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[155]
Hereupon they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, which is called
Eniachim, 1
and cast lots which of it should be the high priest. By fortune the lot
so fell as to demonstrate their iniquity after the plainest manner, for
it fell upon one whose name was Phannias, the son of Samuel, of the village
Aphtha. He was a man not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but that
did not well know what the high priesthood was, such a mere rustic was
he ! yet did they hail this man, without his own consent, out of the country,
as if they were acting a play upon the stage, and adorned him with a counterfeit
thee; they also put upon him the sacred garments, and upon every occasion
instructed him what he was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness was sport
and pastime with them, but occasioned the other priests, who at a distance
saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, and sorely lament the dissolution
of such a sacred dignity.
1 This tribe or course of the high priests, or priests, here called Eniachim, seems to the learned Mr. Lowth, one well versed in Josephus, to be that 1 Chronicles 24:12, "the course of Jakim," where some copies have" the course of Eliakim;" and I think this to be by no means an improbable conjecture.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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