Thus says the LORD of hosts;
Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
Read Chapter 2
Jerome
AD 420
He writes to Timothy, who had been trained in the holy writings from a child, exhorting him to study them diligently and not to neglect the gift that was given him with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. To Titus he gives commandment that among a bishop’s other virtues (which he briefly describes) he should be careful to seek a knowledge of the Scriptures: “A bishop,” he says, must hold fast “the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” In fact, lack of education in a clergyman prevents him from doing well to anyone but himself, and much as the virtue of his life may build up Christ’s church, he does it an injury as great by failing to resist those who are trying to pull it down. The prophet Haggai says—or rather the Lord says it by the mouth of Haggai—“ask now the priests concerning the law.” For such is the important function of the priesthood to give answers to those who question them concerning the law.
