Levites

LEVITES (Heb. Lēwī, pl. Lēwījīm; Gr. Lēwījī, pl. -ai). -ai). - Professional name of those charged with the Hebrew cult, subordinate to the priests, belonging to the tribe of Levi (v.), which was distinguished into the three sub-tribes of Gershon, Kohath and Merari (v.).

Descendants of Kohath were Moses (v.) and Aaron

(v.), to whose family the priesthood was reserved. Other families distinguished themselves in the time of David. They are treated especially in the books of Numbers, Paralipomenon, Ezra and Nehemiah.

In the Mosaic age, the history of the tribe begins with the adherence of the "sons of Levi" to Moses, who came down from the mountain and protested against the setting up of the golden calf, breaking the tablets of the law; they were given the task of carrying out the punitive decimation among the other tribes (Ex. 32:26-29). This fidelity to Yahweh earned them the honorary privilege of being consecrated to the divine cult.

Hence also the praise in the "blessing of Moses" (Deut. 33:9), which, however, some (F. Hummelauer, Comm. in Num., Paris 1899, p. 168 ff.) refer by hypothesis to the fidelity that, alone among all the tribes, Levi in its entirety would have shown toward Moses at the time of the general defection in the period of Kadesh.

The connection once made between "Levi" and lw and lw't, the name of priests and priestesses of the god Wadd, in Minaean inscriptions found at el-'Ulā in the Midianite region, is without foundation (cf. E. König, Geschichte der altt. Religion, Gütersloh 1923, p. 270, note 2), given the recent age of the texts themselves. Still less does the hypothesis deserve attention that the Mosaic history begins from a sanctuary south of Palestine, e.g. at Kadesh (gādhet, "sanctuary"), where a certain Moses, a Midianite priest, together with other colleagues, "Levites," would have organized some nomads (the Israelites), becoming their leader.

At the holocaust offered by Moses in the ratification of the Sinaitic covenant, young first-born sons acted with him as representatives of the "priestly people" (Ex. 24:5), perhaps as assistants to the priests, who are not named here but appear already to exist (Ex. 19:22-24). These functions were later replaced (cf. Num. 3:12-13; hence the prescriptions concerning the "redemption" in Num. 3:40-51; cf. vv. 14-39) by members of the Levite tribe (Num. 2-3), which had already supplied the priests with the family of Aaron (Ex. 28-29; cf. Lev. 8-9) and to which Moses himself belonged.

The "curse" of the tribal chief (Gen. 49:5-7) was atoned for by religious zeal and replaced (so also R. Kittel, Die Religion des Volkes Isr., Leipzig 1921, pp. 39, 44) by the Mosaic rehabilitation (Deut. 33:8-11). Jacob's saying is of exceptional importance for its undoubted authenticity (which therefore proves the existence of Levi before the priesthood): in an age of full Levite prestige, that is, after Moses, it could neither have been composed nor handed down. In Deut. 14:29 the Levites are named together with foreigners, because at that point the beneficiaries of the tithes are being discussed: orphans, widows, the propertyless in general. On the hypothesis that the Levites were individuals chosen from all the tribes, neither the name Levi nor the particular bond with Simeon (Gen. 34; 49:5) can be explained. It therefore cannot at all be said (W. O. E. Oesterley-E. H. Robinson, Hebrew Religion, London 1937, p. 164) that it is uncertain whether "Levite" was originally a nomen gentis or a nomen officii.

Their initiation took place with rites (Ex. 29; cf. Ex. 40; Lev. 8-9; 21), which thereafter remained traditional, including especially the imposition of hands (Num. 8:6-15). In the first census they numbered 8,580 (ibid. 4:48). To the three groups, Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, specialized functions and particular places were assigned near the Ark on the march and in the camp (Ex. 3).

Service began at the age of 25 (Num. 8:24), but only from the age of 30 did it include heavy work, such as carrying the Ark (ibid. 4:3, 47), and it lasted until the age of 50. It does not appear that they then had special garments. They were not counted among the combatants (ibid. 2:33).

