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Bible Encyclopedias
Zadok
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Tsadok', צָדוֹק , righteous; Sept. Ζαδώκ v.r. Σαδδούκ, Σαδώκ, etc.; Josephus Σάδωκος , Ant. 7:2, 2, etc.), the name of several Hebrews, and one that also appears occasionally in the post-Biblical history. The associate of Judah the Gaulonite, the well known leader of the agitation against the census of Quirinus, was a certain Pharisee named Zadok (Josephus, Ant. 18:1,1), and the sect of the Sadducees (q.v.) is reputed to have derived both its name and origin from a person of the same name, a disciple of Antigonus of Soho. (See Lightfoot, Hebr and Talm. Exerc. on Matthew 3:8; Renan, Vie de Jesus, p. 216.) A "Sadoc" (Σαδώκ ) finally occurs in our Savior's genealogy (Matthew 1:14). It is, moreover, worth noticing that the New-Test. name Justus (Acts 1:23; Acts 18:7; Colossians 4:11) is the literal translation of Zadok. Zedekiah, Jehozadak, may likewise be compared.
1. Son-of Ahitub, and one of the two chief priests in the time of David, Abiathar (q.v.) being the other. B.C. 1023. Zadok was of the house of Eleazar the son of Aaron (1 Chronicles 24:3). The first mention of him is in 1 Chronicles 12:28 where we are told that he joined David at Hebron, after Saul's death, with twenty-two captains of his father's house, and apparently with nine hundred men (4600-3700, 1 Chronicles 12:26-27). Up to this- time, it may be concluded, he had adhered to the house of Saul. But henceforth his fidelity to David was inviolable. When Absalom revolted, and David fled from Jerusalem, Zadok and all the Levites bearing the ark accompanied him, and it was only at the king's express command that they returned to Jerusalem and became the medium of communication between the king and Hushai the Archite (2 Samuel 15:17). When Absalom was dead; Zadok and Abiathar were the persons who persuaded the elders of Judah to invite David to return (19, 11). When Adonijah, in David's old age set up for king, and had persuaded Joab and Abiathar the priest to join his party, Zadok was unmoved, and was employed by David to anoint Solomon to be king in his room (1 Kings 1). For this fidelity he was rewarded by Solomon, who "thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord," and "put in Zadok the priest" in his room (1 Kings 2:27; 1 Kings 2:35). From this time, however, we hear little of him. It is said in general terms, in the enumeration of Solomon's officers of state, that Zadok was the priest (1 Kings 4:4; 1 Chronicles 29:22), but no single act of his is mentioned. Even in the detailed account of the building and dedication of Solomon's Temple his name does not occur, though Josephus says that "Zadok the high-priest was the first high-priest of the Temple which Solomon built"‘ (Ant. 10:8, 6). In 2 Samuel 15:27 Zadok is named a seer; but we have no further or more particular information as to the revelations, which were granted to him. (See PRIEST).
We have no means of knowing how the high-priesthood passed out of the line of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, who was the elder son of Aaron, into the line of Eli, who was descended from Ithamar, Aaron's younger son; but we do known the doom pronounced by Jehovah, that the unworthy house of Eli should be dispossessed. No doubt much confusion had ensued upon the death of Eli's two sons, and the capture of the ark by the Philistines; of this we have abundant evidence: (1) in the unsettled position of the tabernacle, till we find David honoring it at Gibeon; (2) in the want of interest in the ark, till he brought it up to Mount Zion; and (3) in the absence of any fixed center of worship, so that Samuel sacrificed in different places, according to the irregular manner of that period of transition in which he presided. Saul apparently attempted to extirpate the high-priestly house of Eli, on account of what he reckoned the treason of Abimelech (1 Samuel 13:17-23), so that only' his son Abiathar escaped; and the following chapter narrates how-this young man came to David, carrying with him the high-priest's ephod, and how Jehovah acknowledged him as the true high-priest, inquiring of God, on behalf of that fugitive, who was the true king of Israel. The only conjecture we feel disposed to make is that king Saul may at this time have declared that Abiathar was an outlaw, who had forfeited the high-priesthood, and may have declared that the office reverted to the house of Eleazar, to which Zadok belonged; there might be a stroke of policy in his thus restoring the constitution of the priesthood according to the law of Moses, analogous to his slaughter of the Gibeonites, "in his zeal to the children of Israel arid Judah" (2 Samuel 21:2).
