From Blood to Conscience: Sacrifice and Ontological Transformation in the Epistle to the Hebrews

Introduction

The Epistle to the Hebrews stands as one of the most theologically sophisticated and conceptually daring texts of the New Testament. Situated within the religious upheavals of Second Temple Judaism – marked by priestly corruption, sectarian fragmentation and eschatological yearning – it offers a comprehensive reconfiguration of the theology of sacrifice, priesthood and covenantal worship. Far from offering a mere reinterpretation of ritual practices, Hebrews presents a radical theological transformation in which Jesus Christ is simultaneously the ultimate high priest, the perfect sacrifice and the living sanctuary.

This study seeks to address a central question: How does the Epistle to the Hebrews, through its engagement with inherited ritual traditions, prophetic critique and apocalyptic expectations, redefine sacrifice not merely as cultic performance but as an existential, ethical and ecclesial reality centred on the incarnate Christ? More specifically, what conceptual and structural transformations occur in Chapters 7–10 that reframe sacrifice as the ontological and eschatological foundation for post-Temple Christian identity?

This article employs historical-critical, rhetorical-literary, and intertextual methodologies to answer these questions. It argues that Hebrews operates at the confluence of three major traditions: (1) the ritual institutions of the Mosaic Law and the Jerusalem Temple; (2) the prophetic criticism of the empty ritual that had replaced covenantal worship and ethics; and (3) the alternative imagination of sacrifice and priesthood reflected in the Qumran texts, which, while not assumed to directly influence Hebrews, offer a valuable comparative framework for understanding the theological and liturgical crisis of the period. Within this dialogical space, Hebrews constructs a theological architecture in which sacrifice is associated no longer with the blood of animals or sacred geography, but with Christ’s voluntary self-offering – an offering that sanctifies, cleanses the conscience and re-establishes access to God.

The sections that follow will explore the ritual and theological crises of the Second Temple period, examine the rhetorical architecture and conceptual contrasts in Hebrews 7–10, and demonstrate how the Epistle's sacrificial theology undergirds its vision for a new covenantal community. In this light, the Epistle to the Hebrews emerges not simply as a commentary on cultic tradition, but as a theologically generative text that constructs a new ontology of worship rooted in Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Sacrifice in the Second Temple Period: Ritual Structure and Theological Crises

In the context of Second Temple Judaism, the sacrificial system was not merely a liturgical practice but lay at the very centre of Israel’s covenantal identity. The Jerusalem Temple functioned as the ultimate sacred locus where these rites were enacted, and the Levitical priesthood – particularly the office of the high priest – was seen as divinely ordained to mediate between God and his people (Grabbe, 2000, pp. 147–149).

Yet this structure, grounded in notions of purity, atonement, blood, the altar and priestly intercession, entered a period of theological and institutional crisis in the final centuries before Christ and into the first century AD, when the coherence and authority of the sacrificial system were increasingly called into question. A clear grasp of these disruptions is essential for interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews, which presupposes this crisis as the backdrop for its theological reimagining of sacrifice, priesthood and mediation in Christ (McClymond, 2004, p. 54).

In the books of Leviticus and Exodus, the sacrificial system was structured around five principal offerings: the burnt-offering (‘ôlâ – עֹלָה), cereal-offering (minḥâ – מִנְחָה), peace-offering (zeḇaḥ – זֶבַח), sin-offering (ḥaṭṭā’ṯ – חַטָּאת), and guilt-offering (’āšām – אָשָׁם) (Thompson, 1996, p. 1037). These rites typically involved animal slaughter, the sprinkling or pouring of blood and the burning of fat on the altar (Leviticus 1–7). Their purpose ranged from atonement for sin to expressions of gratitude or the fulfilment of vows.

Personal and communal purification rituals – including the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Leviticus 16) – were considered essential for maintaining covenantal relationship with God and social belonging within the community of his people, Israel. The priests, and especially the high priest, were the sole authorised mediators of these rites, and only the high priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year (Sawyer, 2009, p. 276). From the perspective of the sociology of religion, this sacrificial structure was not merely a means of divine appeasement but a mechanism for ordering sacred community, delineating identity and enacting holiness (Neusner, 2006, pp. 28–29). Within this framework, blood held foundational ritual significance – not as a symbol of violence, but as the sign of consecrated life that was to be returned to God (Lev. 17:11).

