Editing Levi

{{short description|Biblical figure and son of Jacob and Leah}}
{{About|the Biblical patriarch|the brand of jeans, along with the person who invented them|Levi Strauss & Co.|and|Levi Strauss|other uses}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Levi
| image              = Levi (Francisco de Zurbarán).jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Levi, from the series ''[[Jacob and His Twelve Sons]]'' ({{circa|1640|1645}}), by [[Francisco de Zurbarán]]
| native_name        = {{font|text=לֵוִי|font=palantino}}
| native_name_lang   = he
| birth_place        = [[Paddan Aram]]
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = 16 [[Nisan]]
| death_date         = 1431, 1430 or 1429 BC ([[Anno Mundi|AM]] 2331 or [[Anno Mundi|AM]] 2332) (aged 137)<ref>{{Bibleverse||Exodus|6:16|NIV}}</ref>
| death_place        = 
| resting_place      = 
| occupation         = 
| father             = [[Jacob]]
| mother             = [[Leah]]
| spouse             = Adinah
| children           = [[Gershon]] (son)<br>[[Kehath]] (son)<br>[[Merari]] (son)<ref>Genesis 46:11</ref><br>[[Jochebed]] (daughter)
| relatives          = [[Reuben (son of Jacob)|Reuben]] (brother)<br>[[Simeon (son of Jacob)|Simeon]] (brother)<br>[[Judah (son of Jacob)|Judah]] (brother)<br>[[Dan (son of Jacob)|Dan]] (half brother)<br>[[Naphtali]] (half brother)<br>[[Gad (son of Jacob)|Gad]] (half brother)<br>[[Asher]] (half brother)<br>[[Issachar]] (brother)<br>[[Zebulun]] (brother)<br>[[Dinah]] (sister)<br>[[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] (half brother)<br>[[Benjamin]] (half brother)<br>[[Rachel]] (aunt/stepmother)
}}

'''Levi''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|iː|v|aɪ}} {{respell|LEE|vy}}; {{Hebrew name|לֵוִי|Levī|Lēwī}}) was, according to the [[Book of Genesis]], the third of the six sons of [[Jacob]] and [[Leah]] (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the [[Israelites|Israelite]] [[Tribe of Levi]] (the [[Levite]]s, including the [[Kohanim]]) and the great-grandfather of [[Aaron]], [[Moses]] and [[Miriam]].<ref>Ex. 6:16-20</ref> Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites.

Most scholars view the [[Torah]] as projecting the origins of the Levites into the past to explain their role as landless cultic functionaries.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Leuchter
| first = Mark
| title = Who Were the Levites?
| website = TheTorah.com
| year = 2017
| url = https://thetorah.com/article/who-were-the-levites
}}</ref>

==Origins==
The [[Torah]] suggests that the name ''Levi'' refers to Leah's hope for Jacob to [[Human reproduction#Copulation|''join'']] with her, implying a derivation from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''yillaweh'', meaning ''he will join'', but scholars suspect that it may simply mean "priest", either as a [[loanword]] or by referring to those people who were ''joined'' to the [[Ark of the Covenant]]. Another possibility is that the Levites were a [[tribe of Judah]] not from the clan of Moses or Aaron and that the name "Levites" indicates their ''joining'' - either with  the Israelites in general or with the earlier Israelite [[priesthood]] in particular.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia">[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9801-levi "Levi, Tribe of"], in the 1906 ''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>

The [[Book of Jubilees]] states that Levi was born "in the new moon of the first month", which means that he was born on 1 [[Nisan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Book of Jubilees 28:20 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Book_of_Jubilees.28.20?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

[[File:The Phillip Medhurst Picture Torah 171. Simeon and Levi slay Hamor and Shechem. Genesis cap 34 vv 25-26. Hoet.jpg|thumb|[[Simeon]] and Levi [[Vayishlach#Fifth reading—Genesis 34:1–35:11|slay Hamor and Shechem]]]]

==Levi and the "Blessing of Jacob"==
In the [[Book of Genesis]], Levi and his brother, [[Simeon (son of Jacob)|Simeon]], [[raid (military)|raid]] the city of [[Shechem]] in [[revenge]] for the [[rape]] of [[Dinah]], seizing the wealth of the city and [[massacring]] the men.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|34|}}</ref> The brothers had earlier misled the inhabitants by consenting to Dinah's rapist marrying her in exchange for the men of the city to be [[circumcised]]. When Jacob hears about their [[deceit]] and destruction of Shechem, he scolds them since they've endangered their own family to the [[wrath]] of neighbouring societies.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|34:30–31|}}</ref> In the [[Blessing of Jacob]], Jacob is described as imposing a curse on the Levites, by which they would be scattered, in punishment for Levi's actions in Shechem.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|49:–7|}}</ref>

Some textual scholars date the Blessing of Jacob to a period between one and two centuries before the [[Babylonian captivity]], and some Biblical scholars regard the curse, and Dinah herself, as an aetiological postdiction to explain the fates of the tribe of Simeon and the Levites, with one possible explanation of the Levites' scattered nature being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe itself.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia"/> Nevertheless, Isaac, Levi's grandfather, gives a special blessing about the lineage of priests of God.<ref>Ginzberg, Louis (1909). ''[[Legends of the Jews]] [https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol1/six3.htm#6 Vol I : Isaac blesses Levi and Judah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011013843/https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol1/six3.htm#6 |date=2018-10-11 }}'' (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.</ref>