If so, it is easy to see how the two rival royal houses had their rival priestly houses too; and how, at the end of the civil war, David's policy of gradual and amicable reconstruction would lead him to acknowledge both high priests, especially after Zadok's hearty adhesion to David's interest. Perhaps, in memory of his early military service, Zadok had a place among the princes of the tribes assigned him by David, as ruler over the Aaronites (1 Chronicles 27:17). In later times we usually find two priests, the ihigh-priest anti the second priest (2 Kings 25:18), and there does not seem to have been any great difference in their dignity. So, too, Luke 3:2. Zadok and Abiathar were of nearly equal dignity (2 Samuel 15:35-36; 2 Samuel 19:11). Hophni and Philiehas, again, and Eleazar and Ithamar, are coupled together, and seem to have been holders of the office, as it were, in commission. The duties of the office, too, were, in the case of Zadok and Abiathar, divided. Zadoik ministered before the tabernacle at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39); Abiathar had the care of the ark at Jerusalem; not, however, exclusively, as appears from 1 Chronicles 15:11; 2 Samuel 15:24-25; 2 Samuel 15:29. Hence, perhaps, it may be concluded that from the first there was a tendency to consider the office of the priesthood as somewhat of the nature of a corporate office, although some of its functions were necessarily confined to the chief member of that corporation; and if so, it is very easy to perceive how superior abilities, on the one hand, and infancy or incapacity, on the other, might operate to raise or depress the members of this corporation respectively. Zadok seems to have been succeeded in the priesthood by his son Azariah (1 Kings 4:2), strictly speaking his son's son, if we observe 1 Chronicles 6:8-9, and 2 Samuel 15:27. That it continued without derangement in his family may be inferred by the genealogies, and from the incidental reference to "Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok," in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 31:10). The language in Ezekiel 40:46; Ezekiel 43:19; Ezekiel 44:15; Ezekiel 48:11 bears high testimony to the faithfulness of the priests, the sons of Zadok; so mulch so that the prophet takes no notice of any priests besides them. (See HIGH-PRIEST).
2. Father of Jerusha, who was the wife of king Uzziah and mother of king Jotham (2 Kings 15:33; 2 Chronicles 27:1). B.C. 755.
3. According to the genealogy of the high priests in 1 Chronicles 6:12, there was a second Zadok, son of a second Ahitub, son of Amariah; and he is there given as the father of Shallum. B.C. cir. 700. He seems also to be referred to in 9:11; Nehemiah 11:11. Some critics are disposed to regard this name as an interpolation by a copyist's error; but the person in question seems to be the high-priest called Hosaiah in the Seder Olam, and Odeas (᾿Ωδέας ) by Josephus (Ant. 10:8, 6). (See HIGH-PRIEST).
4. Son of Baana, who repaired a portion of the wall in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:4). B.C. 446. He is probably the same as is in the list of those that sealed the covenant in Nehemiah 10:21, as in both cases his name follows that of Meshezabeel. But if so, we know that he was not a priest, as his name would at first sight lead one to suppose, but one of "the chief of the people," or laity. With this agrees his patronymic Baana, which indicates that he was of the tribe of Judah; for Baanah, one of David's mighty, men, was a Netophathite (2 Samuel 23:29), i.e. of Netophah, a city of Judah. The men of Tekoah, another city of Judah, worked next to Zadok. Meshullam of tie house of Meshezabeel, who preceded him in both lists (Nehemiah 3:4; Nehemiah 10:20-21) was also of the tribe of Judah (11, 24). Intermarriages of the priestly house with the tribe of Judah were more frequent than with any other tribe.
5. Son of Immer, a priest who repaired a portion of the wall over against his own house (Nehemiah 3:29). B.C. 446. He belonged to the 16th course (1 Chronicles 24:14), which was one of those that returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:37).
6. A scribe, one of the three principal treasurers appointed by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:13). B.C. 410. He was perhaps identical with No. 4 or 5 above.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Zadok'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/z/zadok.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