The Crisis of Legitimacy and the Corruption of the Priestly System

In the Second Temple period – especially after the return from exile and the rebuilding of the Temple in 515 BC – the office of the priesthood, which had traditionally been grounded in Zadokite lineage[1] and cultic legitimacy, gradually became entangled with political power. This development began toward the end of the Seleucid era, when the high priesthood fell under the influence of Hellenistic rulers and was, at times, obtained through bribery or political manipulation (Gilchrist, 1979–1988, p. 544). A striking account of this dynamic is found in 2 Maccabees (Chapters 4–5), where Jason and Menelaus secured the office by appealing to the court of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and effectively purchasing it, and then even introducing Hellenistic elements into Temple worship. Subsequently, with the rise of the Hasmonean state, the Maccabean family consolidated both political and priestly authority. This dual concentration of power provoked opposition among certain Jewish groups, particularly those that emerged during or shortly after this period – such as the Essenes – who challenged the Hasmoneans’ religious legitimacy on the grounds of their lack of Zadokite lineage and their fusion of political and religious power (Puskas & Crump, 2008, pp. 34–35).

Under Roman rule, this pattern not only persisted but deepened into systemic corruption. Both Jewish and Roman sources – including Josephus – describe a time when the high priest was directly appointed by the Roman governor and could be replaced multiple times within a single decade (Josephus, 1987, p. 478). In such a context, the spiritual credibility of the Temple and the priesthood declined in the eyes of many Jews, paving the way for movements that sought to redefine holiness, purity and sacrifice outside the official cultic structure.

Yet such disaffection did not originate with the sectarians; it was prefigured within Israel’s own prophetic tradition, which offered a powerful internal challenge to empty ritual and covenantal unfaithfulness.

The Prophetic Tradition: From Animal to Heart

Within the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament, the criticism of sacrificial ritual never amounts to a wholesale rejection of sacrifice itself. Rather, it serves as a summons to recover the ethical and covenantal meaning of sacrifice. The prophets of Israel – from Isaiah and Jeremiah to Amos and Hosea – insist that sacrificial rites hold true liturgical value only when they are accompanied by justice, humility and covenantal faithfulness (Bediako, 1997, pp. 300-302). As Isaiah proclaims: ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings …When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; (Isa. 1:11, 15, ESV). Likewise, Jeremiah, in a tone of theological irony, addresses his audience: if they steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, and follow other gods, how can they presume to offer sacrifice and claim deliverance? (Jer. 7:9–10). And in Hosea, the prophetic voice declares: ‘For I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hos. 6:6, ESV). What is targeted in these texts is not the sacrificial rite per se, but its separation from the relational and covenantal structure that binds God and his people. Sacrifice, if reduced to a repetitive ritual disconnected from justice and repentance, becomes not only worthless but a deviation from the intent of the Law.

In this light, the prophetic tradition may be seen as a form of intra-religious ‘pre-critique’ that prepares the theological and spiritual ground for the more radical re-evaluation of sacrifice in the Epistle to the Hebrews. While the prophets challenged covenantal unfaithfulness and the ethical emptiness of ritual, Hebrews presents a Christological critique of the sacrificial cult itself – arguing that the blood of animals is ultimately incapable of cleansing the conscience or effecting true forgiveness (cf. Heb. 9:13–14). What the prophets had only intimated – that inner moral intention and covenantal obedience surpass ritual repetition – is fully realised in the voluntary self-offering of Christ, whose sacrifice is rooted not in external compulsion but in inner purity and perfect obedience (Lamp, 2012, p. 27). This, in essence, is the theological fulfilment that the prophetic tradition was foreshadowing.

