Priests of the Bible (2)

In my earlier Priests of the Bible article, posted 06 March 2023 (see here), I wrote: “My big writing project at the moment is researching and writing my next book: “Kings and Priests of the Bible”, a sequel to my book “Prophets of the Bible”. I want here to consider Priests”. I included in this a list of 16 significant priests of the Bible, and announced I intended writing on each one. I have just finished doing so and again provide the list but now with the ability to click on the link to each of the articles:

1. Melchizedek
2. Aaron
3. Nadab
4. Eleazar
5. Phinehas
6. Eli
7. Abiathar
8. Zadok
9. Jehoiada
10. Azariah
11. Hilkiah
12. Joshua
13. Eliashib 
14. Ezra
15. Zacharias
16. Caiaphas

Since writing on our 16 named priests, I have revised my plans. I have come to realise that to give true justice to a project like “Kings and Priests of the Bible” would be a mammoth undertaking, particularly in the case of kings, when there is so many of them and so much that could be said. Experience has taught me that when trying to complete an ambitious project that requires a considerable amount of effort, the wise approach is to tackle it in stages, and that is why over the past two years, besides my recent efforts on priests, I have posted on several individual kings, most recently my David 10-parter series With priests, I can now see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, so my change in plan is to produce a book titled “Priests of the Bible” and follow this up with “Kings of the Bible”, where I intend to cover all the kings of Israel and Judah, and many more besides, referred to in the Bible.

Besides including the essence of what I have written regarding the 16 afore-mentioned priests, in my forthcoming Priests of the Bible book, there is an obvious need for more material in order to ensure completeness. What I propose to do over the next couple of months is the requisite research, which constitutes a potentially never-ending exercise that requires meticulous Bible investigation, and from documents of antiquity, reading / watching those who have something helpful to say on the subject and whatever related research that ought to be undertaken to get as near as is practicable complete picture, and then posting my findings in my blogs. What is needed then is to bring together what is looking like 32 blog posts and, with the aid of proof readers, type setters and publishers, as with my Prophets of the Bible book, making this available in a similar fashion. There will be obvious and inevitable tinkering to go from blog to book form. This includes removing most of my Internet references, most of the illustrations, some of the anecdotes, and including selected texts (usually and unapologetically from the King James Bible) as well as writing in the third person, since this project is not about me; rather, it is all about Him.

This is what I am planning (watch this space):

1. Introducing the Priests
2. Priests in context
3. Priests from Adam to Moses
4. Moses, the Law and the Covenant
5. The Tabernacle
6. The Aaronic Priesthood
7. The Levites
8. The First Temple
9. The Second Temple
10. Priests after the Old Testament
11. The Third Temple
12. The Priesthood of all believers
13. Priests (ministers, pastors) today
14. Jesus the Great High Priest
15. Prophets of the Bible re-visited
16. Kings of the Bible anticipated