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Levi - One of twelve banners representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Levi

 

The Tribe of Levi is one of the tribes of Israel, traditionally descended from Levi, son of Jacob, or high priest of the Israelites. Moses and his brother, Aaron, were both descendants of the Tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan (Joshua 13:33), the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel Himself is their inheritance" (Deuteronomy 18:2).[1][2] The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to give tithe to the Cohanim, particularly the tithe known as the Maaser Rishon. The Cohanim were the priests. They performed the work in the Temple. The Levites who were not Cohanim played music in the Temple or served as guards.

 

Notable descendants of the Levite lineage according to the Bible include Miriam, John the Baptist, Samuel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Malachi. The descendants of Aaron, who was the first kohen gadol, high priest, of Israel, were designated as the priestly class, the Kohanim.

 

The tribe is named after Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel). Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Genesis 46:11).

 

Kohath's son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron: the Kohanim ("Priests"), had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in Jerusalem. The remaining Levites (Levi'yim in Hebrew) were divided into three groups: Gershonites (descended from Gershon), Kohathites (from Kohath), and Merarites (from Merari). Each division filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services.

 

Levites' principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards, and performing other services. Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in Biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read.

 

During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting the Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the Golden Calf, which may have been a reason for their priestly status.[3] Although the Levites were not censured among the children of Israel, they were numbered separately as special army.[4]

 

In the Torah

In the Book of Numbers the Levites were charged with ministering to the Kohanim (priests) and keeping watch over the Tabernacle:

 

2 And with you bring your brother also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.3 They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die.4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you.5 And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel.6 And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 18:2-6 (ESV)

 

In the Prophets

The Book of Jeremiah speaks of a covenant with the Kohanim (priests) and Levites, connecting it with the covenant with the seed of King David:

 

As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me.

And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

'Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying: The two families which the LORD did choose, He hath cast them off? Jeremiah 33:22-24

The prophet Malachi also spoke of a covenant with Levi:

 

Know then that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him, and of fear, and he feared Me, and was afraid of My name.

The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity. Malachi 2:4-6

Malachi connected a purification of the "sons of Levi" with the coming of God's messenger:

 

Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith the LORD of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;

 

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer unto the LORD offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:1-3

 

In Biblical criticism

 

The parts of the Torah attributed by advocates of the Documentary Hypothesis to the Elohist, seem to treat Levite as a descriptive attribute for someone particularly suited to the priesthood, rather than as the designator of a tribe and feel that Moses and Aaron are being portrayed as part of the Joseph group rather than being part of a tribe called Levi.[5] The Levites are not mentioned by the Song of Deborah considered one of the oldest passages of the Bible. Jahwist passages have more ambiguous language; traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named Levi they could also be interpreted as just referring to a social position titled levi.[6] In the Blessing of Jacob (later than the Song of Deborah), Levi is treated as a tribe, cursing them to become scattered; critics regard this as an aetiological postdiction to explain how a tribe could be so scattered, the simpler solution being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves.[6][7] In the Priestly Source and Blessing of Moses, which critical scholars view as originating centuries later, the Levites are firmly established as a tribe, and the only tribe with the right to be priests.

 

References

 

^ Joshua 13:33, cited in Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Levites". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

^ Deuteronomy 18:2

^ From Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Levites". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. quoting Exodus 32:25-32:29

^ Ginzberg, Louis (1909). The Legends of the Jews Vol III : The Census of Levites (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "article name needed". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia

^ Peake's commentary on the Bible

 

www.conservapedia.com/Levi_(tribe)

 

Levi (Hebrew: לוי, Lēvî; "joining"), (2248 AM–2385 AM, or 1756-1620 BC), was the third son of Jacob and Leah. He is the ancestor of the Tribe of Levi, one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The prophet Moses and his brother, Aaron, were descendants of Levi.

 

The Bible states his lifespan: 137 years. (Exodus 6:16) The only other brother for whom the Bible gives a definite lifespan is Joseph.

 

A Display of Anger

 

Main Article: Dinah

In 2272 AM (1732 BC), his sister Dinah strayed from camp near the city of Shalem, in the region of Shechem.(Genesis 33:18 (KJV)) The local prince (also named Shechem) saw her and took her by force. Afterward, the prince was in love with Dinah and asked his father, King Hamor, to negotiate a marriage between him and Dinah.

 

Hamor approached Jacob and suggested a treaty involving mutual intermarriage. Jacob's sons said that they would accept this, on condition that all the men of the city circumcise themselves. King Hamor agreed to this.

 

Three days later, Simeon and Levi carried out their actual plan: they attacked the city by night, when the men of the city were still sore from the circumcisions, and killed the men, including Hamor and Shechem. They also took Dinah out of the prince's house and brought her back to camp. They returned with their brothers to plunder the city, capturing wealth, flocks, herds, women & children, and anything else of value.

 

The next morning, Jacob struck camp and left the region. He rebuked his sons sternly for an act that would risk retaliation and annihilation. Simeon and Levi, unrepentant and defiant, said that the only other choice they had would be to treat Dinah as if she were a harlot. (Genesis 34 )

 

Entry into Egypt

 

In 2298 AM (1706 BC), Levi, together with his father, entered Egypt. He was about 50 years old at the time and had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

 

In his deathbed blessing of his sons, Jacob said this of Simeon and Levi both:

Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7

 

This is a reference to the Shechem incident and might be one reason why the tribes of Simeon and Levi remained separated both during the wilderness journey and in the Promised Land. Simeon received a tribal territory and an assigned place to camp (the south side of the Tabernacle) and in the marching order (in the middle of the second rank). The Levites camped close to the Tabernacle on three sides and had the special duty to carry the Tabernacle furnishings, coverings, hangings, and structural elements. (Numbers 2-4 ) In the Promised Land, the Levites received no territory but were granted grazing rights in the environs of forty-eight cities.

 

Death

 

Levi lived for eighty-seven more years in Egypt, and died in 2385 AM (1620 BC). He is assumed to have had one more child born to him in Egypt: a daughter, Jochebed.

 

Levi in fiction

 

Levi appears in multiple motion picture and television projects depicting the life and career of Joseph. He also appears in at least one project that described in detail the rape of Dinah and the revenge that Simeon and Levi took at Shechem.

 

References

 

James Ussher, The Annals of the World, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003, pghh. 120, 153.

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