The Qumran community embodied this prophetic impulse by constructing one of the most theologically and ritually detailed responses to the Temple crisis – a new cultic and communal identity rooted in purity, obedience and eschatological expectation, likely associated with the Essenes or the Yahad (יַחַד) sect, whose writings were discovered in the caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea. In the Community Rule (1QS), it is declared that the members of the sect, through a life of purity, obedience and instruction in the Law, offer to God a sacrifice more pleasing than ‘the fat of rams’:

When these become members of the Community in Israel... they shall atone for guilty rebellion and for sins of unfaithfulness... without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice. And prayer rightly offered shall be as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness... (1QS 9:3–5; cited in Vermes, 1995, p. 82).

Elsewhere in the same text, the community is described as a holy altar, and its members are presented as a sacrifice of purity before God. The sect emphasised strict boundaries and a structured hierarchy, separating itself from outsiders deemed impure and sinful (Regev, 2009, pp. 93–94). In the War Rule (1QM), also known as The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, the image of a purified and elect people confronting defiled enemies reaches its climax, as ritual purity is fused with a vision of moral and communal holiness under priestly leadership. The battle is portrayed as eschatological, with the priestly chief and angelic hosts leading the charge in place of a messianic figure (Davies, 1992, p. 875). Additionally, the Qumran text 11QMelchizedek presents an eschatological vision of a final priest-king who pardons sins, defeats the forces of Belial and enacts divine judgement in the year of ‘Jubilee’. Though some scholars have identified this figure with the archangel Michael, others argue that ‘Melchizedek’ functions as a title for God himself, highlighting divine kingship and final redemption (Bernas, 1999, pp. 368–370). Melchizedek as portrayed in 11QMelchizedek bears a striking resemblance to the exalted Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews; meanwhile, Hebrews presents Melchizedek strictly as a typological priest rather than as an angelic or divine being.

The Critique of Sacrificial Traditions in the Epistle to the Hebrews

At its core, the Epistle to the Hebrews presents a radical transformation of the theology of sacrifice. This is not merely a substitution of animal offerings with a human one, but a comprehensive redefinition of sacrifice itself – touching upon the meanings of ritual, priesthood, purity and covenant.

In Chapters 7 to 10, the author constructs a theological argument through a series of deliberate contrasts: Levitical priesthood versus Melchizedekian priesthood; earthly sanctuary versus heavenly sanctuary; repeated sacrifices versus a single offering; external purification versus the cleansing of conscience. These polarities are not simply literary devices; they frame a larger theological-historical claim: that the former system – though once divinely instituted – was provisional, incomplete and typological (Schenck, 2001, pp. 469–472)..

Within this interpretive framework, Hebrews describes the Law and its sacrificial rites as ‘a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things’ (Heb. 10:1, NRSV). The term shadow (σκιά, skia) functions here not merely as a rhetorical figure but evokes a conceptual pattern also found in Alexandrian and Platonic traditions, where material realities are construed as anticipatory reflections of higher, transcendent forms. As Ellingworth (1993) notes, this usage parallels the writings of Philo of Alexandria, where σκιά is often contrasted with εἰκών (eikōn, image) and ἀλήθεια (alētheia, truth), thus marking the Law’s symbolic and preparatory character in relation to the eschatological fulfilment realised in Christ (pp. 490–491). In this light, the old covenant is not portrayed as erroneous, but as typological (τύπος, typos), pointing beyond itself toward perfection in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The earlier sacrificial system is thus rendered obsolete – not through polemical rejection, but by the arrival of the true, once-for-all, voluntary and heavenly offering that reorients worship around Christ, who is both high priest and sacrifice.

