Priests and Levites

Israel’s priests were the descendants of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi: a man was a priest by birth, not by choice, and had to be free of certain physical defects. Priests offered the sacrifices, burned incense, tended the lamps, examined skin diseases (Leviticus 13:2–3) and taught the law. The high priest wore an ephod and a breastpiece set with twelve stones bearing the names of the tribes. The other Levites assisted: in the wilderness they carried the tabernacle, later they were gatekeepers, singers, musicians and treasurers. The tribe had no territory, only towns with pasturelands, and lived on tithes and portions of the offerings.

The texts give different ages for Levite service: from 30 (Numbers 4:3), from 25 (Numbers 8:24) and, in David’s time, from 20. Chronicles divides the priests into twenty-four divisions serving in turn; in Luke, Zechariah of the division of Abijah was chosen by lot to burn incense (Luke 1:8–9). After the exile 4,289 priests returned, but only 341 Levites, singers and gatekeepers. In the 1st century the high priest, by then appointed by the rulers, led the Sanhedrin. With the temple’s fall in AD 70 the priests’ service ended.