high priest

high priest Spokesman for the people to God, and for God to the people. Aaron and his successor Eleazar were precursors of the institution (Num. 27: 21 ff.) which is mentioned in Lev. 21: 10. He alone was anointed and possessed authority over lay officials. He was clothed with the ephod in which were set stones bearing the names of the twelve tribes, and on his head he wore a kind of turban or mitre (Exod. 28: 36–7). Zadok and Abiathar were chief priests under David (2 Sam. 20: 25), and Zadok's descendants were high priests in the first and second Temples. Joshua came back from the Exile as high priest (Ezra 2: 2). Under Herod the Great high priests no longer held the office for life and Annas was appointed by Quirinius governor of Syria in 6 CE until 15 CE. After several short tenures Caiaphas, who was Annas' son-in-law, became high priest from 18 CE until 36 CE. The statement in John 11: 49 and 18: 13 that Caiaphas was high priest ‘that year’ does not mean that the office was an annual one (though it was for pagan high priests in Asia Minor and Syria): either John was mistaken or ‘that year’ means ‘that memorable year of the crucifixion’.