The warrant for demoting one group and promoting another was apparently inspired by the people's apostasy and punishment in Numbers 25. Phineas, of the line of Aaron, killed the apostates and it was reckoned "for him and for his descendants after him the pledge of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous on behalf of his God and thus made amends for the Israelites" (Nm 25, 13), A true priest rejects all foreigners in worship. The Levitical priests had been lax in excluding them from preexilic worship (Ez 8-11; 44, 10-14).
No comments:
Post a Comment