The Priesthood and Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


The priesthood is intrinsically linked to blood. The priest is the functionary who addresses the blood guilt that resulted from killing and the dread that accompanied the shedding of blood. In the ancient world blood was regarded as having mysterious power and there had to be an accounting for all shed blood.

There are two types of blood anxiety: blood shed by killing and bloodshed related to birthing. To archaic peoples both types were regarded as powerful and potentially dangerous, requiring priestly ministry to deal with bloodguilt through animal sacrifice and/or to deal with blood contamination through purification rites.

From earliest times man observed that when an animal or human bled heavily, death resulted. Blood was recognized as the liquid of life. Among the Hebrews and other people of the ancient Near East there was a prohibition against eating flesh that still had blood in it.

Blood represents both life and pollution. Because of this, it is the custom among many peoples that women about to give birth are isolated from the rest of the community, often remaining in a birthing hut until they are restored to the community. The period of isolation depends on the gender of the child, the condition of the mother and the preparations for the mother and child to be re-introduced to the community. This practice is observed in many cultures.

After her time of isolation, Blessed Mary presented herself for ritual purification according to Jewish law. The "churching of women" after childbirth is a vestige of this practice. While the churching of women is not observed much in the West because western women regard it as humiliating, it is still practiced among eastern Christians, who view the practice as following the example of Blessed Mary, the most honored woman in history.

This information on blood anxiety helps us to understand the primeval origins of the priesthood as it is developed in Genesis. Let us consider the pertinent passages.

Genesis 1:29

God also said, “Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with see-bearing fruit; this will be your food.”

In Paradise there is no blood sacrifice because there is no bloodguilt. Adam does not need a priest because Adam enjoys perfect communion with God.


Genesis 4:3-6

“Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering to God, while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. God looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering…”

After losing Paradise, blood sacrifice with prayer became the acceptable way to commune with God. Here Abel is the archetypical priest whose offering is acceptable to God. Cain brings only a grain offering, which involves neither blood nor priestly action. This is not acceptable to God and Cain becomes angry. Cain represents all who seek communion with God on their own terms, instead of God’s terms.


Genesis 9:1-5

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Breed, multiply and fill the earth. Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands. Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything, with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood in it. And I shall demand account of your life-blood too. I shall demand it of every animal and of man.”

Here we see man as hunter who must account to God for the shedding of blood, not only the blood of animals, but also the blood of his fellow human being. Man is not excused from offering fruits and grain, as he had done from the beginning. It is just that where animals are killed in the hunt, there must be a priestly offering of sacrifice with prayer to address blood guilt according to the law.

This helps us to better understand the Cain and Abel story. Cain’s grain offering represents the old offering, which did not require a priest, because no blood was shed. Cain’s guilt for killing his brother, Abel, requires a new offering. The new offering requires a priest since there must be an accounting for the shed blood.

In Christian belief, an aspect of Jesus Christ’s uniqueness is his service as both sacrificed victim and priest. In the one person both roles are fulfilled.

Finally, we turn to the mysterious character, Melchizedek, the priest of Salem (Gen. 14:17-24) Melchizedek came to Abraham after Abraham and his allies routed their common enemy in battle. Melchizedek did not offer a blood sacrifice for Abraham to cover blood guilt. This suggests that blood sacrifice was not required by Abraham in this situation. Was Abraham without bloodguilt in this war?

Melchizedek brought bread and wine, a different kind of offering, and gave this blessing: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High for putting your enemies into your clutches." The defeat of the enemy did not involve bloodguilt for Abraham since God delivered the enemy to Abraham. In recognition of this, Abraham gave to the priest a tenth of everything as a thank offering, but he refused to accept any booty for himself, as doing so would make him guilty of bloodguilt. The King of Sodom was greedy for all he could get, but Abraham refused to accept what was gained by bloodshed. In this account Abraham appears as one who is scrupulous about avoiding bloodguilt and conscious of God's intervention on his behalf.


