Moses then stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on Yahweh’s side? Come to me.” And the Levites, Moses’ own tribe, gathered around him (Exodus 32:26). Moses interceded for Israel but made the Israelites drink the water with the ground up powder of the calf (Exodus 32:7-20). While Moses was receiving the law on Mount Sinai, the Israelites rebelled and made a Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-6). Second, the Levites slaughtered idolaters at Sinai following Israel’s worship of the Golden Calf, which gained them the priesthood (Exodus 32:25-29). Instead, the Levites received 48 cities distributed throughout Israel among the other tribes (Numbers 18:23-24 35:1-8 Joshua 21:1-45). In fulfillment of this, the Simeonites obtained land within the territory of Judah (Joshua 19:1-9) and the Levites received no land (Joshua 13:14, 33 14:3-4 18:7). O my glory, be not joined to their company.Īnd in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.Īnd scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7).īoth Simeon and Levi would be divided and scattered because of their violence. Thus when Jacob gave his blessing for his sons at the end of his life, he said this about Simeon and Levi: Though we may sympathize with Levi and Simeon’s passion to protect their sister’s honor, Jacob was not pleased and feared backlash among their neighbors (Genesis 34:30-31). This provided an opportunity for Simeon and Levi to slaughter all the males, while all the brothers then plundered the city (Genesis 34:25-29). Jacob’s sons then deceived Shechem and Hamor by saying that they required the men of the city to be circumcised for Dinah’s hand in marriage (Genesis 34:13-24). 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.įirst, Levi (and his brother Simeon) slaughtered an entire city following the rape of his sister Dinah, which lost the Levites land in Canaan (Genesis 34:25-31).Īfter Jacob and his sons settled in the city of Shechem (Genesis 33:18), a man named Shechem, son of Hamor, raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah (Genesis 34:1-2). And what makes this interesting is that the violent nature of the Levites both (1) lost them land in Israel, and (2) gained them the priesthood. However, not everyone is familiar with the origins of the Levites. We thank Michael Shackleton for the hundreds of erudite answers to readers’ questions and are delighted that he will be part of our panel of experts in the Q&A section of the new Southern Cross magazine.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”). As time moved on, the priesthood evolved to join them.Īfter 19 years, this is the final ”Open Door” column. Deacons were ordained by the Apostles for immediate needs in their time and in the future. Our bishops, priests and deacons all share in the single priesthood of Christ. The Apostles applied their mandate from Christ to preach the Gospel to all nations, and ordained men to help them do it. Priestly ordination came from experience. Later, this distinction developed to identify bishops as leaders of a Christian community, and priests as their cooperators in spreading faith and order as willed by Christ. In some texts men like these are given the title “bishop” (from the Greek word for “overseer”), such as we find in Acts 20:28 and Phil 1:1.
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They are mentioned often in Acts, for example in 15:2 16:4 20:17 21:18. These elders, or presbyters, were the earliest priests in this sense. Paul and Barnabas chose “elders” and appointed them to be pastors of the Christians in Antioch (Acts 14:23). The word “priest”-from the title of those who performed sacred rituals-thus came to be associated with the celebrant at Mass.
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The sacred words “This is my body which is given up for you” and “This is the chalice of my blood which is poured out for you” point directly to Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross as our High Priest.