Very interesting and instructive is Ewald's proof of the way in
which Zech. vi. 9-15 has been tampered with, so as to eliminate
Zerubbabel and leave the high priest alone. Just so in dealing
with Caliphs and Sultans, the Patriarchs were and are the natural
heads of the Greek and Oriental Christians even in secular matters.
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The Chronicler gave a corresponding number of high priests to the
twice twelve generations of forty years each which were usually
assumed to have elapsed between the exodus and the building of
Solomon's temple, and again between that and the close of the
captivity; the official terms of office of these high priests, of
whom history knows nothing, have taken the place of the reigns of
judges and kings, according to which reckoning was previously
made (1Chronicles v. 29, seq.). One sees clearly from Sirach l.,
and from more than one statement of Josephus (e.g., Ant., xviii.
4, 3, xx. 1, 11), how in the decorations of Aaron (where, however,
the Urim and Thummim were wanting; Nehemiah vii. 65) people
reverenced a transcendent majesty which had been left to the people
of God as in some sense a compensation for the earthly dignity
which had been lost.
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