In the division of the Promised Land they did not receive a region of their own, but cities with a little pasture, exactly forty-eight (ibid. 35:7), among all the other tribes (ibid. 35:1-8; Ios. 21:2 ff.); the whole people was to provide for their sustenance with part of the spoils of war (Num. 31:30) and with the tithes (ibid. 18:21-24; cf. Lev. 27:30). In Deut. 12:19; 14:27, etc. the people are exhorted not to let them lack what is necessary. The Levites in turn owed a tithe to the priests (Num. 18:20-32; Neh. 10:38-39). An echo of certain uncertainties in the primitive Levite and priestly organization is found in the episode of Iud. 17:7-12.

David, in the general reform of religious institutions, also defined the functions of the Levites, who in the meantime had greatly increased in number: in the census that the king made in his old age the Levites numbered 30,000 (I Par. 23:28-31).

In the transport of the Ark to the Davidic tent (ibid. 15:2) the Levites, who also attended to music, were dressed like the king in a "robe of fine linen" (ibid. 15:27). David organized the services of the various sub-tribes (ibid. 23:6-23), always in subordination to the "sons of Aaron" (ibid. 28; cf. 27), lowering the age of entry into service to 20 years (ibid. 27). The functions were specified in many ways: particular importance, alongside the Levites in general, was held by the musicians (ibid. 25) and the gatekeepers (ibid. 26), but there were many other offices (ibid. 26:20 ff.). The musicians, numbering 288 (ibid. 25:7; cf. 23:5), were from the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, mentioned also as authors of psalms (Ps. 50, 62, 73-83, 88; cf. 89). At the time of the apostasy of the north the Levites again gave proof of Yahwistic fidelity, for which they were driven out by Jeroboam (II Par. 11:13-14; 13:9; I Reg. 12:21); the descendants of certain priests, who on that occasion and in the following decades had accommodated themselves to idolatry, were later degraded to simple Levites (Ez. 44:10-14; ibid. 48:13) — the erring ones are called simply Levites). Under the succeeding rulers the Levites appear also in other functions: as teachers of religion to the people (II Par. 17:8), assigned to the collections (ibid. 24:4-6), to the storehouses of provisions (ibid. 31:12), to the restorations of the temple (ibid. 34:12). In the future religious picture drawn by Ezekiel, the Levites are strongly recalled to their functions in subordination to the priests (Ez. 44:10-11). In Ezekiel's context a tone of reproach toward the Levites is perceptible, in comparison with the priests of the line of Zadok: alongside this observation must be set that of the small number of Levites who returned to their homeland (ca. 350; Esd. 2:41-42; Neh. 7:45, 56; cf. Esd. 8:15-19) in comparison with the priests (ca. 4,300; Esd. 2:36-39), more ardent in Yahwistic and nationalistic spirit (but they too, like the Levites, were in good number guilty of having contracted mixed marriage: Esd. 9:1; 10:5, 23). The Levites who returned settled in part in Jerusalem (cf. the episode of Neh. 13:10-11, 30), and in part scattered to other cities (ibid. 7:72). They remained essentially divided into the classes "Levites, musicians, gatekeepers" (Esd. 5:70; Neh. 7:73; 12:46) and employed in various minor services (Neh. 11:46), in instruction (ibid. 8:9), etc.; they also collaborated in the material reconstruction of the city (ibid. 3:17). In the figure of ministers of the sanctuary in the second order, with ancient privileges (e.g., exemption from taxes: Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Iud., 12, 3, 3) and new ones (e.g., the use of the linen garment like the priests: ibid., 20, 9, 6-7), and occupied in various employments (judges: ibid., 4, 8, 14, etc.), they remain in later epochs down to the New Testament (Lk. 10:32; Io. 1:19; Act. 4:36), with various complications in the Talmudic juridical and ceremonial order.

In Judaism the expectation was sometimes expressed of the Messiah as a priest of the tribe of Levi (Test. Levi, 18; Test. Iudae, 25; Ass. Moysti, 9, 1).

Giovanni Rinaldi