Related reading:  Blood and Binary Distinctions; Mining Blood; The Blood of Jesus; Life is in the Blood

The Origins of the Priesthood

Alice C. Linsley

Chrismation in the Orthdox Church

The priesthood is verifiably the oldest known religious institution and appears to have originated in the Upper Nille region. Despite what feminists, theological revisionists and politically-correct academics might say, the priest was from the beginning and has continued to be exclusively the work of men, and not all men.  In the most ancient times the office was unique to the priestly castes which in Genesis are represented by the priestly lines descending from Kain and Seth and Ham and Shem.

Before turning to the pertinent texts in Genesis, it would be helpful to briefly explore gender roles in primitive societies. We must also examine another principle of cultural anthropology that can help us to understand the primeval origins of the priesthood.


Statuses and Roles in Primitive Societies

In primitive societies (where we find the origins of today’s primary religious systems) division of labor along gender lines is very evident. The more important the task to the community’s welfare, the more status is ascribed to the task. Both hunting and agriculture are regarded as essential to the survival for the community, but hunting is the labor of men and agriculture is the labor of women. Even here we see that the lines of division do not represent a dichotomy because men may participate in the harvest and women may participate in the hunt when portioning out the butchered game and preparing it to be eaten.

Tasks of lesser importance to the survival of the community are not fixed as to gender. Basket weaving, an important aspect of many primitive societies, is not essential for survival. Among the Hopi basket weaving is a female task whereas among the Navaho, it is a male task. (Grunlan and Myers, Cultural Anthropology, Zondervan, 1979, p. 137)

Status assigned to a task depends on whether males or females do the work. Higher status is ascribed to males. This does not mean that males achieve higher status. The status associated with the hunt is ascribed, not achieved. However, if a man distinguishes himself as a great hunter, he has both ascribed and achieved status. Likewise, lower status is ascribed to agriculture and gathering, but that does not mean that every female is without achieved status.

For Christians this relates to the blessed Theotokos, to whom God ascribes the status of Queen among saints, an unachieved glory. In Mary we find realization of these words of the Magnificat: “He has exalted the low and brought low the mighty.” In Mary, God fulfilled the first promise of the Bible, the Edenic Promise of Genesis 3:15.

In exploration of the primeval origins of the priesthood the difference between ascribed and achieved statuses is important. Ascribed status is assigned by society whereas achieved status involves the individual’s accomplishments. Status may be ascribed on the basis of birth order, hereditary office, age, special circumstances surrounding one’s birth, unusual physical appearance or body marks, and social class or caste.

While roles and statuses are different there exists between them a reciprocity that suggests the existence of sacred laws or rules. No strict separation or dichotomy exists since roles are always complementary and rules exist so that some plants require being killed by both males and females and some animals require protection and nurture by both males and females.


An Important Principle of Cultural Anthropology

Primitive societies are characterized by division of labor. Universally hunting is a male task whereas cultivation of plots near residences is a female task. Both hunting and cultivation require physical strength, but the spiritual danger associated with bloodletting requires that hunting be undertaken by the physically stronger. Among every primitive society that has been studied anthropologists have noted the belief that here is power in the blood and this power is spiritual and potentially dangerous. Those who carry the young and tend the home fires are not to be exposed to the blood shed in war and hunting. The division of labor applies to the sacrifice of animals.

This brings us to an important anthropological principle that states: “The older the trait, the wider the distribution.” Since this anxiety about the shedding of blood is universal, we conclude that it is also very old. It is in fact primeval, and from the first day that man shed blood, the priesthood has existed to address this anxiety.

When archaic man took life in the hunt, the spiritual leader of the community offered prayers for the sacrifice of the animal. The ritual act of sacrifice and prayer is apparent from the beginning. The sacrifice gave the community life and the prayer protected it from bloodguilt. The prayers and the sacrifice of the hunt were performed according to sacred law. The spiritual leader symbolizes prayer, sacrifice and law. This observed and well documented reality stands behind the Church’s tradition of a male priesthood.

