Some relate the word כָּהַן, H3912, (as a verb) to כּוּנ֒, H3922, ( to stand), thus a priest is “he that stands.” In its favor is the oft used expression ( עָמַד, H6641) of the ministry of priests as they stood to offer sacrifices on the altar. An important part of their ministry, however, was the giving of oracles by means of the lot (cf. Baudissin (HDB, IV, 67-97) thinks it is quite possible that the priests of the OT were at first soothsayers ( see Arabic kâhin, “soothsayer”), but admits there is no evidence in the OT of ecstatic conditions on the part of the priests. The same word that designates priest in the OT is found in Phoen. Wiener (ISBE, IV, 2446) that nothing definite is known concerning the origin of the word is without general concurrence of the scholars. The customary word for priest is כֹּהֵן, H3913.

“Levite” occurs 80 times in the OT and 3 times in the NT. The word “priest,” with and without modifiers, appears over 700 times in the OT and over 80 times in the NT. Ultimately, the matter has farreaching ramifications for the history, worship, and religion of Israel.

The subject of priests and Levites is inseparably bound up with certain basic presuppositions and conclusions of the critical school with which Julius Wellhausen’s name is associated. Although the terms “priest” and “Levite” occur hundreds of times in the OT and the NT, much divergence of opinion exists among scholars as to the identity, function, and development of the individuals so designated.

Who are the priests in the bible