Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LEVITES

(Heb. lĕwî)

Because the Levites are portrayed differently in the various biblical sources, each must be examined separately. Most secure are references in the books of Chronicles, dated to the last half of the 4th century b.c.e. Here the Levites comprise three classes of cult personnel all claiming descent from the single eponymous ancestor Levi, but carefully distinguished from each other and from the sons of Aaron by their genealogy. These are the Levites proper, who claim descent from the firstborn sons of the sons of Levi; the singers, who claim descent from the secondborn sons of the sons of Levi (1 Chr. 6); and the gatekeepers, who claim descent from Korah, son of Izhar, the second son of Kohath, son of Levi (1 Chr. 9:19), and also from the sons of Merari (9:14; 26:19).

As described in Chronicles, the tasks of the Levites during this period indicate a well-established temple bureaucracy having both religious and secular functions. The gatekeepers are in charge of the thresholds, the chambers, and the treasuries of the temple. They collect the annual taxes and assessments and pay out from it according to the needs of the state (2 Chr. 24:6; 34:9-10). They assist the sons of Aaron in the temple service, being in charge of the furniture and utensils, the flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices — everything required for the service (1 Chr. 9:26-32; 23:24-29).

The singers accompany the sacrificial service with song and musical instruments (1 Chr. 23:30-31; 2 Chr. 29:27-28). A further role of the Levites was to instruct the populace in the law (2 Chr. 17:8-9; 19:8-10; 35:3), and it may have fallen to the temple singers to interpret, teach, and copy the law since the service of song may have included the recitation of the law.

Officers and judges were also appointed from the Levites (1 Chr. 23:4; 26:29; 2 Chr. 19:8). These were probably in charge of legal decision-making, conscription, corvée labor, and collection of taxes for the secular and cultic affairs of the temple (1 Chr. 26:22-30).

Prior to the time of the Chronicler we have a different picture. During the time of Nehemiah (446) it is still the Levites headed by an Aaronide priest who collect the tithes throughout the towns (Neh. 10:37[MT 38]), and a distinction is still made between the priests who do the work of the temple (11:12) and the Levites who do the work external to the temple. Also at this time, the temple singers had been assimilated to the levitical class (Neh. 11:17; 12:27) but not unambiguously (12:28, 45-47; 13:5, 10), but the gatekeepers were not yet considered Levites. Still earlier, in a list dating to the time of the return (between 538 and 520), neither singers nor gatekeepers were Levites (Ezra 2 = Neh. 7), and even by the time of Ezra, in the 7th year of Artaxerxes (458; Ezra 7:24; cf. Neh. 10:29, 39[30, 40]) neither of these groups had yet been assimilated into their ranks. At that time the role of the Levites was only to “read from the Law, giving the sense, and enabling the people to understand the meaning” (Neh. 8:7).

Still earlier, in Babylon in 572, Ezekiel outlines the roles and privileges of the levitical priests (Ezek. 40–48), but does not know them as either singers or gatekeepers. He knows two classes of priests: one in charge of the service of the altar, the sons of Zadok, and the other in charge of the service of the temple (Ezek. 40:45-46). As in Nehemiah both classes are counted among the levitical priests (Ezek. 43:19). According to Ezekiel, the levitical priests not of the line of Zadok administer the gates of the temple complex and have the care of the temple. They slaughter the whole burnt offering and the sacrifice of the people, and stand before the people to serve them. They have charge of the temple, the service for it, and all that is done in it (Ezek. 44:10-14), but they may not approach the altar or the sacred things (v. 13). Since Ezekiel accuses this second class of levitical priests of having led Israel astray prior to the exile (Ezek. 44:12), this class of priests must have existed prior to Ezekiel.

For his description of the role of the Levites, Ezekiel relies on references to them in the book of Numbers, which form a late addition to the Priestly corpus. Here the Levites serve the sons of Aaron (Num. 3:6; 18:2), keep the service of the tent, and do the work of the tent (Num. 3:8; 18:4, 6), but they may not approach the holy vessels or the altar (18:3). They have the duty of carrying the tabernacle and the ark, setting it up, and taking it down (Num. 1:50-51; chs. 3, 4). They slaughter the sacrifice of the people (Num. 8:19) and collect the tithes (18:26, 28). The concern of both Ezekiel and this strata of Numbers is that the Levites would “bear the iniquity” of the cult, i.e., bear responsibility for the cult and guard it against the encroachment of unauthorized personnel (Ezek. 44:11; cf. v. 7) which would incur the “wrath” of God (Num. 1:51, 53; 3:10; 18:7, 22).

The Levites may have been priests of Yahweh in the northern kingdom who fled south when the north fell in 722, and who were then incorporated into the Jerusalem priesthood as a second order of priests. According to Josh. 21 the cities given to the Aaronides were all in the areas of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, whereas the non-Aaronide Levites were all given cities in the north, indicating a northern province. The fall of the north may have precipitated language about the fear of the “wrath” of God in Numbers and this, or the cultic term “to bear iniquity,” may have later been misinterpreted by Ezekiel or a later glossator of Ezekiel, giving rise to the polemics there.

Bibliography. S. L. Cook, “Innerbiblical Interpretation in Ezekiel 44 and the History of Israel’s Priesthood,” JBL 114 (1995): 193-208; R. K. Duke, “Punishment or Restoration? Another Look at the Levites of Ezekiel 44,6-16,,” JSOT 40 (1988): 61-81; M. Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel (1978, repr. Winona Lake, 1985); S. Japhet, I and II Chronicles. OTL (Louisville, 1993); B. A. Levine, Numbers 1–20. AB 4 (New York, 1993); H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah. WBC 16 (Waco, 1985).

Lisbeth S. Fried

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LEVITES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)