Midrash Tanchuma, Emor 4 | Jewish Mythology

What is written after this passage (in Lev. 21:10)? “And the priest that is highest among his brothers”22Lev. R. 26:9. Why is he called by the name, “high priest?”23THE PRIEST THAT IS HIGHEST, without the addition, AMONG HIS BROTHERS, would normally be translated, HIGH PRIEST. Because he was highest (literally: greatest) in five things: in beauty, in strength, in wealth, in wisdom, and in age.24TYoma 1:6; Yoma 18a; see yYoma 1:3 (39a); cf. ‘Eduy. 2:9; Avot. 6:8. In regard to beauty, because he was more handsome than his brothers. In regard to strength, because he was powerful in strength. Come and consider Aaron. When he waved the Levites (as in a wave offering), he waved twenty-two thousand in one day. How did he wave them? Back and forth, up and down. Ergo, he was highest in strength. With regard to wealth, where would it come from? If he was not wealthy, his brother high priests would magnify (rt.: gdl) him. There is a story about Phineas the Stonecutter. When they appointed him high priest, his brother priests went out and saw him cutting stone. So they filled the quarry before him with gold dinars.25Lat.: denarii. And where is it shown that if he had nothing, his brother high priests would magnify (rt.: gdl) him? Where it is stated (in an alternate translation of Lev. 21:10), “And the priest that is highest (rt.: gdl) because of his brothers.” And [this rule applies] not to the high priest alone, but to the king as well. And so you find in the case of David, when he went to fight with Goliath the Philistine, Saul said to him (in I Sam. 17:33), “You cannot go unto this Philistine […].” David said to him (in vs. 34-36), “Your servant tended his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I would go out after it, smite it, and deliver it out of its mouth…. Your servant smote both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them.” Saul said to him, “And who told you that you could slay him?” Immediately David replied, (vs. 37), “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Immediately (we read in vs. 38), “Saul clothed David with his military garments.” Now it is written (in I Sam. 9:2), “he was a head taller26More literally: TALLER FROM HIS SHOULDERS ON UP. than any of the people.” When he had clothed him in his garments and seen that they were fit for him, he immediately cast a jaundiced eye at him. When David saw that he had offended Saul, he said to him (in I Sam. 17:39), “I cannot go in these, for I am not used to them.” Here you learn that even though a person may be short, when he is appointed king, he becomes tall. Why? Because as soon as he is anointed with the anointing oil, he becomes superior to his brothers. David said, “I rejoiced over the anointing oil with which I was anointed.” It is so stated (in Ps. 16:9), “So my heart rejoices, and my glory exalts; my flesh also dwells in safety.”

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