that place.

Important changes in the institution of the priesthood took place with the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. When King David made Jerusalem his capital city ( 2 Sam 6), he brought the ark of the covenant there. The ark, which was an ornate chest containing the stone tablets of the commandments, continued to be under the watchful custody of priests, as it had been since the days of Israel’s journeying in the wilderness. The installation of the ark of the covenant was a key move toward making Jerusalem the religious center as well as the political center of David’s kingdom. When David’s son Solomon succeeded to the throne, he built a temple to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the ark was placed there. The construction of the temple heightened the religious prominence of Jerusalem, and its status as a royal shrine increased the prestige and influence of the priests who ministered there. Close to the sources of political power, the priests in Jerusalem enjoyed greater influence and consequently higher prestige than the priests outside of Jerusalem who continued to perform their duties in their own localities.

When religious consolidation accompanied political centralization under the monarchy, the temple in Jerusalem increasingly became the exclusive focus of Israel’s official worship. During the religious reforms undertaken by King Josiah, who reigned from 639 to 609 B.C., the outlying holy places and shrines were demolished and some of their priests were brought in to serve the ritual needs of the Jerusalem temple. However, these priests who had served at the shrines in the surrounding countryside were only allowed to perform secondary functions in the temple, serving as assistants to the priests who were already established in Jerusalem. Although they may actually have been members of the priestly tribe of Levi, these lower-ranking clergy were no longer allowed to officiate at the altar by offering sacrifices to God there. It is likely that this tension between Jerusalem priests and clergy from outside the city led to a two-tiered distinction of the temple personnel into priests and Levites, with priests granted higher status and greater responsibility than Levites.

In 586/587 B.C. the city of Jerusalem fell to the invading Babylonians. The temple there was destroyed and many residents of the city, including priests and Levites, were deported to Babylon. Seventy years later, when the exiles were permitted to return and when the temple was eventually rebuilt, the priesthood acquired important political and administrative functions in addition to its more specifically religious functions.

Focusing on the religious functions, we find that priests were called upon to serve as teachers and as judges in matters pertaining to the religious life of the Jewish community because they were among the experts in matters of Israel’s sacred traditions. In public worship, priests came into close and regular contact with God because of their position as officials specially designated to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. For that reason they were often called upon to offer petitions and requests to God on behalf of the people, and to answer the people’s questions in the name of the God whom they served.

Exodus 28 describes the distinctive clothing that priests were required to wear while performing their temple duties: a cap or turban, a shirt or tunic, a sash around their waists, and shorts or loincloths. Other descriptions of the priestly vesture are found in Leviticus 8 and 16. During the performance of their duties in the temple, the priests wore distinctive clothing made from valuable materials and adorned with gold and colorfully dyed yarns. This helped to mark the temple as a place set apart from ordinary space, and the priestly activities that took place there as extraordinary, above and beyond the routines of ordinary living. Because of the importance of their office, priests were also subject to stringent rules of conduct and to restrictions that did not apply to the general public. They were required to maintain the highest standards of ritual cleanliness, avoiding contact with anyone or anything that would make them impure and therefore unfit to perform their sacred duties. For example, we read in Leviticus 21.1–3 that "No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister living in his house."

In Leviticus 10.10–11 we read these instructions addressed to priests: "You must distinguish what belongs to God and what is for general use, between what is ritually clean and what is unclean. You must teach the people of Israel all the laws which I have given you through Moses." Because of their familiarity with religious laws concerning their own ritual cleanliness, priests were called upon to supervise the purification rites for others who had become unclean. These rituals included sprinkling with water, bathing, the washing of clothes, waiting for a specified period of time before returning to the routines of everyday life, and the offering of purification sacrifices. Because of their professional concern for maintaining purity, it was the responsibility of priests to diagnose skin diseases and other ailments. Individuals with these ailments were isolated from the rest of the community until they regained their health, for fear that their contagion would spread to others.

In a letter written by a Jew named Aristeas perhaps one hundred years before the time of Jesus, we get a glimpse (perhaps somewhat idealized) of the hard day-to-day work performed by priests in the temple. Aristeas writes,

The ministration of priests is in every way unsurpassed both for its physical endurance and for its orderly and silent service. For they all work spontaneously, though it entails much painful exertion, and each one has a special task allotted to him. The service is carried on without interruption—some provide the wood, others the oil, others the fine wheat flour, others the spices; others again bring the pieces of meat for the burnt offering, exhibiting a wonderful degree of strength. For they take up with both hands the limbs of a calf, each of them weighing more than two talents (175 pounds), and throw them with each hand in a wonderful way on to the high place (of the altar) and never miss placing them on the proper spot. In the same way the pieces of the sheep and also of the goats are wonderful both for their weight and their fatness…There is a special place set apart for (the priests) to rest in, where those who are relieved from duty sit…Everything is carried out with reverence and in a way worthy of the great God."

