Samaritan High Priest

The Samaritan High Priest is the high priest (kohen gadol) of the remaining Samaritan community in the Levant. According to the Samaritan's tradition, the office has existed continuously since the time of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and has been held by 133 priests in the last thirty-four centuries. However, the historicity of this claim is disputable. One account by Josephus suggests that its office holders are an offshoot of the Zadokite high priests of Jerusalem from around the time of Alexander the Great.[1][2]

Samaritan Kohanim c. 1876. The inscription on the bottom label the persons from, left to right: "Phineas the Kohen, Jacob the Kohen, Isaac the Kohen". The small child is Jacob's daughter.

Family of the Samaritan High Priests, 1876. To the left is a scribe named Shalabi, to the right are Isaac the son of the High Priest Amram ben Shalma, then Abisha, the son of Amram's brother Pinehas, and finally Uzzi the son of the High Priest Yaacob ben Aaharon ben Shalma, the son of Amram's brother Aaharon.

It appears, based upon the larger gaps in time between high priests, that several names might be missing, or that there were long periods of vacancy between priests.

The continuous lineage of Samaritan High Priests, descending directly from Aaron, through his son Eleazar, and his son Phinehas, was however disrupted in the early 17th century. In 1624, the last Samaritan High Priest of the line of Eleazar son of Aaron died without male succession, but descendants of Aaron's other son, Ithamar, remained and took over the office.[3] There are four families within the house of Ithamar. The Åbtå order, descended from the 113th High Priest Tsedaka ben Tabia, which has held the office of the High Priesthood since 1624; the House of Phineas a.k.a. Dār 'Åder, descended from Fīn'ās ban Yīṣ'å̄q (Phineas ben Isaac); Dār Yīṣ'å̄q, descended from Yīṣ'å̄q ban Åmrām (Isaac ben Amram); and Dār Yāqob, descended from Yāqob ban Årron (Jacob ben Aaron).

List of Samaritan High Priests

1. Sashai ben Abishua, who was a contemporary and rival of the Jewish High Priest Eli of Shiloah.
2. Bakhi ben Abishua, probably identical to the Jewish High Priest Bukki.
3. Shembet ben Nedab ben Uzziah ben Sashai, who served at the shrine to God at Shechem alone.
4. Shallum ben Shembet,
5. Hezekiah I ben Pedaiel ben Shembet,
6. Jonathan I ben Abiathar (2 Samuel 15:27), served as a messenger during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15:36, 17:17).
7. Jair ben Jonathan,
8. Daliah I ben Hezekiah,
9. Jair II ben Abiezer ben Jair,
10. Jonathan II ben Mennah ben Abiezer
11. Ishmael ben Koraiah ben Daliah
12. Tobiah I
13. Zadok
14. Amram I
15. Hilkiah
16. Amram II
17. Akkub I
18. Akkubiah I ben Hoshea, who was a contemporary of Isaiah and King Hezekiah.
19. Hillel
20. Seriah
21. Levi
22. Nathaniel I
23. Azariah sat as High Priest during the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem
24. Abdael
25. Hezekiah II
26. Hananiah
27. Amram III
28. Hanan
29. Hezekiah III
30. Daliah II
31. Akkub II
32. Akkubiah II
33. Levi I
34. Eleazar II
35. Manasseh, the son-in-law of Sanballat the governor
36. Jair III
37. Nathaniel II
38. Joiachim
39. Jonathan III, High Priest during the lifetime of Jesus
40. Elishama, who held the office during the destruction of the second Jerusalem temple
41. Shemaiah
42. Tobiah II
43. Amram IV
44. Akabon I
45. Phinhas II
46. Levi II, who held the office during the revolt of Simon Bar Koziba (Simon bar Kokhba)
47. Eleazar III
48. Baba I
49. Eleazar IV
50. Akabon II
51. Nathaniel III
52. (~308-328 AD[4]) Baba II Rabba, ben Nathaniel
53. Akabon III
54. Nathaniel IV
55. Akabon IV
56. Eleazar V
57. Akabon V
58. Eleazar VI
59. Akabon VI, late 6th century
60. Eleazar VII
61. Netaniel V, early 7th century
62. Eleazar VIII, c. 630
63. Netaniel VI
64. Eleazar IX, 640-650
65. Akabon VII
66. Eleazar X
67. Akabon VIII
68. Eleazar XI
69. Akabon IX, c. 750
70. Eleazar XII, 780-810
71. Simeon
72. Levi III.
73. Phineas III.
74. Netaniel VII
75. Baba II
76. Eleazar XIII.
77. Netaniel VIII
78. Eleazar XIV
79. Phineas IV
80. Netaniel IX
81. Abdul II
82. Eleazar XV
83. Abdel III.
84. Eleazar XVI
85. Aaron II
86. Tsedaka
87. Amram V
88. Aaron III.
89. Netaniel X
90. Itamar
91. Amram VII
92. Uzzi
93. Joseph
94. Phineas V, late 13th century
95. Eleazar XVII
96. Phineas VI ha-Natzri
97. Abisha
98. Eleazar XVIII
99. Phineas VIII

112. (1613–1624) Shelemiah ben Pinhas
113. (1624–1650) Tsedaka ben Tabia Ha'abta'ai
114. (1650–1694) Yitzhaq ben Tsedaka
115. (1694–1732) Abraham ben Yitzhaq
116. (1732–1752) Tabia ben Yiszhaq ben Avraham
117. (1752–1787) Levi ben Avraham
118. (1787–1855) Shalma ben Tabia
119. (1855–1874) Amram ben Shalma
120. (1874–1916) Yaacob ben Aaharon ben Shalma

Samaritan High Priest Yaakov ben Aharon and the Abisha Scroll, 1905
121. (1916–1932) Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia
122. (1933–1943) Matzliach ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq ben Shalma
123. (1943–1961) Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yittzhaq ben Shalma
124. (1961–1980) Amram ben Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma
125. (1980–1982) Asher ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
126. (1982–1984) Phinhas ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
127. (1984–1987) Yaacob ben Ezzi ben Yaacob ben Aaharon
128. (1987–1998) Yoseph ben Ab-Hisda ben Yaacov ben Aaharon {1919-1998}
129. (1998–2001) Levi ben Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq {1920-2001}
130. (2001–2004) Shalom ben Amram ben Yitzhaq (Saum Is'haq al-Samiri){1922-2004}
131. (2004–2010) Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq {1927-2010}
132. (2010-2013) Aharon ben Ab-Chisda ben Yaacob
133. (2013-) Aabed-El ben Asher ben Matzliach

Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia, Samaritan High Priest, taking refuge from riots on Easter 1920 with Dr. A.C. Harte, Director of Jerusalem YMCA.

See also

• Kohanim

References

1. Josephus (1958). Jewish Antiquities. Loeb Classic Library, Josephus 6: Jewish Antiquities Books 9-11. Translated by Ralph Marcus. Harvard University Press. Book 11, chapter 7.2 – 8, p. 461-483.
2. Steinberg, David (20 August 2005). "The Origin and Nature of the Samaritans and their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects". houseofdavid.ca. Section: "The Origin of the Samaritans: What Really Happened?". Retrieved 22 January 2017.
3. Sean Ireton (2003). "The Samaritans - A Jewish Sect in Israel: Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century". Anthrobase. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
4. Cohen, Jeffrey M. (1981). A Samaritan chronicle: a source-critical analysis of the life and times of the great Samaritan reformer, Baba Rabbah. Studia Post-Biblica 30. Leiden: Brill. pp. 225–226. ISBN 9789004062153.