The Once-for-All Sacrifice and the New Covenant in Hebrews

At the heart of the Epistle to the Hebrews’ theology of sacrifice – especially in Chapter 10 – lies a profound reinterpretation of Psalm 40:6–8: ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me … I have come to do your will, O God’ (Heb. 10:5–7, ESV; quoting LXX Ps. 39:7–9). This citation, attributed to Christ at the moment of his incarnation, functions as a theological declaration of the insufficiency of Levitical sacrifices and the inauguration of a new, obedient self-offering (Bruce, 1990, pp. 239–240; Mohler, 2017, p. 148). Rather than dismissing sacrifice altogether, Hebrews presents a shift from ritual performance to the perfect, voluntary obedience of Christ, embodied in his incarnate life and death (Bruce, 1990, p. 241; Mohler, 2017, pp. 148–149). The phrase ‘a body you have prepared for me’ becomes central to this transformation – not merely as a textual variant (found in the Septuagint but not in the Masoretic text of the Psalms) but as a theological development: the body is the site of obedience and the vehicle of the definitive offering acceptable to God (Bruce, 1990, pp. 239–240). As Bruce notes, the author’s aim is not to abolish sacrifice, but to redefine it through the rational obedience of the Son rather than the involuntary death of animals (Bruce, 1990, pp. 240–241). Thus, the Mosaic system is not so much negated as fulfilled in the Christ-event: ‘And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ (Heb. 10:10, ESV; see also Mohler, 2017, p. 150).

The phrase ‘once for all’ (Greek: ἐφάπαξ, ephapax) carries immense theological weight: the sacrifice of Christ is definitive, unrepeatable and sufficient. In contrast to the Levitical system, in which priests stood daily to perform ritual offerings, Hebrews affirms that Christ, having offered himself once-for-all, ‘sat down at the right hand of God’ (Heb. 10:12, ESV), thereby signifying the finality of his priestly work. According to Harris (2019), the perfect passive participle ἡγιασμένοι (hēgiasmenoi, literally ‘those having been sanctified’ or ‘those who have been sanctified’), underscores the completed action with enduring effects: sanctification grounded in a singular historical event with eternal consequences (Harris, 2019, pp. 259–260).

Whereas the Levitical sacrifices focused on external purification – cleansing the flesh from ritual defilement (Heb. 9:13) – the sacrifice of Christ penetrates to a deeper level: it purifies the human conscience. As Hebrews 9:14 declares: ‘How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’ (ESV). The expression ‘dead works’ (νεκρῶν ἔργων, nekrōn ergōn) likely encompasses both sinful actions and lifeless religious observances devoid of spiritual vitality. Crucially, Christ’s sacrifice acts not upon the body but upon the conscience (συνείδησις, syneidēsis) – a dimension left untouched by the Levitical rites (Heb. 9:9). This emphasis on inner transformation resonates deeply with the prophetic tradition (e.g., Jer. 31:33; Isa. 1:11–17) and also with sectarian texts from Qumran, such as the Rule of the Community (1QS 5.5–6), in which purity of heart and obedience take precedence over sacrificial ritual.

While some earlier interpreters viewed Hebrews as seeking to reform the Jewish cultic system, the text itself gestures beyond reform to a radical declaration of obsolescence. The author asserts that by calling the covenant ‘new’, the former has been rendered ‘old’, and what is old is close to vanishing (Heb. 8:13). This assertion encompasses not merely the Mosaic Law in a narrow legal sense but the entire cultic order. As Pink (1954) observes, ‘When Christianity had been formally established by God, not only was the old covenant annulled, but the entire system of sacred worship whereby it was administered was set aside’ (p. 442). The rationale for this transformation is not a failure of the old covenant per se, but the arrival of its fulfilment in Christ.

Christ’s death is thus described as the foundation of a new covenant, one which enables the promised eternal inheritance and secures redemption from transgressions committed under the first covenant (Heb. 9:15). Just as the blood of the sacrificial animal ratified the covenant at Sinai (Exod. 24:8), so now the blood of Christ inaugurates the eschatological covenant. Pink notes that ‘no sinner was ever saved but by virtue of the new covenant and the mediation of Christ therein’; with the shedding of Christ’s blood and the institution of new covenantal worship, this promise became established as the sole rule for God’s people (Pink, 1954, pp. 441–443).

In sum, the Epistle to the Hebrews articulates a profound theological vision in which Christ’s self-offering marks both a fulfilment and a transcendence of the Levitical order. Sacrifice is not abolished but redefined through the voluntary, obedient act of the Son, whose death sanctifies, cleanses the conscience and inaugurates a new covenantal order – once for all.

