Levites

The Levites are the descendants of Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah, set apart by Yahweh from among the tribes of Israel for the service of the tabernacle and, later, the temple. Within Levi, the family of Aaron was further set apart as priests; the rest of the tribe served as their assistants. The Levites had no territorial inheritance like the other tribes; their portion was Yahweh himself, supported by tithes and by forty-eight cities scattered throughout the land. Their history runs from the wilderness camp through the temple service of David and Solomon, the post-exilic restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, and into the New Testament.

The Tribe of Levi

Levi is the third son born to Jacob by Leah. At his birth Leah said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore he named him Levi" (Gen 29:34). He is named in the lists of Jacob's sons (Gen 35:23) and grouped with his brother Simeon under Jacob's deathbed reproach: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; They determined to destroy violently" (Gen 49:5). His three sons are the heads of the Levitical clans: "And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari" (Gen 46:11; cf. Ex 6:16; Num 3:17; 1 Chr 6:1).

Separation for Service

At Sinai the tribe of Levi rallied to Moses after the golden calf: "then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on Yahweh's side, [let him come] to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him" (Ex 32:26). Yahweh then took the tribe in place of the firstborn of Israel: "And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel" (Num 8:18). The mandate is repeated in Num 3:6: "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him." Their service is bounded by the priesthood of Aaron's house — "they will keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent: only they will not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they will not die, neither they, nor you⁺" (Num 18:3). At the end of the wilderness period Moses summarized the appointment: "At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name[his holy Speech] , to this day" (Deut 10:8).

Census and Assignments

The Levites were enrolled separately from the fighting tribes. Yahweh's instruction to Moses was, "but you appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furniture, and over all that belongs to it: they will bear the tabernacle, and all its furniture; and they will minister to it, and will encamp round about the tabernacle" (Num 1:50). At the first census, "All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the mouth of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand" (Num 3:39). The age of active service was fixed: "from twenty and five years old and upward they will go in to wait on the service in the work of the tent of meeting" (Num 8:24); David's later reckoning lowered the entry age — "For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward" (1 Chr 23:27). The closing wilderness census recapitulates the family structure: "And these are those who were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites" (Num 26:57).

The Three Clans

The three sons of Levi gave their names to three Levitical clans, each with a distinct burden in the wilderness service.

The Gershonites had charge of the fabric of the tabernacle: "And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting will be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting" (Num 3:25). Their work is summarized as "the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens" (Num 4:24), and they were given "Two wagons and four oxen" for transport (Num 7:7).

The Kohathites carried the holiest furnishings — the ark, table, lampstand, and altars — but only after Aaron and his sons had covered them: "And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath will come to bear it: but they will not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting" (Num 4:15). On the march, "the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and [the others] had set up the tabernacle against their coming" (Num 10:21). Their prince was "Elizaphan the son of Uzziel" (Num 3:30), and Moses was warned, "Don't cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites" (Num 4:18).

The Merarites carried the heavy structural pieces: "And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari will be the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its instruments, and its [the tabernacle's] service" (Num 3:36). Their prince was "Zuriel the son of Abihail" (Num 3:35). They received the larger transport allotment, "and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest" (Num 7:8). Their families, Mahli and Mushi, are recorded in 1 Chr 6:19: "The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' [houses]."

Duties in Tabernacle and Temple

The Levites' work was the practical maintenance of the sanctuary: bearing the tent and its furniture, encamping around it, transporting and setting up the ark. Under David and Solomon their service was extended to the fixed temple. They assisted the priests in offering sacrifice — "But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings: therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests" (2 Chr 29:34). They were the ark-bearers (Deut 10:8), the temple porters and singers, and the teachers of the law. After the captivity, when "the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place. And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading" (Neh 8:7-8). The ideal of the Levitical teacher is captured in Mal 2:7: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts."

Levitical Cities and Cities of Refuge

Because they had no tribal territory, the Levites were given cities scattered through Israel: "Command the sons of Israel, that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them you⁺ will give to the Levites" (Num 35:2). The allotment was carried out under Joshua: "And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the [Speech] of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs" (Jos 21:3). Six of these served as cities of refuge for the manslayer. Sirach restates the principle: "Only in the land of the people might he have no heritage, And in their midst divide no inheritance; Whose portion and inheritance is Yahweh, In the midst of the children of Israel" (Sir 45:22).

Support by Tithe

Lacking a landed inheritance, the Levites were sustained by the tithe of the other tribes: "For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance" (Num 18:24). This created an ongoing obligation on the rest of Israel, which Deuteronomy presses on the householder: "You be careful not to forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land" (Deut 12:19); "And the Levite who is inside your gates, you will not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you" (Deut 14:27).

Post-Exilic Role under Ezra and Nehemiah

After the captivity, the Levites returned with the priests and resumed their duties. The chronicler describes the resettlement: "Now the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and those given [to temple service]" (1 Chr 9:2). With them came the Nethinim — those given to the service of the Levites — listed in Ezr 2:43: "Those given [to temple service]: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth," and again in Neh 7:46. Ezra's company included "some of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and those given [to temple service], to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezr 7:7). The Nethinim, "whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name" (Ezr 8:20), settled "on Ophel, to the place across from the water gate toward the east" (Neh 3:26). Earlier, when Jeroboam expelled the Levitical office from the northern kingdom, "the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office to Yahweh" (2 Chr 11:13-14). Under Jehoiada the Levites were rallied again: "And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers' [houses] of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem" (2 Chr 23:2). At the sealing of Nehemiah's covenant, "the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, those given [to temple service]" entered together "to the law of God" (Neh 10:28); "Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, [to wit,] Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves" (Neh 11:3).

New Testament References

In Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan, a Levite is the second figure who passes by the wounded man: "And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side" (Lu 10:32). In the Apocalypse, Levi appears in the sealing of the twelve tribes: "Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand" (Rev 7:7).