Sashai Explained

Sashai ben Abishua (Sheshai?) was the 1st Samaritan High Priest.^[1] He was a contemporary and rival of the Jewish High Priest Eli of Shiloah.^[2] He lived in the 15th century BC near the time of Moses

The succession of high priests explicitly mentioned in Samarian scripture goes from Moses to Sheshai I, 5th generation from Aaron through teaching of a rite of reciting the name of God, which was more in depth than merely reciting the four letters of the Tetragrammaton^[3]

He may be linked to Sheshai son of Anak. Anak coming from the Greek word Anax meaning king or shaman king^[4] As such he may also be linked to the Canaanite king Sheshi of Egypt.^{[5] [6]}

The details of his life and even his existence are unclear, Samaritans credit him as their first high priest, but he rather seems to be the first in their list to deviate from the Israelite list of high priests, being omitted in the Jewish list rather than the line deviating from that point.^[7]

The Samaritan and Jewish lists only finally deviate in separate directions at Uzzi who is succeeded by Zeheraiah in the Jewish list, and Sashai II in the Samaritan list

1. Abraham
2. Isaac
3. Jacob
4. Levi
5. Kohath
6. Amram
7. Aaron
8. Eleazar
9. Phinehas
10. Abishua

Notes and References

1. Gaster, M. "The Chain of Samaritan High Priests: A Synchronistic Synopsis: Published for the First Time." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1909, pp. 393–420. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25210743. Accessed 21 Sept. 2020.
2. Smith. John. 2017-09-21. On the Y-DNA of the Lost Tribes of Israel. en. 10.6084/m9.figshare.5422696.v7.
3. Book: Lowy, S.. The Principles of Samaritan Bible Exegesis. 1977. Brill Archive. 978-90-04-04925-3. 276. en.
4. Niesiołowski-Spanò. Łukasz. 1 January 2020. The Levites, *ra-wo, λᾶός / λαοί – A new proposal for lexical and historical relationship. Biblica 101,3 (2020), 444–452. 9 December 2021.
5. Book: Kempinski, Aharon . Syrien und Palästina (Kanaan) in der letzten Phase der Mittelbronze IIB-Zeit (1650-1570 v. Chr.) . 1983 . In Kommission bei O. Harrassowitz . 3-447-02295-7 . Wiesbaden . 69–74 . 10684599.
6. Book: Donald B. Redford . Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in ancient times . 1992 . Princeton University Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-691-03606-9 . 257.
7. Book: Robertson, Edward . The Old Testament Problem: A Re-investigation, Together with Two Other Essays . 1950 . Manchester University Press . en.