counsel: “By presumptuousness one only causes a struggle, but with those consulting together there is wisdom.” (Prov. 13:10) Presumptuousness leads to disastrous results; modesty will save a person. The wise man says: “Has presumptuousness come? Then dishonor will come; but wisdom is with the modest ones.”—Prov. 11:2.

DISRESPECT FOR AND DEFIANCE OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

When a person acts presumptuously toward God he is showing disrespect for Jehovah’s sovereignty and Godship. Those claiming to be his servants and misrepresenting him are most reprehensible. Of the false prophets, Jehovah said: “The prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak . . . that prophet must die. . . . When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, . . . with presumptuousness the prophet spoke it.”—Deut. 18:20-22.

Also, disrespect for Jehovah is shown by disrespect for his appointed servants, which can be caused by presumptuousness. In Israel, difficult cases were brought to ‘the place Jehovah chose’ (which, from David’s day onward, was Jerusalem). Anyone who flouted the judgment rendered was to be put to death, for in standing up against God’s representatives he was acting in defiance of God. The law read: “In accordance with the law that they will point out to you, and according to the judicial decision that they will say to you, you should do. . . . And the man who will behave with presumptuousness in not listening to the priest who is standing to minister there to Jehovah your God or to the judge, that man must die; and you must clear out what is bad from Israel. And all the people will hear and become afraid, and they will not act presumptuously any more.” (Deut. 17:8-13; compare Numbers 15:30.) The apostle Peter speaks of some who show great disrespect for God and his anointed servants, describing them as “daring [from Greek tol·me·tesʹ, “presumptuous,” AV], self-willed, they do not tremble at glorious ones but speak abusively.” Such men, Peter says, “suffer destruction in their own course of destruction.”—2 Pet. 2:10, 12.

Presuming on fleshly connections can be a snare. John the Baptist discerned the Jews’ thinking when they approached him. He warned them: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘As a father we have Abraham.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Matt. 3:9) The Greek word here is doʹxe·te, from do·keʹo, which, basically, means “to think; to form an opinion (right or wrong).”

PRESUMPTUOUSNESS TO END

Ancient Babylon was a prototype of presumptuousness against God, for which God’s everlasting enmity was against her. The prophet Jeremiah said to her: “‘Look! I am against you, O Presumptuousness,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord. . . . Presumptuousness will certainly stumble and fall.” (Jer. 50:29, 31, 32) Symbolic Babylon the Great has proved to be God’s bitter and most presumptuous enemy on earth, making the inhabitants of the earth drunk “with the wine of her fornication” and responsible for “the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.” For this she will suffer everlasting destruction. (Rev. 17:2, 5; 18:7, 8, 20, 24) This is in harmony with Jehovah’s promise to bring an end to all Babylonish presumptuousness: “I shall actually cause the pride of the presumptuous ones to cease, and the haughtiness of the tyrants I shall abase.”—Isa. 13:11.

PRIDE

Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable feeling of superiority as to one’s talents, beauty, wealth, rank, and so forth; disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing. Pride can, more rarely, have also the good connotation of a sense of delight or elation arising from some act or possession. Some synonyms of pride are egotism, arrogance, haughtiness.

Forms of the Hebrew root word, ga·ʼahʹ, translated “pride” may also be rendered “haughtiness,” “self-exaltation” and, in both good and bad senses, “eminence,” “eminent,” “exultant,” and with other English terms bearing the basic meaning of ga·ʼahʹ, namely, “to rise up, to be high or exalted.”

The Greek word kau·khaʹo·mai, meaning “to boast, to vaunt oneself, to glory, to exult, to rejoice,” likewise is used in both a good and a bad sense, the usage being determined by the context.

PRIDE DECEPTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE

The proud person may not recognize that he is proud and may attribute his actions to other causes in order to avoid facing the fact of his pride. One should examine himself and his motives thoroughly to determine whether he has this bad trait. The apostle Paul shows the need for the right motive, and the knowledge one should have of himself in this respect, when he says: “If I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body, that I may boast [kau·kheʹso·mai], but do not have love, I am not profited at all.”—1 Cor. 13:3.

Pride should therefore be rooted out of one’s personality for one’s own benefit. More importantly, it must be done if a person hopes to please God. One must even come to hate it, for God’s Word says: “The fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad. Self-exaltation and pride and the bad way and the perverse mouth I have hated.”—Prov. 8:13.

