The contrast in the TONE OF FEELING
is so great that no one as yet has even ventured to realise it
clearly to himself.
IV.II.2. With the commencement of the monarchical period the priests
forthwith begin to come into greater prominence along with the
kings; the advance in centralisation and in publicity of life
makes itself noticeable also in the department of worship. At the
beginning of Saul's reign we find the distinguished Ephraimitic
priesthood, the house of Eli, no longer at Shiloh, but at Nob, in
the vicinity of the king, and to a certain degree in league with
him; for their head, Ahijah the priest, is in immediate
attendance on him when arms are first raised against the
Phiiistines, shares the danger with him, and consults the ephod on
his behalf. Subsequently the _entente cordiale_ was disturbed,
Ahijah and his brethren fell a sacrifice to the king's jealousy,
and thus the solitary instance of an independent and considerable
priesthood to be met with in the old history of Israel came for
ever to an end. Abiathar, who alone escaped the massacre of Nob
(1Samuel xxii.), fled with the ephod to David, for which he was
rewarded afterwards with high honours, but all that he became he
became as servant of David.
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