Steven James Schweitzer, «The High Priest in Chronicles: An Anomaly in a Detailed Description of the Temple Cult», Vol. 84 (2003) 388-402
The high and chief priests mentioned in both the genealogy of 1Chr 6,1-15 and the narrative of Chronicles (Zadok and Hilkiah) are compared with priests mentioned only in the narrative (the Azariah under Uzziah, the Azariah under Hezekiah, and Jehoiada); the Amariah under Jehoshaphat, possibly Amariah II in 1 Chr 6,11, is treated separately. This article concludes: Chronicles has not enhanced the Zadokite high priests; the three priests not mentioned in the genealogy are presented with increased cultic roles which delineate some of their duties; leading priests in Chronicles operate within the cultic sphere while their precise ceremonial role is unclear.
contraction or assimilation in the ancient world9. However, the fact that they were not assimilated caused a noticeable difficulty: father and son would have the same name, without the insertion of Johanan.
Only the names of Amariah I and Johanan do not appear in the source material used by the Chronicler to construct this genealogy10. I have already suggested why Amariah was used, and the insertion of Johanan may have been simply to add a generation between the two Azariah’s. However, why select the name "Johanan" in particular?
While this question cannot be answered with certainty, I suggest the following explanation. Perhaps the choice of the name Johanan was taken from the current high priest at the time when the Chronicler was writing his history. Following VanderKam’s reconstruction of the high priesthood during the Persian period, Johanan would have attained the office sometime prior to 408 BCE (as can determined from TAD A4.7) and continued to hold it "until c. 370, or perhaps even beyond"11. This explanation would also be consistent with Cross’ more complex reconstruction that places Johanan III in office at this time until his son, Jaddua (III), would have become high priest12.
The final observation about the genealogical list of high priests in 1 Chr 6,1-15 is that while there are some priests named in both the genealogical list and the narrative, there are others who are only