(9) Subsistence. The subsistence of the Le vitcs was provided for in a peculiar manner.
(i) One-Twelfth of the Land or Forty eight Cities. It consisted, first, of a compen sation for the abandonment of their right to one-twelfth of the land of Canaan; and, sec ondly, of a remuneration for their services in their official capacity as devoted to the services of the sanctuary. The territorial compensation lay in the forty-eight cities which were granted to the whole tribe. including the priests. These cities were scattered among the different tribes, as centers of instruction, and had 1,000 square cubits, equal to above 3o5 English acres, attached to each of them, to serve for gardens, vineyards, and pasturage. It is obvious, however, that this alone could not have been an adequate compensa tion for the loss of one-twelfth of the soil, see ing that the produce of 3o5 acres could not in any case have sufficed for the wants of the in habitants of these cities.
(2) The Tithe. The further provision, there fore, which was made for them must be regarded as partly in compensation for their sacrifice of territory: although we are disposed to loolc upon it as primarily intended as a remuneration for the dedication of their services to the public. This provision consistcd of the tithe, or tenth of the produce of the grounds allotted to the other tribes. The simplest view of this payment is to regard it, first, as the produce of about as much land as the Levites would have been entitled to if placed on the same footing with regard to terri tory as the other tribes; and also as the produce of so much more land, which the other tribes cn joyed in consequence of its not having been as signed to the tribe of Levi.
In giving the produce of this land to the Lc vites the Israelites were therefore to be regarded as simply releasing them from the cares of agri culture, to enable them to devote themselves to the service of the sanctuary. The land which produced the tithe was just so much land held by the other tribes in their behalf ; and the labor of cultivating this land was the salary paid to the Levites for their official services. The tenth was paid to the whole tribe of Levi; but as the Levites had to give out of this one-tenth to the priests, their own allowance was only nine-tenths of the tenth. A more particular account of tithes belongs to another head. (See TrrilEs.) The Levites had also a certain interest in the 'second tithe,' being the portion which, after the first tithe had been paid, the cultivator set apart for hospitable feasts, which were held at the place of the sanctuary in two out of three years, but in the third year at' home. This interest, how ever, extended no further than that the offerer was particularly enjoined to invite the priests and Levites to such feasts.
2. History, Etc. (1) Till Death of Solo mon. The earliest notice we have of the num bers of the Levites occurs at their first separation in the desert, when there were 22,3oo, of a month old and upwards; of whom 8,58o were fit for service, or between the ages of 3o and so (Num. iii:22, 28, 34; iv:2, 34-40. Thirty-eight years after, just before the Israelites entered Canaan, they had increased to 23,000, not one of whom had been born at the time of the former enumeration (Num. xxvi :57, 62-65). About 46o years aftcr the entry into Canaan (B. C. io15) they were again numbered by David, a little before his death, and were found to have increased to 38,000 men fit for Levitical service—of whom 24,000 were 'set over the work of the Lord,' 6,000 were officers and judges, 4.000 were porters, and 4,0oo were musicians (1 Chron. xxiii:3, 4, 5). If the same proportion then existed between those come of age and those a month old which existed when the tribe quitted Egypt, the entire number of the Levitical body, in the time of David, must have bcen 96.433.
(2) After the Revolt of the Ten Tribes. After the revolt of the ten tribes, those of the Levites who resided in the territories of those tribes, having resisted the rcquesi: of Jero boam to transfer their services to his idolatrous establishments at Dan and Bethel, were obliged to abandon their possessions and join their breth ren iniudah and Benjamin (2 Chron. xi:12, 13, z4; xiii:9) ; and this concentration of theLevitical body in the kingdom of Judah must have had an important influence upon its condition and his tory. That kingdom thus actually consisted of three tribes — Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, —of which one was devoted to sacerdotal uses. This altered position of the Levites—after they had been deprived of most of their cities, and the tithes from ten of the trihes were cut off—presents a subject for much interesting investigation, into which we cannot enter. Their means must have been much reduced; for it cannot be supposed that Judah and Benjamin alone were able, even if will ing-, to undertake the support of the whole Levitical body on the same scale as when the dues of all Israel flowed into its treasuries. In the subsequent history of Judah the Levites appear less frequently than might have been expected. The chief public measure in which they were en gaged was the restoration of the house of David in the person of young Joash (2 Chron. xxiii: ; which may be regarded as mainly the work of the Levitical body, including the priests.