It is an extraordinary sort of justice when the priests of the
abolished Bamoth are punished simply for having been so, and
conversely the priests of the temple at Jerusalem rewarded for this;
the fault of the former and the merit of the latter consist simply
in their existence. In other words, Ezekiel merely drapes the logic
of facts with a mantle of morality. From the abolition of the
popular sanctuaries in the provinces in favour of the royal one at
Jerusalem, there necessarily followed the setting aside of the
provincial priesthoods in favour of the sons of Zadok at the
temple of Solomon. The original author of the centralisation, the
Deuteronomic lawgiver, seeks indeed to prevent this consequence by
giving to the extraneous Levites an equal right of sacrificing in
Jerusalem with their brethren hereditarily settled there, but it
was not possible to separate the fate of the priests from that of
their altars in this manner. The sons of Zadok were well enough
pleased that all sacrifices should be concentrated within their
temple, but they did not see their way to sharing their
inheritance with the priesthood of the high places, and the idea
was not carried out (2Kings xxiii.
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