Zadok (High Priest)
Zadok (
Hebrew:
Tzadok meaning "Righteous") was the Israelite
High Priest of the tenth century BCE.
A son of
Ahitub, of the line of
Eleazar (
2 Samuel 8:17;
1 Chronicles 24:3), high priest in the time of
David (2 Sam. 20:25) and
Solomon (1 Kings 4:4). He is first mentioned as coming to take part with
David at
Hebron (1 Chr. 12:27, 28). He was probably on this account made ruler over the
Aaronites (27:17).
During the rebellion of
Absalom, Zadok gained still greater prominence. He and the Levites wished to accompany the fleeing David with the
Ark of the Covenant, but the king begged them to remain at Jerusalem, where they could do him better service (II Sam. xv. 24-29; comp. 35), so that it actually happened that Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, brought the king an important message (ib. xvii. 21). In all these passages Zadok is mentioned before Abiathar.
Zadok and
Abiathar acted as high priests on several important occasions (1 Chr. 15:11; 2 Sam. 15:24-29, 35, 36); but when
Adonijah endeavoured to secure the throne,
Abiathar went with him, and therefore
Solomon "thrust him out from being high priest," and Zadok, remaining faithful to
David, became high priest alone (
1 Kings 2:27, 35; 1 Chr. 29:22). In him the line of
Phinehas resumed the dignity, and held it till the fall of
Jerusalem. He was succeeded in his sacred office by his son
Azariah (1 Kings 4:2; compare 1 Chr. 6:3-9).
The attempt to trace his genealogy back to
Eleazar, the third son of
Aaron, as opposed to Abiathar, his contemporary and colleague, who was regarded as a descendant of
Eli and considered a member of the house of
Ithamar, was first made by the Chronicler (I Chron. v. 30-34 [A. V. vi. 4-8]; comp. vi. 35-38 [A. V. vi. 50-53]), thus assuring the preeminence of the Zadokites over the descendants of Eli. In the beginning of his career he was associated with Abiathar (II Sam. xx. 25) and with his son (ib. viii. 17; I Chron. xxiv. 3, 6, 31). The hypothesis has accordingly been advanced that Zadok officiated in the Tabernacle at Gibeon (I Chron. xvi. 39; comp. I Kings iii. 4), while the sons of
Eli were stationed as high priests at Jerusalem or, more probably, at
Shiloh (comp. Keil on I Kings i. 8). Such a division of functions is very doubtful, however; and it is more plausible to suppose that Zadok gradually won equality of rank with the sons of Eli by his good fortune in gaining the favor of
David.
According to the somewhat improbable statement of the
Chronicler, a certain Zadok, as a young man, had been one of those who joined David at
Hebron and helped him win the crown of all
Israel, his house then including twenty-two captains (I Chron. xii. 29); and
Josephus expressly identifies this Zadok with the high priest of the same name ("Ant." vii. 2, § 2).
According to the
Masoretic Hebrew text of II Sam. xv. 27, David addressed the priest with the words "ha-Kohen ha-ro'eh attah," ("You are the seer-priest") and the Vulgate consequently regards Zadok as a seer, although this interpretation is regarded by many scholars as incorrect. These two difficult words are emended by Wellhausen to "ha-Kohen ha-Rosh Atta" ("You are the chief priest"), thus implying the promise of the high-priesthood to him. On the suppression of the rebellion, the king sent Zadok and Abiathar to the elders of Judah, urging them to hasten to bring the monarch back (ib. xix. 12). Zadok again manifested his loyalty to the king when he espoused the cause of Solomon against Adonijah (I Kings i. 8 et seq.), and in his gratitude the new king appointed him sole high priest (ib. ii. 35). In his account of this event
Josephus states ("Ant." viii. 1, § 3) that Zadok was a scion of the house of
Phinehas, and consequently a descendant of Eleazar.
Some scholars have speculated that as Zadok does not appear in the text of Samuel until after the conquest of
Jerusalem, he was actually a
Jebusite priest co-opted into the
Israelite state religion. Elsewhere in the Bible, the
Jebusites are described in a manner that suggests that the worshipped the same God as the Israelites (
see, e.g.,
Melchizedek). Further support for this theory comes from the fact that other Jebusites or residents of pre-
Israelite Jerusalem bore names invoking the principle or god
Zedek (
Tzedek) (see, e.g., Melchizedek and
Adonizedek). Under this theory the Aaronic lineage ascribed to Zadok is a later, anachronistic interpolation.
Reliable historical data show that the high-priesthood remained in the hands of the Zadokites from this time until the rise of the Maccabees. The descendants of Zadok increased in rank and influence, so that his son Azariah was one of the princes of Solomon (I Kings iv. 2), and the Ahimaaz who married a daughter of Solomon was probably another of Zadok's children (ib. iv. 15). Either Zadok himself or his grandson was the ruler of the Aaronites (I Chron. xxvii. 17), and Jerusha, the mother of Jotham, is apparently termed the daughter of Zadok to emphasize her noble lineage, since her father may have been a descendant of the first Zadok (II Kings xv. 33; II Chron. xxvii. 1). A Zadok is also mentioned in the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus (Matt. i. 14).G. S. Kr. It is believed that the
Sadducees (Hebrew "Tzedukim") derived the name of their faction from Zadok. A Rabbi Zadok is also mentioned as saved in
Talmud (Bavli Gittin 56B) by
Yohanan ben Zakkai, when he makes his deal with
Vespasian. Many see this Rabbi Zadok as the correct descendant of the high priest clan.
The house of Zadok occupied the high priesthood through much of the Second Temple's time, from Jehoshua ben Jehozadak after the Exile, down to Simon II (much praised in
Ben Sira 50), his eldest son Onias III, and his usurping second son Jason (or Jehoshua), who introduced the programme of Hellenization that eventually let to the Maccabean Revolt. Josephus records that
Onias IV went to
Leontopolis in the Egyptian nome of
Heliopolis with a significant following, and for lending military support to the Ptolemaic Pharaoh was given land to build a temple to rival the
Temple in Jerusalem (although Josephus also ascribes this to Onias III, while dating the project so as to suggest Onias II). It has been suggested that Onias or members of his Zadokite house may have also founded the community at
Qumran. The
Dead Sea Scrolls suggest a central role for 'the sons of Zadok the Priests' within the community; the 'Teacher of Righteousness' (
Moreh Zedek) named as founder may point to a Zadokite.
