h_ in honour of Astarte, and in Jahveh's own temple at
Jerusalem they had set up the image of a brazen serpent to which they
paid homage.* The feeling, however, that the patron deity of the chosen
people could have but one recognised habitation--the temple built for
Him by Solomon--and that the priests of this temple were alone qualified
to officiate there in an effective manner, came to prevail more and more
strongly in Judaea. The king, indeed, continued to offer sacrifices and
prayer there,** but the common people could no longer intercede with
their God except through the agency of the priests.

* Cf. what we are told of idolatrous practices in Judah
under Rehoboam and Abraham (1 Kings xiv. 22-24; xv. 3), and
of the tolerance of high places by Asa and Jehoshaphat (1
Kings xv. 14; xxii. 44); even at the period now under
consideration neither Amaziah (2 Kings xiv. 4) nor Azariah
(2 Kings xv. 4) showed any disposition to prohibit them. The
brazen serpent was still in existence in the time of
Hezekiah, at the close of the VIIIth century B.C. (2 Kings
xviii. 4).

** 2 Kings xvi. 10-16, where Ahaz is described as offering
sacrifice and giving instructions to the high priest Urijah
as to the reconstruction and service of the altar; cf. 2
Chron. xxvi. 16-21, where similar conduct on the part of
Uzziah is recorded, and where the leprosy by which he was
attacked is, in accordance with the belief of later times,
represented as a punishment of the sacrilege committed by
him in attempting to perform the sacrifice in person.

The latter, in their turn, tended to develop into a close corporation of
families consecrated for generations past to the priestly office; they
came in time to form a tribe by themselves, which took rank among the
other tribes of Israel, and claimed Levi, one of the twelve sons of
Jacob, as its ancestor. Their head, chosen from among the descendants of
Zadok, who had been the first high priest in the reign of Solomon, was
by virtue of his office one of the chief ministers of the crown, and we
know what an important part was played by Jehoiadah in the revolution
which led to the deposition of Athaliah; the high priest was, however,
no less subordinate to the supreme power than his fellow-ministers,
and the sanctity of his office did not avail to protect him from
ill-treatment or death if he incurred the displeasure of his