Because there were many more priests in Israel than could serve at the temple at any one time, priests served in a regular rotation of service in the temple. For example, the Gospel of Luke tells us about the priest Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist: "One day Zechariah’s group of priests were on duty, and he was serving God as a priest. According to the custom of the priests, he had been chosen to go into the Lord’s temple that day and to burn incense, while the people stood outside praying" (Luke 1.8–10 [CEV]). This priestly service was considered a privilege because it involved leadership in Israel’s worship of God and access to areas of the temple restricted to priests alone. It was also considered a benefit because the priests on duty in the temple were provided with portions of meat from the animals offered in sacrifice there. In addition to their work of slaughtering and offering these sacrificial animals at the altar, the work of priests in the temple also included the recitation of prayers, the singing of hymns, the reading of portions of the Bible, and the burning of fragrant incense. They were assisted by the Levites in performing these tasks.

What might the priest’s daily routine in the temple have been? Some priests spent the night in the temple area. Rising before sunrise, they bathed and then decided how the daily duties would be divided among them. One priest cleaned the altar, where the previous evening’s sacrifice had been left burning. New wood was brought to the altar, where the fire was lit from the embers left over from the previous day’s fire. That fire served to complete the burning of whatever pieces might have remained unburned from the previous day’s sacrifices. Another fire was started for the offering of incense, which was burned on the altar of incense. When the dawn was announced, a lamb was brought in to be ritually slaughtered. After offering incense, the priests gathered to recite a prayer of blessing. Then they placed portions of the lamb just slaughtered in the sacrificial fire on the altar. An offering of wine was poured out by the priests, and then grain was also burned in the flames. During all of this, the Levites sang a psalm and clanged cymbals. As the night watch of priests were conducting this service, the new watch of priests arrived, and this shift would conduct the business of the day. After the morning sacrifice, the temple was open to anyone—residents of Jerusalem, pilgrims, and other visitors—who wished to present offerings for sacrifice there. These sacrifices continued until midafternoon, at which time the afternoon offering took place to the accompaniment of prayers, readings from the Bible, and the burning of incense. Busy as they were with temple ceremonies on ordinary days like this, the priests were even busier during religious festivals when pilgrims would flock to Jerusalem to worship and present their sacrificial offerings. For example, at Passover all the priests in Jerusalem were on duty, working in shifts to accommodate the needs of the visitors and pilgrims who came to Jerusalem to celebrate that religious festival.

The destruction of the temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 may have brought an end to the animal sacrifices that took place only there, but by no means did it bring an end to Judaism itself or to the living traditions of the Jewish faith. On the contrary, the destruction of the temple stimulated processes of growth that combined adaptation to changing circumstances with fidelity to Israel’s ancient traditions. In this direction, a number of the rules of conduct applying to priests are still observed by many Jewish people today. Here is one example of the way in which the prohibition against contact with the dead continues to be followed: because a main road between Jerusalem and Jericho was built over a section of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, modern road signs have been posted to indicate an alternate route that priests can travel without the risk of contact with a corpse that traveling through the cemetery would involve.

Among orthodox Jews and some conservative Jews today, priests also retain many of their traditional rights and privileges. The privileges include the right of being the first to be called upon for the reading of the Torah (the Levites are called on second) as well as the privilege of invoking the priestly blessing on the assembly and the privilege of the redemption of the first born. Like the regulations that apply specifically to priests, the respect accorded to priests, as concretely evidenced in these privileges, is a recognition of the honor that befits their distinctive status. The priestly blessing, in which the priest invokes God’s name on the people, is found in Numbers 6.24–26: "May the LORD bless you and take care of you; may the LORD be kind and gracious to you; may the LORD look on you with favor and give you peace." Exodus 13 explains the dedication of the first born to God: "In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, ‘By using great power the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves. When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the LORD killed every first-born male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every first-born male animal to the LORD, but buy back our first-born sons.’" This dedication of the first born symbolizes Israel’s total belonging to God as well as the permanence of Israel’s privileged relationship with God. By claiming the first born, God claims each new generation. The practice of "buying back" the first-born son involves presenting a substitute offering (generally a sum of money given to a charity or to a synagogue congregation). The substitute offering, then, symbolizes God’s abiding claim on the first born.

Many Christian churches today use the word "priest" to designate leaders whose role includes presiding over the church’s official worship. In the New Testament book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse, we read: "Jesus…loves us, and by his death he has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father" ( Rev 1.5b–6). This passage recalls Exodus 19.5–6, where God enters into covenant with Israel: "Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests." When Christians see the echoes of this text in the Apocalypse, they see an indication of their own responsibility to keep the covenant, a responsibility that is expressed in terms of attentive priestly service. In the New Testament document called the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus himself is presented as the high priest of a new covenant, who offers to God the sacrifice of his own life. Christian churches that designate leaders as "priests" combine the book of Revelation’s presentation of the faithful priestly worship for which all believers are responsible with the role of the priest as someone who serves God and the church in the name of Jesus.