Das Amt des Jerusalemer Hohepriesters im Licht biblischer und außerbiblischer Quellen der hellenistischen Zeit

Abstract

This article focuses on the Hellenistic period as a transformative phase in the development of the Jerusalem high priestly office from a merely cultic into a political leadership office and thus as a formative phase for the establishment of hierocratic ideals and structures in emerging Judaism. An overview of the literary history of Zech 3:1–9 and Zech 6:9–14 is the starting point. The ideas of the high priest’s office contained in these passages are then historically contextualised. This is done, firstly, by comparing texts from the Book of Sirach, which show close parallels to Zech 3 and Zech 6, especially Sir 50. Additionally, apocryphal and extra-biblical sources are consulted which shed light on the political situation of the Jerusalem high priestly office around the time the texts were composed, at the beginning of the Seleucid period: namely the Tobiad romance (Ant. 12:158–236) and 2 Macc 3.