ICo'hath (Heb. Kohnth', rtip, assemUy, Numb, iii, 10,29; iv,2,4,15; vii,9; xvi, 1 Softener Kehath', rnp, Gen. xlvi, 11 ; Exod. vi, 10, 18 ; Numb, iii, 17, 27 ; xxv'i, 57, 58; Josh, xxi, 5, 20, 20; 1 Chron. vi, 1, 2, 16, 18, 22, 38, 01, 60, 70 : xv, 5 ; xxiii, 6, 12 ; Sept. KaoS, but Ko3- in Gen. xlvi, IH, the second son of Levi, and father of Amrara, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel (Gen. xlvi, 1 1 ; Numb, iii, 19, etc.). B.C. 1873. The descendants of Kohath formed one of the three great divisions of the Levitical tribe. This division contained the priestly family which was descended from Aaron, the son of Amram. In the service of the taljernacle, as settled in the wilderness, they had the distinguished charge of bearing the ark and the sacred vessels (Exod.vi, 10; Numb, iv, 4-6). See Kouatihte.
Ko'hathite (collective "^rrip, Kohathi', Numb, iii, 27, 30 ; i v, 18, 34, 37 ; x, 21 ; xxvi, 57 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv, 12; or ''rnp, Kehathi', Josh, xxi, 4, 10; 1 Chron. vi, 33, .W ; ix, 32 ; 2 Chron. xx, 19 ; xxix, 12 ; Sept. Kan^ ; Auth. Vers. " Kohathites"), the descendants of Kohath, the second of the three sons of Levi (Gershon, Kohath, jNIerari), from whom the three principal divisions of the Levites derived their origin and their name (Gen. xlvi, 1 1 ; Kx.id. vi. 16, 18 ; Numb, iii, 17 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv, 12, etc.). Kiihath was the f itber of Amram, and he of Mo- ses and Aaron. From him, therefore, were descended all the priests; and hence those of the Kohathites who were not priests were of the highest rank of the Levites, though not the sons of Levi's lirst-born. Korah, the .son <if Izhar, was a Kohathite, and hence, perha]is, his im- ]iatience of the superiority of his relatives, JIoScs and Aaron. In the journeyings of the tabernacle the sons of Kohath hail charge of the most holy portions ef the vessels, to carry them by staves, as the vail, the ark,
the tables of show-bread, the golden altar, etc. (Numb, iv) ; but they were not to touch them or look upon them "lest they die." These were all previously cov- eretl by the priests, the sons of Aaron. In the reign of Ilezekiah the Kohathites are mentioned first (2 Chron. xxix, 12), as they are also 1 Chron. xv, 5-7, 11, when Uriel their chief assisted, with 120 of his brethren, in bringing up the ark to Jerusalem in the time of David. It is also remarkable that in this last list of those whom David calls "chief of the fathers of the Levites," and couples with " Zadok and Abiathar the priests," of six who are mentioned by name four are descendants of Kohath, viz., besides Uriel, Shemaiah, the son of Elza- phan, with 200 of his brethren; Eliel, the son of He- bron, with 80 of his brethren ; and Amminadab, the son of Uzziel, with 112 of his brethren. For it appears from Exod. vi, 18-22, comp. with 1 Chron. xxiii, 12, and xxvi, 23-32, that there were four families of sons of Kohath — Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites; and of the aljove names Elzaphan and Amminadab were both L^zzielites (Exod. vi, 22), and Eliel a Hebronite. The verses already cited from 1 Chron. xxvi ; Numb, iii, 19, 27; 1 Chron. xxiii, 12, also disclose the wealth and importance of the Kohathites, and the important offices tilled by them as keepers of the dedicated treasures, as judges, officers, and rulers, both secidar and sacred. la 2 Chron. xx, 19 they appear as smgers, with the Kor- hites.
The number of the sons of Kohath between the ages of thirt}^ and fifty, at the first census in the wilderness, was 2750, and the whole number of males from a month old was 8600 (Numb, iii, 28 ; iv, 36). Their number is not given at the second numbering (Numb, xxvi, 57), but the whole number of Levites had increased by 1300, viz. from 22,000 to 23,300 (Numb, iii, 39; xxvi,- 62), The place of the sons of Kohath in marching and en- campment was south of the tabernacle (Numb, iii, 29), which was also the situation of the Reubenites. Samuel was a Kohathite, and so of course were his descendants, Ileman the singer and the third division of the singers which was under him. See Hemax; Asaph; Jedu- THUX. The inheritance of those sons of Kohath who were not priests lay in the half tribe of IManasseh, in Ephraim (1 Chron. vi, 01-70), and in Dan (Josh, xxi, 5, 20-20). Of the personal history of Kohath we know nothing, except that he came down to Egypt with Levi and Jacob (Gen. xlvi, 11), that his sister was Jochcbed (Exod.vi, 20), and that he lived to the age of 133 years (Exod. vi, 18). He live<l about eighty or ninety j-ears in Egypt during Joseph's lifetime, and about thirty more after his death. He may have been some twenty years younger than .Josejih his uncle. A fuU table of the descendants of Kohath may be seen in Uurrington's Genecdorjieit, Tab. X, No. 1. — Smith. See Levite.
Koheleth. See Ecclesiastes.
Kolien, Naphtliali, a great Cabalistic rabbi, "a man wliose life was full of incidents which would give a biography of him the air of a romance," was born at Ostrow, in the L'kraine, Poland, about 1600. While yet a j'outh he was carried off by some Cossacks into the wilds of Poland, and for several years there follow- ed the employments of a hunter and a shepherd. He learned to excel in horsemanship and archery, in which he took great delight all his after life. At length he succeeded in making his escape from the Tartars, and travelled in Poland. Here new impulses stirred with- in him, and his naturally vigorous mental powers were roused to earnest efforts after learning. He made rapid progress in the study of the Talmud and Cabala, was ordained rabbi, and subsequently elected chief rabbi at Posen. He studied the Caliala profoundly, and was at once admired and feared for his supposed ability to com- mand the intervention of the supernatural powers. But in 1711, while he was in charge of the Hebrew congre- gations at Frankfort-on-the- Maine, where, as in Poland, he enjoyed for a time a high reputation as an expound-