The individual who does not get rid of his pride will suffer. “Pride is before a crash, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Prov. 16:18), and “the house of the self-exalted ones Jehovah will tear down.” (Prov. 15:25) There is an abundance of examples of the crash that proud individuals, dynasties and nations suffered.—Lev. 26:18, 19; 2 Chron. 26:16; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 13:9; Ezek. 30:6, 18; 32:12; Dan. 5:22, 23, 30.

Pride is deceptive. The apostle Paul counsels: “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deceiving his own mind.” (Gal. 6:3) The proud person seems to be taking the way most beneficial or profitable to him, but he is leaving God out of account. (Compare Jeremiah 49:16; Revelation 3:17.) The Bible says: “Better is it to be lowly in spirit with the meek ones than to divide spoil with the self-exalted ones.”—Prov. 16:19.

BOASTING

The Greek word kau·khaʹo·mai, “to boast,” is used frequently in the sense of selfish pride. The Bible shows that no man has any ground for boasting in himself or his accomplishments. In the Christian congregation at Corinth, some were puffed up with pride in themselves or in other men, bringing about divisions in the congregation. They were thinking in a fleshly way, looking to men instead of to Christ. (1 Cor. 1:10-13; 3:3, 4) These men were not interested in the congregation’s spiritual welfare, but wanted to boast in outward appearances, not really wanting to help fellow Christians develop good hearts before God. (2 Cor. 5:12) Consequently, the apostle Paul severely reproved the congregation, showing that there was no room for them to be boasting in anyone but Jehovah God and what he had done for them. (1 Cor. 1:28, 29; 4:6, 7) The rule was: “He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.”—1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17.

Jesus’ half-brother James went even farther in condemning those who boasted about certain worldly projects they were intending to carry out, telling them: “You take pride in your self-assuming brags. All such taking of pride is wicked.”—Jas. 4:13-16; compare Proverbs 27:1.

A GOOD CONNOTATION

The Hebrew word ga·ʼahʹ and the Greek word kau·khaʹo·mai can also mean a pride that is delight arising from an action or possession, in a favorable sense. The psalmist spoke of Israel as “the pride of Jacob, whom [Jehovah] has loved.” (Ps. 47:4) In a restoration prophecy Isaiah said that the fruitage of the land would be “something to be proud of.” (Isa. 4:2) The apostle told the Thessalonian congregation that, as a result of their faith, love and endurance, “we ourselves take pride in you among the congregations of God.” (2 Thess. 1:3, 4) Christians take pride in having Jehovah as their God, that they have come to know him and that he has recognized them. They follow the principle: “Let the one bragging about himself brag about himself because of this very thing, the having of insight and the having of knowledge of me, that I am Jehovah, the One exercising loving-kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth.”—Jer. 9:24; compare Luke 10:20.

PRIEST

[Heb., ko·henʹ; Gr., hi·e·reusʹ].

The original meaning of the word ko·henʹ is not known, but its significance as used in the Bible can be clearly understood from an examination of the many texts in which the word appears, together with their context. A fine definition is given at Hebrew 5:1: “Every high priest taken from among men is appointed in behalf of men over the things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” The priest ‘comes near to Jehovah’ (Ex. 19:22), representing God to the people he serves, instructing them about God and his laws and, in turn, representing the people before God, approaching God in their behalf, offering sacrifices and interceding and pleading for them.—Num. 16:43-50; Heb. 6:20; 7:25.

IN EARLY TIMES

The need for the offering of sacrifices to God was recognized soon after the fall of man in Eden. Along with this, the need of priestly services seems to have been acknowledged. Cain and Abel presented sacrifices to Jehovah. Their father Adam, having rebelled against God, possessed no basis on which to approach God in their behalf. (Gen. 4:1-5) Cain and Abel were grown men, and Cain, at least, was probably married. (Gen. 4:16, 17) (Perhaps not long after the murder of Abel, Seth was born ‘to take his place,’ at which time Adam was 130 years of age. [Gen. 4:25; 5:3] This would allow for Cain and Abel to be 100 years old, or more.)

