The word kdnurim (a""!C^) is used in the OT only of heathen priests. It answers to the word idd found in Aramaic inscriptions, Sj-r. kiimrd ' jiriest,' and hence in the OT is manifestly a word bor- rowed along with their idolatr}' trom the Ara- ma-ans.
In Deuteronomy the priests are called ' Levite priests ' (c"ij-ci cxr^-), and already in a very ancient narrative in tlie Bk. of Judges (clis. 17 f.) we lind a ' Levite ' ("i^) regarded as haWng a special call to priestly functions. In like manner the Jehovistic book of the Pentateuch (JE) conttiins a tradition, according to which Mo.ses assigned priestly rights to the 'sons of Levi' (Ex 32-"^- [whether 32='>'^- belonged to the original Jehovistic book has, indeed, been doubted by Kuenen, De bockcn des ouden vc.rbonds-, Leiden, 188711'., § 13, note 21] ; cf. Jos 13"- !» 18', see Gesch. p. 100 f.). In the prophetical writings the name ' Levites ' occurs tor the lirst time in the Bk. of Jeremiah (33"*' ' Levite priests ' n-'il^n D'}"in), in a section which is wanting in the LXX, and is pretty certainly not the work of Jeremiah, but, judging from v.", was probably composed by an exile in Babylon. During the Exile the term ' Levites ' is wit- nessed to by Ezekiel. But, in view of Jg 17 f., there can be no doubt of the higher antiquity of the terra, evi n apart from the passages cited above, regarding which doubts have oeen expressed whether they belong to the pre - Deuterononiic elements of the Jehovistic hook. The Bk. of Dt
fresiipposes the name as generally current, and )t 33, in which (vv.*"") Levi is represented as holder of the priesthood, dates to all appearance from a i)eriod prior to the Fall of Samarin,
Tlie view of the author of the Deuteronomic law (18'), as well as that expressid in the Blessing of Moses (Dt 33'"), and in the tradition embodied in the ' Priestly Writing' of the Pentateuch (also in Jos 13'*-"='[JE?]), is that the term 'Levites' indi- cates that the priests belong to a tribe of Levi. The origin of this priestly designiition and this tribal name is obscure. The Blessing of Jacob, which as a whole is not earlier than the mon- archical period, pre.supjioscs a tribe of Levi without any allusion to its call to |iriestly functions (tin 49'''). On the other hand, the OT contains certain indications which appear to nresuppose that the
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PRIESTS AND LEVITES
PRIESTS AND LEVITES
word lewt was once regarded as the official name of the priest. In the Jehovistie book Aaron as dis- tinguished from Moses is called ' the Levite ' (Ex 4"), although the two are cone^eived of as brotliers. In this passage there is certainly no reason to pronounce (with Nowack, p. 99) the designation an interpolation introduced under the influence of the Priests' Code, for such an influence would have led to Aaron's being called, not 'the Levite,' but ' the priest.' The Levite who figures in Jg 17 f. is of the tribe of Judah, and hence, apparently, does not belong to a special tribe of Levi, unless per- haps he belonged to Judah merely as a settler, as appears to be the interpretation adopted in what should probably be pronounced a gloss, namely, 17' (cf., however, Gesch. p. 184 f.). In any case, it is conceivable that the word Icwt was originally an official name, and only came afterwards to be treated as tlie patronymic for the particular family or guild wliich was considered to have been called to priestly service. At all events the coincidence of a tribal name with the priestly designation cannot be accidental, and accordingly one may not assume on the ground of Gn 49'°- that there was a tribe of Levi which afterwards disappeared, and that the Levitical priests have no connexion with it.
If the word leio( was once an official name, then it niiglit be possible that a reminiscence of this original sense has survived in an explanation of the word found in the Priests' Code (Nu 18-- *), although in itself this explanation is nothing more than a word - play. According to this passage, those who belong to the tribe of Levi are to attach themselves (yilldwil, nilwii) to Aaron, for the service of the tabernacle. The word Ihct is, as a matter of fact, probably to be derived from Ic'nvah, ' to twine, to attach oneself,' and might perhaps be used to designate an escort ' attachmg itself, such as the troop that escorted the wander- ing sanctuary of the nomad period of Israel's history (so Gesch. p. 73 f., foUowing others, especially de La<jarde). The word would thus be not strictly a designation of the priest, but of a body from which by j)reference the priests were chosen. Since a special body with a genealogical connexion had presumably to be conceived of as set apart for the above-named duty of escorting the ark, it might liappen in the end that lewi was taken as the tribal name of this body.
This explanation of the word lewt as an official name, finds, however, no certain support in the history tliat has come down to us, and it must always remain a difficulty to conceive of an alle^'ed tribal name having originated from an official name, espec'iallj- as in Gn 49 we have a view of the tribe of Levi presented in which there is no allusion to its being a priestly tribe. For this reason also it is not likely that leioi is the name for foreigners, say E<rvptians, who had ' attaclied ' themselves to the Hebrews (so, follow- ing others, Renan, Hist, du peuple (Tlsrnel, vol. i., Paris, 1887, p. 149 f., who makes Levi = inguilinus ; see, further, on this point, Gesch. p. 70 f.). Besides, the view that the Levites were originally non-Israelites is extremely improbable, for the reason that Moses, the deliverer of Israel, who is reckoned to the tribe of Levi, was certainly a Hebrew. Moreover, Levi, the father of the tribe, is represented as son of one of those two wives of Jacob whose birth was et^ual to his own, and who were his relations. Levi's descent then was regarded as a pure Hebrew one. Hence, taking everything into account, the more probable conclusion is that litoi was at first actuallv a tribal name, and only afterwards in a secondary way came to be treated as the official name of the priests because these were chosen from this tribe.