Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Priest

The Hebrew name for a priest is Cohen (כהן ) throughout the O.T., with the exception of three passages, where a word derived from Camar (כמר ), which means to make hot or black, is used, namely, 2 Kings 23:5, Hosea 10:5, and Zephaniah 1:4 in these passages idolatrous priests are referred to.

The original meaning of the word Cohen is lost in obscurity in 1 Kings 4:5 the A. V. renders it 'principal officer' (compare the marginal rendering of verse 2); in 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 20:26 it has been rendered 'chief ruler' (margin, 'princes'). David's own sons were thus designated, but it seems impossible now to decide what duties were involved under this name in Job 12:19 it is rendered 'princes.' Possibly the usage of the word in the passages now quoted is a remnant of its original signification, at a time when one man combined in Himself the priestly and the kingly office.

The Greek ἱερεὺς and the Latin sacerdosare far better (because more indefinite) renderings of Cohen than either the French 'sacrificateur' or the English 'priest,' which last confuses two things kept carefully distinct, both in the O.T. and N.T. The verb Cahan, 'to minister in the priest's office,' is used several times in Scripture in one passage it is rendered to 'deck;' the bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, as the priest clothes himself with his special robes of office (Isaiah 61:10). The LXX is very uniform in the use of ἱερεὺς for the noun and ἱερατεύειν for the verb Only once is λειτουργει̂ν, to minister, used for it, namely, in 2 Chronicles 11:14.

The word Cohen is not confined as a title to the priests of the Levitical order. It is applied to Melchizedek, to Potipherah (Genesis 41:45), to the priests of Midian (Exodus 3:1), and to the priests who conducted idolatrous worship. Moses is included among God's priests in Psalms 99:6.

The verb ἱερατεύω is only used once in the N.T., namely, where Zachari as is described as 'executing the priest's office' (Luke 1:8) in the following verse ἱερατεία is found, and it occurs again in Hebrews 7:5 in 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9, we meet with ἱεράτευμαwhich is used of Christians, regarded as a holy priesthood, and also as a royal priesthood, the last expression being an adaptation of the title given (conditionally) to Israel in Exodus 19:6, where the words 'kingdom of priests' are rendered 'royal priesthood' in the LXX. Compare Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:6. The word ἱερουργει̂ν, not ἱερατεύειν, is used in Romans 15:16, and means the performance of sacred duties, not necessarily the exercise of sacerdotal functions.

It is remarkable that the word ἱερεὺς occurs nowhere through the whole range of the Epistles, except in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the contrast between Christ's priestly work and that of Aar on is drawn out. If the ministry of the Christian Church were intended to occupy a position at all analogous to that of the Levitical priesthood, can it be doubted that the Epistle to the Hebrews would have contained some notification of the fact? But the minister is comparatively kept out of sight (except where matters of order were concerned), and attention is concentrated on One who cannot be seen with the outward eye, but who is our one and only High Priest, acting in our interests 'with in the veil.' Sacerdotal terms were freely used of the ministry in the next ages of the Church. this is not to be wondered at when we remember that to Greeks and Romans sacerdotalism was almost identified with religion. Their usage does not imply that they saw any real analogy between the Jewish and the Christian ministry, though it does imply that the latter took the place of the heathen priesthood.