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kowen
כונ
When translated, this word exhibits a variety of spellings including “koen”, “kohen”, “coen”, “cohen”. The hebrew word occasionally is spelled with the letter ה in the middle, and this seemingly justifies the spelling an 'h'. However, it also brings with it some suspicion that perhaps כונ and כהנ might be different words entirely, with different meanings.
- we will need to compare the spellings within the text as we may not be able to rely on the Strongnumbers.
Even without this potential issue, there are other issues at play. Although the meaning of “priest” is applied quite consistently, the word כונ appears under the guise of multiple “Strongnumbers”.
Intriguingly, the word כהנ (kohen), which does include an 'h' is also translated as “priest” and also assigned Strongnumber 3548, but also Strongnumber 3547, where it is supposedly pronounced 'kahan' and 3549, pronounced 'kahen', and 3550 pronounced 'kehuna'. In this form it is generally interpreted to mean “the priesthood” that is the office or profession, rather than a specific person. This is cognate to 'Kahuna' a Hawaiian word that refers to experts in their field. Historically, it has been used to refer to doctors, surgeons and dentists, as well as priests, ministers, and sorcerers.
History
In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek is said to have been the “priest of god most high”, at least this is the typical interpretation. But the Hebrew reads:
כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן
Later on in Genesis we read of the “priest of On” and the “priest of Midian”, and then in Exodus, the priest of Pharoah.
When the priesthood of Israel was established during the Exodus, the same word is used.
The entire nation is a kingdom of priests - Exodus 19:6, “you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” כֹּהֲנִ֖ים
(3548 includes both singular and plural (see im) forms)