==The family of Levi==
In the [[Book of Genesis]], Levi is described as having fathered three sons—[[Gershon]], [[Kohath]], and [[Merari]].<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|46:11|}}</ref> A similar genealogy is given in the [[Book of Exodus]], where it is added that among Kohath's sons was one—[[Amram]]—who married a woman named [[Jochebed]], who was closely related to his father, and they were the biological parents of [[Moses]], [[Aaron]], and [[Miriam]];<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|6:16–20|}}</ref> though some Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Torah state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, the [[Masoretic Text]] states that she was his father's sister,<ref>''[[New American Bible]]'', footnote to Exodus 6:20</ref> and the [[Septuagint]] mentions that she was ''one of'' his ''father's sisters''. The Masoretic Text's version of Levi's genealogy thus implies (and in Numbers 26:59, explicitly states) that Levi also had a daughter (Jochebed), and the Septuagint implies further daughters. The names of Levi's sons, and possible daughter, are interpreted in [[classical rabbinical literature]] as being reflections on their future destiny.<ref>''[[Numbers Rabbah]]'' 3:12</ref> In some [[apocrypha]]l texts such as the ''[[Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs]]'', and the [[Book of Jubilees]], Levi's wife, his children's mother, is named as ''Milkah'', a daughter of [[Aram, son of Shem|Aram]],<ref>Jubilees 34:20</ref><ref>''[https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-T7Y10PusEVDrsirI/The%20Testament%20Of%20Levi_djvu.txt Testament of Levi]'' 11</ref> but according to the [[Book of Jasher (biblical book)|Book of Jasher]], the name of Levi's wife was Adinah.

===Family tree===
{{Levi to Moses family tree}}

==In post-Torah tradition==
[[File:Levi by V.Osipov.jpg|thumb|170px|Levi, Russian icon]]
In accordance with his role as founder of the Levites, Levi is referred to as being particularly [[piety|pious]]. The [[Blessing of Moses]], which some textual scholars attribute to a period just before the [[deuteronomist]], speaks about Levi via an [[allegory|allegorical]] comparison to [[Moses]] himself,<ref>Deuteronomy 33:8–10</ref> which [[haggadah]] take to support the characterization of Levi (and his progeny) as being by far the greatest of his brothers in respect to piety. The [[apocrypha]]l ''[[Joseph and Aseneth|Prayer of Asenath]]'', which textual scholars believe dates from some time after the first century AD, describes Levi as a prophet and saint who is able to forecast the future and understand heavenly writings, and as someone who admonishes the people to forgive and to be in awe of [[God]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Kohler |title=Jacob's Heroic Sons |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1905-asenath#anchor7 |website=Jewish Encyclopedia |access-date=5 October 2023}}</ref> The [[Book of Malachi]] argues that [[Yahweh]] chose the Levites to be priests because Levi, as God's minister,<ref>Ginzberg, Louis (1909). ''[https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol2/two.htm#4 The Legends of the Jews Vol II : Ascension of Levi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201052229/https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol2/two.htm#4 |date=2017-12-01 }}'' (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.</ref> embodied true religious principles, possessed reverence for Yahweh, held [[Tetragrammaton|the divine name]] in awe, [[pacifism|upheld peace]], provided a model of good [[morality]], and turned many people away from sin.<ref>{{bibleverse||Malachi|2:4-6|NIV}}</ref>

===Testament of Levi===
{{main|Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs}}
The Testament of Levi is believed to have been written between 153 BC and 107 BC, and closer to the latter date.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs|volume=26|pages=666–668 |first=Robert Henry |last=Charles}}</ref> 
On his deathbed, Levi gathered all his children to narrate the story of his life to them, and prophesied unto them what they would do, and what would happen to them until judgment day. He also told them that God had chosen him and his seed as priest of Lord unto eternity.<ref>[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/patriarchs-charles.html The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, R. H. Charles]</ref> In this testament, Levi is described as having had two visions. The first vision covered [[Jewish eschatology|eschatological]] issues, portraying the seven heavens, the [[Jewish Messiah]], and [[Last Judgment|Judgement Day]]. The second vision portrays seven angels bringing Levi seven insignia signifying priesthood, prophecy, and judgement; in the vision, after the angels anoint Levi, and initiate him as a priest, they tell him of the future of his descendants, mentioning [[Moses]], the Aaronid{{CN|date=November 2023}} priesthood, and a time when there would be priest-kings; this latter point was of particular interest to the [[Maccabees|Maccabean]] period of [[John Hyrcanus]], who was both a high priest, and warrior-king.

The [[Book of Jubilees]] similarly has Isaac telling Levi of the future of his descendants, again predicting priesthood, prophets, and political power,<ref>Jubilees 31:12–17</ref> and additionally describes Jacob as entrusting Levi with ''the secrets of the ancients'', so that they would be known only to the Levites;<ref>Jubilees 45:16</ref> however, like the Testament of Levi, the Book of Jubilees is regarded as a Maccabean-era document.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia"/>

== Tomb ==
A [[Samaritans|Samaritan]] tradition recorded in the late 19th century considered Neby Lawin, just north of [[Silat ad-Dhahr]] to be the burial place of Levi.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/219/mode/1up 219]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Levite]]
* [[Miscegenation in Israel|Miscegenation]]
* [[Tribe of Levi]]
* [[Lévai]] (surname originating from the Tribe of Levi)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|wstitle=Levi, Tribe of}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Sons of Jacob}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Founders of biblical tribes]]
[[Category:Children of Jacob]]
[[Category:Book of Genesis people]]
[[Category:Tribe of Levi]]
[[Category:Book of Jubilees]]
[[Category:Biblical murderers]]