If you’re one that believes a written lineage establishing a “pure Jewish bloodline” back to Abraham and Adam still exists, ask yourself why the lineage for the priest candidates in Rabbi Richman’s Temple Institute in Jerusalem is researched only back to their great-grandfather. This is where this practice is admitted:
“Kohanim, priests directly descended from Moses’s brother Aaron, are recognized by the Institute as such IF THEIR PATERNAL GRANDFATHER OBSERVED THE TRADITION.” (Jerusalem Post, Third Temple Preparations begin with Priestly Garb, 2008)
Tracking your lineage to your “paternal grandfather” would in no way satisfy what is biblically commanded to qualify a man to be a Jewish priest.
Since no written lineage exists today, some preachers claim that DNA can be substituted as evidence. DNA experts would disagree for they know there is no test that can prove the purity of a bloodline. Thus, there is no test that gives absolute proof of a pure Cohen bloodline going back to Aaron’s priestly family and beyond. Therefore, DNA evidence cannot meet God’s stipulations for qualifying a person for the Levitical priesthood. This 60 Minute’s broadcast focused on the good and bad of DNA testing:
“‘This business of genetic genealogy is fraught with limitations. For one thing, it can only provide information about a tiny fraction of our ancestry. Because we get half our DNA from our mothers and a half from our fathers, almost all of our DNA gets shuffled and remixed every generation, making it impossible to trace what comes from whom. There are just two bits of DNA that remain pure – the ‘Y’ chromosome, which passes directly from father to son, and something called ‘mitochondrial DNA’, which passes unchanged from mother to child.’
Hank Greely, a law professor at Stanford University, has studied this new field. He worries that people don’t realize just how many ancestors they actually have.
‘Eight generations ago both you and I had 256 great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.’ Wait, you’re saying if you go back eight generations we have 256 great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents? ‘Yes, it doubles every generation. So you’ve got two parents. You have four grandparents. You have eight great grandparents. Sixteen great-great-grandparents. And it adds up fast. It adds up so fast in fact that if you go back 20 generations you’ve got over a million grandparents.’
1,048,576 to be exact. And in each generation, DNA testing can provide information about only two of them.
‘So you could be Peruvian on your mother’s mother’s mother’s side. Japanese on your father’s father’s father’s side. Swedish on everything else.’ And you’ll never know. ‘You’ll never know Swedish from the ‘Y’ chromosome from the mitochondrial DNA.’” (60 Minutes, Rebuilding the Family Tree)
Not only do those candidates hoping to perform animal sacrifices or become the Jewish High Priest need a written lineage proving they have a pure Kohanim bloodline, but more specifically, they must prove they are from the priestly line of Zadok (see
Ezekiel 43:19,
Ezekiel 44:15-17,
Ezekiel 48:11-12). Why a lineage from Zadok? It is no coincidence that the name Zadok means “righteousness.” It appears his descendants were chosen because of Zadok’s faithfulness to David’s throne. He stood with David during the time of Absalom’s rebellion (see
2 Samuel 15:24-29). He also stood with Solomon in preference to Adonijah (see
1 Kings 1:8, 1 Kings 1:39). Because of his fidelity, God made Zadok’s decedents the exclusive line of priests to serve at the altar of sacrifice and in the office of High Priest.
The dilemma for Dispensational teachers is there is no such written lineage to prove who is and who is not of the priestly line of Zadok. DNA testing certainly cannot do this. Nevertheless, the Bible demands a proven lineage, for, without it, there can be no purification from the ashes of a red heifer…ashes which only a Zadok priest can prepare…and the problem goes around and around and around (see
Numbers 19:3–10).
Names on tombstones, DNA testing, and tracing one’s family tree back to a paternal grandfather does not satisfy the command for carefully documented genealogy like those found in the book of Numbers,
Matthew 1, and
Luke 3. Regarding priestly genealogy, the following quote is from Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch. He has authored about 50 books including The Jewish Home Advisor, This is the Torah and Jewish Book of Why. In his book, Inside Judaism: The Concepts, Customs, And Celebrations of the Jewish People, he writes:
“Despite the acceptance of proselytes the equals of unborn Jews, in Jewish Law certain limitations are placed upon the convert, the most oppressive being that of a priest (Cohen) may not marry a convert, although a daughter of a Cohen may marry a convert. The reason offered is since early proselytes came from heathen stock, they were considered tainted. Therefore, a priest, who was expected to be as unblemished as the sacrifice he offered on the altar, was not permitted to marry a woman whose past life might reflect negatively on his character, or stigmatize his offspring.
Today, only the orthodox community abides by these restitutions. The position taken by the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) is that since today’s priests, in general, are of uncertain genealogy and there is no way to prove to them that they are descendants of the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi, the ruling has lost its validity. They also argue that it is unfair and even embarrassing to admit a female proselyte to the Jewish fold, but then to deny her the right to marry a Cohen, based on a regulation that might have had validity when the Temple existed but is no longer a factor in Jewish life. The reestablishment of the Temple, they argue, is not anticipated. The Reform and Reconstructionist rabbinate share the Conservative view.” (Inside Judaism: The Concepts, Customs, And Celebrations of the Jewish People, Alfred J. Kolatch, The Priestly Family, page 135)
Did you see that Kolatch admitted that today “There is no way to prove that they are descendants of the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi”?
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