The Sale of the Priestly Service
Thus shall Aaron enter [the holy place] (Leviticus 16:3): R. Berekhiah [said] in the name of R. Levi: Thus [be-zot]: Scripture makes known that [Aaron] lived 410 years [the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word zot]. And would it arise in your mind that Aaron [actually] lived 410 years?1 Rather, [in the case of] the First Temple, because they served in it faithfully, eighteen priests served in it: [Aaron,] his son, his grandson, [etc. In the case of] the Second Temple, because they used to obtain [the high priesthood] with money—and some say that they would kill each other by witchcraft—eighty priests served [in it]. [ . . . ] Among them, Simeon the Just served forty years, but because they went back to selling [the high priesthood] for money, their years were shortened. There was a case in which one [priest] sent with his son two silver measures full of silver pieces with accompanying silver strikes2 [as a bribe], and another rose and sent with his son two gold measures full of gold pieces with accompanying gold strikes. They said, “The foal has overturned the lamp.” R. Aḥa would recite [this verse] about them: The fear of the Lord prolongs life (Proverbs 10:27)—[this refers to] those who served in the First Temple; while the years of the wicked will be shortened (ibid.)—[this refers to] those who served in the Second Temple.
Notes
[According to Numbers 33:39, Aaron died at the age of 123. Therefore, the number 410 must refer to something else, namely, the total number of years that Aaron and his sons served in the First Temple.—Ed.]
[A tool for leveling a measure of grain. The silver of the strikes would compensate for any deficiency in the measures.—Ed.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
