RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Letters Dimissory Levi, Levites
to that of the priests, was to a lower grade of service, but signified a setting apart to Yahweh, and consisted of a sprinkling with water of expiation, a shaving of all hair from the body, and the washing of the clothing. Then followed the laying on of hands by the elders, the offering of the wave offering by the high priest and of a sin and burnt offering. A special clothing does not seem to have been appointed for them as it was for the priests (but cf. I Chron. xv. 27; II Chron. v. 12). There is lacking a description of their personal business and manner of life as opposed to the definite regulations for priestly living (Lev. xxi.), except that they were not possessors of land, in lieu of which they received part of the tithes of the people and of the booty of war (Num. xviii. 24 sqq., xxxi. 30; see Tithes). For their dwellings forty-eight cities were set apart, according to Num. xxxv., with definite dimensions in order that ground should be available for pasturage and support, a provision which does not do away with their exclusion from possession of land, since the cities were not inhabited exclusively by Levites (but cf. Lev. xxv. 32- 33). The carrying out of this provision is given in Josh. xxi. (P), together with the setting apart of thirteen cities for the priests; of these cities six were oities of refuge. The idea of the systematic distribution of a tribe among all the other tribes presents that of a bond admirably adapted to preserve the conceptions of the theocracy, but seems rather ideal than real. The cities named were not in Israelitic possession till long after, and in the time of the Judges the Levites were in the position of strangers and guests.
The tribe consisted of three families, those of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Gen. xlvi. 11; Ex. vi. 16), the sons of Levi, and these divided into eight branches. In Mosaic times the number of Levites is given as 22,000 (Num. iii. 39) or 23,000 (Num. xxvi. 62). The Chronicler traces a new arrangement for the Levite service back to David, who in connection with the placing of 3. Charac- the ark in Jerusalem is said to have ter of assigned to special duties the different Their families (I Chron. xxiii.-xxvii.), and Service, the impression is given that this was in accord with prophetic direction. The objections made to this statement as a merely fanciful construction are answered by the fact that it has all the appearance of truth; the Chronicler might have attributed the assignment to Moses or Solomon were the representation purely hypothetical. It is evident that David and Solomon, the projector and builder of the temple, and the monarchs who organized the kingdom, must have given special attention to the Levites. It is wholly possible that at that time suitable persons from other tribes were incorporated among the Levites, though the tribal descent remained the basis of assignment. In David's time the number of Levites was 38,000 (I Chron. xxxiii. 3), of whom 24,000 were assigned to sanctuary service, 6,000 became officers and judges, 4,000 doorkeepers, and 4,000 were assigned to musical service. The class first named acted as assistants to the priests, cleansed the temple, prepared the offerings, and had
general supervision of the sacred precincts. To this end a further division was made into twentyfour courses, corresponding to the same number of priestly courses. The officers and judges, taken from the family of Kohath, served outside the sanctuary and in great part outside Jerusalem. The musicians were also divided into twenty-four choirs, and among their leaders are mentioned sons of Asaph, Jeduthun, Heman, and Kohath. The doorkeepers, one of Korahitic descent and the rest of two families tracing their origin to Merari, guarded the four sides of the temple at twenty-four posts. The Nethinim (the word means " given over," traditi, cf. the hieroduloi of Josephus, Ant. XL, v. 1; III Ezra, i. 3) were assigned to a service different from that of the Levites ; in postexilic times they performed the menial services of the sanctuary, in preexilic times the heaviest duties, and their institution appears to have been one of high antiquity (compare the general service of the Gibeonites, Josh, ix. 21 sqq.). Prisoners of war under the kings who followed David were often assigned as temple slaves (Ezra viii. 20), and Solomon seems to have devoted to the same service some of the Canaanites (I Kings ix. 21; cf. Ezra ii. 58). During the continuance of the kingdom the service of the temple seems to have been in part performed even by uncircumcised persons (cf. Ezek. xliv. 7-8).
At the division of the kingdom, according to II Chron. xi. 13 sqq., many Levites flocked to Judah and Jerusalem from the kingdom of Israel. Levites accompanied the host on a war expedition under Jehoshaphat, and served at the same time as judges and teachers of the people
4. Later (II Chron. xvii. 8, xix. 8, xx. 19 sqq.). Historical Jehoiada employed them as an armed
Notices. guard at the overthrow of Athaliah (II Chron. xxiii. 1-11, an office assigned in II Kings xi. 4-12 to the royal guard). To the Levites the Chronicler gives an important part in the reformation of Hezekiah (II Chron. xxix.), and tells of their services in the time of Josiah as slaughterers of the paschal lamb (II Chron. xxv. 11). Hezekiah is said to have reinstituted the giving of tithes, which had fallen into disuse, for the benefit of priests and Levites (II Chron. xxxi. 4), and the Chronicler gives a better character to the Levites than to the priests in that reign (II Chron. xxix. 34). Ezekiel (xliv. 9) expressly excludes them from priestly service on the ground that they had confirmed Israel in idolatry, and allows them to perform only the lower sanctuary services, assigning the altar service to the Zadokites. The effect of Ezekiel's legislation is that of an entirely new arrangement. That the Levites had fostered the high places is suggested by their fewness at the time of the return (Ezra ii. 40); only seventy-four Levites as against 4,289 priests were repatriated under Zerubbabel, though there appear 128 singers and 139 doorkeepers. These latter had been more closely attached to the temple, hence their greater interest in the return. Under Nehemiah the number of Levites in Jerusalem increased (Neh. xi. 15 sqq.). The Levitical cities are not mentioned in the period of Ezra-Nehemiah. Nethinim, regarded as a lower caste of the Levites,
Levi, Levites Leyser