Levi and Levites in the second temple period

Dead Sea Discoveries

Volumn 4, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 211-225

  Werman, Cana ^a  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61949363652     PISSN: 09290761     EISSN: 15685179     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/156851797X00074     Document Type: Review

References (40)

1. These two questions were recently discussed by J. Kugel, "Levi's Elevation to the Priesthood in Second Temple Writings," HTR 86 (1993) 1-64
2. Hultgård was the first to relate the status of the Levites in the Second Temple period to the tradition of Levi's elevation. See A. Hultgård, L'eschatologie des Testaments des Douze Patriarches, (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Historia Religionum 6 & 7; Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1977/1982) 1.39-41
3. See, for example, The Rule of the Community. In Column 2, the Levites appear in the ceremony of the covenant but not in the description of the ordering of the Yahcombining dot belowad. The contradictory descriptions of the status and role of the Levites in the Qumran literature, which for the purposes of this paper provide more evidence for the absence of Levites, are discussed in Stallman's survey: R.C. Stallman, "Levi and Levites in the Dead Sea Scrolls," JSP 10 (1992) 163-89
4. On the disputes see Y. Sussman, "The History of Halakhah and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Preliminary Observation on Miqscombining dot belowat Ma'ase ha-torah (4QMMT)," Tarbiz 59 (1989) 11-76 (Hebrew). Although it is commonly stated that the era of the Sages begin with Hillel the Elder, it is now clear from the Qumran literature that a group holding a well-defined antecedent of the Sages' position already existed at least a century and a half earlier
5. For brief summary of research relating to this question see: J.M. O'Brien, Priest and Levite in Malachi (SBLDS 121; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990) 1-26
6. See, for example, Deut. 33:8-11
7. M. Haran, Ages and Institutions in the Bible (Tel-Aviv: Am-Oved, 1972) 166 (Hebrew)
8. idem, Temple and Temple Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into the Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978) 89
9. Knohl, The Sanctuary of Silence, 71-85
10. J. Licht, "Levi, Levites," EM IV, 464-65 (Hebrew)
11. Haran, Temple and Temple Service, 84-111
12. See A. Rofé, Introduction to Deuteronomy (Jerusalem: Akademon Publishing House, 1988) 243-49
13. Contrary to S.M. Olyan who explains the absence of Levites from Ben-Sira as part of his polemic against them (S.M. Olyan, "Ben Sira's Relationship to the Priesthood," HTR 80 [1987] 275)
14. P.D. Hanson, "1 Chronicles 15-16 and the Levites," Sha'arei Talmon: Studies in the Bible, Qumran and the Ancient Near East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon (ed. M. Fishbane and E. Tov; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992) 74-76
15. Y. Kaufmann, History of the Religion of Israel (Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv: Mosad Bialik, 1955) 1.183-84 (Hebrew)
16. Milgrom, "The Qumran Cult," 177
17. In Sifre Deut. 15 (ed. L. Finkelstein [New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1969] 25), the role of Levites as police officers is recorded. The New Testament seems to refer to them in this role as well
18. (See D.R. Schwartz, "'Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites': Who were the 'Scribes' in the New Testament?" Studies in the Jewish Background of Christianity [Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1992] 89-101). It is likely that the role of the gatekeepers was widened to include that of police officers who aided judicial authorities
19. Present-day Levites are probably descended from these families - the singers and the gatekeepers
20. Priest and Levite, 83
21. Greek Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, manuscript e 1-2. M.E. Stone and J.C. Greenfield, "The Prayer of Levi," JBL 112 (1993) 245-66
22. The function of the verse is to declare Levi's election; its role is to create a logical continuation. There is no need to see it as an echo of Jubilees 31, as Kugel does ("Levi's Elevation," 54)
23. Kugel, "Levi's Elevation," 2-4
24. See C. Werman, "The Rules of Consuming and Covering the Blood in Priestly and Rabbinic Law," RevQ 64 (1995) 621-36
25. Werman, "The Story of the Flood in the Book of Jubilees," Tarbiz 64 (1995) 183-202 (Hebrew)
26. J.C. Greenfield and M.E. Stone, "Remarks on the Aramaic Testament of Levi from the Geniza," RB 86 (1979) 224-25
27. Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest, 222
28. J.C. Greenfield and M.E. Stone, "The First Manuscript of Aramaic Levi Document from Qumran," Museon 107 (1994) 274
29. See LXX Deut. 26:12; t. Mak. 4(3), 5; Sifre Deut. 302 ed. Finkelstein, 321
30. and see C. Albeck, "Introduction to Tractate Second Tithe," Tractate Second Tithe (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1958) 243 (Hebrew)
31. Weinfeld, "Temple Scroll' or 'King's Law'," Shnaton, an Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies 3 (1978-79) 235
32. M. Kister, "Some Aspects of Qumranic Halakhah," The Madrid Qumran Congress (ed. J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner; STDJ 11; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992) 2.586-88
33. But not according to the halakhah of the Sages which does not require giving the animal tithe to the priests. The source of dispute is the lack of clarity in the Bible itself; see: Kister, "Some Aspects," 579, n. 31
34. See Werman, "The Story of the Flood," 183-202
35. Recent discussions on the perception of the kingly and the priestly Messiah at Qumran can be found in M.G. Abegg, Jr., "The Messiah at Qumran: Are We Still Seeing Double?" DSD 2 (1995) 125-44
36. and J. Collins, "He Shall Not Judge by What His Eyes See," DSD 2 (1995) 156-61
37. See also J.C. VanderKam, "Jubilees and the Priestly Messiah of Qumran," RevQ 13 (1988) 353-65
38. Kugler (From Patriarch to Priest, 196-97) notes the similarity but does not deduce any conclusions about the relation between these documents
39. See also: M. De Jonge, "Notes on Testament of Levi II-VII," Studies on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Text and Interpretation (ed. M. De Jonge; SVTP 3; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975) 255
40. De Jonge, "The Testament of Levi and 'Aramaic Levi'," RevQ 13 (1988) 375