Levite

Le'vite (בֶןאּלֵוַי, son of Levi, or simply לֵוי, Levi, for לֵוַיַּי, De 12:18; Jg 17:9,11; Jg 18:3; usually in the plur. and with the art. הִלוַיַּים; Sept. Λευῖται), a patronymic title which, besides denoting all the descendants of the tribe of Levi (Ex 6:25; Le 25:32, etc.; Nu 35:2; Jos 21:3,41), is the distinctive title of that portion of it which was set apart for the subordinate offices of the sanctuary, to assist the other and smaller portion of their own tribe, invested with the superior functions of the hierarchy (1Ki 8:4; Ezr 2:70. Joh 1:19, etc.), and this is the meaning which has perpetuated itself. Sometimes, again, it is added as an epithet of the smaller portion of the tribe, and we read of "the priests the Levites" (Jos 3:3; Eze 44:15). See PRIEST. In describing the institution and development of the Levitical order, we shall treat of it in chronological order, availing ourselves of the best systematizations hitherto produced.

I. From the Exode till the Monarchy. — This is the most interesting and important period in the history of the Levitical order, and in describing it we must first of all trace the cause which called it into existence.

1. Origin and Institution of the Levitical Order. The absence of all reference to the consecrated character of the Levites in the book of Genesis is noticeable enough. The prophecy ascribed to Jacob (Ge 49:5-7) was indeed fulfilled with singular precision, but the terms of the prophecy are hardly such as would have been framed by a later writer, after the tribe had gained its subsequent pre-eminence. The only occasion on which the patriarch of the tribe appears the massacre of the Shechemites — may indeed have contributed to influence the history of his descendants, by fostering in them the same fierce, wild zeal against all that threatened to violate the purity of their race, but generally what strikes us is the absence of all recognition of the later character. In the genealogy of Ge 46:11, in like manner, the list does not go lower down than the three sons of Levi, and they are given in the order of their birth, not in that which would have corresponded to the official superiority of the Kohathites. There are no signs, again, that the tribe of Levi had any special pre- eminence over the others during the Egyptian bondage. As tracing its descent from Leah, it would take its place among the six chief tribes sprung from the wives of Jacob, and share with them a recognized superiority over those that bore the names of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Within the tribe itself there are some slight tokens that the Kohathites were gaining the first place. The classification of Ex 6:16-25 gives to that section of the tribe four clans or houses, while those of Gershon and Merari have but two each. To it belonged the house of Amram, and "Aaron the Levite" (Ex 4:14) is spoken of as one to whom the people would be sure to listen. He married the daughter of the chief of the tribe of Judah (Ex 6:23). The work accomplished by him, an by his yet greater brother, would naturally tend to give prominence to the family and the tribe to which they belonged, but as yet there are no traces of a caste-character, no signs of any intention to establish a hereditary priesthood. Up to this time the Israelites had worshipped the God of their fathers after their fathers' manner. The first-born of the people were the priests of the people. The eldest son of each house inherited the priestly office. His youth made him, in his father's lifetime, the representative of the purity which was connected from the beginning with the thought of worship (Ewald, Alterthüm. p. 273. and comp. PRIEST). It was apparently with this as their ancestral worship that the Israelites came up out of Egypt. The "young men" of the sons of Israel offer sacrifices (Ex 24:5). They, we may infer, are the priests who remain with the people while Moses ascends the heights of Sinai (Ex 19:22-24). They represented the truth that the whole people were "a kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6). Neither they, nor the "officers and judges" appointed to assist Moses in administering justice (Ex 18:25), are connected in any special manner with the tribe of Levi. The first step towards a change was made in the institution of a hereditary priesthood in the family of Aaron during the first withdrawal of Moses to the solitude of Sinai (Ex 28:1). This, however, was one thing; it was quite another to set apart a whole tribe of Israel as a priestly caste. The directions given for the construction of the tabernacle imply no pre-eminence of the Levites. The chief workers in it are from the tribes of Judah and Dan (Ex 31:2-6). The next extension of the idea of the priesthood grew out of the terrible crisis of Exodus 32. If the Levites had been sharers in the sin of the golden calf, they were, at ally rate, the foremost to rally round their leader when he called on them to help him in stemming the progress of the evil. Then came that terrible consecration of themselves, when every man was against his son and against his brother, and the offering with which they filled their hands (מַלאוּ יֶדכֶם, Ex 32:29; comp. Ex 28:41) was the blood of their nearest of kin. 'The tribe stood forth separate and apart, recognizing even in this stern work the spiritual as higher than the natural, and therefore counted worthy to be the representative of the ideal life of the people, "an Israel within an Israel" (Ewald, Alterthüm. p. 279), chosen in its higher representatives to offer incense and burnt-sacrifice before the Lord (De 33:9-10), not without a share in the glory of the Urim and Thummim that were worn by the prince and chieftain of the tribe. From this time, accordingly, they occupied a distinct position. Experience had shown how easily the people might fall back into idolatry — how necessary it was that there should be a body of men, an order, numerically large, and, when the people were in their promised home, equally diffused throughout the country, as attestators and guardians of the truth. Without this the individualism of the older worship would have been fruitful in an ever-multiplying idolatry. The tribe of Levi was therefore to take the place of that earlier priesthood of the first-born as representatives of the holiness of the people.