In patriarchal times the family head served as priest for his family, the duty passing to the firstborn son in event of the father’s death. Thus, in very early times we find Noah representing his family in a priestly capacity. (Gen. 8:20, 21) The family head Abraham had a large household with which he traveled from place to place, building altars and making sacrifices to Jehovah at his various places of encampment. (Gen. 14:14; 12:7, 8; 13:4) God said of Abraham: “I have become acquainted with him in order that he may command his sons and his household after him so that they shall keep Jehovah’s way to do righteousness and judgment.” (Gen. 18:19) Isaac and Jacob followed the same pattern (Gen. 26:25; 31:54; 35:1-7, 14), and Job, a non-Israelite but likely a distant relative of Abraham, regularly offered sacrifices to Jehovah in behalf of his children, saying: “Maybe my sons have sinned and have cursed God in their heart.” (Job 1:4, 5; see also 42:8.) However, the Bible does not specifically call these men ko·henʹ or hi·e·reusʹ. On the other hand, Jethro, the family head and the father-in-law of Moses, is called a “priest [ko·henʹ] of Midian.”—Ex. 2:16; 3:1; 18:1.

Melchizedek king of Salem was a priest (ko·henʹ) extraordinary. The Bible gives no record of his ancestry, his birth or his death. His priesthood was not by inheritance and he had no predecessors or successors in office. Melchizedek held the office of king and priest together. His priesthood was greater than the Levitical priesthood, for Levi, in effect, tithed to Melchizedek, since he was still in the loins of Abraham when Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek and was blessed by him. (Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 7:4-10) In these things Melchizedek foreshadowed Jesus Christ, the “priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek.”—Heb. 7:17.

Evidently the family heads acted as priests among the offspring of Jacob (Israel) until the Levitical priesthood was established by God. Hence, when God led the people to Mount Sinai he commanded: “Let the priests also who regularly come near to Jehovah sanctify themselves, that Jehovah may not break out upon them.” (Ex. 19:22) This was before the Levitical priesthood was established. But Aaron, though not yet designated as priest, was allowed to go partially up the mountain with Moses. This circumstance harmonized with the later appointment of Aaron and his posterity as priests. (Ex. 19:24) Seen in retrospect, this was an early indication that God had in mind a superseding of the old arrangement (of family-head priesthood) by means of a priesthood of Aaron’s house.

UNDER THE LAW COVENANT

When the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, Jehovah sanctified to himself every firstborn son of Israel at the time that he destroyed Egypt’s firstborn in the tenth plague. (Ex. 12:29; Num. 3:13) These firstborn ones accordingly belonged to Jehovah, to be used exclusively in special service to him. God could have designated all of these firstborn males of Israel as the priests and caretakers of the sanctuary. Instead, it suited his purpose to take male members of the tribe of Levi for this service. For this reason he permitted the nation to substitute the Levite males for the firstborn males of the other twelve tribes (the offspring of Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh being counted as two tribes). In a census there proved to be 273 more firstborn non-Levite sons from a month old and upward than there were Levite males, so God required a ransom price of five shekels for each of the 273, the money being turned over to Aaron and his sons. (Num. 3:11-16, 40-51) Prior to this transaction Jehovah had already set apart the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi as constituting the priesthood of Israel.—Num. 1:1; 3:6-10.

Israel for a long period of time had the exclusive opportunity to supply the members of “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:6) That opportunity ceased to be exclusively theirs due to the national rejection of God’s Son.—Compare Matthew 21:43; 1 Peter 2:7-10.

Initially, Israel’s King was Jehovah. Later Jehovah directed that the kingship be vested in the line of David. Jehovah was still their invisible King but used the Davidic line as his representatives, as to secular rulership. As such, these earthly kings were said to sit on “Jehovah’s throne.” (1 Chron. 29:23) But the priesthood was still kept separate, in the line of Aaron. Therefore to that nation alone belonged both the kingdom and the priesthood of Jehovah God with its “sacred service.”—Rom. 9:3, 4.

Inauguration of the priesthood

The appointment of a priest must come from God; a man does not take the office of his own accord. (Heb. 5:4) Accordingly, Jehovah himself appointed Aaron and his house to the priesthood “to time indefinite,” separating them from the family of the Kohathites, one of the three main divisions of the tribe of Levi. (Ex. 6:16; 28:43) First, however, Moses the Levite as mediator of the Law covenant represented God in the sanctification of Aaron and his sons and the filling of their hands with power to serve as priests, the procedure being described at Exodus chapter 29 and Leviticus chapter 8. Their installation apparently occupied the seven-day period of Nisan 1-7, 1512 B.C.E. The newly installed priesthood began their services toward Israel the next day, Nisan 8.—See INSTALLATION.