Zadok's Heirs: The Role and Development of the High Priesthood in Ancient Israel (Oxford Theological Monographs) - Softcover

Rooke, Deborah W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199661111 ISBN 13: 9780199661114

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2012

Synopsis

This unique study is the first systematic examination to be undertaken of the high priesthood in ancient Israel, from the earliest local chief priests in the pre-monarchic period down to the Hasmonaean priest-kings in the first century BCE. Deborah Rooke argues that, contrary to received scholarly opinion, the high priesthood was fundamentally a religious office which in and of itself bestowed no civil responsibilities upon its holders, and that not until the time of the Maccabean revolt does the high priest appear as the sole figure of leadership for the nation. However, even the Maccabean / Hasmonaean high priesthood was effectively a reversion to the monarchic model of sacral kingship which had existed several centuries earlier in the pre-exilic period, rather than being an extension of the powers of the high priesthood itself. The idea that high priesthood per se bestowed the power to rule should therefore be reconsidered.

About this title

Product Description

Zadok's Heirs This unique study is the first systematic examination to be undertaken of the high priesthood in ancient Israel, from the earliest local chief priests in the pre-monarchic period down to the Hasmonaean priest-kings in the first century BCE. Full description

Review

Deborah Rooke offers detailed and carefully ordered investigations of a wide range of primary source materials ... Her comprehension of this vast array of writings, her familiarity with the secondary literature about them and the erudition she so often displays make this a truly remarkable book, not least for the amount and quality of the information it has to offer ... This is a book which no student of the Jewish priesthood can afford to ignore. (Robert Hayward, Biblical Interpretation)

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199661111
• ISBN 13: 9780199661114
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 404