Some Determining Factors in the Northward Progress of Levi

Abstract

THAT THERE ever was a secular tribe of Levi remains largely a matter of conjecture. Certain it is that no existing tradition represents the Levites either as seeking to conquer a home for themselves or as occupying territory which they themselves had won. The outcome of that question need not concern the present discussion. That the Levites, however, came to a pre-eminence throughout Israel, which made them unique among the tribes, is not a matter of controversy. Tradition says that their prestige was outstanding before the days of the monarchy. We know of them principally by their priestly prerogatives, which came to a complete formal triumph in the program of Deuteronomy. Two things lend an abiding interest, especially to their earlier history. One is that the Levites are recognized as the formal sponsors and promoters of the leadership of Moses, the other that they are the advocates of the religion of Yahweh, and thus their growing ascendency becomes only another way of gauging the rise of Yahweh worship to a place of dominance in Israel. Furthermore, that this would ever have come about without them seems highly improbable. The process by which this result was achieved is nowhere clearly revealed. There are hints such as are found in Judges 17, which give insight in individual instances, though as in the reference just cited, the things that are assumed are often more fundamental than what is stated. For example, how the Levites had gained such a reputation in the period of the Judges remains a matter of speculation. Other unsolved problems such as their form of organization, how they became attached to Judah, how they were related to Moses, and how they became Yahweh worshippers need not detain us at this point. Assuming their nomadic southern origin and their devotion to Yahweh, we are here primarily concerned with their progress northward into the settled land of Palestine. It is evident at once that this cannot be conceived in tribal terms. It appears to corre-