Joshua the son of Jehozadak ( ''Yəhōšūaʿ''), was the first

High Priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious organisation. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many god ...

during the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s from the

Babylonian Captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

Life

In the common List of High Priests of Israel, Joshua served as High Priest around 515–490 BCE. The biblical text names Joshua among the leaders who inspired a momentum towards the reconstruction of the temple, in Ezra . Later, some of his sons and nephews are found guilty of intermarriage. In the

Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah is a Jewish text attributed to Zechariah, a Hebrew prophet of the late 6th century BC. In the Hebrew Bible, the text is included as part of the Twelve Minor Prophets, itself a part of the second division of that work. In ...

, Zechariah the prophet experiences a vision given to him by an angel of the Lord in which the restoration and cleansing of Joshua's priestly duties are affirmed. Included in the visions were requirements in which Joshua was expected to uphold. These included: (1) walk in the ways of God, (2) keeping the requirements (the law), (3) ruling God's house, (4) take charge of His courts; by fulfilling these duties, the angel granted access to the inner temple to Joshua and his fellow priest. The vision also functioned to purify Joshua and to sanctify him for the preparations of his priestly duties. Joshua is also named alongside Persian governor

Zerubbabel Zerubbabel ( from ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a governor of the Achaemenid Empire's province of Yehud Medinata and the grandson of Jeconiah, penultimate king of Judah. He is not documented in extra-biblical documents, and is considered ...

in the Book of Haggai as the high priest to whom that prophet directed his messages from God. Theologian Albert Barnes observes that "Haggai addresses these two, the one of the royal, the other of the priestly, line, as jointly responsible for the negligence of the people".Barnes, A. (1834)
Barnes' Notes
on Haggai 1, accessed on 25 December 2024

Tomb

In 1825, the traditional tomb of Joshua was reported to have been found at "one hour's distance from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Significance

The name Joshua is of the same origin as the name

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, and Joshua the High Priest is interpreted by some

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

to be a foreshadowing of Jesus.

Patrilineal ancestry

As per

1 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

chapter 5:

Notes

References

External links

Pictures of tomb of Joshua the High Priest in Iraq
, an
Courtyard
, by Kobi Arami {{Authority control 6th-century BCE high priests of Israel 5th-century BCE high priests of Israel Book of Ezra people Book of Haggai people Book of Zechariah people