Category:Zadokites (subject)

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The Zadokites (or "sons of Zadok") were a priestly family (the House of Zadok) who served occasionally as Chief Priests in the First Temple and then ruled as a dynasty of High Priests in the Second Temple from the Restoration to the eve of the Maccabean revolt, being identified with the Sons of Phinehas.

This page is authored by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Overview

Zadok was a priest serving in the Jerusalem Temple at the time of David and Solomon. His authority derived from his relation with the House of David; no genealogy was provided in earliest sources. Zadok's descendants were one of the many priestly families serving occasionally in the First Temple as Chief Priests under the High Priesthood of the Davidic Kings. By the time of Josiah the priests of Judah were given a common ancestry as Sons of Levi.

Ezekiel singled out the Sons of Zadok as the only Levitical family who had the right to be Priests. In post-exilic times, however, the threefold division of the priesthood in Sons of Levi (Levites), Sons of Aaron (Priests), and Sons of Phinehas (High Priests) emerged.

Zadok was given a genealogy connecting him back to Aaron and Phinehas, to form a single, hereditary and uninterrupted line of High Priests. The Sons of Zadok thus became the Sons of Phinehas. The list of the ancestors and descendants of Zadok however could not include all priests who are recorded in ancient Jewish sources to have served as Chief Priests before the establishment of the Second Temple. Josephus (1st century CE) and Seder Olam Zutta (9th century CE) recognized the problem and enlarged the list in the attempt to accommodate within the genealogy of Zadok as many of those priests as possible.

The Sons of Zadok (now, more propely, Sons of Phinehas) ruled the Jerusalem Temple without interruption from the establishment of the Second Temple to the eve of the Maccabean revolt. A schism occurred in the 4th century, when a member of the family married the daughter of the governor of Samaria and moved there to establish a rival Temple. The Samaritan Schism would never be recomposed, and members of the House of Zadok would continue to serve as High Priest, from father to son, for centuries to come.

In Jerusalem, the House of Zadok fell victim of their own success. The office of the High Priesthood became so important to attract the ambition of other Aaronite families. The occasion came in the early Seleucid period (2nd century BCE) when the Aaronite Menelaus managed to be appointed as the first non-Zadokite High Priest in Jerusalem. Any attempt to regain power failed and the descendants of Zadok moved to Egypt where the Ptolomeis allowed them to built at Heliopolis a new Temple, which functioned until its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.

According to Samaritan tradition, the Samaritan branch of the House of Zadok continued to serve as High Priests until 1624 when the last of the Sons of Phinehas, Shelemiah ben Pinhas, died without male succession and the Samaritan High Priesthood was taken by Aaronite descendants.

Ancestors of Zadok (according to Chronicles)

Aaron

Eleazar

Phinehas

Abishua

< Shesha >

Bukki

Uzzi

Zerahiah

Meraioth

Amariah

Ahitub

[Note: Between Abishua and Bukki, the Samaritan tradition adds Shesha, who does not appear in the Masoretic text. Josephus (1st century CE) and Seder Olam Zutta (9th century CE) have slightly different lists in the attempt to accommodate in the genealogy of Zadok some ancient priests, mentioned in the Tanakh].

List of Zadokite Chief Priests in the First Temple

Zadok

Ahimaaz

Azariah I

Johanan

Azariah II

Amaria

Ahitub

Zadok

Meraioth

Shallum

Hilkiah

Azariah IV

Seriah

< Jehozadak ben Seriah >

[ Note: Josephus (1st century CE) and Seder Olam Zutta (9th century CE) enlarged the list in the attempt to accommodate within the genealogy of Zadok some Chief Priests (originally from other families) who served in the First Temple ].