This anthropological information helps us to understand the primeval origins of the priesthood as it is developed in Genesis.


Related reading:  What is a Priest?; Who Were the Horites?; Why Women Were Never Priests; The Origins of Animal Sacrifice

Shamanic Practice and the Priesthood

Tungus shaman with a hide drum

Alice C. Linsley

A fundamental principle of cultural anthropology states that the study of extant primitive societies helps us to understand archaic societies and vice versa. This is especially the case when we compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. What do I mean?

There is no benefit in comparing the practices of populations whose cultural frameworks stand in contrast. That is the case with the offices of priest and shaman.

Shamans and priests are the two oldest religious offices. They represent distinct approaches to the supernatural. In anthropological literature shamans are always presented in a positive light. That is rarely the case for priests. Why? The adversary would have us believe that the Church's priesthood is corrupt, false, perverse, and impotent.

Much of the anthropological literature about religious leaders suggests that female shamans in ancient Greece were "priestesses". However, they did not function as priests by any definition of that term. 

Women in charge of royal temples in the ancient world were administrators, just as an abbess is an administrator over a monastic community. An example is Sargon's daughter. She is called Enheduana in the literature. The term "en" in Ancient Akkadian refers to a royal official. Her name was Heduana and her appointment was a political move to consolidate Sargon's power in the south.

It is intellectually dishonest to misapply the terms "priest", "shaman", and "royal official". The sloppy thinking reveals ignorance of the distinctions. 

Hupa female shaman
Photo Edward S. Curtis, 1923

To illustrate the comparison of apple and oranges, I refer to a textbook that I used to teach World Religions at the university. The author generalizes that shamans are the priests of the ancient world and that since there are Japanese and Korean female shamans, there must have been female priests. in the ancient world. This might be politically acceptable in our egalitarian times, but it is based on a falsehood. This is the author’s reasoning in syllogistic form:

Premise: All shamans are priests.
Females are shamans.
Therefore, female shamans are priests.

The premise is false. While there are ways in which shamans and priests are similar, the distinction between them is clear. The priesthood's origins are among the early Semitic populations and those influenced by them. The cultural context of shamans is rooted in Altaic populations.

The offices of priest and shaman are probably the oldest known religious offices. Both serve as intermediaries between their communities and the supernatural. They share some common symbols such as the Tree of Life, and the Sun as the emblem of the Supreme God. However, they represent different worldviews, different ways of reasoning, and different practices.

Veiled Tungus shaman with drum

Underlying shamanism is the belief that there are powerful spirits who cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shaman’s role is to determine which spirits are at work in a given situation and to find ways to appease the spirits and restore balance or harmony. This often involves use of psychoactive substances to induce a trance state. Rarely, does the shaman perform blood sacrifice. The hides used to make their drums come from animals that have been hunted for food.

Underlying the priesthood is belief in a supreme High God to whom humans must give an accounting, especially for the shedding of blood. In this view, one Great Spirit (God) holds the world in balance, and it is human actions that cause disharmony. Priests are to discern the spirits, recognizing that evil spirits are the enemy of God. The ancient laws and received traditions governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, and cleansing rituals clarify the role of the priest as one who offers sacrifice for the people according to sacred law. 

Shamans tend to serve small tribal communities or nomadic clans, whereas priests historically serve at shrines and temples under the authority of high kings and rulers. Another difference is that gender-transgressive (cross-dressing, transvestite) shamans can be found among many populations around the world: Africa, Asia, and the Americas. However, the Bible forbids transvestism among God's people.

Drawing broad conclusions from comparison of apples to oranges violates a fundamental principle of cultural anthropology. It leads to generalizations that gloss over significant differences.


Related reading: Hallucinogenic Substances Found in 3000-year Hair of Shaman; Males as Spiritual Leaders: Two Patterns; Blood Guilt and the Priesthood of Christ; Why Women Were Never Priests; God as Male Priest; Female Shamans, Not Women Priests