LESSON 1: Priestley Ministry of the Tribe of Levi

Everyone knows the Levites were one of the twelve tribes of Israel and were given duties in the service of the tabernacle (though only those of Aaron’s line were technically priests). The Levites had a violent history. And what makes this interesting is that the violent nature of the Levites both:

• lost them land in Israel, and
• gained them the priesthood.

This is demonstrated in two episodes, that of Jacob’s son Levi in Genesis 34 and that of the tribe of Levi in Exodus 32.

Before we move forward, we need to know a little bit about the 12 tribes of Israel.

The 12 Tribes of Israel:

This map shows where the twelve tribes of Israel were located.

Jacob had twelve sons, and the land of Israel was given to his sons which created the twelve tribes.

Here is a list of all the tribes:

1. Reuben
2. Simeon
3. Ephraim
4. Judah
5. Dan
6. Naphtali
7. Gad
8. Asher
9. Issachur
10. Zebulun
11. Manasseh
12. Benjamin

One of Jacob’s sons, Levi, was not given land because his tribe was chosen to be priests so they had a special relationship with God instead of land. Since the tribe of Levi did not receive a territorial inheritance, the tribe of Joseph was divided into two sections (a double blessing for Jacob’s son): Ephraim and Manasseh to equal a total of 12 tribes. These 12 tribes would eventually be unified as one nation, the nation of Israel, and be led by kings such as King Saul, King David, and King Solomon.

Jacob’s son Levi in Genesis 34:

The daughter of Jacob by Leah; Dinah was abducted and raped near the city of Shechem, by Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite. Because Shechem then wished to marry Dinah, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi pretended to agree to the marriage if Shechem and all the other males of the city of Shechem were circumcised. After the operations, while the men were still weakened, Simeon and Levi attacked the city, killed all the males, including Shechem and Hamor, and freed Dinah. They then joined in plundering the city.

Jacob rebuked Simeon and Levi for arousing the enmity of neighboring tribes and, on his deathbed, gave his blessing to their younger brother Judah. Both Simeon and Levi would be divided and scattered because of their violence. In fulfillment of this, the Simeonites obtained land within the territory of Judah and the Levites received no land.

The tribe of Levi in Exodus 32:

While Moses was receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Aaron asked them to take off the gold earrings the wives, sons and daughters were wearing. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. The next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. He begged God not to be too harsh and angry to his people. He requested God not to bring disaster to his own people. Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. That day the Lord blessed the Levites.

This episode recalls the violence of their ancestor Levi (Genesis 34:25-31). But here such righteous zeal brought the Levites blessing, as they were “ordained for the service of Yahweh.” This is the origin of the priesthood in Israel. The Levites were given the responsibility of the priesthood because of their zeal in defending God’s honor. Whereas God originally consecrated the firstborn sons of the Israelites, now He chose the tribe of Levi to take that place in His service.

God instructed the Israelites through the tribe of Levi. They took the leadership of sacrifices and served at the Temple. They were assigned to the duties which are related to the House of Tabernacle (Ex. 38:21). During the war, the tribe of Levi was exempted from battle because of ministerial duties.

What can we learn from the tribe of Levi / the Levites?

As Christians, we learn from the tribe of Levi that unrestrained anger is the cause of a great deal of sin. Anger leaves devastation in its wake, often with irreparable consequences. When anger is a defining trait, it is an indication of the lack of the spiritual gift of self-control that characterizes all believers. An angry person makes a poor counselor, and, in fact, his company should be avoided, especially when the sin of anger is unconfessed and there is no attempt to deal with it in a godly manner. Also we need to understand that when we do as God commands us, he blesses us like how he blessed the Levites.