Priesthood in Hebrews: Melchizedekian versus Levitical Orders

If the doctrine of the ‘final sacrifice’ is the theological fulcrum of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the distinctive portrayal of Jesus as high priest constitutes its structural spine. Christ is not merely presented as an intercessor or mediator in continuity with Levitical tradition; rather, his priesthood is defined in contrast to it – he is appointed ‘according to the order of Melchizedek’ (Heb. 5:6; 7:17), not by tribal descent from Aaron. This transition signals not a mere genealogical anomaly, but a paradigmatic reconfiguration of priesthood, sacrifice and access to God.

The inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood is not portrayed as moral failure but as an ontological limitation. Its priests were mortal, repeatedly atoning for both their sins and those of the people (Heb. 7:23, 27). Thus, the very existence of a new priesthood ‘after the order of Melchizedek’ nullifies the sufficiency of the old: ‘If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood... why was there still need for another priest to come?’ (Heb. 7:11, ESV). The Greek term used here, τελείωσις (teleiōsis), conveys not merely functional adequacy, but the ultimate goal of access to God’s presence. As Cockerill explains, the Levitical system failed to ‘provide ultimate access to God through a definitive removal of sin’ (Cockerill, 2012, p. 315).

Melchizedek, the enigmatic king-priest of Salem, appears in Genesis 14:18–20 and Psalm 110:4 – texts that, while sparse, are rich in interpretive potential. Hebrews 7:3 attributes to him a mysterious timelessness: ‘without father, without mother, without genealogy... he continues a priest forever’. This argument from silence, grounded in the textual omissions of Genesis, becomes the exegetical springboard for typological identification. Yet, as Attridge (1989) cautions, this image should not be read as a direct borrowing from contemporary Jewish speculation about Melchizedek’s heavenly status, even though such ideas existed at Qumran (p. 193); 11QMelch presents Melchizedek as an eschatological deliverer who executes divine vengeance and mediates atonement (Xeravits, 2002, p. 219). Hebrews, by contrast, resists merging the figure with Christ directly. Rather, Melchizedek is seen as a typological archetype whose priesthood prefigures Christ’s eternal and heavenly role.

Psalm 110 forms the scriptural axis of this typology. The verses ‘Sit at my right hand’ and ‘You are a priest forever’ (Psalm 110:1, 4, ESV) are not merely quoted; they are the theological hinges on which the Epistle’s Christology turns. Hebrews draws on these passages to construct a theology in which priesthood is grounded not in lineage but in ‘the power of an indestructible life’ (Heb. 7:16, ESV). This indestructibility, linked with Christ’s eternal Sonship, constitutes the ontological superiority of his priesthood. Cockerill emphasises that only the Son ‘could provide ultimate access to God’ because of his ‘indestructible life’ (Cockerill, 2012, pp. 315, 322–325). Likewise, Pink (1954, pp. 366–367) argues that Christ’s new priesthood ‘necessarily involved a change of economy’, rendering the Levitical system ‘effete, out of date’.

In sum, the Melchizedekian priesthood functions in Hebrews not merely as a contrast to Levitical priesthood but as its theological transcendence. It achieves what the old could not: the τελείωσις (teleiōsis) – the perfected communion between humanity and God. Christ’s priesthood is eternal (Heb. 7:24), sinless (7:26) and heavenly (8:1–2), effecting a definitive mediation in which ‘he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him’ (Heb. 7:25, ESV).

Sacrifice in the Literary and Rhetorical Architecture of Hebrews: From Earth to Heaven, Flesh to Veil

The Epistle to the Hebrews culminates in a theological reorientation that reframes sacrificial discourse not as a mere metaphorical redirection, but as an ontological rupture. The once-central categories of Temple, blood and ritual are neither merely displaced nor spiritualised but fulfilled and transposed into an exalted, Christological key. The symbolic density of Hebrews 10:19–20 – ‘by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh’(ESV) – marks a radical transition. The veil, formerly the boundary to the Most Holy Place, is identified with the torn body of Christ. This fusion collapses the distinction between sign and referent: Christ is both the passage and the presence, the priest and the sanctuary.

