Levites

The Levites were the descendants of Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah, set apart by God for the service of his sanctuary. In the strict sense the term distinguishes the non-priestly members of the tribe from the priests — the family of Aaron — to whom alone the altar and the holy things were entrusted; the Levites were given to assist them (Numbers 3:5–10). Yet the word can also embrace the whole tribe, priests included, as in the recurring phrase "the priests, the Levites" (Deuteronomy 17:9; Ezekiel 44:15).

Their special standing arose at Sinai. When Israel worshipped the golden calf, the sons of Levi rallied to Moses' side, and for this zeal the tribe was consecrated to the LORD (Exodus 32:26–29). God then took the Levites in place of the firstborn of all Israel, who were forfeit to him after the Passover, so that the tribe became a living substitute belonging wholly to him (Numbers 3:11–13; Numbers 8:14–18). Organized by the three Levitical clans of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, they bore the tabernacle and its furnishings through the wilderness, each clan assigned its own charge (Numbers 4:1–33), guarding the holy things so that no unauthorized person approached and died.

Because they were set apart for God, the Levites received no territorial inheritance: "the LORD is their inheritance" (Deuteronomy 18:1–2; Joshua 13:33). Instead they were scattered among the tribes in forty-eight Levitical cities, including the six cities of refuge, and were sustained by the people's tithes (Numbers 35:1–8; Numbers 18:21–24) — a dispersion that turned the tribe into Israel's resident teachers of the law (Deuteronomy 33:10; 2 Chronicles 17:8–9). Under David their duties were ordered for the coming temple: they served as gatekeepers, treasurers, judges, and above all as the singers and musicians who led Israel's worship (1 Chronicles 23:1–6; 1 Chronicles 25:1). After the exile the Levites who returned, though comparatively few, again taught the law and led praise at the reading of Scripture (Nehemiah 8:7–9).

Theologically the Levites embody the principle of a people wholly given to God and the costliness of approaching a holy God through appointed mediation. The New Testament reads their priestly system as a shadow fulfilled in Christ: the "covenant of Levi" (Malachi 2:4–7) and the whole Levitical priesthood pointed beyond itself, for perfection did not come through it; rather a greater priest has arisen after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11). A Levite passes by in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:32), and the generous Barnabas is named a Levite of Cyprus (Acts 4:36). In Christ the church becomes a royal priesthood and the redeemed an offering, the reality to which Levi's lifelong service of God always pointed.