LE'VITE (Lat. Lerites. Gk. Areirlic,Levifes, from Ileb. LiTu-i). The designation in the Penta teuch for servitors attached to the sanctuary of Yahweh. The usage of Levite in the • OBS codes supposed to he found in the Pentateuch differs in an important particular. In the Deuteronomic Code the priests are referred to as 'the Levite priests,' a distinction between priest and Levite being unknown at the time of the compilation of this code (c.623 B.C.). Ezekiel, however, introduces a distinction between priests of the farhily of Zadok, who presided over the temple from the days of Solomon, and Levites (elms. xliii.-xliv.). By Levites are meant the former priests of the sanctuaries (or high places) in Israel and Judah, which by the Denteronomie Code had been abrogated in favor of the central ization of the cult in the Jerusalem temple. These Levites, as a punishment for maintaining a cult that to the exilie writers appeared idola trous, were to be degraded to the position of the temple servants, subordinate to the Zadokitcs. This distinction is fully carried out in the 'Priestly Code' (Leviticus and Numbers). A compromise is effected between the priests of Jerusalem and those who served in the other sanctuaries by recognizing time descent of all from an eponymous ancestor. Levi; hut, on the other hand. within this tribe, special prerogatives are accorded to a particular family—that of Aaron, to whose hands the priesthood proper is in trusted. This did not involve the setting aside of the privileges of. the Zndokites, whose descent was reckoned from Aaron through the latter's son Eleazar (I. Chron. xxiv. 3), while removing any opprobrium attached to the Levites by giving them a common origin with the priests. It is evident from a consideration of this development in the use of the term Levite that it originally designated'a 'priest' (see LEvi). The connection of Levite as priest with the supposed tribe of Levi is remote and to a large extent artificial. The ancient tribe of Levi (as we see from Gen. xlix. 5) was warlike, and the story of the treach erous attack of Simeon and Levi upon Shechem (Gen. xxxiv.) is not merely an illustration of this character of the tribe, but also points to its practical annihilation. In the distribution of Canaan among the tribes, Simeon is settled in the territory of .Judah, while Levi receives no territory, because the tribe was dispersed—prac tically wiped out. Some remnants became at tached to sanctuaries as guardians (cf. Judges xvii.) , and from this fact the term Levite acquired the sense of one doing service at a sanctuary.
This usage was taken up by the writers who re constructed Hebrew history on the theory which traced the religious organization back to Moses (see HEXATEUCII), and carried out in the manner above indicated. All priests being thus traced back to Levi, the tribe as a whole is regarded as consecrated to the service of Yahweh by way of a substitute for the offering of the firstborn in each family of Israel, who rightfully belonged to the deity (cf. e.g. Num. iii. 12). As servants of the sanctuary. supported by the tem ple income, the Levites were not obliged to culti vate the land, and hence owned no territory. In this way the theory fitted in well with the pre exilic conditions, in which period the Levites as a tribe play a part in the political history and possess no territory. An exception is made in respect to the cities of refuge which are assigned to the priests, but which are merely old sanctu aries recognized as sacred asylums to which murderers flee from the avenger of blood (q.v.).
The duties of the Levites are specified in the Priestly Code and elaborated in the Book of Chronicles. They were not properly servants of Yahweh. but servants to the Aaronite priests to whom they were 'given.' They were not per mitted to approach the inner sanctuary. They had charge of the sacred vessels and prepared the animals for the sacrifice. Menial duties, such as the cleaning of the vessels and of the temple halls, were also imposed on them, as well as `watch duties. According to the Priestly Code, one-tenth of the tithes only belonged to the Levites; but it would appear from the Book of Nehemiah that their income in fact was larger. Not all of the provisions, it must be borne in mind, were carried out ; and on the whole the posi tion of the Levites, who so far outnumbered the priests proper, was better than the Priestly Code would lead us to suppose. Consult : Graf. "Zur Geschichte des Stammes Levi." in Ilerr's Archir., vol. i. (Halle, 1869) ; AVeMansell, Prolegomena zur Gesehiehte IsracIs (5th ed., Berlin, 1899) ; Maybaum, Entusickelung des altisruclitisehen Priest crt um s (Breslin, Is180) ; Bandissin, G e schicht e des alt t est amen t lich en P riestert ins (Leipzig, 1889) ; Curtiss, The Levitical Priests (London, 1877) ; Vogelstein, her Kampf zwischen Priestern and Leriten sell den Tagen Ezechiels (Stettin. 1889) ; and the Hebrew a•elneologies of Nowaek and Benzinger. See PRIESTS.