Rather than treating heaven as an abstract metaphysical realm, Hebrews envisions a structured cosmology in which Christ passes ‘through the heavens’ (Heb. 4:14) and is now ‘exalted above the heavens’ (Heb. 7:26). As Peter Orr (2018, p. 94) explains, this trajectory reflects a ‘Jewish apocalyptic and distinctly un-Platonic cosmology’, resisting any reading of Christ’s ascension as a metaphysical escape from the material world. Instead, it marks his enthronement in the true heavenly sanctuary, now accessible through his priesthood. The ascent is spatial, eschatological and relational: the Son does not enter into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear ‘in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb. 9:24, ESV). This theology coheres with the claim that the heavenly sanctuary is the ἀλήθινος (alēthinos) – the ‘true’ tabernacle (Heb. 8:2; 9:24). According to G. K. Beale (2004, pp. 295–298), ‘true’ denotes not abstraction but eschatological reality. The heavenly Temple is the ontological archetype; the earthly was merely a skia (σκιά) – a shadow (Heb. 10:1). Thus, Hebrews offers not a spiritualisation of cultic space, but its eschatological realisation. Christ’s body becomes the site where covenantal access is redefined – ‘not by hands’ (Heb. 9:11), not in repetition, but once for all.

The transformation of sacrificial imagery reaches its apex in the shift from ritual act to relational fidelity. Hebrews 13:15 exhorts, ‘Through him let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.’ Here, the sacrificial idiom remains, but its referent is transfigured. No longer grounded in blood or altar, sacrifice becomes ecclesial speech and ethical witness. Cockerill (2012, p. 315) rightly notes that the Levitical cult could not achieve teleiōsis (τελείωσις) – perfected access to God – but Christ’s priesthood secures precisely this.

In sum, the Epistle’s rhetorical movement – from earth to heaven, from ritual repetition to ontological completion – establishes a liturgical and cosmological revolution. The locus of divine presence is no longer a sacred geography but the crucified and exalted Christ. The Church, gathered in confession and sustained by a high priest who ‘entered behind the veil’ (Heb. 6:19), becomes the embodied Temple. This is not a mere reinterpretation of sacrifice; it is the emergence of a new covenantal reality, in which the veil is torn, the path opened and the presence made permanent.

Conclusion

Among the writings of the New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews emerges as a radical and foundational reimagining of sacrifice, priesthood and worship in light of the Christ-event. It does not merely construct a new theology – it deconstructs the very cultic system on which Second Temple Judaism was founded. In Hebrews, holiness, sacrifice and priesthood are no longer mediated by institutional structures but are ontologically reconstituted in the person of Jesus Christ: in his flesh, his blood and his perfect obedience.

As this study has argued, Hebrews must be read against the backdrop of Second Temple crises – priestly corruption, prophetic criticism and sectarian innovation. While the Qumran community reoriented sacrificial meaning through communal piety based on the Torah, Hebrews transcends such efforts by positing the crucified and exalted Christ as the locus of divine presence and the telos of all cultic anticipation. Through dense intertextuality and theological inversion, the Epistle presents not a reform of the sacrificial order, but its ontological fulfilment and displacement.

At the centre of this transformation is a dual movement: from shadow to reality, and from repetition to finality. The veil becomes flesh; the Temple becomes the body; sacrifice becomes praise. In Christ, the sanctuary is no longer geographical but incarnational. The Levitical system, once defined by blood and ritual, gives way to a new covenant grounded in conscience, ecclesial speech and relational fidelity.

The ecclesial consequences are profound: the Church becomes the living Temple, believers participate in Christ’s eternal priesthood, and worship is defined by confession, obedience and presence. The once-for-all sacrifice does not abolish ritual – it redefines it ontologically and eschatologically.

In sum, Hebrews is not merely an exegetical reflection on the cult but a theological architecture for post-Temple identity. It offers a sacramental ontology in which the categories of altar, priest and sacrifice are reframed in Christological terms. No longer is worship a matter of repetition under the Law; it is the once-for-all entry into the true sanctuary – through the torn veil, by the perfect priest, into perfected communion with God.

Footnote:

[1] The Zadokite priesthood is the line of legitimate priests descended from Zadok, the high priest appointed by King Solomon (1 Kings 2:35).

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