In each of the Synoptics the setting forth of the problem is prefaced by a statement of the Levirate law as spoken or written by Moses (Mt. has '^ilwvaijs dire, but in Mk. and Lk. it is MwiicrTjs eypa\p€v ripuv). In none of the three statements are the ipsissima verba of Dt 25' used, and Mt. bonows the words eTnyafj-^pevcrei Kai avaffTiQaei (Tirep/j.a from the LXX version of Gn 38*.
The problem propounded by the Sadducees may be thus stated : — The Levirate law wa.s enacted by Moses, and there was a case of seven brothers who in obedience to it married, one after the other, the same woman, who herself died after the death of the last of the seven. In the resurrection, since they all had her, whose wife shall she be of the seven ? Jesus in His answer to the Sadducees did not discuss the justice or injustice of the Levirate law, or examine the purpose of Moses in decreeing it ; but, asserting that they had erred, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God, He showed them that in the resurrection men neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven ; and then He proceeded to declare that belief in immortality is involved in our con- .sciousness of the being of God. J. Herkless.
LEYITES. — According to one line of tradition, the Levites were appointed to assist the priests (Ku 3» 8" 18i-«), but were not themselves, like Aaron and his sons, to approach unto the most holy things (4'*) ; yet according to another repre- sentation the priesthood belonged to them as an inheritance (Dt 33*"'\ Jos 18'^). Whatever niaj- have been the origin and date of the distinction between priest and Levite, it existed in the post-
* Note to Dt 255ff- in Steuemagel, ' Deuteronomium und Josua ' (Xowack's Hdkom. zum AT, Gottingen, 1900).
t Driver, Deuteronomy, p. 285 ; note to Lv 1816 in Dillmann, Exodtts und Leviticus, Leipzig-, 1897.
t Charles, The Book of Enoch, p. 52 (Oxford, 1893).
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LIBERALITY
LIBERALITY
exilic period, since it was recognized in NT times. The Levites are to be classed among the Temple officials, and to their office with its specific duties (Nu po- 51 3*) they were formally set apart (S**- '). Among their duties was the instruction of the people * (Neh 8«, 2 Ch 30-2 35^) and ' the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean,' as also the handing of the blood to the priests to be sprinkled by them according to the Law f (2 Ch
3016.17).
The relation of assistantship which associated the Levites with the priests was similar to that which connected deacons with bishops in the Chris- tian Church ; and it is not improbable that that connexion was suggested by the arrangement of the functions of the Temple officers with which the Jewish converts to Christianity were familiar. J
In the Gospels there are only two places where the word ' Levite ' is found. In the tirst of these, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk lO''""^''), a priest and a Levite, representatives of the religion of Israel and at the same time examples of Jewish traditionalism, are iinfav^ourably conti'asted with a Samaritan, one of a people with whom the Jews had no dealings. Tl\e par.able is the answer of Jesus to the lawyer who asked, ' Who is my neigh- bour ? ' and it seems evident that the Levite, de- scribed by Jesus, when he looked on the ^^•ounded man and passed by on the other side, recognized that he was not a Jew, and therefore not a neigh- bour to be humanely treated according to the com- mandment, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ' (Lv 19^^). The Levite, it may be con- cluded, accepted a Jewish traditional conception of 'neighbour' which excluded all those who were not of Israel. Clement of Alexandria wrote that Jesus, ' on His interlocutor inqiiiring, " Who is my neighbour?" did not, in the same way with the Jews, specify the blood-relation, or the fellow- citizen, or the proselyte, or him that had been similarly circumcised, or the man who uses one and the same law. ' §
In the Fourth Gospel (V^) the distinction between priest and Levite is made by naming together the representatives of these classes, who were sent from Jerusalem to ask John the question, 'Who art thou?' The Levites, as teachers of the people, would be deemed qualified to judge of claims oif Messiahship (so Hengstenberg and Godet, but see B. Weiss, ad loc. ) ; but it is significant that the mission to John of priests and Levites, who were officially connected with the Passover ceremonies, is recorded, and in it alone, in the Gospel which, according to the theory held by many critics, identifies Christ with the Paschal lamb. They were told by John that he was not the Christ ; and immediately after the account of their inter- view with him there is the statement that he, seeing Jesus, said, ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ' (Jn l-**).
Literature.— Schiirer, HJP ii. i. 223ff., 265 ff. ; Milman, Hisi. of the Jcivs, ii. 408 ; Kautzsch, Lit. of the OT, 90, 117 ; Schultz, OT Theology, i. 337 ; K. Budde, Bel. of Israel to the Exile, 80 ; and the art. ' Priests and Levites ' by Baudissin in Hastings' DB. J. HeRKLESS.