Holy Brothers: Geography, Kinship, and Priesthood in Ancient Israel

The history of the Israelite priesthood in the early first millennium BCE is shrouded in mystery. While images of priests, prayer, and sacrifice play a significant role in all biblical periods, reconstructing the practices and organization of the early priesthood is beset by a host of historical, chronological, and methodological problems. In 1973, Frank Moore Cross published a landmark proposal tying the history of the priesthood to the character of Moses and the establishment of the United Monarchy—the so-called “Mushite Hypothesis”—providing a historical foothold for the study of each. Building on the work of Cross, Matthew R. Rasure investigates traces of the early priesthood through narrative analysis of geography, kinship, and the memory of the characters of Moses and Aaron. Rasure posits the existence of two spectra on which different biblical voices may be positioned: a polarity between geographical center and periphery, and a polarity concerning understandings of Aaron and Moses. What emerges from these oppositions is a picture of two priestly identities active in distinct regions. The interactions between these priesthoods shape the history, politics, and cult of the United Monarchy, the Divided Monarchy, and beyond.