king.[18] The sacred lots
which gave "judgment" in accordance with the divine oracle (Num. xxvii.
21) have been plausibly compared with the Babylonian tablets of destiny
worn by the gods and the mystic lots upon the bosom of Noah.[19] The two
jewels also engraved with the names of the tribes in a suitable setting,
worn upon the _shoulder_ (see p. 102, c.), served, like the twelve
mentioned, for a memorial before the Deity, effectively bringing them to
remembrance, without any action on the part of the bearer, and thus
tacitly involving supernatural intervention as amulets are regularly
expected to do. The golden plate inscribed "holy to Yahweh" placed over
the head (the details are discrepant) had a mystic atoning force (Ex.
xxviii. 38), and in general writers recognized the peculiar efficacy of
the costume and its symbolical meaning (Philo, _Vita Mosis_, iii. 14;
Jos. _Ant._ iii. 7. 7; Talm. _Zeb._ 88b). Although Jewish tradition
ascribed this gorgeous and significant array to the Mosaic age (if not
to the pre-Mosaic days of Levi, so the _Test. of Levi_), its very
character, in common with the high priest's status, combines kingly and
priestly powers in a manner which is impossible for the period (about
15th-13th cent.). Where the king is the human representative of the
Deity he is theoretically and officially the priesthood, although the
priests carry on the ordinary subordinate functions. The Hebrew kings,
at all events, undertook priestly duties, and not until after the fall
of Jerusalem does the history allow that usurpation of monarchical
rights upon which the prophet Ezekiel (q.v.) encroaches. The embodiment
of political and religious supremacy displayed in the high priest's
authority, clothing and symbols can only reflect exilic or rather
post-exilic conditions.[20] (See further PRIEST.) In the Maccabaean age
the high priest Jonathan received the purple robe and crown and the
buckle of gold worn on the shoulder as a sign of priestly and secular
rank (1 Macc. x. 20, 38, 89, xi. 58). His brother Simon received similar
honours (xiv. 48 sq.), and Hyrcanus, the "second David," was supposed to
have had two crowns, one royal and the other priestly (Talm. _Kidd._
66a). The later Rabbis wore most sumptuous apparel, and were crowned
until the death of Eliezer ben Azarya.

Thus there was a real significance in ceremonial investiture (cf. Num.
xx. 26, 28) and in the transference of clothes (cf. Elisha and
Elijah's man