3o4 TheBO `Prig andhis Office. Thirdly, His work alto was to Judge the people. r. In things concerning the Houle and Wor(hip of God, Zech. 3.7. 2. In hard and difficult cafes, he joyned with the Judge or Ruler, in judging between men according to the Law, Deut. 07. 12. 3. He was always a member of the Sanhedrim. This, I know, is denied by fume of the Jews, but it feems to be warranted from Delft. f7..0. 8, 9, to, II, t2, 13. 9. Being thus appointed in his Office, a Succefon alto therein was deigned, namely, by the ('irft-born Male of the elde(t Family or Branch ofthe Pollerity or Houfe of Aron. But the tracing of this fucceflion in particular, is greatly perplexed, for it is no where direly given us in the Scripture ; for that fpace of time wherein the story ofthe Church is recorded therein. Different names are alto inseveral places given unto the fame perlons, as feems moll probable.. Befides, JFo fephus, who is the only approved. Writer of the Jews in things ofthis nature, is either corrupted in fome palfages on this fubjee, or doth palpably contradiét himfeif. The Poflalmudical Majlers are fo far from yielding any reliefin this matter, that by their jarrings and wranglings they render it more perplexed. Neither have thofe amongst our Writers, who ofold or of late have laboured to trace this Succeffion, been able to agree in theircomputations. Four or five differing Catalogues I could give in, that are contended for with fome earneftnefs. I (hall not therefore hope, inthis briefaccount of things which I am con- fined unto, to give light Unto amatteroffuch intricacy andperplexity. I (hall therefore content my felfto give the molt paffant account among the Jews of this Succeffion in general, with fome few obfervations upon it, and fo elote this difcoorfe. It is generally agreed after Jfofepbur, that the whole number of High prieffs from Aaron inclufively to the deftruhion ofthe fecond Temple, was eighty and three. For though in the Babylonian Talmud, fome of them reckon up aboveeighty Highpriests under thefecond Temple alone, yet the more learned of the later Jews, as the Au- thor of Tzemach David adMillen.4. An. 829. expre(lyprefer the authority of Jtofephus above them all. Of thefe eighty three, thirteen admini(ired before the Lord under theTabernacle, or whilft. the Tabernacle built by Mofes in the Wildernefs, was the facred feat ofdivine worlhip and Ordinances. Ofthefe, the tïrlt was Aaron, the lati Abiathar, who was . put by the Prieffhoodby Solomon, ä little before the building of the Temple. And in thisSucceffion there was butone interruption ; namely, when Eli of the Houfe of Ithamar, theyounger fon ofAaron, was preferred to thePrietthood. It is probable that he had been fecond Nett in else days of his Predeceffor, and was doubtlefsad- mitted unto the Officeupon the reputation of his Holinefs and Wifdom. And it may be that he whore right it was to fucceed ofthe Houle ofPhinear,.was either uncapable, or judged unworthy. In the fir(}, or Solomon's Temple, there adminiffred eighteen High Priefts, whore names are recounted by J o fephus; lib. it. cap. 4. lib. 2o. cap. 9. Ofthese, the fief was Zadock; the lati Jlehozadeckwho was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, I Chron. 6. sg. though 1 queftion whether ever he adminiftredaa High Pried, only hewas left at the defrüdtion of the City and Temple, after the death of his father Seraiah. Nor was there any known interruption in this Series ofSuccefliion, being carried down in a right line from theHoule ofPhineas by Zadock. The remainder of the number beforementioned, ferved under thesecond Temple, being multiplied by the tumults and diforders which the people then fell into. Thehell of themwas Jolhua the fonofJfofedeeh ; the tail one Phineas, or Phananiar, made High Prieft by the feditioús Villains, a little before the laftSiege and deftruhhion ofthe City. And this fuccefon, or that during this feafon, had interruptions many and great. The fiati mentioned by Jlofephus was after the death ofOnias, the fourteenth High Prieft from the building of the Temple, when Antiochos firft put in Joshua, who was called Jahn, the brother of ()Mar, and afterwards difplacing him, thruft in Menelaus into his room. After a while he puts out this Menelaus, and placethone Al- rims, of another Family,in his heed. . After this Alcimus, the FamilyoftheMacbabees, orHafmoneans, tookon them, the office of the High priesthood. Their race -being extirpated byHerod, Ananus a pri- vatePrieft, wasby force and power put into theplaee. , And from -this time forward, to
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